Ryhope Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching by ensuring that:
  • teachers set work which provides an appropriate level of challenge for all groups of pupils in the class by using assessment information effectively
  • teachers know the specific requirements of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and plan effectively to support them
  • lesson planning encourages pupils to move on at a pace once they have grasped a concept or technique
  • the teaching of reasoning and problem-solving in mathematics and of the skills of inference and deduction in reading is more effective
  • teachers plan activities that help widen pupils’ vocabulary.
• Raise the quality of leadership and management by:
  • improving the quality of monitoring and evaluation at all levels
  • ensuring that new procedures to support pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities have a consistently positive impact on their progress
  • ensuring that transition arrangements into Year 3 allow pupils ‘to fly’ from their starting points
  • ensuring that professional development has a consistently strong impact on the quality of teaching across the school
  • improving the relationship that the school has with parents
  • ensuring that target-setting and assessment procedures include subjects other than English and mathematics.
• Improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare by ensuring that:
  • pupils whose behaviour is challenging are managed more effectively
  • any off-task behaviour in lessons is eradicated
  • the proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are persistently absent decreases.
• Raise standards of attainment and increase the rates of progress that pupils make in reading. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• School leaders have presided over a steady decline in the quality of education on offer. The progress that pupils have made in reading, for example, has been weak and the support that has been given to pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities has not been good enough. As a result, the school no longer offers an outstanding level of provision and it requires improvement to be good.
• The systems used to identify how much progress pupils are making, and what standards they are reaching, are imprecise. This has had a negative impact on several areas of school life. Teachers are not able to pinpoint accurately how to help pupils improve, leaders are less able to challenge teachers about their performance and governors are not fully equipped to hold senior leaders to account. In addition, these systems do not track pupils’ progress in subjects other than English and mathematics.
• Nonetheless, the headteacher has recently galvanised her team into action and work is afoot to improve outcomes for pupils. The headteacher provides stability and a moral compass for the school.
• Senior leaders understand what constitutes effective learning and are able to help colleagues improve their practice in general terms. The headteacher, together with members of the governing body, knows which aspects of teaching require improvement. School leaders agree that there is a need to ensure that professional development has a consistently strong impact on the quality of teaching.
• The new deputy headteacher has wasted no time in identifying areas of weakness under her remit and has moved at a pace to improve provision. A striking example of this is the leadership of provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Systems and structures to support these pupils are much stronger now. The deputy headteacher has also noted that transition arrangements into Year 3 could be stronger in order to ensure that more pupils are ready ‘to fly’ once they start school.
• Middle leaders with responsibility for English and mathematics are now motoring ahead with their plans to enhance provision in these subjects. Although the school has been slow in responding to weaker provision, this is no longer the case. The teaching of reading, writing and mathematics is improving.
• Pupils learn about what it is to be a good citizen in different subjects across the curriculum. The school offers pupils opportunities to develop as rounded individuals though extra-curricular activities and visits. School leaders have rightly identified the need to deepen pupils’ learning through developing the teaching of reasoning and problem-solving in mathematics and skills such as inference and deduction in reading. Teachers are increasingly confident at developing pupils’ vocabulary across the curriculum but know that there is still work to do here.
• Parents have mixed views about the school. Inspectors agree that the quality of education is variable. School leaders understand that relationships with some parents need to improve and that communication with parents could be stronger.

Governance of the school

• Historically, governors did not notice a decline in the standard of education. They did not hold school leaders to account effectively.
• There are many new members of the governing body. The new team is committed to ensuring that the school improves at a pace. Governors have a training programme in place for their own development and are keen to support and challenge leaders in all areas of school life. Current members of the governing body bring a wide range of skills to their roles, including business management, education and finance.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Policies and procedures linked to safeguarding are up to date, and staff training ensures that everyone understands these policies. Processes in place for the appointment of staff are also compliant.
• Members of staff work well with other agencies to make sure that pupils get any additional help that they need.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is too variable. Not all teachers plan activities that accurately match the abilities of different groups of pupils in their class. Any information that they have about the standards that pupils have reached and the progress that they are making is not used consistently well to help them plan lessons. Sometimes, teachers do not notice when pupils have fully grasped a concept and, therefore, do not push them further on. As a result, some pupils tread water and do not make the progress of which they are capable.
• In the past, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities have not had their needs met effectively. This is because there was a mismatch between their specific learning needs, as recorded on support plans, and the strategies teachers and teaching assistants were deploying. Teachers are now much more aware of the needs of these individual pupils.
• Where teaching is stronger, teachers plan activities that spark the interest of the class. They find out exactly what pupils know and plan from that point to ensure that the progress pupils make is strong. They question pupils well to gauge how much they understand new information and they use this information to move them forward in their learning. Here, teachers have a strong understanding of subject content and how best to relay this information to pupils.
• School leaders have been focusing on developing the teaching of reading and this is having a positive impact. Inspectors observed guided reading sessions and listened to pupils read. Some improvements in pupils’ skills can be seen. Pupils practise comprehension skills often and to good effect. However, although the teaching of skills such as inference and deduction is improving, it remains inconsistent both in terms of effectiveness and frequency.
• The quality of teaching is stronger in Year 5 and Year 6. In addition, the teaching of writing is relatively strong at school. Pupils write at length and with increasing accuracy as they progress through the school. Most-able pupils, in particular, rise to the challenge that some writing tasks offer and they make gains in their writing skills. The arrival of a yeti in school certainly jolted them into writing some highly descriptive pieces.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Although many pupils are resilient and focus well on their work in class, too many give up on tasks easily. They work hard under the supervision of an adult but, when working alone or in small groups, these pupils lose concentration and chat with each other, become uninterested or get involved in off-task behaviour.
• Nonetheless, most pupils develop personal skills well and many benefit from the different leadership opportunities available to them. Pupils are about taught the importance of healthy eating through the science curriculum and many are involved in sporting activities at school. The school council is active and leads fundraising for charities at school. Indeed, the school council was instrumental in the design and purchase of the climbing equipment, which is very popular at breaktime and lunchtime. They even managed to negotiate a discount! Other pupils have opportunities to practise leadership skills, for example through being house captains or reading with younger pupils.
• Pupils understand how to stay safe and can explain how to stay safe online. Pupils understand the need to be kind to each other and understand the concept of bullying. They told inspectors that bullying is rare and that teachers deal with any unkind behaviour quickly. Some parents, however, feel that the school could be more effective in this regard.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• A few pupils exhibit challenging behaviour and struggle to obey school rules. This behaviour has not always been managed effectively. School leaders admit that this has had a slight ‘ripple effect’ on the behaviour of some other pupils who are easily led.
• Many of the parents who responded to the Parent View survey believe that the school makes sure that pupils are well behaved. Some parents, however, believe that the behaviour of a few pupils needs to be addressed.
• Nonetheless, inspectors found most pupils to be courteous, polite and friendly. They enjoy coming to school and conduct themselves well, both in lessons and when moving around the building. They behave safely when playing outside. Most pupils are respectful to each other and adults and help to keep the building clean and tidy.
• Pupils come to school regularly. The school has worked well with families and individual pupils to ensure that they understand the importance of attending school. This, in addition to competitions and rewards schemes, has had a positive impact on rates of attendance. School leaders agree with inspectors, however, that too many disadvantaged pupils are persistently absent.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• In 2017, pupils left Year 6 having made progress in reading which was well below that of all pupils nationally. The progress that they made in mathematics was also below the national average. Progress in 2017 was weaker overall than it had been for the cohort which left the school in 2016.
• Inspection evidence confirms that the progress that pupils are making in reading and the standards they are reaching still require improvement.
• Evidence from pupils’ books shows that the progress of current pupils varies too much between different groups of pupils at school. The information provided by the school’s tracking of pupils’ progress and attainment mirrors this.
• The progress that pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities have made in the past has been weak. There has not been a clear line of sight between the individual needs of pupils and the support that they have been provided. This situation has improved recently.
• Most-able pupils make stronger progress than their peers. Their innate ability and level of focus in lessons help them navigate inconsistencies in teaching more successfully.
• The progress that disadvantaged pupils are making is similar to that of their peers and also requires improvement. A lack of precision in evaluating any additional programmes or support has not helped the school identify which are most effective. As a result, the impact of this support is less strong than it could be.
• The progress that pupils make in science and religious education is relatively strong. Here, subject content sparks the interest of pupils to a greater extent than in other subject areas.
• The progress that pupils make is currently left to chance. It relies too heavily on the skills and interests of individual teachers. Strategies to tighten the curriculum and improve monitoring have not had a substantial impact on rates of pupils’ progress at this point.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 108787 Sunderland 10047879 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 Community 7 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 215 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Stefanie Jardine Watson Janice Skelton 0191 553 6275 www.ryhopejuniors.co.uk ryhope.junior@schools.sunderland.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 27–28 November 2008

Information about this school

• The school is similar in size to the average primary school. It is a junior school and, as such, teaches pupils from Year 3 to Year 6.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is well above the national average. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is lower than the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well above the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.
• Several senior leaders currently in post were not at the school at the time of the previous inspection. This includes the headteacher and the deputy headteacher. The teacher with responsibility for mathematics and the teacher with responsibility for English were not in these roles at the time of the previous inspection.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning and groups of pupils working across the school. Inspectors observed learning jointly with the headteacher and discussed what was seen.
• Inspectors observed pupils when moving around the school and at social times. They talked to pupils in lessons about their experience at school and looked at work in their books. They talked to a specific group of pupils to hear their views about the school and about the behaviour of other pupils. In addition, inspectors spoke to pupils at random to listen to their views.
• Inspectors held meetings with members of the governing body and school staff, including senior and middle leaders. An inspector met with a representative from the local authority to discuss the quality of provision at the school.
• Inspectors took account of the 26 responses to Ofsted’s online parent questionnaire, Parent View.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work and scrutinised a range of documentation, including: the school’s view of its own performance; monitoring records; information about pupils’ progress; improvement planning; and records of behaviour and attendance. They looked closely at records relating to safeguarding and child protection and at policies, including those published on the school’s website.
• An inspector looked at the support that pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities receive, and met with the deputy headteacher, who is also the special educational needs coordinator.

Inspection team

Michael Wardle, lead inspector Nicola Nelson Jim McGrath Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector