Kensington Avenue Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 3 July 2023

Pupils enjoy attending this diverse school. Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Pupils know that staff care and want them to do well. However, pupils, including in early years, require more help to achieve the academic success they are capable of. Most pupils behave well in lessons. Pupils know routines and usually respond positively to behaviour reminders. They like getting 'class points' for making good choices. Pupils like that playtimes are calmer due to having more play equipment and referees for competitive games. However, some younger pupils are unsettled by the anti-social behaviours of some older pupils. They know adults will sort worries and that behaviour incidents are reducing, yet some unwelcome behaviours persist. Too many pupils are regularly absent from school. Pupils make a positive contribution to the local community. They have displayed work at the Croydon art fair. Pupils take on additional responsibilities as members of the school council, playground buddies or travel ambassadors. They benefit from trips that they may otherwise not experience, such as to London landmarks, museums and the zoo. Pupils decide which extra-curricular clubs they would like. Visits from the emergency and rescue services help them understand how to keep safe.

What the school should improve

• Leaders, including governors, have limited oversight of the school curriculum. This has hindered the ongoing strategic direction of the school. The school needs to ensure that areas for curriculum improvement can be addressed sustainably.
• In some subjects, the curriculum is not sufficiently clear on how knowledge builds over time or how it deepens what pupils have learned before. Teachers do not focus consistently on ensuring that pupils learn the most important concepts and subject knowledge. This means pupils do not develop a secure body of knowledge in these subjects. The school should ensure that the knowledge pupils need to remember, and how this builds over time, is identified precisely, including for early years.
• Teaching for pupils with SEND and for older pupils who are weaker readers is not always specific enough to meet pupils' needs. This means that these pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school should ensure that teachers routinely ensure that pupils with SEND, and those older readers who have fallen behind with their reading, are provided with learning activities and/or interventions that match their precise needs.
• Teachers do not routinely use their checks on what pupils can already do and remember to adapt teaching and inform their planning. This also applies in the early years. As a result, pupils are not provided with learning that extends their knowledge. The school needs to ensure that all staff use assessment effectively to adapt lessons and provision to meet all the needs in their class well.
• Too many pupils are not attending school regularly. This means they are missing out on their education. The school needs to continue its work to work with families and external agencies to overcome barriers to pupils attending school, so that attendance improves.
• While arrangements for safeguarding are effective, the school should ensure that policies and practices used to manage challenging behaviours are clearly known and understood by all staff and that the risk assessments in place are regularly checked and reviewed.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)