Tudor Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve?

• Accelerate the rates of progress for pupils, so that a greater proportion achieve the expected standard at the end of Year 6.
• Improve the quality of teaching by ensuring that teachers adapt learning during lessons so the work is at the right level for all pupils and to ensure that pupils’ understanding is secure before moving on.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Under the current strong leadership this school has improved significantly. Senior leaders have ambition, drive and high expectations. Leaders have a very astute and accurate view of the quality of education at the school. They recognise the priorities for improvement and how these will be addressed effectively.
• Leaders adopt a forensic approach to the school improvement cycle. They have set a tight timescale with regular points by which they expect improvements to be made. Early indications show that pupils’ outcomes are showing improvement as a result of this work. However, leaders recognise there is still much work to do in order to sustain this rate of progress and ensure that the end of key stage data reflects the current upward trajectory.
• Leaders have adapted the curriculum to meet the needs of pupils, for example by changing the ways in which pupils are grouped together for learning. While these changes are in their early stages, some improvements can already be seen. This is in part due to the school’s innovative approach to mixed-age learning according to pupils’ needs across the school. Typically across a morning of mathematics and the reading focussed literacy work, there are more than 18 separate and tightly structured groups taking place. This approach successfully enables pupils to make rapid progress, with all groups of pupils making more than expected gains, particularly in reading.
• The trust has provided high-quality support and challenged leaders to raise expectations and improve the quality of teaching. The trust has brokered the appointment of an executive headteacher and thereby forged links with a high-performing school within the partnership to enable good practice to be shared.
• Senior leaders have a clear view of where the strengths and weaknesses in teaching lie. Their monitoring over time shows that they have taken effective steps to help teachers improve their teaching when this is needed.
• In the past, strategies funded by the pupil premium have not been successful in ensuring that pupils who fall behind catch up quickly or that differences in achievement are diminishing. This has been particularly the case for the most-able disadvantaged pupils. However, information shows that the use of this year’s funding is increasingly having the desired effect in diminishing differences in performance between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally.
• The school promotes equal opportunities for pupils well. Leaders specifically check how well different groups of pupils learn, including those who are disadvantaged or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders make sure that all pupils have access to the school’s resources to support their learning. Teachers make sure they identify early those pupils who need extra help to keep up with their peers and provide well-planned support. These new initiatives are beginning to enable groups of pupils to catch up with peers.
• The school uses the physical education and sport premium for primary schools to provide more sporting activities for pupils, with good impact. This includes a wide range of extra-curricular activities.
• The school makes sure that pupils across the age groups develop a secure understanding of fundamental British values. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is also fostered strongly across the school. Leaders make sure that pupils understand and respect the rights of others. Through the curriculum, pupils’ understanding of different cultures and faiths is promoted effectively. As a result, pupils are well prepared for their future lives in modern Britain.

Governance of the school

• Governors are better able to compare, challenge and support all of the schools within the trust. New governors have been recruited with specific skills. All governors know this school well and are actively involved. They are very much involved in driving the rapid improvement currently taking place.
• Governors share senior leaders’ ambition and high expectations for all the pupils at this school. They hold senior leaders accountable for the success of the school by seeking clarification of information provided about standards and the quality of learning.
• The trust has rightly highlighted the school as a focus for improvement. Trust leaders visit the school frequently, providing school leaders with support and challenge. All governors, particularly the chair of the governing body and the chief executive officer of the trust, work well together in their collective drive for improvement.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• As well as making sure that key information is shared through policies and documentation, leaders ensure that safeguarding is integral to the daily work of Wolsey Junior Academy.
• Leaders responsible for safeguarding ensure that all staff understand the latest statutory guidance and the reporting procedures if they have any concerns about a pupil. Regular training makes sure that staff take very seriously their responsibility for keeping children safe from exploitation and harm. Pupils learn to be careful about whom they listen to or what they read on the internet. The school ensures that pupils and parents know whom to contact if they have any concerns about their safety or the safety of others.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching requires improvement because not all teaching has been good enough over time to enable pupils to reach the standards of which they are capable.
• In some lessons the tasks do not challenge pupils, particularly the most able.
• In the best lessons teachers use questions effectively. However, in some lessons, teachers do not always check that pupils understand their work before moving on. This leads to misconceptions not being clarified.
• Pupils’ work in their books is well presented. Teachers usually follow the school’s agreed procedures and their feedback helps pupils improve their work over time. Pupils usually have time to respond by correcting their work and completing the next steps. However, in some cases the school’s policy is not consistently followed. Teachers do not give pupils time to return to their work and edit and improve it based on the feedback they have been given. This means that they do not make progress quickly enough.
• Many changes have taken place over the past few months to improve the quality of teaching. New staff, coupled with the curriculum changes, mean that teachers are now well equipped to drive improvement and quickly have a positive impact on outcomes.
• Wide-ranging professional development and mentoring help teachers to learn from each other. As a result, the quality of teaching has improved throughout the school, but some inconsistencies remain and leaders are working to lessen these.
• Teaching assistants are caring and usually provide effective support for pupils.
• The teaching of reading, writing and mathematics is improving rapidly. The school has invested in a new curriculum and a wider range of books and resources, which encourage pupils to read more regularly across different subjects. Pupils say they now enjoy reading.
• Teachers increasingly plan activities that interest and engage pupils. A group of older pupils commented that their ‘lessons are fun!’ and that they love the new curriculum and the wide range of books that they are now given. Pupils work collaboratively during lessons. Peer praise, including the ‘team cheers’ and ‘class cheers’ create a positive learning environment.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils’ attitudes to learning are very positive. Mixed-age learning across the school supports and helps to foster respectful relationships within and between year groups. Most pupils work very hard and try their best, and are very proud of their achievements. Nevertheless, a small minority occasionally lose concentration, particularly if they find their work too hard or too easy. However, this does not normally distract other pupils from learning because teachers are swift to refocus pupils and pupils are quick to respond.
• Pupils say that they feel safe. They are well cared for by all staff at the school. This includes an understanding of how to keep themselves safe in and out of school and when working online.
• Wide opportunities are available to promote spiritual, social, moral and cultural understanding though the philosophy-based curriculum, the understanding of rights and responsibilities, assemblies and across the broad curriculum. There is a strong ethos of a collaborative approach to learning throughout the school. This ensures that pupils take responsibility for their actions.

Behaviour

• Pupils’ behaviour is good. Leaders have transformed behaviour so that there is a consistent focus on pupils’ learning.
• The children are very polite, confident and keen to welcome visitors. Each class has an ambassador and inspectors found it a joy to be greeted by the ambassador, who guided them through the learning taking place. Ambassadors are carefully chosen by the school and identified as those who would benefit from this role.
• Incidents of poor behaviour are rare. When they do happen, staff quickly report incidents, log them well and deal with them effectively.
• Teachers and support staff work hard to provide attractive learning environments in the classroom and corridors. They establish positive relationships with the pupils.
• The school works closely with parents in order to ensure that pupils attend school regularly. As a result of this work, attendance is high and well above the national average. Cases of persistent absence are low and well below the national figure.
• Exclusions are low and well below national averages.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Inconsistent teaching over time has meant that progress has not been rapid enough to ensure that pupils achieve as well as others nationally.
• At the end of key stage 2 in 2016, progress for all pupils was significantly below that of others nationally. Progress and attainment in reading was particularly low.
• The progress made by disadvantaged and the most able disadvantaged pupils was well below that of others nationally with similar starting points.
• The school’s assessment information shows that current pupils are making better rates of progress and a greater proportion are now on track to achieve the standards expected for their age. This matches the work inspectors saw in books and in lessons. However, there is still much work to do to ensure that the school can confidently secure consistently strong progress for all pupils.
• Groups of pupils, including disadvantaged, the most able and pupils who speak English as an additional language, are well supported by the use of additional adults. Assessment information shows that these groups of pupils are now making progress in line with others nationally.
• The school’s current assessment procedures are now more robust than they have been in previous years. Teachers apply information about pupils’ progress to adapt their planning and meet the needs of all pupils and to revisit any areas the pupils have not understood.

School details

Unique reference number 140045 Local authority Croydon Inspection number 10019639 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Junior school School category Academy converter Age range of pupils 7 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 370 Appropriate authority STEP Academy trust Chair Mark Riddaway Executive Headteacher John Halliwell Telephone number 01689 843103 Website www.wolsey-junior.croydon.sch.uk Email address admin@wolsey-junior.croydon.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Wolsey Junior Academy is a three form entry school. It opened in November 2013 and is part of the STEP Academy Trust, a multi-academy trust in the local area.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for attainment and progress of pupils by the end of Year 6.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• There are considerably more girls than boys at the school and the proportion of girls is above that found typically.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is well above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and /or disabilities is just below the national average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited lessons and scrutinised pupils’ work.
• Inspectors held meetings with pupils, governors (including the chair of the governing body), the trust, the executive headteacher, the headteacher and members of the senior leadership team, middle leaders, teachers and parents.
• Inspectors also considered parents’ views through analysis of 178 responses to Ofsted’s online parent questionnaire, Parent View.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the academy site.
• The inspectors scrutinised a range of information, including information on pupils’ achievement.
• Inspectors looked at planning and monitoring documentation. They also examined minutes of the governing body, records of behaviour and attendance, and documents relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors gained the views of staff from the analysis of 34 responses to the staff questionnaire.
• Due to a technical problem the views of pupils could not be gathered via the questionnaire and were instead gathered during interviews and meetings.

Inspection team

Claire Majumdar, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Roger Easthope Ofsted Inspector Paula Craigie Ofsted Inspector