CAMBERWELL PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL

Note of Visit

MARCH 2017

Headteacher Name: / Ms Mary Isherwood
Adviser: / Sarah Fuller
Last Ofsted inspection date: / 20 – 21 June 2013
Date of the visit:
Total days: / 27 March 2017
0.5 day
PURPOSE OF THE VISIT: /
  • To undertake a review of the 2016-17 School Self- Evaluation documentation and its links to the priorities in the school improvement plan
  • To have considered the range of strategies and evidence used by the school to evaluate its practice

EVIDENCE SOURCES: / Discussions with Staff:
  • Mary Isherwood - (Headteacher)
  • Tony Jenkinson – (Parent Governor)
  • Gary Copitch – (Chair of Governors)
  • Alison Randall – ( Deputy Headteacher – Curriculum/assessment and CPD)
  • Johanne Henstock – (Assistant Headteacher – EHCPs, Parental Involvement and Outreach)
  • Carmen King – (Business Manager)
School documentation
  • School Data Analysis
  • School Self-Evaluation Form - SEF (full document)
  • One year Strategic Overview
  • School Improvement Plan - SIP
  • Governor Self-Evaluation document
  • Staff and parent questionnaires
  • Pupil voice documents
  • Attendance, behaviour and safeguarding reports and documents
  • External accreditation and validation reports

Focus of the visit:
To undertake a review of the 2016-17 School Self- Evaluation documentation and its links to the priorities in the school improvement plan
  • The school has established and embedded a highly effective school self-evaluation cycle in which leaders and managers rigorously and robustly monitor and evaluate all aspects of the performance of the school.
  • The range of strategies used enables the school to produce and review an evidenced based self-evaluation document that is current and accurately reflects the practice delivered on a daily basis.
  • The SEF summary includes the school’s strengths in leadership and management, teaching, learning and assessment, personal development, behaviour and welfare, outcomes for pupils and overall effectiveness. This summary would be improved further with the inclusion of a column for Early Years. Whilst the fuller document does include a section on the effectiveness of Early Years provision it only refers to the learning environment and personalised bespoke provision.As Inspectors, school leadersand governors will want to evaluate the overall quality and standards of the early years provision, taking into account the effectiveness of leadership and management, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, how well the provision contributes to children’s personal development, behaviour and welfare as well as outcomes for children, it is important that evidence (which I know you have) is included to support your evaluation of this phase in the school despite the current very small numbers of children in reception.
  • The SSE document includes aof wide range of internal and external evidence sources that validates the school’s self-evaluation and demonstrates that the school both welcomes and encourages internal and external challenge and evaluation and is not in any way complacent about its performance. Whilst there are significant references in the SEF to evidence sources obtained in 2015 and 2016 these are often overshadowed by evidence sources obtained in 2013 and 2014 which appear first and have the potential to make the reader feel the document is not as current as it actually is.
  • Following discussion with leaders it is clear that the school improvement priorities mentioned at the end of the SEF are wholly appropriate and will continue to drive the school forward in its quest to become even more outstanding. The SSE document would be even better if those two priorities were included at the front in the summary under leadership and management and TL&A and the priorities mentioned in discussion with leaders about accelerating pupil progress in EY and KS1 under the pupil outcomes section, the developing further evaluation over time of the impact of parent and carer workshops under the PDBW sectionand the development of the EYs with integrated provision in the EY section.
  • It might be helpful to identify on the document which leaders are responsible for the strategic leadership of the improvement priority and which governors are going to monitor and evaluate each improvement priority
To have considered the range of strategies and evidence used by the school to evaluate its practice
  • The headteacher, the senior leadership team (SLT) and governors have a clear and accurate view of the school, informed by the views of pupils, parents, staff, outside agencies and other schools that Camberwell Park works in partnership with. They regularly and robustly evaluate and monitor the work of the school, identify the areas they need to improve and implement appropriate actions to secure continual improvements.
  • The school’s Business Manager (a member of the SLT) attends all leadership meetings and contributes to the discussions by highlighting the impact of the issues raised on the school’s budget. Her role and qualifications (e.g. National Qualification in Occupational Health and Safety) also ensure that health and safety, school meals and the school’s site staff are monitored and evaluate robustly.
  • All leaders presented impressive evidence to support the school’s evaluation of its own performance in their areas of responsibility
  • The governors annually evaluate their own performance and its impact on continuing to drive the school forward and sustain the outstanding performance of the school. In the light of theaudit activities they attend and receive training to be even more effective in their role.
  • The governors are linked with SLT members and having undertaken a SSE activity feedback the evidence collected e.g through learning walks.
  • Governors are involved in monitoring and updating the school’s self-evaluation through attending focused SSE meetings at which they consider the most up to date evidence to be included in the school’s SEF. Evidence from school monitoring activities including learning walks, observations of classroom practice, scrutiny of pupils’ work and teachers’ planning together with pupil progress and attainment data and pupil and parent carer feedback all supports the group to secure an accurate up to date evaluation of the school’s performance. All of this evidence is further validated through external reviews and feedback from accredited sources such as Ofsted, IIP, SSAT, NLE, Unicef, International Schools and through assessment for the Cultural Diversity Standard to name a few.
  • Pupil progress and attainment is tracked using PIVATS, CASPA and progression targets and can be compared to other pupils with the same starting points nationally. EHCP’s ensure all pupils have ‘My Learning targets’ which provide another tool to enable staff to monitor pupils’ progress and ensures pupils are aware of their progress against their learning targets. Attendance and persistent absence data is compared to the national average for special schools.
  • Pupil progress and attainment is closely monitored and analysed to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make the same progress as their peers with SEN nationally. Girls and boys progress and the progress of pupils from different ethnic groups are also monitored closely

ACTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED
  • Update the SSE Summary to have an EY column and school improvement priorities for each aspect of the inspection framework to develop the summary further
  • Include more current evidence sources and have these more up to date sources first with the last Ofsted sources later in the document and less often.
  • identify on the document which leaders are responsible for the strategic leadership of each of the improvement priorities identified through the school’s SSE processes and identify which governors are going to monitor and evaluate the progress and impact of each improvement priority as it is being implemented
  • Extend the EY section of the more detailed document to include how well the provision contributes to children’s personal development, behaviour and welfare as well as outcomes for children
  • Include in the TL&A section which areas of the curriculum are strengths and which areas would benefit from further development e.g science across the school and number in KS1.
  • Include the impact of the intervention programmes across the school over the last few years to establish the most effective interventions delivered. Identify clearly that the school provides intervention programmes for the most able pupils in the school at risk of underachievement. All of this analysis will inform the school’s planning and deployment of TAs from September 2017 to support accelerating pupil progress both lower down the school and any pupils in KS2 at risk of underachievement.
  • Continue to work with teaching staff so they all can consistently self-evaluate their classroom practice and the work of leaders is to quality assure their evaluations
  • Include in the SEF your work on implementing the Teaching Assistant Standards – it is evidence of your high expectations and aspirations of all staff.
  • In the staff questionnaire add a question about what the SLT and governors have implemented that has enabled them to develop their practice further. This will support your evaluation of the school’s leadership
  • Include a mention of the impact of bringing school meals in house on value for money and under PDBW for better quality and range of choices. You may want to demonstrate the link between the improved quality of school meals on health and pupils ability learn effectively all day.
The summer term visit is arranged for 19 June 2017

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