Burbage Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve teaching and accelerate pupils’ progress by ensuring that teachers consistently:
  • have high expectations of what all groups of pupils should achieve, including the most able, and match work accordingly
  • provide work in class that strengthens what pupils learn in extra support groups
  • plan to engage pupils and stimulate learning more effectively
  • ensure that pupils spell accurately whenever they write.
• Improve leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that teachers know how to improve the teaching of specific groups of pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities
  • developing the role of all leaders in checking and improving the quality of teaching
  • ensuring that the curriculum in all subjects builds systematically on pupils’ skills and previous learning as they move through the school
  • establishing more ways to help pupils to develop an understanding of Britain’s multicultural society.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders are not yet sufficiently rigorous in evaluating how well teaching is helping specific groups of pupils to learn. This means that, although most pupils make the expected progress, leaders do not ensure that teaching results in consistently strong progress and higher standards.
• Not all leaders are well informed about the quality of teaching and learning in their subjects and areas of responsibility. Their roles are developing well but they are not fully involved in helping teachers to improve.
• Leaders use additional funding that the school receives for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to benefit individual pupils through extra adult support and resources. They do not evaluate effectively the impact of this spending, however, on the progress made by this group of pupils overall.
• In some subjects, leaders do not focus the curriculum sharply enough on the development of skills. This restricts how well pupils develop an in-depth understanding in subjects such as history and geography.
• The curriculum provides limited opportunities for pupils to develop an understanding of people from backgrounds and faiths that are different from their own. This means that pupils are not as well prepared for life in culturally diverse modern Britain as they could be. Other aspects of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding are promoted effectively.
• The headteacher is dedicated to moving the school forward. He has improved communication with parents, many of whom hold the school in high regard, and encourages them to be involved in their children’s learning.
• There has been a marked improvement in pupils’ behaviour, which is now good. Leaders have established a consistent approach to behaviour management and improved facilities at lunchtime. As a result, pupils are clear about the school’s expectations of behaviour and they engage well with each other.
• Since the previous inspection, a review of the pupil premium spending means that leaders now ensure that the additional money is making a difference to the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. The extra support these pupils receive is now speeding up their progress.
• The headteacher has improved the systems to check pupils’ progress. He sets targets for pupils and staff to work towards. The headteacher encourages staff to share expertise with each other and to gain experience by visiting other schools.
• The curriculum provides a suitable range of subjects. Effective support from the teaching and learning alliance, which is commissioned by the local authority, is helping leaders to evaluate and improve the mathematics curriculum. This is leading to more pupils developing a greater depth of mathematical understanding.
• The curriculum promotes pupils’ personal development well through social, creative and sporting activities. There are good opportunities for pupils to participate in performances and to learn musical instruments.
• Pupils learn about key British institutions and important British figures such as Winston Churchill, and develop an understanding of British values.
• The primary physical education and sport funding is used effectively to provide a wide range of activities which are popular with pupils. Leaders check that spending has a positive effect on increasing pupils’ participation and improving teachers’ expertise in delivering physical education lessons.

Governance

• Governance has improved since the previous inspection and the governing body is now more effective in holding school leaders to account.
• The governing body has acted on recommendations from an external review of governance. There are now several committees with responsibility for checking the school’s work. Governors recognise and make good use of the skills that they bring to the governing body.
• Governors are rigorous in their questioning over the effectiveness of the pupil premium spending. They are well informed about the progress of disadvantaged pupils and know that raising the achievement of this group of pupils is a priority.
• Governors are developing stronger links with school leaders to help them gain a better understanding of the quality of provision and evaluate the effectiveness of improvement, for example in mathematics.
• The governing body is well informed. Governors collect first-hand information by talking with pupils and school staff and they check the effectiveness of behaviour systems. The governing body ensures that policies are up to date.
• Links between the governing body and the headteacher are frequent and purposeful. Governors carry out the headteacher’s performance management. They know how training and professional development are helping staff to improve their work.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There are robust systems for staff recruitment. Training for staff informs them about how to keep pupils safe. Clear procedures are in place to deal with any worries over children’s safety and well-being.
• Leaders maintain detailed and confidential records. They work well with outside agencies and parents to ensure that prompt action is taken, should any concerns over children’s welfare arise.
• Much work has been done to raise the profile of internet safety and to help pupils to keep themselves safe from bullying. Staff, governors and pupils have devised an anti-bullying charter. Incidents of bullying have reduced greatly and are now infrequent. Any that do occur are recorded and followed up swiftly and effectively by school leaders.
• Teaching covers safety issues during lessons and assemblies. Leaders make effective use of the local police force and visits to locations such as the Warning Zone. In this way, pupils are provided with good guidance on how to recognise unsafe situations and potential risks, including those presented by extremism.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• There is variation throughout the school in how well teaching leads to good progress. Teachers’ expectations are sometimes not high enough to make sure that pupils rapidly build on what they already know and can do.
• Tasks that teachers provide are not pitched well enough to allow lower-ability pupils to consolidate their skills and the most able pupils to reach their full potential. Some pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, work in small support groups where they receive extra help. This is accelerating their progress. The gains they make are not built on firmly enough in lessons.
• Teachers do not always provide activities that motivate pupils to develop a love of learning. This sometimes leads to a lack of engagement, off-task behaviour and slower progress.
• Spelling is taught regularly but teachers do not expect pupils to use what they know consistently when they write. Work in pupils’ books shows that teachers usually correct inaccurate spelling but some pupils continue to make the same mistakes.
• Some teachers match the work well to pupils’ abilities and provide tasks that motivate learning. For example, pupils in Year 3 made good progress in writing a newspaper report during the inspection. The task was interesting and built on what pupils already knew. The most able pupils developed their sentences well while the lower-ability pupils worked on more basic sentence structures.
• Teachers encourage pupils to explain their answers. They ask relevant questions to extend learning and to check that pupils understand. Staff make sure that pupils know what they are learning about and they set targets for pupils to work towards.
• Staff have positive relationships with pupils. They praise pupils’ efforts and successes and build their confidence. Teachers give pupils the opportunity to share their ideas with each other.
• The teaching of mathematics is improving. Practical tasks encourage pupils to practise their skills and there is now a much more consistent approach to developing pupils’ reasoning skills.
• Teachers teach grammar and punctuation frequently to help pupils to improve their writing skills. New reading books and the regular teaching of reading enhance pupils’ enjoyment and are improving their comprehension skills.
• Teaching assistants and additional staff work with a range of pupils, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They help pupils to understand their work and to make small steps in their learning. The work they do with the most able pupils extends their thinking and develops their skills well.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils value the support they receive from staff. The school helps pupils to develop social skills, which pupils say boost their confidence and self-esteem.
• There is a strong sense of community in the school and pupils are happy to play their part. They take responsibility as school councillors and enjoy being playground buddies. Pupils take their roles seriously and recognise how they can help others.
• Pupils develop an awareness of fairness, respect and kindness. They said it is important to treat others as you would like to be treated, and they spoke positively about the school’s promotion of ‘random acts of kindness’.
• Pupils said they feel safe. They have a good understanding of the different forms that bullying can take. They are aware of the potential risks presented by using technology and social media. They know whom to talk to if they have any worries. Pupils said that the ‘comment’ boxes are a useful way to pass their opinions or concerns on to adults.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils understand the school’s rules and sanctions, which are applied consistently well by staff. Pupils behave well when working with various adults, including during after-school clubs and at lunchtimes. The school’s logs show that recorded incidents are followed up.
• Pupils said that behaviour has improved for everyone. Some pupils, who find it difficult to behave well, receive extra support which successfully helps them to conform to the school’s expectations.
• Attendance is above average and very few pupils stay away from school frequently. The school follows up any absences effectively.
• Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and engage willingly. Teachers do not always maximise on these positive attitudes in lessons, however, to promote a real enjoyment for learning and the best possible progress.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• The rate of progress made by pupils as they move through the school is not rapid enough to ensure that all groups of learners, including the most able, reach the standards of which they are capable by the end of Year 6.
• In 2016, the overall standards in reading, writing and mathematics reached by pupils by the end of Year 6 were in line with those seen nationally. Lower- and middle-ability pupils, however, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, did not achieve as well as similar pupils nationally because they did not make sufficiently good progress from their starting points.
• Overall, the most able pupils made the progress expected of them although not enough reached the higher levels in mathematics. The most able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds did not do as well as others nationally.
• In 2016, pupils who had special educational needs and/or disabilities made much slower progress than the average. Some individual pupils make good progress but leaders do not focus sharply enough on helping teachers to improve their teaching for this group of pupils to ensure that they all make strong progress.
• Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and the most able pupils are now making better progress than previously because of the well-targeted support they receive, although this is not always built on well enough in lessons.
• Work in books and the school’s assessment information shows that pupils currently in Year 6 are making good progress. They are on track to reach higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics than those achieved in 2016. This means that they are better prepared for the next stage of their education than previous pupils in Year 6.
• In recent years, standards in mathematics have been weaker than in reading and writing. Improvements to the mathematics curriculum are helping pupils to make faster progress in the subject throughout the school.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 119964 Leicestershire 10031173 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Junior School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 7 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 373 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Chris Doran Nic Bates Telephone number 01455 630 970 Website Email address www.burbage-jun.leics.sch.uk office@burbage-jun.leics.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 May 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The majority of pupils are from White backgrounds.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.
• In 2016, the school met the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The school is part of the Affinity Teaching and Learning Alliance.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in 19 lessons, two of which were observed jointly with the headteacher, and two assemblies. In all, 12 members of staff were seen teaching.
• Inspectors looked at samples of pupils’ work from all year groups and talked to leaders about the work. Inspectors spoke with pupils about their work during lessons. They listened to pupils from Year 3 and Year 6 read. Inspectors met with groups of pupils.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour around the school and at playtimes and lunchtimes. An inspector observed after-school activities.
• Inspectors held meetings with governors, school leaders and staff, and a representative of the local authority. An inspector also spoke with a representative of the teaching school alliance.
• Inspectors analysed 61 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and took account of parents’ written comments. An inspector spoke with some parents during the inspection.
• Inspectors analysed the three responses to a questionnaire submitted by school staff.
• Inspectors scrutinised the school’s systems and documentation relating to safeguarding. They looked at information about pupils’ attainment and progress, and about their attendance. Inspectors looked at school improvement plans and evidence of the school’s checks on the quality of teaching.

Inspection team

Viv McTiffen, lead inspector Christopher Mansell Christopher Wheatley Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector