Immanuel and St Andrew CE Primary School in Streatham achieves Centre of Excellence Status.
Popular and Outstanding
Immanuel and St Andrew Church of England Primary School is a popular, outstanding, voluntary aided, two-form entry primary school. It is situated in Streatham, in the London Borough of Lambeth. Currently there are approximately 408 pupils on roll from Nursery to Year 6. The school serves a diverse community with a high percentage of pupils speaking English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils who are entitled to the Pupil Premium grant, pupils with Special Education Needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is broadly average. The school has welcomed a new Headteacher this academic year who works alongside a very strong, dedicated and experienced SENDCo and Leadership team.
In June 2015, Ofsted graded the school as being outstanding in all areas and the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) Report in December 2019 graded the school as excellent. ISA was awarded IQM Centre of Excellence status in 2019 and this visit was the Year 3 Centre of Excellence Review.
ISA is a very inclusive, child-focussed school and the school vision is deeply embedded in its Christian values of love; respect; perseverance; peace; forgiveness; kindness; thankfulness; honesty; trust; courage; hope; joy and friendship. The Headteacher told our Assessor, “Our Christian ethos is evident across the school. We look at every child and ensure they flourish. We are focussed that the needs of every child is met”.
ISA’s mission statement is ‘Excellence for all. Excellence from all’ and staff work hard to ensure that every child is enabled to reach their full potential. Pupils make good progress throughout their time at ISA and the end of Key Stage 2 results in 2022 were excellent, being well above the national average across all subjects.
Buzz about the School
There is a ‘buzz’ about the school and it is evident that it continually evaluates its policies and practice. It focuses holistically on each individual child and endeavours to actively remove any challenges to learning that a pupil may have.
Inclusive practices and systems of identification, support and review are well embedded in the school, with pupil progress meetings being held on a termly basis. A range of interventions are offered at ISA, including for EAL, maths, writing and pre-reading. Interventions are carefully monitored for impact. Good use has been made of areas provided for individualised support. The whole school environment is well organised for learning and also very aesthetically pleasing. The library is now called the ‘Learning Hub’ and was in constant use, delivering more individualised and group support, during the assessment day.
ISA now have 2 sensory rooms with the new room located in the EYFS. A new Key Stage 2 library has been opened, containing a range of new texts, representing the diversity of the school community. There is a sensory garden and weather station, cared for by a school gardener. Outdoor areas encourage play and learning and the EYFS Reception classes share their enabling outdoor area with the Nursery children.
Classroom organisation is the responsibility of each class teacher but there is a consistency across the school in terms of each class having visual timetables, working walls, a reflection area for Religious Education, a reading nook and a class charter linked to the school values. Children are given coloured lanyards if they display a particular school value. Classrooms are bright and stimulating, supporting and scaffolding pupils’ learning.
Curriculum designed for All to Flourish and Grow
The ISA curriculum is designed ‘to enable all to flourish and grow as individuals, developing their personal skills and abilities, talents, characters, spirituality and faith’. The school nurtures and values the ‘uniqueness of every child’. The curriculum meets the national curriculum objectives and the school has worked hard to develop the curriculum so that all children can see themselves “within it”. The diversity of texts has increased to improve representation. ISA has successfully introduced the new Jolly Phonics synthetic phonics programme and follow the Power Maths and White Rose schemes in maths.
Pupils’ attainment and progress are consistently above the national average at the school and behaviour for learning observed throughout the review was exemplary. The school uses the ASD emotional regulation 5-point scale to regulate behaviours and has a traffic light system which includes time for reflection. Staff have noticed an increasing number of children being unable to self-regulate since the pandemic.
Achievement for all is celebrated in a range of ways and opportunities for pupil voice and for pupils to take responsibility are encouraged, such as, through the school council. ISA is currently part of an Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) project, working on making playtimes more interesting.
Staff and pupil mental health and wellbeing is given a high priority at ISA. The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) actively look at ways to reduce workload for staff, such as through their limited marking policy. Teachers are given time to produce any required paperwork and additional wellbeing time is given each term. There is a real sense of community at ISA. Staff said that ISA is a very caring school and the SLT is incredibly supportive.
Child Focussed School
Parents were unanimous in saying that the school is very child focussed and that all the staff want the best for the children. They find the staff to be very calm, caring and supportive. They also appreciate the good communication systems that exist between home and school. Parents’ evenings now follow a hybrid approach since the pandemic, with parents able to have face-to-face or online consultations with their child’s teacher. The school newsletter focusses on the children and contains a wealth of information for parents. A very active Parent Teacher Association group, FISA (Friends of Immanuel and St Andrew), organise a range of fundraising activities throughout the year. They recently funded the new sensory room at the school.
Governors are committed to and involved in the life of the school and are linked to areas of responsibility, such as safeguarding and inclusion. The governing body works through a system of committees, including an inclusion committee, which meet regularly and report back to full Governing body meetings. They regularly visit the school, either in their link Governor role, or for a Governor learning visit, where they focus on a particular issue. They engage in Governor training, through the Diocese and Lambeth, to help them fulfil their roles most effectively.
The school is involved in a number of wider partnerships beyond the school. These include Lambeth Schools, Immanuel and St Andrew Church, Southern Diocesan Board of Education (SDBE) and South London School’s partnership. They are linked with some schools in the locality, carrying out joint working which has included work on cross school moderation. The school is part of the IQM Inclusion South East cluster group and is committed to attend all future cluster meetings.
Wonderful Work Around Inclusion
Our Assessor said it was a real pleasure to witness all the wonderful work that the school is doing around inclusion. Immanuel and St Andrew Primary School continues to be an excellent model of an inclusive school and IQM Centre of Excellence.
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