Malorees Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Eliminate inconsistencies in the quality of teaching by ensuring that:
  • teachers have higher expectations of the most able pupils
  • learning moves forward with a greater sense of urgency.
• Take action to improve the provision and teaching of computing so that pupils make better progress and develop the skills required for their age.
• Strengthen leadership in subjects where arrangements are newly in place by providing training and guidance for staff involved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The executive headteacher has brought a rigorous approach to all aspects of school management. The head of school has also quickly established her role. Their skills complement each other and they work effectively together to secure improvement.
• Leaders have introduced robust structures to improve teaching and check on pupils’ progress. They are quite aware of where teaching needs improving and what action to take. Teaching is good and improving, but with some slight variations.
• Working with the teaching alliance has targeted teachers who needed specific support. Local authority support has also been influential in helping the school through a turbulent period since its last inspection. This has enabled the school to build up its own expertise, from which it now plans to draw to improve teaching further.
• Subject leaders for English and mathematics bring considerable expertise to their roles. They check carefully the impact of provision in their areas on learning. They provide well-planned guidance to support the new team of teachers.
• Subject leadership in several other areas is very much in its infancy. The executive headteacher has identified that training is needed for leaders to become effective and to support the aim of developing leadership further.
• The current sharp focus on English and mathematics is to make up for shortcomings in the past. Leaders have made rapid changes to make the curriculum less disjointed and to ensure that other subjects receive suitable attention.
• The school has reaffirmed its values following a wide process of consultation. This, and the focus on preparing to become a Unicef Rights Respecting School, help pupils develop a deeper understanding of what it is to be British and how they can play a role in society.
• A wide variety and range of additional activities enrich the pupils’ school lives. A considerable number of pupils learn to play a musical instrument. Well-attended clubs at lunchtime as well as before- and after school range from those for sport to chess.
• The annual ‘Arts Week’ links closely with the topic being studied by each class. It ends with an exhibition of the pupils’ work. That this has survived through the school’s recent difficult times is testament to the leadership fighting to keep it on the agenda.
• The primary physical education and sport premium is used effectively and supports already strong physical education provision and leadership. In particular, it enables Year 4 pupils to improve their swimming and encourages more pupils to participate in a wider variety of sports events.
• Weaknesses in computing are partly because of limited resources. Pupils have some access to handheld devices, but leaders have recognised the need to build greater capacity in equipment to support requirements fully. This school priority is being supported by the highly active parent body.
• Special educational needs funding is benefiting individual pupils’ learning and well-being. Leaders have tightened procedures, including their liaison with parents and other agencies, particularly to support pupils who have social and emotional needs.
• The school allocates additional funding to a clear and effective strategy to support the good progress of disadvantaged pupils. The plan is to support those who have limited language skills and to provide security for some pupils who have complex emotional needs.
• Parents appreciate the greatly improved communication systems. Leaders seek their views and act on parents’ concerns speedily. The transparency of new leaders has also helped to reassure parents during the transition to the federation.

Governance of the school

• Arrangements for governing the school have been effective in supporting its improved performance and bringing the two schools more closely together.
• Federating the schools was carefully considered to provide stronger leadership and stability for the junior school. Further priorities successfully achieved were to smooth the transition of pupils and unify the two schools around a common set of values.
• Both the interim executive board and now the new governing body are rigorous in ensuring that leaders follow up swiftly on any priorities for improvement. This has included the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. They have also stabilised the budget and carefully projected spending into the immediate future.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders and governors are developing a strong culture of safeguarding based firmly within the new school values. Policy has been rewritten to reflect practice in both schools and checks made rigorously to ensure that it is being fully implemented. This includes background checks for staff and governors.
• Regular training is keeping staff vigilant to possible concerns, particularly where a pupil has been identified as potentially vulnerable. This training has included spotting concerns of the dangers of radicalisation. Parents are also given pertinent guidance on how to keep their children safe, such as encouraging them to consider privacy settings on computers at home.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The most effective teaching is typically interesting and makes the pupils think. Teachers manage the pupils’ behaviour well so learning takes place unhindered by disturbances. Activities that teachers set different groups of pupils are adapted so they are generally matched well to what they need to learn next. This enables them to make good progress over time.
• Improvements to mathematics teaching mean that pupils not only develop key skills accurately but apply them to solving problems and puzzles. This helps them to deepen their understanding of new concepts. They are also increasingly expected to explain the reasons for their answers.
• The teaching of writing has also improved since the last inspection. Teaching is based on interesting texts that stimulate the pupils’ imaginations. For example, Year 5 pupils turned a Mayan fable into a play script. They analysed the fable together, discussed ideas and amicably agreed what they would write.
• Probing questioning to draw out the pupils’ ideas is the consistent feature of the effective teaching of reading. Carefully structured programmes help pupils who have weak basic reading and writing skills to catch up to where they should be for their age.
• Parents are pleased with the amount and quality of the homework their children undertake. This is another of the improvements this year. Homework has become much more effective in supporting and extending the pupils’ learning.
• On a small number of occasions when learning is less effective, teachers do not always make explicit their higher expectations for the most able. This can lead to activities not challenging them enough. Furthermore, there is not always sufficient urgency to learn in some lessons. As a result, pupils’ work becomes less productive.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are thoughtful and able to reflect on the way their own beliefs shape their lives. For example, Year 6 pupils gave mature and responsible responses in a history lesson to the origins of the Second World War.
• Pupils take responsibilities with pride. As school council members, they learn that representing others is a cornerstone of our democracy. This is enhanced by visiting the Houses of Parliament. Pupils commit themselves to supporting the school’s values through the ‘Promises Tree’ in each classroom.
• Pupils feel very safe in school. A group of Year 6 pupils concluded that, ‘the people make Malorees a special place.’ E-safety training is a high priority and they are taught what constitutes acceptable use of the internet.
• Pupils get on well together and work constructively with each other. A group of Year 3 pupils explained that they enjoy working together, ‘because talking with a partner helps us to share ideas and understand better’.
• Pupils say that there are occasional incidents of bullying and unacceptable behaviour but they are confident that these are dealt with swiftly. Their parents strongly agree that the school does its utmost to promote good behaviour and deals with bullying well. Pupils value ‘Talk time’ and the ‘Talk box’, where they can express their concerns.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils and their parents appreciate the stability that the executive headteacher has brought to the school this year. They say that the school has become much calmer and happier. Pupils conduct themselves well. They are respectful and well mannered.
• Pupils are keen to do well. They are generally attentive, work hard and respond quickly to their teachers. Behaviour is not outstanding because pupils lose interest and concentration occasionally when work is not demanding or lessons lack urgency.
• Leaders have strengthened procedures for checking absence, including working closely with outside agencies. They have also worked with families to reduce the incidence of holidays being taken during the school term. Attendance has improved and is now at least broadly average.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Progress is now good and enabling pupils to make up for slower progress in the past, due to a high turnover of teachers. Hence, attainment is rising. Pupils are better prepared for secondary school.
• Pupils build well on the reading skills they have developed at key stage 1. They learn to analyse text in order to infer and deduce what the writer might have been trying to say. Pupils show interest and enjoyment of reading, often choosing quite advanced books for their age to read.
• Pupils also use their mathematical skills well in science, such as taking measurements in their investigations and drawing graphs to interpret information. One interesting Year 6 piece of work looked at geometric shapes in nature and led to the pupils constructing tangrams and tessellations.
• No Year 6 pupil was assessed at greater depth in writing in 2016. Pupils now plan and develop their writing over time and apply key skills of grammar and punctuation to bring greater accuracy to their work. They also have many opportunities to develop their writing in different styles in other subjects. Their writing is often extensive and engaging, such as when Year 6 pupils produced biographies of Charles Darwin.
• The one weakness in the pupils’ writing is their handwriting. Not all pupils apply the skills they develop in handwriting exercises into their written work. Their handwriting is not always neatly joined. This can lead to untidy presentation of their work.
• Disadvantaged pupils also mostly make good progress as teaching generally improves. The allocation of additional teacher capacity in Year 6 is also enabling these pupils to make up for slower progress in the past.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress towards their personal targets. The considerable reduction in the number of pupils identified means that teachers can direct their support to those who need it most.
• Progress is good in almost all other subjects across the curriculum. Pupils develop and apply their literacy and number skills well to support their learning in other subjects. The one exception to this is computing, where pupils make slow progress developing the skills expected for their age.
• There is some variation in the progress of the most able pupils. This includes the most able disadvantaged pupils. They are not consistently challenged to reach standards beyond those expected for their age.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 101554 Brent 10031720 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 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 234 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Executive Headteacher Head of School Telephone number Website Email address Robert Singh Sian Davies Sarah Harris 0208 4595452 www.maloreesjuniorschool.co.uk sdavies@malorees-inf.brent.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 11–12 March 2015

Information about this school

• The school is below average in size.
• The school entered into a hard federation with Malorees Infant School from April 2017. At this point, the previously operating interim executive board was disbanded and a new governing body was put in place.
• The federation is led by an executive headteacher who was headteacher of the infant school. She took up post in September 2016, as did two assistant headteachers. A head of school was appointed in February 2017.
• The school has experienced very considerable teaching staff turnover. Seven of the eight class teachers are new this year.
• The school has been working with support for teaching from a local teaching school alliance based at Byron Primary School, and for mathematics from Kingsbury Green School.
• The majority of pupils are from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds. A quarter of pupils speak English as an additional language, which is broadly average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.
• The proportion of pupils supported by additional government funding is broadly average.
• The school provides childcare after school through a private company.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards. These set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 18 lessons. The executive headteacher and head of school accompanied inspectors on four of these. They also looked at work in pupils’ books.
• Meetings were held with groups of pupils, school staff, two governors and a representative from the local authority. A telephone conversation was held with the chair of governors.
• Inspectors took account of the 109 responses to Parent View and written contributions from 45 parents. Inspectors also talked with a small group of parents at the start of the school day.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own information on pupils’ progress, planning and monitoring documentation, records related to behaviour and attendance, and documents related to safeguarding.
• Inspectors also took into consideration the 20 responses to the staff questionnaire and the 40 responses to the pupil questionnaire.

Inspection team

Martin Beale, lead inspector Meena Walia

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector