Wirksworth Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders develop appropriate whole-school and subject improvement plans that contain specific actions and milestones which are then systematically monitored by governors
  • leaders, including governors, monitor more closely the allocation and impact of the pupil premium funding to ensure it is spent more effectively
  • the science and foundation subject programmes of study are designed carefully to ensure that skills in these subjects are taught at age-appropriate levels.
• Improve the quality of teaching and learning, and therefore improve outcomes, by ensuring that:
  • greater support is given to disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, to ensure that they make the progress of which they are capable
  • teachers check carefully when pupils are ready to tackle more challenging work in mathematics so that greater proportions achieve or exceed the expected standard.
• Improve the quality of pupils’ personal development and welfare by ensuring that:
  • pupils have opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding of other faiths and cultures, therefore preparing them well for life in modern Britain
  • staff work more closely with pupils and families to improve the attendance rates of different groups of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils. An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leadership and management require improvement because not all areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection report have been suitably addressed. For example, disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, are not supported or monitored well enough to ensure that they make the progress of which they are capable.
• Leaders’ plans for school improvement in English and mathematics lack precision. They do not contain sufficient detail in their actions, timescales or monitoring opportunities to enable their impact to be measured accurately.
• Leaders have not ensured that the programmes of study for foundation subjects and science are planned appropriately throughout the school. For example, inspectors found evidence of pupils completing the same work on electric circuits in Years 3 and 6.
• Leaders have not ensured that the curriculum successfully prepares pupils for life in modern Britain. There are not enough opportunities for pupils to learn about faiths and cultures different to their own.
• There is a timetable of monitoring activities in place that ensures, for example, that leaders check pupils’ books regularly. Consequently, leaders were recently able to confirm that the school’s marking policy has been implemented successfully and consistently across the school.
• Leaders have made good links with other schools locally. This enables teachers to share good practice and moderate pupils’ work to ensure that assessments, for example in pupils’ extended writing, are accurate.
• Leadership of special educational needs provision is a strength. Pupils are tracked closely to ensure that additional help provided is having a positive impact and that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress. There are good links with outside agencies including speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and the school nurse.
• Performance management is robust. Staff are set challenging targets regarding pupil progress and receive appropriate training. Reviews are timetabled twice during the academic year to ensure that teachers are on track to meet targets or to establish if extra support is required. Governors have a clear overview of this process to ensure transparency and fairness.
• Additional physical education and sport premium funding has been used successfully to give pupils the opportunity to develop their skills in a wide range of sports including fencing, water polo, table tennis and basketball. Older pupils are ‘change for life’ ambassadors who help to organise activities for other pupils at lunchtimes. Pupils have enjoyed competitions against other schools in football and are current local indoor sports hall athletics champions.
• Staff who completed the online questionnaire are overwhelming supportive of leaders. The vast majority of staff believe that they are treated fairly and with respect and that the school is well led and managed.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective in helping the school to move forward.
• Governors have recently carried out relevant training provided by the local authority to help them better understand published pupil attainment and achievement information. As a result of this, the teaching and learning committee ask relevant questions of leaders and hold them to account for their actions.
• Governors are aware of the strengths and areas for development at the school. For example, they know that leaders do not allocate the spending of the pupil premium funding carefully enough and that its impact cannot be measured accurately.
• Governors carry out planned monitoring activities throughout the year. A recent example being a science work scrutiny, where governors correctly identified that progression is an issue.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders ensure that staff receive regular training and updates to help them understand how to keep children safe. Procedures for vetting adults who work with children are rigorous. The single central record is well maintained and monitored.
• There are good systems in place for staff to record child protection concerns. Leaders understand the importance of attention to detail in ensuring that records are robust and of the highest quality. There are strong links with outside agencies that ensure pupils and families quickly receive any extra support they require.
• Leaders, including governors, have received appropriate safeguarding training including in the ‘Prevent’ duty, which helps them to protect pupils who are at risk from extremism and radicalisation.
• Leaders and staff create a secure and safe environment where pupils’ welfare is important. Consequently, parents know their children are kept safe and pupils feel safe and secure in school.
• A governor recently undertook an audit to check that the safeguarding procedures are being followed consistently. This exemplifies the high priority given to safeguarding which is reflected in the strong safeguarding culture evident throughout the school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teachers do not plan effectively enough to ensure that disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, receive the support they require. Consequently, these pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable in reading, writing and, in particular, mathematics.
• Teachers do not move pupils on to appropriately challenging work quickly enough in mathematics. Too often, pupils are given work that is too easy for them and as a result are not reaching the standards of which they are capable.
• There are good opportunities for pupils to write at length in a range of subjects. This enables pupils to practise spelling, punctuation and grammar skills regularly. For example, in Year 3 pupils had written a detailed newspaper report about a Roman gladiator which demonstrated their effective use of adjectives.
• Pupils take pride in their work and their presentation of work is a strength. Standards of handwriting are high across the school, with many pupils enjoying the challenge and reward of achieving a ‘pen certificate’.
• Teachers are using the school’s marking and assessment policy consistently in a wide range of subjects. As a result of this, pupils are aware of their targets and what they need to do next in order to improve.
• Pupils enjoy reading and have a well-resourced library from which to choose books. Reading diaries show that pupils read regularly at home and that the level of challenge in their reading books is appropriate.
• Pupils who attend the nurture group are supported well. They make good progress academically, socially and emotionally. Adults provide a safe and caring environment where pupils progress well in English and mathematics.
• A recent visit from adults and children from Die enabled pupils to develop their understanding of French. This visit helped to support the existing, weekly sessions that occur in all classes and help pupils learn the basics of another language.
• Pupils receive regular homework activities that extend their knowledge and skills in a range of subjects. Pupils told inspectors they enjoyed completing these tasks. Recent examples on display at the school included models of a Viking long boat and the local church.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Pupils have a limited knowledge and understanding of world faiths and cultures. They are not as well prepared for life in modern Britain as they could be.
• Pupils’ attendance rates, including those for disadvantaged pupils, are currently below those for pupils nationally.
• Pupils are confident learners and talk knowledgably about the activities they are doing. They work equally well individually, in pairs or in groups. For example, in one mixed Year 5 and Year 6 class, groups of pupils were developing their speaking skills by rehearsing a play about a Roman invasion, in readiness for an upcoming school assembly.
• The core values of integrity, aspiration, determination, respect, tolerance and trust are evident around the school. Pupils talk about these readily and demonstrate the values as they go about their day in classrooms and when playing at break and lunchtimes.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of activities and clubs. These include choir, chess, drumming, hand bells and samba dancing. Many of these activities are suggested by pupils, these are then delivered by staff or outside providers.
• Pupils have a strong understanding of how to keep themselves safe, including when online, crossing the road and out on their bikes. They have a good understanding of the different kinds of bullying and say that it is extremely rare. The ‘Several Times On Purpose’ and ‘Start Telling Other People’ mantra is well known and used by pupils regularly.
• Pupils enjoy the responsibility of being play leaders at lunchtime, helping to organise sports and games for other pupils. The playground is well equipped for physical activity and equipment such as skipping ropes, hoops and basketballs are plentiful. These ensure that pupils remain active during breaktimes.
• The breakfast club is a strength. Pupils enjoy attending and are extremely well cared for. Relationships between adults and pupils are very positive, enabling pupils to have an excellent start to the day. One pupil remarked that, ‘Breakfast club is awesome!’
• Staff know and care for pupils very well. There is a nurturing ethos and the vast majority of pupils who spoke with inspectors said that they were well looked after and felt safe.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good in classrooms, corridors and on the playground.
• Some parents who responded to the online survey, Parent View, suggested that behaviour was not good. Inspectors looked very closely at this issue and considered carefully the points raised by parents. Following observations of pupils in a variety of situations, and in discussions with pupils and staff, they concluded that pupils behave well.
• Staff consistently use ‘reward ladders’ to promote positive behaviour. Pupils enjoy the challenge and prestige of achieving bronze, silver or gold awards, which are presented regularly in assemblies.
• Pupils show good manners when talking to each other, staff and visitors. They often hold doors open for one another and respectfully allow adults to go first. They greeted inspectors politely and spoke maturely about their learning and the school.
• Incidents of low-level disruption in classrooms are extremely rare. This is because pupils work well together and respond positively to adults’ instructions.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Outcomes for pupils require improvement because disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, do not make the progress of which they are capable from their various starting points. This is particularly the case in mathematics.
• Pupils do not make good progress in mathematics. This is because they are not moved on to more challenging work quickly enough. They are often given work that is too easy for them.
• Pupils do not make good progress in science and other foundation subjects. This is because the programmes of study are the same for pupils in Year 3 to Year 6. Pupils often complete exactly the same work in these subjects.
• In 2016, the progress made by disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, was below national averages in reading and mathematics.
• In 2016, the standards reached by non-disadvantaged pupils were above national figures in reading, writing and mathematics. This was the case at the expected and higher levels of attainment.
• Standards in the spelling, punctuation and grammar test were broadly in line with national figures last year. However, pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, achieved standards below national figures at the higher level.
• Current information about pupils’ performance and work in pupils’ books indicate that the majority of non-disadvantaged pupils are on track to reach age-related expectations in reading and writing by the end of the academic year. Non-disadvantaged pupils are making particularly strong progress in writing.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress from their various starting points. This is especially the case for Year 5 and Year 6 pupils in mathematics and for Year 3 and Year 4 pupils in reading and writing.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 112652 Derbyshire 10023257 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 Community 7 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 152 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Neill Bennett Lesley Grover 01629 822457 www.wirksworth-junior.co.uk office@wirksworth-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 18–19 June 2013

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the curriculum, special educational needs and governance on its website.
• The school is a smaller than average-sized primary school.
• The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and those pupils who speak English as an additional language are much lower than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed lessons in all year groups and examined a wide variety of pupils’ books from a range of subjects. The acting deputy headteacher sometimes accompanied the lead inspector on inspection activities.
• Inspectors held a range of meetings with the headteacher and acting deputy headteacher, special educational needs leader, a group of governors including the chair, and a representative from the local authority. They spoke with pupils in groups, in lessons, around the school and listened to them read.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents including minutes of governing body meetings, current assessment information provided by the school, the school development plan, plans written by English and mathematics subject leaders and records relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors talked with parents before school and took into account 40 responses to Parent View and 37 responses to the parent text service. There were 116 responses to the pupil questionnaire and 12 to the staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Peter Stonier, lead inspector Rob Cruise Dorothy Stenson Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector