St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • working more closely with senior leaders from the feeder infant school to check the accuracy of assessments so that pupils have continuity of learning between key stages 1 and 2
  • sharpening leaders checks on pupils’ attainment and progress so that they can quickly tackle underachievement and any inconsistencies in teachers’ practice
  • ensuring that pupils have enough opportunities to develop their literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum
  • ensuring that the pupil premium is used effectively to accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils
  • refining plans for improvement so that they include regular and clear measures of success so that senior leaders and governors can check the school’s performance more robustly.
• Improve the quality of teaching and learning so that pupils achieve more highly by:
  • ensuring that teachers raise their expectations of what pupils can achieve, particularly of the most able pupils, so that they can achieve highly at the end of key stage 2
  • making sure that teachers are clear about what pupils already know and use this knowledge to plan engaging activities that motivate and challenge all pupils, particularly the most able
  • using information about the pupils’ performance and the quality of teaching to provide effective training and support to teachers
  • developing pupils’ mathematical skills to reason and solve problems across the curriculum
  • giving pupils more opportunities to use and to develop their skills of writing extended pieces in subjects other than English.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders have not done enough to ensure that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is consistently good for all pupils. As a result, pupils do not make consistently good progress from their different starting points.
• Leaders are not using the evidence they gather from pupils’ books, observations of teaching and information about pupils’ attainment and progress to accurately evaluate the quality of teaching and the extent to which it is having a positive impact on pupils’ achievement. Their records of these activities do not identify how successfully pupils are learning or provide guidance on how teaching could be improved to lead to better achievement.
• Since the beginning of the current academic year, the senior leadership team has reviewed improvement strategies and introduced new approaches to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Many of these changes remain at an early stage of implementation, however, and have yet to secure consistently faster progress for pupils.
• Senior leaders are not working well enough with senior colleagues from the feeder infant school to ensure that pupils have continuity of learning between key stages 1 and 2. Assessments of pupils’ work are not being moderated when pupils join the school to establish an accurate and shared understanding of standards. As a result, teachers are not able to build systematically upon pupils’ capabilities and prior knowledge to ensure that they make good progress.
• Disadvantaged pupils, including those who are among the school’s most able pupils, are not making the progress they should or achieving well enough. Leaders are not using the pupil premium funding well enough to enable this group of pupils to make accelerated progress by the end of key stage 2. As a result, their attainment is below other pupils’ nationally. The school is currently undertaking an external review of its use of the pupil premium.
• The school’s improvement plan is not focused sharply enough on improving standards. The plan does not contain regular milestones of measures of success related to pupils’ attainment or progress. Consequently, senior leaders and the governing body are not checking frequently enough if their actions are having the desired impact.
• The special educational needs coordinator is very knowledgeable about the needs of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. She ensures that they receive effective additional support to meet their physical and emotional needs. Their academic progress, however, is not tracked or reviewed carefully enough to ensure that they receive the bespoke teaching they require.
• Senior leaders are not setting performance management targets with teachers that effectively promote high achievement among pupils. Teachers are not being held sufficiently to account for the progress of the pupils in their class.
• The curriculum covers a wide range of subjects through pupils’ topic work, in addition to English and mathematics. Teachers do not provide enough opportunities, however, for pupils to apply their literacy and numeracy skills in other subjects.
• The school offers a broad range of extra-curricular activities which are popular with the pupils and are well attended, including a choir, a gardening club, street dancing and football.
• The curriculum successfully promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through lessons and assemblies. It places a strong emphasis on promoting respect and tolerance for the range of religions, values and beliefs that exist in modern Britain.
• Senior leaders have used the primary physical education and sport premium to provide professional development for staff and coaching for pupils in a wide range of sports. As a result, the school’s use of this funding is improving the quality of provision in this area.
• Parents and carers responded positively on the school’s leadership when completing the online survey, and value the school’s strong Christian ethos.

Governance of the school

• Governors know the school well and are committed to working with senior leaders to secure the necessary improvements. Recent appointments have increased the level of expertise and, as a result, the governing body is beginning to challenge school leaders more effectively.
• Although governors visit the school regularly, they are not able to check systematically on the implementation of the school improvement plan because regular milestones are not identified. Consequently, the governing body is not able to ensure that the school is improving quickly enough.
• The governing body is not checking carefully enough how the pupil premium funding is being used to improve the attainment and progress of disadvantaged pupils. Disadvantaged pupils are not making the progress they could and this means that the funding is not being used effectively.
• The nominated safeguarding governor has a clear understanding of her role and regularly reviews safeguarding procedures with school leaders to ensure that they are robust. This helps to ensure that the school’s safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff and governors are aware of the potential threats to pupils’ welfare and have a good knowledge of the particular local issues that can put children at risk.
• Leaders take swift action if they have any concerns over the welfare of a child. They work effectively with families and a range of external agencies, including social care, the local authority and health professionals, to ensure the well-being of children whose circumstances may make them particularly vulnerable.
• All staff have been trained in safeguarding and child protection, including training to protect pupils from the risks of extremism and radicalisation.
• Senior leaders ensure that accurate records are kept of all aspects of safeguarding. This ensures that they have a clear oversight of pupils’ well-being.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching is not consistently effective across the school. It does not ensure that all pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Teachers do not always have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve, particularly among the most able pupils. Consequently, pupils make slower progress than they should.
• The assessment of pupils’ work is weak. As a result, teachers are unclear about what pupils can do and the progress they are making. Consequently, pupils of all abilities, particularly the most able, are not always provided with suitably challenging work that extends their thinking. For example, pupils frequently work from commercial workbooks or complete mundane commercial worksheets. This often involves pupils practising skills they already have.
• Scrutiny of pupils’ work across the curriculum shows that pupils do not have enough opportunities to build up their skills in writing or reason mathematically in order to gain a deeper understanding of mathematics. For example, the quality of written work in topic books is not of the same length or standard as it is in literacy books. Where mathematics skills are applied in other subjects, the same tasks are often set for pupils of all abilities. This means that the most able pupils find the tasks too easy.
• Pupils do not develop independence and resilience because they are too dependent on adults to support their learning. For example, in a mathematics lesson, pupils in Year 6 had to wait for the teacher to direct them onto a more challenging activity. Pupils were not encouraged to review their own completed work, reflect on their next learning steps and then select a challenging ‘mastery’ task. As a result, time was wasted and pupils’ levels of engagement and enthusiasm for learning were not sustained.
• The teaching of phonics for pupils who have not met the expected standard in their understanding of phonics by the time they join the school is good. Staff give these pupils appropriate support to help them catch up.
• Teaching is successful in helping pupils, including the most able, to develop a love of reading. Reading has a high profile around the school and teachers provide pupils with many opportunities to become familiar with different types of texts.
• Teaching assistants demonstrate skill in supporting small-group work within the classroom. In many classes, they work closely with teachers and are clear about the next steps in learning of the pupils they are supporting. As a result, they frequently make a valuable contribution to the learning.
• Relationships between staff and pupils are extremely positive.
• Classrooms are well organised and tidy. Useful displays with information and prompts to support pupils’ learning are referred to regularly in lessons.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils report that they feel safe in all areas of the school. Pupils are confident that any concern will be taken seriously and dealt with swiftly. All parents who communicated with the inspector indicated that they felt that their children were safe at school.
• Pupils understand that bullying can take many forms. They have a mature understanding of the hurt and unfairness caused by racist and homophobic attitudes. Pupils say that bullying is extremely rare and that any incident will be dealt with promptly by senior leaders.
• Pupils develop good levels of confidence and self-esteem. They have positive attitudes towards learning and are always eager to please and do their best.
• Pupils enjoy contributing to the life of their school. They take on responsibilities such as being school councillors and garden guardians. The views expressed by the school council and sports council play an important role in influencing school improvement.
• Pupils know that it is important to eat a balanced diet and to exercise regularly. They are encouraged to be active and particularly enjoy participating in competitions. Pupils explained clearly the dangers posed by smoking and drug and substance misuse.
• Pupils emphatically agreed that they enjoy being pupils at St Peter’s. One pupil summed this up saying, ‘the best things are our friends and all the teachers who treat you fairly and kindly.’
• All of the school’s work is underpinned by references to its Christian values and beliefs. These successfully support pupils to be responsible citizens through understanding that the values and beliefs associated with their school are shared within British culture.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• The large majority of parents and staff agree that the behaviour of pupils is good.
• The school is a warm, welcoming and happy place to be. Pupils are polite, courteous and well mannered around the school and at social times. For example, behaviour in the dining hall during the inspection was calm and sensible, and pupils were considerate of each other when playing outside.
• Pupils enjoy learning through their topic work. In lessons, pupils try hard with their work and mostly sustain good concentration. They present their work neatly and are proud of their achievements.
• Pupils’ attendance is above the national average. Very few pupils are persistently absent. The school has robust systems in place to follow up any lateness or absenteeism.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 1 when they leave the feeder infant school is well above average. Scrutiny of pupils’ work when they join the junior school, however, indicates that there has been some regression during the summer break. As a result, most pupils enter the school with knowledge and skills that are at least average and for a large majority, above average.
• Standards at the end of key stage 2 in 2016 in reading and writing were below the national average, and well below it in mathematics. The progress made by pupils from their starting points for each subject was below the national average. This is because teaching does not reflect high enough expectations or offer sufficient challenge.
• Not enough of the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, achieve highly at the end of key stage 2. This is because they are not challenged well enough in lessons.
• The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is slower than that of pupils with similar starting points. The school provides effective support for their physical and emotional needs. Systems to ensure that the identified needs of pupils who require additional support are met in their daily lessons, however, are not robust enough to ensure that they make consistently good progress.
• Disadvantaged pupils made slower progress than the national average for other pupils in 2016 by the end of key stage 2. The school’s own information shows that the group of these pupils have recently made better progress as a result of actions being taken to support them, particularly in the current Year 6.
• The sharp focus on raising standards in writing this year is having a positive impact on pupils’ achievement. Their books show good progress in improving sentence construction and applying the rules of grammar and spelling accurately. The practice of ‘talk for writing’ is contributing to pupils’ enthusiasm for writing and effectively extending the range of their writing in literacy lessons.
• The school’s most recent assessment information, the quality of work in pupils’ books and learning observed all confirm that pupils currently in the school are making better progress as a result of the action being taken to tackle weaknesses in teaching and learning. They are not making the progress of which they are capable, however, because teaching is not yet consistently good.
• Pupils enjoy many opportunities to read and have positive attitudes to reading. Pupils who receive support in their understanding of phonics quickly become confident readers.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 112921 Derby 10023156 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Junior School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Maintained 7 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 258 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Maria Bullock Alison Woodhouse Telephone number 01332 767158 Website Email address www.stpetersschoolderby.co.uk/ admin@stpeters.derby.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 12–13 June 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is an average-sized junior school.
• Around half the pupils are from White British backgrounds and half from a range of minority ethnic groups.

• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is approximately one quarter.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.
• The school does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited all classes to observe teaching and learning. Some of these visits took place with the headteacher.
• Inspectors observed pupils at breaktimes and at lunchtime and asked pupils about their learning and what it is like to be a pupil at the school.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ workbooks and listened to pupils read.
• Discussions took place with the headteacher, subject team members, members of the governing body, a representative of the local authority and a representative of the Diocese.
• Inspectors had brief discussions with parents at the beginning of the school day and considered the 108 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.
• Inspectors considered a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school’s improvement plan, the school’s most recent information on pupils’ attainment and progress, and information relating to teaching, performance management, behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

Inspection team

Dorothy Bathgate, lead inspector Jennifer Digges Peter Bell Sarah Chadwick Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector