Quilters Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Develop the school’s monitoring systems to enable leaders to gather a wide range of crucial information in a concise format.
• Provide consistently strong challenge for the most able pupils.
• Maintain the focus on perfecting pupils’ spelling to ensure that they reach high standards.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher has ensured that this highly sought-after school serves the needs of all of its pupils exceptionally well. He has, along with his senior leaders, made sure that the school’s vision is known, shared and fully supported by all of its stakeholders.
• Parents who completed Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, are overwhelmingly supportive of what the school aims to achieve. Indeed, the outcomes of this questionnaire are testament to the headteacher’s determination that every pupil deserves to excel, whatever their background, in a safe and secure environment.
• One parent wrote in response to Parent View: ‘Quite simply put, it is an amazing school. The staff are so enthusiastic, dedicated, passionate and patient. They work tirelessly to develop each individual on an academic and personal level. The children are happy and this translates to high levels of achievement. I feel my children are so lucky to have had such a strong start in life.’ This comment is typical of the many compliments made by parents.
• The school’s self-evaluation summary is a well-considered document which accurately reflects the school’s effectiveness. Inspectors completely agreed with the school’s judgements and the areas for improvement. Leaders have skilfully linked the self-evaluation document to the school improvement plan. This plan identifies key priorities for the school to enable it to sustain the high standards it has set itself.
• The school’s senior and middle leaders are held robustly to account for the performance of the areas they oversee. All are able to confidently articulate the personal impact they have had in making this an outstanding school. Middle and senior leaders meet regularly to discuss the progress made by pupils, which helps to ensure that no pupil underachieves if at all possible.
• Teaching is managed well. As well as longer formal observations of teaching for performance management purposes, the school has moved towards shorter drop-ins to lessons, called ‘blinks’. These, as well as close scrutiny of performance data and work in pupils’ books, enable leaders to form an accurate picture of the quality of teaching over time.
• The school’s curriculum meets the needs of pupils very well. It is carefully planned and reviewed to allow pupils to excel. Uptake of the wide range of clubs and additional activities the school makes available is high, and no pupil group is disadvantaged as the clubs are open to all to attend. Enterprise is promoted particularly well through a range of imaginative activities. These have helped to make the children realise that anything is possible through teamwork, commitment and self-belief.
• The curriculum promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development exceptionally well. Indeed, this is a major strength of the provision. Pupils have a very clear understanding of fundamental British values. They know right from wrong, understand each other’s differences well and demonstrate an in-depth understanding of democracy and the rule of the law.
• The school’s ‘museum’ corridor is a unique feature of the school. Covering eras from the Stone Age to the present day, this interactive and informative installation has motivated and encouraged pupils to make a positive contribution to the school. Pupils took inspectors on a guided tour of their museum, and demonstrated great pride in their achievements while doing so.
• Additional funding received by the school is used well to improve outcomes for pupils. The impact of the pupil premium funding in supporting the disadvantaged pupils at the school is evaluated annually to ensure that only the most effective support strategies are used. The pupils make strong progress due to the quality of the interventions put in place.
• Additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs/and or disabilities is used effectively to secure good progress.
• The physical education (PE) and sport premium funding is put to very good use in the school. Part of the fund has been successfully used to employ a specialist member of staff. As a result, a very large number of pupils have been motivated to take part in a wide range of competitions. Sport is a wholly inclusive activity. Girls and boys take part in football tournaments, there is a mixed netball team and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities play Boccia, which became a Paralympic sport in 1984. All year groups have sports leaders, and the BBC is about to train some pupils to be effective commentators for the Essex games.
• The school communicates with parents regularly through its newsletter ‘The Quiltonian Times’. This lively and interesting newsletter keeps parents well informed of what the school is doing and encourages them to contribute towards the life of the school. As well as providing parents with regular reports on their children’s progress, the headteacher also makes himself available to parents via a weekly drop-in surgery.
• The local authority has provided ‘light touch’ support to the school because it regards it as a high-performing provider. The school has employed the services of a school improvement partner, who has conducted reviews of the school’s overall performance. The latest review accurately reflected the quality of provision.
• The school’s leaders monitor every aspect of the provision through a very wide range of evidence-gathering activities. This results in a lot of very useful information which the school puts to good use. Although maintaining the high standards achieved by pupils, sometimes the information is not pulled together smartly.

Governance of the school

• Governance is highly effective. This is because:
  • members of the governing body have an excellent understanding of what the school does well and how it can improve further
  • governors have a wide-ranging set of useful skills which enable them to support and challenge the school’s leaders when they need to
  • governors receive detailed and regular reports from the headteacher, which provide them with helpful information as to how well the school is performing
  • the impact of the pupil premium funding is meticulously analysed
  • teachers’ performance is regularly reviewed and challenging targets are set
  • governors regularly review and update school policies
  • all governors have undergone safeguarding training and regard pupils’ safety and well-being as the highest priority.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school’s single central record of recruitment checks of staff is fully compliant with current requirements. All staff have received up-to-date safeguarding training and have read the latest guidance entitled ‘Keeping children safe in education’ which came into force in September 2016.
• All staff have a good understanding of their role in keeping children safe. They demonstrate a sound understanding of how to recognise signs that a child might be a victim of domestic abuse or neglect. All staff have received ‘Prevent’ duty training, which aims to prevent young people from being drawn into terrorism. Inspectors’ scrutiny of pupils’ files, including those subject to child protection, indicates that record-keeping is detailed and robust.
• The school’s leaders maintain good communication with parents, carers and external agencies to ensure the safety of pupils in the school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Pupils in the school experience teaching over time which is typically of very high quality. Teachers have excellent subject knowledge, have high expectations and understand the different needs of the pupils in their class very well. They use this knowledge of pupils’ abilities to pitch work at a suitably high level, which ensures that pupils make rapid progress from their different starting points.
• Teachers are adept at identifying when pupils might have misunderstood what they are being taught. When this occurs, they stop what they are doing, rectify the matter and then pick up where they left off. This ensures that pupils do not fall behind in their learning.
• Teachers make use of skilful questioning to test pupils’ knowledge of what they are learning and to deepen their understanding. Teachers make constant reference to previous learning. This enables pupils to put what they are learning into context and hence make it more meaningful to them as learners.
• Because teachers have an excellent knowledge of the pupils they teach, they ensure that no time is wasted by planning meticulously for their learning. On very rare occasions, the most able pupils are not sufficiently stretched and challenged to achieve even more than they are at present, although they, like their peers, typically achieve well.
• Teachers have managed the change to the new style of assessing pupils’ progress very well. Regular assessments of pupils’ progress enable teachers and leaders to track progress well and to keep parents informed of how well their children are achieving. Pupils understand the different stages in this system well.
• Teachers diligently implement the school’s marking and assessment policy. Pupils take every opportunity to respond to their teachers’ written and verbal feedback. This high-quality dialogue is a key factor in sustaining rapid progress.
• Literacy and mathematical skills are taught well across a range of subjects. This is due to the fact that all teachers see it as their responsibility to develop these skills in different subjects. Pupils enjoy reading and choose books which present a good degree of challenge. Pupils are encouraged to read at least 14 different styles of books during the school year to expose them to different styles of writing. If they do this, they are rewarded in the summer term with a water-themed activity. Most-able pupils read with great fluency and are able to read for inference. The least able pupils make good use of their phonics skills to read unknown words.
• Teaching assistants work particularly well in the classroom, enabling the pupils they support to access the work for themselves and to become independent in their learning.
• The culture of mutually supporting one another in lessons is fully embedded. Most-able pupils typically encourage each other to achieve well and also support their less able peers to do the best they can.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Excellent links with pupils’ infant schools enable a very smooth transition to Quilters Junior School, and pupils told inspectors that they settle in very quickly. Pupils value the buddies they are allocated when joining the school. Equally, pupils leave the school in Year 6 as confident young individuals, ready to embark on their secondary school career.
• Pupils are taught exceptionally well to keep themselves safe, and told inspectors that they feel safe when they are in school. This view was confirmed by parents who responded to Parent View. The school’s ‘worry tree’, placed in a prominent positon in the school, encourages pupils to express their concerns, with the assurance that they will be addressed to their satisfaction.
• E-safety features as a regular item for staff discussion, and pupils are able to explain clearly the risks associated with the use of the internet and social networking sites. Parents are also supported very well by the school to play their part in keeping their children safe through advice provided on the school’s website.
• The ‘Quilters Quest’ scheme, in which pupils aim to prove that they meet the school’s ‘soft skills’, motivates and enthuses all pupils. Over their four years in the school, pupils have to demonstrate their commitment to modelling the skills, which include teamwork, reliability, open-mindedness, selflessness and determination. Pupils nominate each other as having modelled the skills, and this wholly inclusive scheme results in all pupils who achieve a minimum of 15 stickers from their peers being awarded a sought-after paperweight.
• The school’s leaders of learning discuss teaching and learning pedagogy and what they believe makes teaching effective. As a result, pupils’ leadership and entrepreneurial skills are developed through an exciting range of innovative activities. Pupils plan for, and run, a Saturday café in the school, for which they cost the outgoings and plan the menu. They also contribute towards a school radio station and run their own school television station, Quilters TV.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils behave impeccably in their lessons and when outside at play. Pupils show great consideration towards their teachers and their peers.
• The school environment is highly respected by pupils. This is demonstrated by the lack of graffiti around the school, the good condition of the wall displays and the absence of any litter.
• Pupils are encouraged to act as excellent role models to their peers. An example of this approach is the ‘family service’ at lunchtime, where pupils take it in turns to serve the others seated at their table. Inspectors joined pupils during this service, and were highly impressed with the pupils’ manners and how well they engaged the inspectors in conversation.
• No major behavioural incidents have been recorded as nothing has occurred that is serious enough to warrant this. There have been no fixed-term exclusions for the last three years. Equally, bullying is extremely rare, as respect for one another and each other’s differences permeates the school. Pupils, nevertheless, have a very good understanding of different types of bullying and are confident that it would be dealt with effectively, should it ever occur.
• Pupils enjoy coming to school. Attendance levels are high overall. Disadvantaged pupils attend school almost as regularly as their peers. This is due to the excellent work the school has carried out with families whose children were prone to attending school less regularly in the past.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils enter the school with levels of prior attainment which are above the national average. Pupils are assessed on entry to establish an accurate baseline level. This enables the school to accurately measure the progress each child makes from their different starting points.
• Pupils make rapid progress over time in reading, writing and in mathematics. This progress is due to the high quality of teaching pupils typically experience. Writing is a particularly strong feature in the school. One display of pupils’ work in the school entrance celebrates ‘writing for purpose’. Pupils in Year 6 wrote high-quality letters to prospective employers, asking for advice about how to prepare for their dream jobs, which included becoming a pilot, a footballer and an equine vet.
• Pupils are skilled at using subject-specific vocabulary and technical terms.
• The strong progress achieved over time is not limited to English and mathematics. Inspectors’ review of the school’s latest achievement data, as well as a detailed scrutiny of pupils’ books from all four year groups and across all subjects, supports the school’s view that progress is outstanding.
• The school’s most-able pupils achieve very well over time because they are presented with a good degree of challenge and they typically select tasks which are matched well to their abilities. A few of the most able pupils are not challenged consistently.
• The school’s disadvantaged pupils make strong progress over time, including those who are most able. The school makes effective use of the pupil premium funding to arrange booster classes before the start of the school day. Disadvantaged pupils are not removed from their lessons during the day. Instead, teachers address any potential weaknesses before the lesson in the booster class, so that disadvantaged pupils can select a task in class which is appropriate for their ability and allows them to make the progress of which they are capable.
• The needs of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are very well met. The pupils make strong progress from their different starting points because the additional support they receive is well targeted and teachers’ expectations are rightly high.
• Senior leaders, in their drive to maintain the highest outcomes for pupils, have identified spelling as a priority for further development. They have developed age-appropriate strategies to perfect pupils’ spelling. Younger pupils are provided with more structured support to rectify the misspelled word, and older pupils research how to rewrite the word correctly.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 114801 Essex 10023386 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 260 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Lesley Mitchelmore Mike Wade 01277 652339 www.quiltersjuniorschool.com michael_wade@quilters-jun.essex.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 23 March 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Quilters Junior School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• Most pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language is well below the national average.
• A below-average proportion of disadvantaged pupils attend the school.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well below the national average, but the proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is broadly average.
• The school does not make use of any off-site provision.
• The headteacher provides leadership support to a newly appointed headteacher of a local school and has also been trained to conduct reviews of other schools within the local authority.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

Information about this inspection

• This inspection was conducted with one day’s notice.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in every class, sometimes accompanied by senior leaders, and also conducted more brief visits to lessons alone to focus on pupils’ attitudes towards their learning.
• Inspectors looked at pupils’ books across a wide range of subjects and all year groups. Work scrutinised represented different groups of pupils in the school, including disadvantaged pupils, most-able disadvantaged pupils, higher-attaining pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Meetings were held with senior leaders, subject leaders, different groups of pupils, and the chair and two additional members of the governing body. A telephone conversation was held with the school improvement partner and a representative of the local authority.
• Discussions took place with parents.
• Inspectors scrutinised school improvement documents, policies, information on pupils’ progress, records of the quality of teaching and information on pupils’ behaviour and attendance.
• The single central record of recruitment checks of staff was scrutinised.
• Inspectors considered 92 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 10 responses to the staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

John Daniell, lead inspector Christine Dick Susannah Connell Her Majesty’s Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector