Snaresbrook Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Snaresbrook Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 2 October 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings.

The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in October 2014. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

You have addressed the key issues raised. For example, leaders are consistently committed to the school's strategic vision for accelerating pupils' progress. You, the leadership team and a proactive and knowledgeable governing body have... an accurate and honest understanding of the school's current strengths and weaknesses.

From this, you have been able to plan and implement effective strategies that have underpinned the improvement in pupils' outcomes at the end of each key stage in writing, mathematics and, most notably, in reading, where pupils make strong progress. You acknowledge that the leadership strength you have developed must now be utilised to ensure that leadership in all areas of the curriculum is as strong as it has been in English and Mathematics. Parents are effusive in their praise of the school and your leadership.

Pupils say that they enjoy their time at the school. Staff respond well to senior leadership. Speaking with me, and through their responses to Ofsted's staff survey, staff say that you and other senior colleagues are highly supportive.

They appreciate the opportunities that they are given to help improve the quality of their teaching and the opportunities that they have to develop their professional careers. The recent appointment of 'instructional leaders', who are responsible for the improvement of teaching across the school, being an example of this. Safeguarding is effective.

The leadership team has ensured that safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and are fit for purpose. Pre-employment checks on adults working at the school meet statutory requirements. All staff have regular and appropriate training.

Staff who spoke with me understood how to respond to any concerns should they arise. Leaders are, however, aware of the need to remind staff about the most recent changes to the policy. Records are well organised and show that referrals are handled in a timely manner, leading to swift support for pupils and families who need it.

The curriculum heightens pupils' awareness of a variety of safety issues, such as road safety, water safety and keeping safe online. Pupils spoken to during the inspection could identify a number of ways that the school keeps them safe. They know what to do if they ever feel unsafe and could identify a number of trusted adults in whom they confide.

Pupils feel that behaviour at the school is good and that the systems for ensuring positive behaviour work effectively. This view was echoed by parents who responded to Ofsted's online survey and were overwhelmingly positive about pupils' safety in school. Inspection findings ? At the start of the inspection, we agreed three lines of enquiry.

The first focused on leaders' actions to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in early years and key stage 1. This was because the outcomes of disadvantaged pupils have been lower than other pupils in reading, writing and mathematics. ? Children enter the early years with skills below those typical for their age.

This is particularly evident for disadvantaged children. Leaders have responded to this by planning and implementing initiatives to support disadvantaged children achieve better outcomes. Changes to the curriculum and environment heighten opportunities for children to engage in language and rich, challenging learning activities.

Adults' questioning is skilful. As a result, pupils are confident to speak about their learning, speak in full sentences and use a range of increasingly complex vocabulary. This resulted in improved outcomes at the end of early years in 2018.

• From the very beginning, children are well supported in developing strong routines and relationships. As a result, children in the early years and pupils in key stage 1 are able to work independently, sustaining focus and making sensible and varied choices about the learning that they engage in. They can engage in mature conversations with adults and other pupils.

They work well with a variety of peers and are responding increasingly well to the heightened challenge provided to them. ? Visits to lessons and a review of pupils' work illustrated that some pupils rehearse skills that they have already demonstrated that they have mastered. As a result, the level of challenge provided does not allow these pupils to make the progress of which they are capable.

• The second line of enquiry focused on the effectiveness of leaders' actions to improve pupils' outcomes in reading. This was because, over time, pupils' progress in reading has improved significantly and, by the end of key stage 2, pupils make strong progress in this area. ? The leadership of reading is strong.

Leaders are highly committed to pupils achieving their best. Teachers have been very well supported in developing their knowledge and confidence through a range of professional development opportunities. As a result, teachers use inspirational texts and challenging questions to ensure that pupils develop as skilled readers.

• Learning walks with leaders showed that pupils are exposed to a range of literature that extends their vocabulary and understanding of sentence structure, which they transfer and sustain well into their writing. Pupils who read to me were motivated readers who read widely, frequently and were familiar with a range of authors and their work. Pupils read with confidence, expression and intonation and demonstrated a good understanding of the text.

• During visits to lessons, some groups of pupils who work independently of the teacher were not always fully focused. As a result, the amount of time that they spend reading is diminished and learning time lost. ? The final line of enquiry focused on the effectiveness of leaders' actions to improve the progress made by disadvantaged pupils in writing across key stage 2.

This was because, over time, these pupils made slower progress than other pupils. ? Visits to lessons with leaders showed that the rich range of literature that pupils are exposed to supports disadvantaged pupils' writing. On occasion, however, the instructions and models given to the most able disadvantaged pupils is not well matched to their understanding.

In these instances, they do not understand the concept securely enough to access learning effectively. ? A detailed review of writing showed that pupils write frequently. Over time, stamina for writing improves, as does the use of language and technical accuracy, so that by the end of key stage 2 pupils are adept at writing in different styles and can use a range of techniques to draw the reader in and maintain their interest.

Younger pupils, however, do not always get the same opportunity to edit and proof read their work as older pupils, meaning that errors are sometimes repeated and the progress that pupils make is slower. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? teachers provide younger pupils with sufficient opportunity to edit and proofread their writing so that errors are not repeated and pupils are enabled to make sustained progress in their written work ? teachers check the progress of pupils engaged in independent reading activities more frequently so that all groups of pupils are supported in making progress ? teachers' instructions and models for pupils provide appropriate support and challenge so that pupils have the component skills and knowledge to tackle their learning, and that they are being moved on when they have demonstrated that they have mastered the concept ? existing leadership capacity is utilised to develop all subject leaders, ensuring that the rapid improvements experienced at the school are sustained and embedded across the wider curriculum. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Redbridge.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Nick Turvey Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection The inspection began with a discussion of your self-evaluation and we agreed the key lines of enquiry. Together we visited lessons and looked at pupils' work.

I listened to a group of pupils reading. I also spoke with pupils about their learning and how the school helps to keep them safe. Meetings were held with those responsible for leading reading, writing, early years and safeguarding.

I met a group of governors and also met a representative of the local authority. I reviewed a range of the school's documentation, including the school's self-evaluation, development plan and single central record of employment checks. I also considered responses to the staff survey, pupil survey and Parent View, Ofsted's online questionnaire for parents.

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