Lathom Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders build on the existing transition arrangements with the partner school so that pupils at Lathom make rapid progress from their starting points when they join the school leaders at all levels understand and use the assessment system fully, in order to support teachers in helping pupils to make consistently strong progress across the school leaders help teachers to develop a consistent, effective approach to teaching handwriting and to raise expectations about the quality of the presentation of pupils’ work
  • senior leaders and governors make regular and rigorous checks on all records relating to safeguarding
  • the governing body recruits further highly skilled governors to help it manage the challenges of governing two schools.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that tasks set meet the needs of the most able pupils in writing and mathematics.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• School leaders and governors have sustained the good quality of education since the previous inspection, despite the challenges of leading two schools across the federation. The head of school remains at Lathom on a full-time basis. He is a constant, dynamic presence in the school. As a result, the part-time presence of other leaders is managed well and ensures that the school continues to improve. Collectively, leaders are a strong team who use their range of skills well to improve the school.
• Leaders secure appropriate targeted professional development and training for staff to help develop teaching. Teaching is improving. The strongest teaching in the older year groups leads to pockets of rapid progress in reading and mathematics. Leaders monitor the quality of teaching effectively. Teachers’ appraisal focuses on the right things to improve outcomes for pupils. Teachers who are new to the profession are very well supported. Staff and pupils enjoy being at school because of the positive climate for learning that leaders have helped them to create.
• Leaders have put effective actions in place to improve pupils’ achievement in reading. As a result of good training and support, the teaching of reading has improved, leading to strong progress in reading for pupils across the school. They have also been creative in involving parents in their children’s reading, through initiatives such as ‘the reading café’.
• Leaders of English and mathematics have had good impact on developing teachers’ and support staff’s subject knowledge. Both leaders show a good understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement in their subjects. Leaders have ensured that the most able writers in Year 6 have benefited from a residential course with authors to develop their writing skills. Leaders have not secured a consistent approach to the teaching of handwriting or to the expectations relating to the presentation of work.
• The curriculum is broad and rich and promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Leaders have ensured that all curriculum areas are well planned. They review and refine how subjects are taught depending on how well pupils are doing. British values are integrated throughout the curriculum and through organised events such as ‘citizenship week’. Leaders ensure that pupils develop a full understanding of different faiths and religions. During assemblies, pupils’ different religions are valued.
• Funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is managed well. Identification of pupils who need extra support is accurate and swift. Provision is effective and pupils’ progress is rigorously tracked.
• Leaders manage the additional funding for disadvantaged pupils well and they carefully monitor the impact of spending on pupils’ progress. In 2016, outcomes improved for disadvantaged pupils in all subjects.
• The school has used additional physical education and sport funding productively to provide professional development for staff and to provide pupils with opportunities to benefit from a wider range of sports and resources.
• Leaders’ understanding of the school’s assessment system to support teachers in accelerating pupils’ progress is not consistent. Arrangements to support pupils to build on the progress they made in the infant school vary between subjects. The tracking of the progress made by most-able pupils from their starting points is inconsistent.
• Senior leaders have not monitored or supported the work of middle leaders carefully enough to ensure that safeguarding records are thorough, easy to access and up to date. Senior leaders took swift action to address this during the inspection.

Governance of the school

• Governors are highly committed to supporting the work of the school. They have risen to the challenge that the federation with the infant school has presented. They recognise that they need to recruit more governors to help them enhance their challenge role further.
• Governors have a good understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement in the school. They reflect on briefings they receive from senior and middle leaders which inform them about developments in different aspects of the curriculum.
• Governors analyse the information they receive from leaders about the progress that different groups of pupils make. They hold leaders to account for the spending of the pupil premium and physical education and sport premium funding.
• Governors secure external advice and support to manage the performance of the headteacher. They check the records regarding the safer recruitment of staff but this is not done frequently or consistently enough. Plans are in place to improve this aspect of the governors’ work.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have ensured that staff receive appropriate training on all aspects of safeguarding children. Parents say that their children feel safe and are well cared for at school.
• All staff ensure that any concerns about children’s safety are dealt with swiftly and effectively. Leaders work well with external services to ensure that vulnerable children receive the support and care that they need.
• During the inspection, leaders ensured that record keeping relating to the checks on the suitability of staff was updated and reorganised to make it more rigorous. Leaders recognise that they need to regularly and rigorously monitor the thoroughness and effectiveness of all records relating to safeguarding.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good. As a result of good professional development, teachers across the school ensure that pupils engage well in learning and enjoy interesting lessons. A strong feature of teaching is the high quality of questioning developed by teachers in mathematics and English lessons. This helps pupils to think deeply about their learning and make good progress.
• Across the school, pupils work collaboratively together. They talk and learn from each other as well as from their teachers. Pupils also respond to each other’s written work, providing helpful feedback and suggestions on how to improve it.
• Teachers implement effectively the school’s policy to use good-quality literature as a stimulus for pupils’ writing. As a result, pupils across the school read well and with enthusiasm. Pupils enjoy writing for a range of audiences and purposes, and about themes relating to the books they have read. They are supported well in this, referring to a wide range of resources to help them improve their writing. Pupils confidently and accurately apply their grammatical skills when they write at length.
• In mathematics lessons, teachers build well on the skills and knowledge pupils already have so that most pupils make strong progress. Teachers’ subject knowledge is good and is developing further because of the recent support from an external consultant to help them develop pupils’ reasoning and problem-solving skills.
• Teachers do not consistently set tasks for the most able pupils in mathematics and writing lessons that challenge them to make the rapid progress of which they are capable. Pupils entering the school in Year 3 are occasionally given work that is too easy for them as it does not build well upon their achievements in the infant school.
• Lower attaining pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are extremely well supported with their learning. Teachers and teaching assistants provide tasks and offer high-quality support that helps pupils to make good progress from their various starting points.
• A special feature of the school is the inspirational work of the two learning mentors. Pupils targeted to work with them make progress in their learning because of the care, guidance and support they receive from the learning mentors.

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 socialising and working with friends from different backgrounds. They respect each other’s religions and beliefs.
• Pupils benefit from the ‘reflection room’, where they can go to be peaceful and think about their life and their school.
• Staff care about their pupils and pupils feel safe and valued in their care. They know whom to go to if they are worried or feel that they may be in danger. The learning mentors provide incredible support and commitment to vulnerable pupils or to those who are new to the school. They help pupils to build confidence and self-esteem and counsel them through some extremely challenging events in their lives. The learning mentors are rightly cherished by the pupils and by the community.
• Pupils show great care and respect for their classmates who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They help and support them without being prompted to do so by adults.
• Pupils show pride in their achievements but their work is often not presented well.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are courteous and respectful. They play happily together in the playground and enjoy the quiet areas that are set up to allow them to read or eat fruit.
• Behaviour in lessons and around the school is good. In most lessons, pupils collaborate and learn well together. However, boys’ enthusiasm for mathematics and girls’ enthusiasm for writing occasionally stop them from listening to each other’s views respectfully in some lessons.
• Attendance is in line with the national average. Any dips in attendance are identified swiftly by senior leaders, who take appropriate action.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils currently make progress that is at least in line with the school’s expectations. They are on track to achieve good outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics by the time they leave the school.
• Year 6 pupils who left the school in 2016 achieved standards in reading, writing and mathematics that were above the national average. The progress they made in reading across key stage 2 was average. Progress in writing and mathematics was above average. Disadvantaged pupils made progress in mathematics that was well above the national average for all pupils. Pupils left the school well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• Pupils achieve well in science, and work shows that the oldest pupils in the school are developing depth in learning about this subject.
• Teachers have worked hard to ensure that any differences between the achievement of girls and boys are diminishing in all year groups. Year 6 teachers are ensuring that the boys who are not yet working at standards expected for their age in writing are making good progress and starting to catch up.
• In Years 5 and 6, some pupils are making rapid progress in writing. Pupils in Years 3 and 4 are working at a standard that is appropriate for their age. In mathematics, progress across the school is strong. However, in writing and mathematics lessons, actions to support the most able pupils to work at greater depth have yet to have a marked impact. There are pockets of rapid progress for the most able pupils, but this is inconsistent across the school.
• Disadvantaged pupils who are currently in the school make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. The most able disadvantaged pupils make similar progress as their classmates, but do not make the rapid progress of which they are capable.
• The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is good. Teachers ensure that their varying knowledge and skills are taken into account when planning work and additional support that meets their needs.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 102728 Newham 10008677 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. 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 482 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Executive Headteacher Head of School Telephone number Website Email address Gary Strutt Sarah Rowlands Martin Stanley 020 8472 0386 www.lathom.newham.sch.uk info@lathom.newham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 2 July 2012

Information about this school

• Lathom Junior School is larger than the average-sized primary school. The school is part of a hard federation with Altmore Infant School. All leaders except the head of school work across both sites.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding is well above average.
• The majority of pupils come from a Pakistani background. The next largest groups are Sri Lankan Tamil and Indian pupils.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all year groups at least twice. Observations were undertaken with the head of school, the deputy headteacher, the English coordinator, the mathematics coordinator and the inclusion manager. Year 5 pupils were away on a school trip during the second day of the inspection.
• Inspectors met with members of the governing body and spoke with a representative of the local authority.
• Meetings were held with pupils to discuss their learning and their views on the school.
• Leaders met with inspectors to discuss their roles and the impact of their work.
• The subject leaders for mathematics and for English carried out a book scrutiny with inspectors to identify the progress pupils are making. Books from all year groups were scrutinised.
• Inspectors heard pupils read and talked to pupils in the lunch hall, in lessons, in the playground and as they moved around the building.
• Inspectors examined a range of school documents, including information on pupils’ progress across the school, improvement plans and checks on the quality of teaching. They also examined school records relating to safety, behaviour and attendance.
• Inspectors took account of the 28 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and of information gathered from discussions with parents during the inspection.

Inspection team

Ruth Dollner, lead inspector David Lloyd Alison Martin Rekha Bhakoo Raj Mehta

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector