Winterbourne Junior Girls' School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that there is a clear focus on teaching skills in those subjects where this is not yet a strength so that achievement matches that in writing and mathematics.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The dynamic and dedicated headteacher and her committed team of senior leaders have transformed the school since the previous inspection. Supported and challenged by governors, they have put effective actions in place to improve all aspects of school life.
• Central to improvements has been the high quality of training which leaders provide for staff. For example, leaders arranged training on the new mathematics scheme of work, and on sentence structure in writing. This led directly to a huge increase in pupils’ progress and attainment in these subjects.
• Leaders have created a culture where staff are keen to improve and so reflect on how effective their practice is and how to make it better. Responses from the staff questionnaire show that they are overwhelmingly positive about the professional development they receive.
• The curriculum is well thought out. Leaders ensure that topics are covered in a lively and engaging way and are well supported by visits to bring learning to life. For example, visits to the Science Museum, the British Museum and the Tower of London support topics on electricity, the Egyptians and castles respectively.
• Teachers use the curriculum and select texts linked to topics to challenge stereotypes and promote diversity. During Black History Month, pupils celebrate the contributions minority ethnic people have made to British society over the millennia.
• Leaders make sure that pupils have ways to make decisions about school life. For example, it was the pupils’ idea to name the house teams after inspirational women. They chose: Frank, after Anne Frank; Windsor, after the Queen; Malala, after the education activist; and Arc, after Joan of Arc. This shows how the school’s values, particularly tolerance, courage, forgiveness and self-reliance, positively influence pupils’ thinking.
• The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development exceptionally well. Assemblies and displays showcase the school’s values. Adults ensure that pupils understand what it means to embody these values in their day-to-day lives.
• Leaders are passionately committed to promoting equality of opportunity. They are alert to the barriers that pupils may face in the future by virtue of their ethnicity or gender. Determined to redress this, they ensure that girls leave the school exceptionally well prepared academically and socially for secondary education.
• This commitment to equality is never clearer than when deciding how to spend the additional funds for disadvantaged pupils. Leaders and governors make a thorough analysis as to what may prevent these pupils reaching high levels of attainment and personal fulfilment. The funding is then carefully targeted to remove these barriers. As a result, disadvantaged pupils do very well in this school. They reach standards above national averages in reading, writing and mathematics.
• There is a very capable tier of middle leaders who are rapidly improving teaching in different subjects. Consequently, pupils are making at least good progress in all subjects. Leaders are aware that some subjects need further development and have coherent plans to ensure that this happens.
• The leadership of support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is very effective. The coordinator has put in place excellent systems for tracking these pupils’ progress to ensure that any pupils in danger of falling behind have bespoke programmes to help them catch up. This leads to them making good progress from their starting points. Additional adults are carefully deployed to check that pupils learn well in lessons.
• Leaders think carefully about how to spend the physical education and sport premium funds. There is an increasing range of after-school clubs and bespoke programmes to encourage pupils who are less physically active to improve their fitness levels. In this way, pupils are developing increasingly healthy lifestyles.
• The local authority supported the school well to make the necessary changes after the previous inspection. It now uses Winterbourne to showcase exemplary practice to other schools.

Governance of the school

• The governing body is a vital and valuable addition to school leadership. Since the previous inspection, the governing body has recruited new members with very specific, relevant skills. This means it is now able to support and challenge senior leaders far more effectively.
• Individual governors conduct structured visits to gather information about a focus area. They then share this with the whole body. This leads to governors knowing the school exceptionally well.
• Governors keep their skills up to date by attending relevant training. For example, their training helps them to know how to interpret data and ensure that safeguarding is effective and complies with current regulations.
• The governing body is continually evaluating how well it fulfils its duties. This helps to identify areas which governors can fine tune to increase the impact of their work further.
• Governors challenge senior leaders to continually improve their practice. For example, when ratifying the marking policy governors felt that it did not allow for enough challenge for most-able pupils. Leaders amended the policy accordingly.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have put in place a highly effective system for reporting and recording any concerns. Information is cross-referenced to build a full picture of any pupils who are referred to the safeguarding team. The system means staff can instantly access the information they need to keep a careful track of these referrals. Any concerns are followed up quickly so that vulnerable pupils are well protected.
• Staff and pupils know exactly who they need to speak to if they have any concerns. Pupils know they can use the worry boxes around the school if they prefer not to report something face to face.
• Procedures for dealing with medical needs, including administering first aid, are exceptionally thorough. This includes giving parents very precise information about anything school staff have had to do. The amount and time of any medicines school staff have given are carefully recorded. This ensures that parents know when they can safely administer the next dose.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders are clear about the methods they want teachers to use in the classroom. They have provided training on these approaches. Teachers have taken this training on board to develop their practice. As a result, the quality of teaching has improved and is now good.
• Teachers expect pupils to reason and explain their answers, using subject-specific words and phrases accurately. Teachers build opportunities for this throughout lessons. By listening to pupils’ responses, teachers can see whether they understand, and intervene where necessary. This means pupils do not carry any misconceptions over into the next lesson.
• There is a strong focus on vocabulary. This supports all pupils, but in particular those who speak English as an additional language. Teachers highlight new words and encourage pupils to use a range of clues to work out what these words might mean. Fun activities such as word quizzes and ‘word of the week’ add to this. Pupils also read a lot because they understand that this helps build their vocabulary.
• Teachers plan carefully to ensure that pupils’ needs are met well. They use information about what pupils have learned before to identify girls who need help. Teachers then deploy additional adults effectively in lessons.
• Leaders are passionate about pupils becoming resilient learners who understand that you learn by making mistakes. Teachers reinforce this message. This means pupils take risks in lessons. In Spanish, trying to work out what ‘me gusta’ meant, Year 5 pupils used their knowledge of English. They thought it could be ‘my guests’ but this wrong answer showed clearly how well pupils have been taught to look at new words and use sensible strategies to have a go at working out what they mean. Later in the lesson, these same strategies paid off when pupils correctly translated ‘dormitorio’ as dorm, or bedroom.
• In many subjects, teachers expect pupils to master skills and acquire knowledge. For example, in mathematics pupils are taught to work systematically and justify their answers when learning about fractions and percentages. However, in some subjects, such as art, history and geography, the focus is far more on content and less on the skills needed to experience strong success as an artist, historian or geographer. This holds back pupils’ progress in these subjects.

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 exceptionally keen to learn. They are resilient and do not back away from the unknown or a challenge. They believe they can achieve success if they work hard. This results in exemplary behaviour in lessons.
• Pupils can talk about how the school’s ethos of ‘Aspirations, Expectations, No Excuses’ shapes their lives. They have high aspirations for themselves. Many of the pupils who spoke to inspectors already know that they want to go on to university to become doctors, teachers, scientists or politicians. They understand that they must work hard to achieve this.
• There is a strong pastoral support team of staff who support pupils’ emotional well-being exceptionally well.
• The sport premium is being used increasingly effectively to ensure that all pupils understand the importance of developing a healthy lifestyle.
• Relationships between adults and pupils are very strong and underpinned by trust. Pupils talk of ‘telling a trusted adult’ if they have a concern. They have faith that adults will keep them safe.
• Pupils say that adults help them to know how to stay safe. They know which staff are in the school’s safeguarding team. They also know they can contact outside agencies, such as Childline, if they have concerns while they are away from school.
• Pupils have a well-developed understanding of bullying and all the forms it can take. Apart from physical, verbal and cyber bullying, pupils also identified more subtle forms such as spreading malicious gossip and purposely isolating someone.
• Due to exceptionally thought-provoking work in lessons and assemblies about the effects of bullying, pupils understand how damaging it is. They are adamant that they would never bully anyone because it causes harm that cannot be undone. Pupils state that bullying is now extremely rare in their school. They know that you must tell an adult if bullying does occur. They say that adults would deal with it immediately and it would stop.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. They are courteous, thoughtful and caring. Older pupils look after new girls when they join the school in Year 3. In this way, Year 3 pupils settle well, feel very welcome and make new friends quickly.
• Pupils conduct themselves sensibly and with regard for others. For example, in the playground they make sure everyone is having a happy playtime. They play sensibly so that their actions do not spoil others’ fun, for example looking around before running or throwing a ball.
• Pupils understand the importance of behaving well. From Year 3 onwards, pupils aspire to be head girls. They know that this requires an unblemished behaviour record and so strive to behave in an exemplary manner.
• The school’s exceptional pastoral team supports pupils who have particular behavioural needs. Due to their effective and skilful work, pupils learn strategies that help them manage their emotions so that incidents of unacceptable behaviour are very rare.
• Leaders introduced measures that have led to a significant improvement in attendance, both overall and for groups whose attendance was previously low. Attendance was above average last year.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Leaders have worked diligently to improve outcomes. As a result, progress in writing, which was well below average at the time of the last inspection, has risen to well above average. A very high proportion of girls reached the expected standard in writing by the end of Year 6 in 2017. Progress in mathematics has also improved and is now above average.
• Outcomes in other subjects are also at least good. In reading, standards are in line with national averages. This is an improvement on the previous year, when progress was below average. Pupils are keen readers and choose books that give them the right level of challenge. This supports the good progress they make.
• Achievement in different subjects varies. In science, a much higher proportion than average reach the expected standard by the end of Year 6. Pupils also achieve exceptionally well in computing and Spanish. In other subjects, progress is slower. This is because there is a greater focus on teaching knowledge rather than skills.
• Disadvantaged pupils do well at Winterbourne because leaders use the funding in creative ways to ensure that pupils make at least good progress from their starting points. As a result, progress is in line with other pupils nationally in reading and mathematics, and well above that in writing.
• Leaders’ actions have also resulted in strong improvements for the most able disadvantaged. At the time of the previous inspection, none of this group reached the higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined. In 2017, this measure was above that of other pupils nationally.
• The strong leadership by the coordinator for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities ensures that outcomes for these pupils are good. This is because their needs are well met in lessons and through specific intervention programmes.
• Work in pupils’ books confirms that they make good progress. Pupils learn well because teachers check their understanding regularly. Where something is not clear, teachers explain further. This means that no misconceptions are carried over into subsequent lessons.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 101745 Croydon 10036368 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 Number of pupils on the school roll Community 7 to 11 Girls 317 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Cara Cinnamon Mary Berkeley-Agyepong Telephone number 020 8684 3532 Website Email address www.winterbournegirlsschool.co.uk head@winterbournegirls.croydon.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 6–7 October 2015

Information about this school

• Winterbourne is a larger-than-average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above average.
• Almost all pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds, with the largest groups being of Black African, Black Caribbean, Pakistani and other Asian heritages.
• Nearly two thirds of pupils speak English as an additional language, a significant minority of whom are at the early stages of learning the language.
• Far more pupils join the school other than at the beginning of Year 3 than seen nationally.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is slightly higher than average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school meets the requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited each class at least once to observe learning. Many of these visits were conducted jointly with senior leaders.
• The inspection team also looked at the work pupils had completed in their books in a range of subjects as well as other information about pupils’ attainment and progress.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read, and held both formal and informal discussions with them to gain their views.
• The inspection team looked at a range of documents including the school’s evaluation of its own performance, development plans, curriculum information and information relating to attendance, behaviour and safeguarding.
• Inspectors met with staff, governors and representatives from the local authority.
• There were too few responses to the online Parent View survey for inspectors to be able to view them. However, inspectors met with parents before and after school, took into account the six comments they had written on the free-text facility and looked at information the school provided about parents’ views. Inspectors also took note of 30 responses to the staff survey.

Inspection team

Jeanie Jovanova, lead inspector Michelle Bennett Kanwaljit Singh

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector