Jupiter Community Free School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Strengthen leadership and management by:
  • continuing to develop the rigour in all systems and processes to support the rapid expansion of the school and the increasing numbers of pupils on site
  • increasing the input of middle leaders, particularly subject leaders, so they contribute effectively towards further school improvement, particularly pupil outcomes.
• Further improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, and standards by:
  • ensuring that teachers use prior assessment information more precisely to support those few disadvantaged pupils, including those in early years, who are not making consistently good progress, to catch up, most notably those who arrive part way through the academic year.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The seconded executive principal, assisted by the trust, governors and other members of the leadership team, has skilfully overseen the opening and development of this new school. She has established a clear direction and set of values which permeate all aspects of the school’s work and underpin its fundamental approach to teaching and learning.
• Staff are proud to work at Jupiter Community Free School. Leaders ensure that staff are motivated, and valued. In return, staff understand leaders’ high expectations, and appreciate the exciting opportunities and support that they provide. Staff share the principles upon which the school is based, and work hard to achieve the best outcomes for pupils. As a result, the quality of teaching is good and supports pupils to learn effectively.
• Leaders have a precise understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. They keep a close eye on the quality of teaching and link it to the progress being made by individual pupils. Leaders hold teachers rigorously to account through performance management objectives, which align closely with the school’s development plan.
• ‘Coaching conversations’ are used effectively by senior leaders to both develop, and monitor and evaluate, teaching and learning. Leaders provide incisive feedback which teachers use to improve their practice. Leaders do not shy away from difficult conversations to raise standards in teaching. The induction of new staff, including those who are new to the teaching profession, is thorough and supportive. This ensures that teaching, learning and assessment are securely good across the school.
• Leaders make effective use of the additional pupil premium funding. School leaders use effective initial baseline assessment to identify disadvantaged pupils’ individual needs. This means that they allocate funding to support the bespoke needs of individual pupils effectively. As a result, disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, access a range of learning opportunities.
• The few pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress from their starting points upon entry to the school. Leaders target the additional funding effectively to ensure that provision is precisely matched to their needs, for example, perceptive use of external support to provide targeted, individualised guidance for children and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities which helps them to develop their independence and confidence in accessing their work.
• Leaders have developed a curriculum which offers a wide range of opportunities for pupils to develop and learn new skills. Integral to this is pupils learning about the importance of British values through relevant topics and having the chance to discuss and explain their views, thoughts and opinions. Pupils enjoy the challenges set and the responsibility they are given to manage their work. The school’s agreed curriculum is underpinned by pupils contributing to planning their own learning. This work is effectively developing pupils’ abilities to think for themselves and apply their learning across a range of subjects.
• Additional sports funding is used effectively to increase pupils’ participation in physical activity. Spending has been targeted on developing the Year 2 resources in the outside area to help pupils develop their physical skills as well as on additional training and teaching resources for staff to use in physical education (PE) lessons. This has successfully improved teachers’ confidence and improved their teaching of PE.
• The trust have worked carefully to develop an effective succession plan for the new leadership starting in September 2017, while also taking into consideration the continued expansion of the school; as a result the transition should be seamless, thus ensuring that the current positive standards are maintained and the focus remains on sustaining and further improving the effectiveness of the school as it grows.
• Parents are pleased with how well their children do at Jupiter Community Free School. They emphasised their satisfaction with both the progress their children make, and the support provided by the school. Inspectors spoke to a number of parents who had high praise for the school. One parent, summing up the view of many, said: ‘We were inspired by the staff’s vision for the school and we have not been disappointed.’ In particular, parents of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities appreciate the care the school provides and how this allows their children to make good progress in their learning.
• Leaders continue to work both with teachers and with other schools to develop rigorous assessment programmes in school. Leaders’ tracking and monitoring ensures that they can identify pupils who are underachieving to support them to catch up. Leaders refuse to be complacent. They are reflective, and constantly refine their use of assessment information, to find new ways to raise standards for pupils, particularly important as the school continues to grow.
• However, middle leaders, most notably subject leaders, are not yet consistently confident in, and contributing to, how they use rigorous monitoring and evaluating to the best effect to improve the school’s performance, specifically related to improving pupil outcomes. Leaders have a clear plan to support these leaders to develop their understanding of this provision as the school continues to expand.

Governance of the school

• Governors and board members are skilful, committed and ambitious. The local governing body is effectively holding leaders to account. Additionally, the trust closely monitors the school’s performance. Both have a secure understanding of the progress leaders are making towards the school development priorities. This support and challenge is playing a significant role in the continuing improvement in the school.
• The local governing body has a clear understanding of the school’s context as a new provision and its strengths and weaknesses. They visit the school regularly to find out for themselves how well pupils are learning. They explicitly share the executive principal’s high expectations for pupils and want all children and pupils to achieve as best they can, both academically and in their personal, social and emotional development.
• The executive principal provides the local governing body and the trust with detailed information about how the school is performing and developing. Consequently, governors know how additional funding is used, including the pupil premium, and its impact on pupils’ outcomes. They also have a secure knowledge and understanding about the quality of teaching across the school and how this links to performance. As a result, they successfully make appropriate arrangements for the management of leaders’ performance and set challenging targets that contribute to improving the quality of teaching and outcomes for pupils.
• West Herts Community Free School Trust is providing strong support for leaders including the local governing board and this is further developing their skills. Minutes of meetings of the trust show that board members are asking challenging questions that provide a suitable level of challenge to hold all leaders fully to account.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders ensure that pupils’ safety is paramount and that safeguarding is an integral part of the school’s developing culture.
• Staff recruitment is meticulous. Leaders have created an effective, rigorous system for ensuring that all adults who work, and visit, the school are thoroughly checked to ensure that they are suitable, and therefore, that pupils are safe.
• All staff receive regular updates on safeguarding and have had training on the most recent guidance on safeguarding and child protection, including ‘Prevent’, which supports pupils who are vulnerable to extremism or radicalisation. Consequently, staff have a secure understanding of safeguarding.
• Staff are vigilant in identifying potential signs that a pupil may be at risk of harm, including risks associated with exploitation, radicalisation and extremism. Pupils are taught how to keep safe, including when outside school. Leaders inform parents how to keep their child safe when online.
• Leaders work well with parents, liaise effectively with external agencies and pursue any concerns about the safety of pupils. The very few records on safeguarding are kept in an organised manner. However, leaders identify that as the school grows the systems and processes need to be further developed to increase their capacity to monitor more pupils with the same level of rigour.
• Pupils said that they feel very safe in the school. All parents who responded to the online survey, Parent View, and staff who responded to the staff questionnaire, unanimously agreed that pupils are kept safe and they are well cared for at school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Classrooms are well organised, with stimulating displays and prompts to support pupils’ learning. This is particularly the case for language and subject-specific vocabulary. Pupils use their environment independently to help them with their work. For example, in Year 2, pupils told an inspector if they are stuck they ‘can look at the wall to remind them about what they did the day before’.
• The quality of teaching is typically effective across the school. Teachers and teaching assistants have strong subject knowledge and high expectations for pupils’ learning. They use effective questioning to check pupils’ understanding, as well as to challenge and deepen the learning of the most able pupils. This is enabling pupils throughout the school to make good progress from their various starting points.
• The teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) is a strength. Pupils are confident using their phonics skills in lessons and can apply these skills when reading independently. Staff exhibit secure subject knowledge and this contributes towards children and pupils reading well. For example, in Year 1, the teacher picked up on errors pupils made using ‘ea’ and ‘ee’ and ensured that she explicitly taught the differences again; consequently pupils understood and then showed her they did before they moved on. As a result of this intervention and teacher’s precise knowledge, the pupils made rapid progress.
• Pupils across the school read with fluency and expression. Recent teaching has been focused on developing pupils’ comprehension skills. The impact of this is evident in pupils’ ability to answer questions about what they have read. Pupils are reading regularly in school and many enjoy this and read as a matter of routine at home.
• Teachers provide pupils with highly effective verbal and written feedback that moves learning forward and supports the school’s agreed ethos of promoting independent learning. Pupils respond effectively to this approach and are given regular opportunities to take responsibility to edit and improve their own work.
• In mathematics, pupils have a good understanding of basic skills and are given many chances to reason and apply their knowledge across a range of different concepts. Inspection observations verified that children and pupils learn a variety of different methods to help them calculate accurately. For example, in a Reception class, children were being encouraged to do, and ably explained how they did, two-step addition calculations. When considering how to add seven, five and two, one child said, ‘I put the seven in my head and I count on five and two. If it was a bigger number I would use a number line but I can do that in my head.’ Scrutiny of pupils’ work over time shows that pupils also know how to check their work and use what they have learned, applying it successfully when solving problems.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Staff assess their needs upon entry to the school accurately. Individualised intervention programmes, both during lessons and in smaller groups, help them to access the main teaching in the classroom so they are integrated well and subsequently, they make good progress from their starting points.
• All subjects are taught regularly. As well as providing different knowledge, understanding and skills to pupils, they give pupils the opportunity to apply their basic reading, writing and mathematics skills across the curriculum. For example, pupils enjoy the ‘curiosity afternoons’. These combine different subject areas, focusing on the skills pupils learn and give pupils regular opportunities to deepen their learning and explore using their understanding in many different contexts. For example, pupils were looking at Julia Donaldson books in literacy and they were using their research and computing skills effectively to produce a PowerPoint presentation. They had to consider who would read the PowerPoint and the purpose of doing it.
• Homework activities are set regularly and cover a range of subjects. Pupils typically enjoy these activities and view them as valuable experiences which consolidate the work they do in class.
• Teachers are aware of the rapid growth in the number of disadvantaged pupils. They work hard to ensure that the academic and personal needs of these pupils are identified quickly and, subsequently, put in place appropriate support to help them make expected progress.
• There is evidence that teachers accurately assess pupils’ needs and routinely modify their plans to address gaps in their knowledge, skills and understanding. This is particularly the case for pupils who join the school throughout the academic year. Teachers make every effort to ensure that pupils joining the school mid-year settle in quickly and well. However, although some disadvantaged pupils do achieve well, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, some, most notably those disadvantaged pupils arriving mid-year, do not receive precise or consistent enough assessment to ensure that they achieve as well as they could, from their individual starting points.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils are enthusiastic, self-motivated learners. They thrive on the challenges given to them and respond by wanting more. They are well taken care of and their views through ‘POWWOW’ are crucial to the school’s future journey. Leaders have established a culture of discussion where pupils’ opinions are gathered and then acted upon. For example, the current Year 2 pupils assisted in the design of the key stage 2 playground. As a result, pupils are respectful of the school environment and have a sense of pride about being a pupil at Jupiter Community Free School.
• The ‘JCFS unique features’ document outlines a range of views from staff, governors, pupils and parents. A common characteristic throughout it is how children and pupils’ well-being and personal development are ‘firmly embedded throughout the school day’. Pupils are highly confident, articulate and self-assured. Their joy at being pupils at Jupiter is evident. Their love of learning and happy smiley faces do not falter. They feel very safe and trust adults to look after them.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is at the heart of the school’s ‘virtues programme’ that represents the vision of the school and underpins its culture and ethos. Leaders hold regular assemblies promoting important values. Staff then teach pupils to understand and display these qualities in their day-to-day life. Subsequently, pupils have a strong sense of morality, are kind and helpful and have caring attitudes towards others. From when children start in Reception, they are taught to respect each other and care for their school environment. Throughout the school, there is a strong ethos of friendship and thoughtfulness, care and consideration for others.
• Leaders have ensured that the curriculum includes teaching about how to keep safe online. This is taught as an integral part of learning across the school. As a result, pupils talk confidently and knowledgeably about how to keep themselves safe when using the internet. Pupils have a good understanding of the different forms of bullying and the distress that it causes. They know the differences between right and wrong. Pupils told inspectors that bullying at Jupiter does not happen and behaviour logs confirm that this is the case.
• In addition to considering the views expressed in the online Ofsted questionnaire, inspectors met with parents and spoke to them as they dropped their children off at school. Parents agreed unanimously that the school took good care of their children, not just academically, but personally and emotionally. They all said that their children are happy and enjoy their school experience. This was confirmed during the inspection by pupils. One parent spoke for the many saying: ‘I cannot fault the school at all. Teachers are absolutely amazing. Fantastic school. They care about every aspect of a child’s life. Can’t recommend them enough.’ Behaviour
• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• The school is a calm, orderly, learning environment. Pupils play happily together during break and lunchtimes and work together exceptionally well.
• The behaviour and conduct of all children and pupils around the school is impeccable. Teachers set high standards and pupils who started when the school opened in 2014 are exceptional role models. Consequently, new arrivals and children in the early years take on board the same high-quality behaviours and attitudes.
• Pupils are quick to settle to their learning and are rarely distracted. This reflects their consistently positive attitudes to learning. Parents agree that the school ensures that pupils are well behaved.
• Pupils support each other’s learning well when working in pairs and groups. Pupils listen attentively, ask inquisitive questions, and show great respect for their teachers and classmates. Pupils’ exemplary behaviour and confident attitudes to their learning are a significant factor in them achieving well.
• Since opening in September 2014, attendance has been consistently above the national average. Leaders carefully monitor the attendance of individual pupils and groups so they can provide any necessary support. Leaders are well aware of the changing profile of the school population as the school grows and have this firmly in mind when looking at how well pupils attend school. They work hard with parents, especially those who often arrive mid-year, to ensure that pupils make good progress.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Children start school with knowledge and skills that are below those typical for their age. For some children, speech and language are a barrier. As a result of good provision, children flourish and develop the skills they need. Over time, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development has been consistently above the national average. As a result, Reception children are well prepared for their transition into Year 1.
• Pupils make good progress in reading. The proportion of pupils who met the expected standard in the 2016 Year 1 phonics screening check was above the national figure. These skills are secured as pupils move into Year 2. They apply their knowledge of sounds to read more complex vocabulary and are able to discuss their reading with confidence.
• This is the first year that the school has had Year 2 pupils on site. Consequently, there is no published information for key stage 1. However, the proportion of Year 2 pupils working at the expected standards is above the national average for reading, writing and mathematics. The proportion of Year 2 pupils working at greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics is high. These pupils have made good progress from their starting points and are well prepared to start key stage 2 next year.
• Pupils’ books show consistently good progress in writing. Pupils are encouraged to write for various purposes and audiences. They spell accurately and use punctuation to good effect.
• In mathematics, pupils typically over time show they have a secure grasp of basic skills. They are able to apply their understanding though reasoning and problem-solving. This is successfully enabling a greater proportion of pupils to work at greater depth.
• School assessment information and work in pupils’ ‘theme’ books and on display show that pupils are making good progress in a wide range of subjects, including computing, science, history and geography.
• Most-able pupils are challenged appropriately, including the most able disadvantaged. Lessons are adapted to ensure that learning is challenging enough to enable these pupils to achieve as best they can. This is because learning is reviewed, opportunities are given for pupils to explain their thinking and they are set tasks that deepen their knowledge and understanding. As a result, an increasing number of pupils are achieving the higher standards in key stage 1.
• The small number of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making consistently good progress from their starting points. Those not on track to reach age-related expectations by the end of the year are given carefully planned support to enable them to make as much progress as possible. This ensures that they make gains in their attainment because they make good or better progress.
• Senior leaders keep a very close eye on the progress that disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils make as they enter the school and move through each year group. School assessment information shows that the difference with others nationally is diminishing. However, leaders also recognise that continued work needs to be done to ensure that disadvantaged pupils, especially those who join the school midway through the year, continue to perform as well as or better than others nationally.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership and management of the early years provision is good. There is strong teamwork and a good ratio of staff to children. Leaders and staff have established very good relationships with parents, which help the children to feel safe and secure at school. School staff take every opportunity to help parents to be fully involved in their child’s development. Regular meetings and informal conversations at the start of the day help parents feel part of their children’s schooling. Weekly newsletters provide helpful information to encourage parents to reinforce children’s learning at home.
• Children join the Reception class from a number of different settings. As a result of a secure analysis of their starting points, adults plan activities which enable children to make good progress in all areas of learning. Early reading, speaking and writing skills are developed well by the leader. High expectations are helping secure a greater proportion of children achieving a good level of development. Consequently, children are well prepared to move into Year 1.
• The successful promotion of children’s personal, emotional, social and language skills begins effectively in the early years. Adults value children’s views and make sure that they have a voice; for example, the learning zone is currently a travel agency and children suggest what can be added to it as they learn about different countries.
• Children are keen to learn and their behaviour is excellent. They settle quickly into daily routines and form positive relationships with adults. Effective systems are very well established, so transitions between activities are smooth and time is not lost. Children cooperate very well with each other, for example by taking turns during games of football and basketball and performing on the stage.
• Teaching assistants support children well by employing a good balance of questions and directions to keep them focused on learning.
• Phonics is taught well and provides the right amount of challenge for pupils of all abilities. Consequently, children are able to identify confidently the different blends of letters and are able to use them accurately in their reading and writing.
• The early years additional funding is used to ensure that pupils make progress from their starting points. By the end of the early years, children from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve national averages when compared to other children nationally; however, few achieve above this.
• Partnerships between school, home and external agencies are being well developed. As a result of making effective use of the advice and information obtained, children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are successfully included throughout the day and make good progress.
• Safeguarding is effective. Children are well looked after and staff ensure that statutory requirements are met.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140955 Hertfordshire 10031330 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy free school 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 156 Appropriate authority The local governing body Chair Executive Principal Telephone number Website Email address Kristian North Sue Attard 01442 217188 www.jupitercfs.org.uk/ principal@jupitercfs.org.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Jupiter Community Free School opened in September 2014. Initially, it only admitted children into the early years and currently has pupils up to Year 2. In September 2017, the school will extend to Year 3 and in subsequent years include Years 4, 5 and 6. At the time of the inspection, there were no pupils in key stage 2.
• The school is a part of the West Herts Community Free School Trust. Local governance is undertaken by the local governing board.
• The executive principal has been seconded to the school until September 2017 and divides her time between Jupiter Community Free School and Hatfield Community Free School. The trust have appointed a new experienced principal to start the school in September 2017.
• The majority of pupils are White British and the proportion who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported through pupil premium funding is below the national average; however, the number is increasing.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well below the national average. The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is in line with that found nationally.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• The lead inspector was joined on the second day of the inspection by two more inspectors due to the increase in the number of pupils on roll.
• All inspectors visited lessons in every class over the two-day inspection. Leaders accompanied inspectors on some of the observations.
• Pupils’ behaviour during lessons, in assembly, at playtimes and around the school was observed.
• Inspectors spoke informally to pupils about their learning during breaktimes and in lessons. They also met formally with pupils to hear them read and to discuss their experiences at the school.
• Inspectors held meetings with leaders to evaluate the impact of their work to improve pupils’ outcomes and strengthen the quality of teaching. This included meetings with mathematics and English subject leaders, the leader with responsibility for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and the early years leader.
• The lead inspector also met with the CEO of West Herts and had a telephone conversation with the principal designate.
• A meeting was held with members of the governing body, including the chair, via skype.
• Inspectors reviewed work in pupils’ books to evaluate the quality of learning in different subjects. They also scrutinised the school’s current assessment information on how well different groups of pupils achieve.
• A range of documentation related to school improvement planning, professional development for staff and safeguarding was scrutinised.
• Inspectors spoke to parents informally before school on the second day of the inspection and met with a group of parents. They also took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys. This included 21 responses from staff and 49 responses from parents.
• Inspectors also met with a group of staff and looked at the responses from the Ofsted online survey.

Inspection team

Tracy Fielding, lead inspector Margaret Louisy Liz Chaplin Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector