Shelton Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve teaching by:
  • ensuring that pupils know how long they have to do their work in lessons and what they are expected to achieve by the end
  • refining tasks more precisely so that pupils, especially the most able, build quickly upon what they already know and can do.
• Improve outcomes in mathematics by making sure that:
  • pupils are provided with wide-ranging ways to apply their mathematical skills in various subjects
  • teachers consolidate the teaching of reasoning skills to deepen pupils’ understanding and to ensure that pupils grasp concepts firmly.
• Strengthen leadership and management by:
  • developing the role of subject leaders more fully so that they have an accurate view of the quality of teaching and learning in their subjects
  • sharper analysis of progress information to provide an overview of how well disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve overall.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders identify and address key priorities systematically. They set realistic targets and review the effectiveness of their work frequently. They create an ethos of success where pupils and staff are valued. Because of this, good behaviour and good teaching flourish. The school’s code of values, ‘The Shelton Way’, permeates its work.
• The drive and determination of the headteacher, who is ably supported by a strong leadership team, lay firm foundations for improvement. Leaders consider changes carefully to ensure that they best suit their school. For example, changes to the teaching of English and mathematics are based solidly upon examples of good practice.
• The headteacher delegates responsibility well and ensures shared aims among senior leaders. Together, they unite staff in a common sense of purpose. Leaders provide staff with the training they need to do their jobs well.
• Leaders use external support effectively, including from the local authority, which has helped the school to improve the teaching of mathematics and to share the best practice of other schools.
• Senior leaders check the quality of teaching regularly. They set improvement targets that are linked well to the school’s priorities and staff’s professional development. Subject leaders are well supported in their leadership roles but not all are fully involved yet in checking the quality of teaching and learning in their subjects.
• Leaders are committed to giving every pupil a fair chance to succeed. They check pupils’ progress frequently and identify those in danger of falling behind. Extra adult support and resources effectively build pupils’ confidence in their own abilities and help them to achieve well.
• The pupil premium funding is used well to support individual eligible pupils in their personal and academic achievement and to help them to catch up with other pupils in their class. As a result, the progress these pupils make is improving strongly.
• Although there are good systems to check individual pupils’ progress, leaders do not yet use the new assessment systems sufficiently well to gain an overview of the overall progress made by pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The broad curriculum promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively through interesting tasks and experiences. It is supported well by additional clubs, which are popular. Activities develop key skills and pupils’ understanding of people, eras and places different from their own. Learning about British values, such as tolerance and respect, and the study of a range of faiths promote an understanding of diversity and prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain.
• The use of the primary physical education and sport funding increases pupils’ participation in sports, with a positive effect on their enjoyment and physical development. Trips to see leading sports people in action raise pupils’ aspirations and help them to understand team effort. External expertise is used effectively to develop teachers’ skills in teaching physical education lessons.

Governance of the school

• Since the previous inspection, governors have developed their monitoring role well. They ask relevant and challenging questions and keep themselves informed about the effectiveness of the school’s work.
• Governors make good use of the expertise within their ranks. They undergo the training they need to carry out their duties. They make sure that new governors receive suitable induction so that they understand their responsibilities.
• The governing body maintains regular links with school leaders and staff. Governors know how the curriculum promotes learning, values and safety. They know how the school assesses pupils’ progress and they understand the impact of good teaching on learning.
• Governors check information on pupils’ progress and analyse the effect that the pupil premium spending has on pupils’ achievement. They know how teaching staff are helped to improve their work and they carry out the performance management of the headteacher.
• Governors meet their responsibilities well, including those for safeguarding pupils. They make sure that policies are up to date and reviewed regularly. They attend events and visit the school frequently to maintain and strengthen links with pupils and parents.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have established robust systems and procedures. They are committed to making the safeguarding of pupils the responsibility of all. Leaders ensure that staff receive relevant and up-to-date training. They check that staff know what to do if they have any concerns over pupils’ welfare.
• Procedures to vet adults who work with children are thorough. The necessary checks are recorded methodically. Leaders log any concerns about child protection systematically and maintain effective links with external agencies. Leaders establish firm links with parents and families and act quickly to maintain pupils’ welfare.
• Leaders make sure that the curriculum addresses safety issues to help pupils to understand how to stay safe, including, for example, from extremism and exploitation. The ‘Keep Safe at Shelton’ week has a clear focus on anti-bullying and e-safety to raise pupils’ and parents’ awareness of potential risks and how to deal with them. Outside agencies such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children run workshops and assemblies for pupils. In this way, pupils receive good guidance on how to keep themselves safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers adopt a whole-school approach to teaching a range of subjects because leaders insist upon consistency. This means that pupils build upon their previous learning well and make good progress in developing their skills, knowledge and understanding.
• Teachers develop pupils’ confidence in speaking to the whole class. They extend pupils’ answers and use them well for further teaching points and to correct any misconceptions. Verbal and written guidance given to pupils helps them to understand how to do better.
• There are good opportunities for pupils to learn about grammar, punctuation and spelling. During the inspection, pupils in Year 4 made good progress in identifying and using time connectives and imperative verbs. They worked together well to write instructions and put them into chronological order.
• Teachers make interesting links between subjects so that pupils write for a purpose. For example, during a topic on the Egyptians, not only did pupils in Year 3 learn historical facts, they used what they knew about people and events to write letters.
• Teachers often use a popular story to stimulate writing and pupils’ interest in reading. Pupils spoken to during the inspection said that they enjoy reading and added the comment, ‘It’s like a film in your head’. To raise attainment in reading further, teachers focus on ensuring that pupils fully understand what they read.
• In mathematics, a good start has been made in the development of reasoning skills to help pupils to explain their answers and to grasp concepts firmly. Although relatively new, this approach is speeding up pupils’ progress and raising attainment. It is helping the most able pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to work at the higher levels. However, there has been too little time to see the impact of this approach on outcomes overall. Various ways for pupils to apply their skills across the curriculum are not yet fully established.
• Teaching assistants often work with pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who need to catch up. They build positive relationships and help pupils to develop the skills they need in order to work without over-reliance on adult help.
• Sometimes, pupils do not produce as much work in lessons as they could or get their work finished. This is because teachers do not tell pupils how much time they have and what they are expected to produce by the end of lessons.
• Generally, teachers match work well to the range of ability in the class. Pupils enjoy the challenges that teachers set for them. However, occasionally, teachers do not provide tasks to help pupils, including the most able, to quickly build upon what they already know and can do.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils are proud of their school and value their friendships. Pupils say that they like doing small jobs, such as being librarians or monitors.
• Pupils develop a good understanding of social and moral issues because these are addressed well in their learning. For example, during the inspection, Year 6 pupils talked about their topic entitled ‘Conflict’ which helped them to understand differences in opinions and people from backgrounds different from their own.
• Pupils spoken to during the inspection talked about democracy and the fairness of elections, commenting, ‘You vote and whoever gets the most votes wins: like the American President.’ Pupils take their roles as school councillors seriously and enjoy making decisions to help the school community.
• Pupils say that they feel safe and secure in school. They know about the different forms of bullying and say that bullying is not an issue in their school. If any incidents do arise, pupils say that they know who to speak to and express confidence that staff deal with any problems. Pupils know how to take care when using technology and the internet because this is addressed well by the curriculum.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils say that most pupils are well behaved. They show tolerance towards those pupils who find it difficult to behave well and recognise how these pupils are helped to improve. Pupils know the school’s rules and understand the consequences of poor behaviour because these are promoted well by staff.
• Pupils take an interest in their learning, and their positive attitudes aid the good progress they make. Pupils recognise how staff help them to improve and they respond well to extra support. Pupils are keen to do well and achieve the school’s rewards for their efforts. In lessons, they concentrate on their work and develop confidence in sharing their views with others. They try their best to present their work neatly.
• Attendance is above average. The school monitors absence carefully. Leaders use effective measures to encourage good attendance among those pupils who stay away from school more frequently than they should.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Improvements made to the curriculum and the quality of teaching mean that current pupils now make good progress and attainment is rising. This means that pupils are better prepared than previously for the next stage of their learning when they move to secondary school.
• The most recent published test results in 2015 show that, by the end of Year 6, pupils reached the expected standards for their age. These were the best results the school had achieved for some time. However, from their starting points, pupils did not make the progress of which they were capable because they experienced a period of underachievement which slowed down their progress.
• In 2015, pupils achieved best of all in writing. This good achievement continues. Unvalidated information for 2016 shows outcomes that are above those seen nationally. Pupils write for a range of purposes and develop their skills systematically. They make good gains in spelling, punctuation and grammar, which they use well in their writing. Work in pupils’ books shows that writing is generally legible and well presented.
• Unvalidated information for 2016 shows that reading outcomes are close to those seen nationally. Boys’ attainment is rising because of new resources which promote boys’ interest in reading. The teaching of phonics equips those who find reading more difficult with the strategies they need to tackle new words. The most able readers, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, read with fluency and confidence because, they say, teachers give them wide opportunities to read. Pupils of all ability levels have access to texts that are well matched to their ability.
• In mathematics, a reorganisation of the way in which mathematics is taught means that work is now well pitched to pupils’ abilities, especially for the most able. These pupils reached the expected standard in 2015, but a below-average proportion reached the higher level. In 2016, unvalidated progress information shows that pupils did less well than others nationally. Leaders’ evaluation of the curriculum has led them to improve the focus on developing pupils’ reasoning. As a result, pupils of all abilities are strengthening their understanding and mastery of mathematics, and rates of progress are improving across the school.
• By the end of Year 6 in 2015, differences in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally diminished when compared with 2014. However, in spite of these gains, disadvantaged pupils were over a term behind other pupils nationally in reading and mathematics; in writing, they were just under half a term behind. In all three subjects, disadvantaged pupils did not make the accelerated progress needed to put them on a par with others nationally. Leaders’ analysis of the impact of the pupil premium funding on individual achievement shows that the progress of individual pupils, including the most able from disadvantaged backgrounds, is improving strongly.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are now making more rapid gains than previously. Although there is some variation, most make good progress because the work in lessons and the level of support is well matched to their abilities.
• Pupils make good progress in developing and using computer skills. In science, they learn about scientific processes. They investigate and carry out fair tests. In history and geography, they make good progress in accumulating facts and interpreting the effect of events on people and places.

School details

Unique reference number 112983 Local authority Derby Inspection number 10019548 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Junior School category Foundation Age range of pupils 7 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 265 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Leanne Powell Headteacher Tracie Riley Telephone number 01332 701212 Website www.sheltonjuniors.co.uk Email address admin@sheltonj.derby.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 9-10 December 2014

Information about this school

• The school is larger than the average-sized junior school.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is average. The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or education, health and care plan is below average.
• The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed 19 lessons, three of which were observed jointly with the headteacher. In all, 10 members of staff were seen teaching.
• Inspectors looked at samples of pupils’ work from all classes, spoke to pupils about their work during lessons and listened to pupils read. Inspectors also observed pupils during playtime and lunchtime and met with groups of pupils.
• Inspectors held meetings with governors, school leaders, staff and a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors analysed 31 responses from parents to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and took into account written responses submitted by parents.
• Inspectors analysed five responses to the questionnaire completed by school staff.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at progress and attendance information. They also looked at improvement plans, evidence of the monitoring of teaching, and documentation relating to safeguarding.

Inspection team

Viv McTiffen, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Jane Burton Ofsted Inspector Clare McGarey Ofsted Inspector