Ormesby Village Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management by:
  • providing additional training and support for leaders who need to improve the leadership of their subjects
  • monitoring the impact of this additional training and support and evaluating how effective it is on increasing leaders’ effectiveness in making improvements.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in science and some foundation subjects so that pupils’ attainment is in line with standards reached in English and mathematics by:
  • providing training that equips teachers with the skills and strategies they need to help pupils to make strong progress in these subjects
  • checking regularly that this additional training is improving the overall quality of teaching and enabling pupils’ progress in these subjects.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders have improved all aspects of the school markedly since the last inspection. With clear moral purpose, leaders have created an inclusive school where pupils, regardless of backgrounds or abilities, enjoy learning and achieve well.
• Leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. Their development plans are well focused and are regularly reviewed to ensure that staff are making the desired improvements. As a result, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment continues to improve, especially in English and mathematics.
• Leaders have high aspirations for pupils. They assess pupils’ learning and progress accurately to hold teachers accountable for how well pupils are doing. Leaders identify pupils’ needs and create effective support plans for pupils so that most make good progress in their learning.
• Training for staff has been effective in delivering the improvements needed in teaching, learning and assessment in English and mathematics. In mathematics, for example, training by external specialists has improved the teaching of reasoning and the application of mathematics in real-life situations. As a result, pupils’ progress in mathematics is now good.
• Disadvantaged pupils make good progress from their starting points. Leaders target extra funding for these pupils carefully and monitor its impact thoroughly so that they achieve well. Almost all disadvantaged pupils achieve what leaders and teachers expect of them, and many achieve beyond the expectations of them.
• Leaders and staff promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils value diversity when interacting socially and when learning about different cultures from past and present times. Leaders have ensured that pupils are well equipped with an understanding of fundamental British values and are well prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils told inspectors that one of the many positive features of the school is the way all staff and pupils treat each other equally regardless of their differences.
• The primary physical education (PE) and sport premium is spent effectively. Well-considered use of this extra funding has improved pupils’ skills in a wide range of sports and physical activities. As a result, pupils take part in a wider range of physical activities, unfamiliar sports such as archery, and sporting competitions.
• Leadership and provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are strong. In partnership with external specialists, leaders carefully assess pupils’ needs and use these assessments and extra funding to plan and carry out effective support for them. As a result, pupils with SEND develop confidence in their learning and make good progress.
• Leaders ensure that effective provision is made for pupils who have social, emotional and mental health challenges. These pupils are well supported by trained adults who help them self-manage their difficulties and concentrate on their learning.
• Some subject leaders provide strong leadership. They use their good subject knowledge to create and monitor carefully improvement plans that aid improvements. The quality of leadership is not consistent across all subjects. In some subjects, leaders identify weaknesses well but do not act swiftly to make changes. Once they take action, they do not check to see if it is making the intended improvement. As a result, leaders do not know if plans are working so that they are able to adapt them accordingly.
• Leaders have created a broad and balanced curriculum. Pupils have opportunities to develop their learning and skills across the curriculum. The progress made by pupils in science and some foundation subjects is not as strong as in English and mathematics.

Governance of the school

• Governors have supported and challenged senior leaders effectively since the previous inspection. As a result, the school has improved a great deal. Governors show an unyielding determination to make further improvements to the school.
• With the support of the local authority, governors set ambitious improvement targets and hold senior leaders accountable for meeting or exceeding them.
• Governors check the use of the pupil premium closely. They ensure that this funding has a positive impact, improving the outcomes achieved by disadvantaged pupils.
• Governors ensure that their statutory duties, including the safeguarding of pupils’ welfare, are fully met. They attend regular training to enable them to hold leaders to account for the work regarding the safeguarding of pupils.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Recruitment checks on staff are compliant with current regulations to ensure that pupils are kept safe.
• Staff and governors have regular training on safeguarding. This contributes towards their increased awareness of safeguarding risks, including the ‘Prevent’ duty and local ‘county lines’, the criminal activities of gangs.
• Staff are trained to recognise signs that pupils may be at risk of harm and abuse. They raise any concerns with the designated safeguarding lead quickly.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Since the previous inspection, leaders’ actions have improved the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the school. Pupils who spoke with inspectors said that they enjoy their lessons and make good progress. The overwhelming majority of parents who responded to the school’s parent questionnaire and Ofsted’s parent questionnaire, Parent View, agreed that pupils are taught well at the school.
• Teachers and pupils share strong relationships that lead to pupils’ willingness to work hard. They encourage pupils to enjoy their lessons and be positive about things they find difficult. Pupils are not afraid to make mistakes and learn from them.
• Most teachers have strong subject knowledge in English and mathematics. This enables them to teach confidently and effectively so that pupils are interested in what they are learning and make good progress.
• Teachers use the accurate information they have about how well pupils are learning to plan learning effectively. They create activities that meet pupils’ needs and lead to good progress. Teachers and teaching assistants correctly identify pupils at risk of falling behind and put effective measures in place to make sure pupils make good progress.
• Teachers’ skilful questioning challenges pupils and helps them to take the next steps in their learning. For example, inspectors observed strong questioning in mathematics that helped pupils to learn how to add large numbers in new ways that they did not know before.
• Teachers encourage pupils to reason and apply their knowledge of mathematics to their own lives and other curriculum subjects. Pupils’ work in books shows that they apply what they know about mathematics successfully in a range of real-world situations. Pupils show that they enjoy finding logical solutions to tricky mathematical challenges.
• Pupils are keen to improve their learning and act on teachers’ helpful advice. Inspectors saw many examples of pupils willingly and accurately correcting their work after receiving written and spoken feedback from teachers.
• The teaching of reading is good, and this supports good learning across the curriculum. Pupils effectively use the skills they learn in English lessons to read and spell difficult words correctly.
• In line with the school’s policy, teachers set homework that pupils find useful. Homework builds on what pupils learn in lessons and contributes towards their good progress. Some of the views shared by parents during the inspection commented favourably about homework. They appreciate the recent changes leaders have made to the types of tasks pupils are expected to do at home.
• In science and some foundation subjects the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is not as good as in the rest of the curriculum. As a result, pupils’ progress in these subjects is not as strong as in English and mathematics.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils enjoy school and have a good understanding of how to learn well. Pupils enjoy challenging tasks and face them with determination. When given a choice of activities with different levels of difficulty, pupils willingly try tasks that are difficult for them.
• Whether on their own or in groups, pupils work hard in lessons. They support each other to live up to the high expectations that teachers set for them.
• Pupils take responsibility as members of the student council, serving as house captain and helping staff to prepare for assemblies. Pupils confidently and capably lead community activities such as the school talent show, ‘Ormesby’s got talent’, and fund-raising events for local and national charities.
• Pupils know what bullying is and report that it is uncommon. They told inspectors that when bullying does arise, adults at school deal effectively with it to ensure that it is stopped quickly. One pupil spoke for many when he said, ‘Bullying is not tolerated at this school.’
• The school’s provision for pupils with emotional needs is highly effective. Pupils with social, emotional and mental health difficulties access a range of support and, as a result, most of these pupils overcome or learn how to self-manage their difficulties and make good progress in their learning.
• Teachers ensure that pupils understand how to stay physically and emotionally healthy. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe at school, at home, online and in the community. Pupils also have access to very effective emotional and mental health support when needed.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• During the inspection, pupils behave well. Adults deal effectively with the uncommon instances of poor behaviour. During lessons, pupils show determination to learn well and without distraction. Inspection evidence supports one pupil’s view that, ‘Teachers teach pupils how to concentrate.’
• Staff encourage pupils to conduct themselves well and work hard in school. Using ‘passports to learning’, teachers ensure that all pupils think about their behaviour, receive rewards when earned or make positive changes when necessary. Parents and pupils told inspectors that pupil behaviour has improved since the introduction of these passports.
• Pupils are friendly, polite and well mannered. They play and learn well together. One pupil spoke for many when he told inspectors that the school is a place where, ‘it is easy to make new friends’.
• Breaktime and lunchtime are well-ordered and safe, enabling pupils to have fun. They enjoy supervised playground games and enrichment activities such as Lego club, colouring club, choir and a range of sports clubs.
• Leaders’ actions to reduce absence have worked. The proportion of pupils who were absent or persistently absent last year declined significantly. This improving trend has been maintained. So far this year absence has continued to fall.
• Staff manage behaviour well; leaders rarely use exclusions to manage pupils’ behaviour.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils’ achievement in reading, writing and mathematics improved markedly last year, mainly due to improved leadership and more consistent teaching, learning and use of assessment. Provisional 2018 national results show that the proportion of Year 6 pupils reaching the expected standard in all three subjects was above the national average.
• Improvements in the teaching of reading have resulted in substantially better outcomes. Whereas in 2017 Year 6 progress was well below average in comparison with other schools nationally, provisional results for 2018 show that Year 6 progress in reading was above average. The school’s own assessment information shows similar improvements for pupils in other classes. Pupils enjoy reading. They read a wide range of texts to a high standard and benefit from the investment leaders have made in new library books.
• The school’s assessment information shows that pupils in almost every year group are now achieving well in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Disadvantaged pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics from their starting points. Leaders identify the needs of disadvantaged pupils precisely and put effective support in place for these pupils. In 2018, the proportion of disadvantaged Year 6 pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and English grammar, punctuation and spelling was above the average for other pupils nationally.
• Pupils with SEND make good progress. Classroom teaching and support outside the classroom lead to good progress for these pupils. Staff ensure that pupils who have social, emotional and mental health needs are well supported so that they make good progress.
• The most able pupils make good progress due to the high challenge teachers provide. In 2018, the proportion of Year 6 pupils that made good progress and achieved the higher standard in reading and mathematics and greater depth in writing was above average.
• Outcomes in science and some foundation subjects are not as high as those in English and mathematics. This is because the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is not as strong in these subjects.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 120917 Norfolk 10058675 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 Maintained 7 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 170 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Clive Sillitoe Lucy Bates Telephone number 01493 730 944 Website Email address www.ormesbyvillagejuniorschool.org/ head@ormesbyjunior.norfolk.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 20–21 September 2016

Information about this school

• Ormesby Village Junior School is a maintained school. The school federated under one governing body with Ormesby Village Infant School in April 2015. The schools share a headteacher, deputy headteacher and leader for SEND.
• Ormesby Village Junior School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The senior leadership team is made up of the headteacher and the deputy headteacher.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is lower than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is in line with the national average, and the proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is below average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is in line with the national average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, middle leaders and a representative from the local authority. They also held a meeting with the chair of the governing body and other members of the governing body.
• Inspectors observed lessons across the school, and a scrutiny of pupils’ books was carried out jointly by one inspector and the headteacher. An inspector listened to a few pupils in Year 5 read.
• Inspectors spoke with parents at the beginning and end of the school day. Inspectors also analysed 20 responses from parents to the school’s own questionnaire and Ofsted’s parent questionnaire, Parent View, and 153 responses from pupils to the school’s own pupil questionnaire.
• Inspectors spoke to teachers, support staff and pupils throughout the course of the inspection.
• Inspectors took account of a wide range of information, including the school’s website, development plan, assessment information and leaders’ monitoring of teaching and learning. Inspectors reviewed documentation relating to safeguarding, as well as minutes of the governing body.

Inspection team

Al Mistrano, lead inspector Julie Harrison Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector