All Saints CE Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Sharpen school improvement planning so that:
  • planning more closely reflects leaders’ self-evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses
  • staff are more keenly aware of their part in achieving the school’s main priorities for improvement
  • leaders can accurately measure their progress in addressing the school’s main priorities for improvement
  • those in positions of governance can better hold leaders to account for improving the school.
• Develop a system of more cohesive record-keeping for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities so that:
  • leaders and staff have a clearer understanding of the progress pupils are making
  • information about pupils’ small steps of progress is used more effectively to plan learning which meets their different needs.
• Reduce the level of persistent absence of pupils, including those pupils who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher leads the school with confidence and purpose. She understands the context of the school well. She has not been distracted in her determination to move the school forward. She has a clear vision and intends to improve the school further.
• Senior leaders are supportive of each other. Their personal skills, knowledge and experience complement each other well. Together, they are an effective team for further improvement in the school.
• Self-evaluation is accurate. Leaders know the school’s strengths and weaknesses well. They have a firm grasp of the quality of teaching and learning in the school. Teachers appreciate the support they receive from leaders, as well as the opportunities they are given to develop their own classroom practice and leadership skills.
• Leaders use additional funding to support pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds very well. Extra teaching and support staff are used effectively to ensure that disadvantaged pupils achieve well. This is especially the case with pupils who are in danger of falling behind. As a consequence, outcomes for these pupils have improved significantly.
• The school’s curriculum meets the needs of pupils well. Pupils enjoy learning. They told inspectors that ‘learning is always fun’. Leaders are constantly reviewing the curriculum. They understand that the pressure to improve outcomes for pupils in English and mathematics risks restricting the breadth of the curriculum offer. They are determined that this will not be the case.
• Teachers plan learning in the local community as much as possible. This brings learning to life and allows pupils to make meaningful connections. An activity such as hunting for blue plaques and researching people of the past and their links with the buildings of the present is a good example of this.
• Despite the restrictions posed by the school’s site, additional funding to boost physical education and sport is used effectively. This includes the provision of after-school sports clubs and participation in inter-school competitions.
• Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. They understand democracy and are aware of key issues that affect them and their local community. They are aware of the different faiths in the world, and tolerant and respectful of the different cultures and traditions of others. Importantly, pupils are keenly aware of their own responsibility to support and respect each other. They display mature attitudes when they debate issues in the classroom, even when they disagree with the ideas of others.
• Provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is good. However, record-keeping is not as streamlined as it could be. This leads to a lack of clarity about the progress individual pupils are making and missed opportunities to accelerate their learning. Leaders should review this aspect of provision to ensure that these pupils make the progress of which they are capable.
• Despite leaders’ accurate self-evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, improvement plans do not focus sharply enough on the key areas that need to be improved. Improvement planning also lacks clarity about what will constitute success. As a result, staff are not as focused on the main areas for improvement as they could be, and leaders risk wasting valuable time and resources when key issues are not improving as rapidly as they need to.

Governance of the school

• Governors carry out their statutory duties well and are increasingly effective in their roles. They appreciate the guidance they receive from officers of the Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust. Their strategic overview of areas such as safeguarding, finance and the overall quality of provision has ensured that the school is a safe place to be and is on an upward trajectory.
• Most governors are relatively new to their roles. Because of this, they are constantly seeking to develop their knowledge and understanding of the crucial part they play in improving the school. As a consequence, the governing body is beginning to play a greater role in holding leaders to account for school improvement.
• Although governors know the school well, they recognise that their part in monitoring improvement over time needs to be stronger. In particular, they know that they require a clearer understanding of what constitutes success in improving key aspects of provision. This should enable them to support and challenge leaders more effectively in their collective efforts to improve the school to become outstanding.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The school’s caring ethos underpins the culture to ensure that pupils are safe. Staff know what to do if they have concerns and have been trained at levels commensurate with their different responsibilities. Policies and procedures are sound, as are safeguarding records and records of pre-employment checks on staff.
• Pupils feel safe at All Saints. They told inspectors that they know who to talk to if they have problems or are worried. Parents who spoke to inspectors expressed their confidence in staff to keep their children safe. All parents who replied to Ofsted’s online parent questionnaire expressed the view that their children feel safe in school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good across the school. Classrooms are happy places to be. Relationships are strong between pupils and adults. As a result, pupils enjoy being in the classroom and are keen to learn new things.
• Leaders work hard in partnership with teachers to ensure that there is a clarity of purpose in classrooms. Pupils in all year groups know what is expected of them. Explanations are clear. Routines are well established. Pupils know what they are learning and why, because leaders have ensured that staff make this aspect of their classroom practice a priority.
• In most lessons, teachers and support staff constantly check pupils’ understanding and are able to deal quickly with misconceptions, as well as add extra support or challenge when required. In some subjects, pupils are provided with additional challenges which they select themselves. Pupils respond enthusiastically to this and enjoy the sense of heightened responsibility and independence it creates for them.
• Support staff are used effectively. Classroom visits showed inspectors that levels of communication between teaching and support staff are strong. This creates a sense of purpose across the school. No time is wasted during lessons because adults know what learning is planned and what their role is in delivering it.
• The quality of interventions for pupils in danger of falling behind is good. Additional staff are employed to ensure that disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities are given additional support, if and when it is needed. This is particularly the case for pupils who are new to the school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. There is an extremely caring ethos in the school. One parent told an inspector, ‘The school is caring, accepting and nurturing, and it feels safe.’
• Pupils care about each other, not only as friends, but also as learners. In classroom visits, inspectors witnessed many examples of pupils working collaboratively, supporting and challenging each other to improve their work. It is clear that pupils’ own attitudes to learning are partly responsible for the good or better outcomes that most of them experience.
• Staff place great importance on teaching pupils to listen to the views of others, and then to respond in a constructive way. To disagree with a point of view is not frowned on, as long as a rational explanation is given. As a result, their ability to reason and debate is highly developed, especially when their ages are taken into consideration.
• The school’s curriculum is interspersed with good opportunities for pupils to learn about their own physical and emotional well-being, as well as staying safe. This includes everyday problems such as using the internet or coping with the traffic in the immediate vicinity of the school. As a result, pupils are aware of the potential dangers around them, but are confident in their strategies to reduce risks and stay safe.
• Bullying is not tolerated in school, nor is discrimination of any kind. Pupils are unequivocal in their opinion that they understand fully what bullying is and that, on the rare occasions it occurs, it is dealt with swiftly and effectively by staff.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. It is clear that there has been a marked improvement in the way pupils conduct themselves in classrooms and around the school in the recent past. Throughout the inspection, inspectors did not witness conduct that was anything less than exceptional. This included in classrooms and during unstructured times in the playground, at lunchtime, at breakfast club and at the start and finish of the school day.
• It is clear that pupils themselves disapprove of behaviour that disrupts learning, creates tension or takes the fun out of the classroom. Levels of exclusions and poor behaviour have reduced dramatically over time. As a result, classrooms are places where teachers teach and pupils learn.
• Pupils’ attitudes to school and to learning are extremely positive. Nevertheless, leaders know that levels of persistent absence are too high, including for a significant proportion of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Leaders have started to address this problem and rates of absence are falling. However, more needs to be done if this problem is to be tackled fully.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Outcomes for pupils are good. Most pupils make good or better progress from their different starting points because the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good.
• Pupils also make good progress in developing their life skills in preparation for moving on to secondary education. Parents are positive about this. One parent commented in a free-text reply: ‘The staff are very dedicated to the children’s academic achievement as well as pastoral care. It (the school) prepares children extremely well for secondary school.’
• Outcomes for pupils presently in the school correlate strongly with the school’s unvalidated national test and assessment results at the end of Year 6 in 2017. Simply put, pupils’ progress and attainment in English and mathematics compare favourably with those of other schools nationally. This includes pupils from vulnerable groups.
• Leaders are acutely aware of the small differences in progress and attainment within year groups and between different groups of pupils. They know that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are making good progress, for instance. They also understand that this group needs to make even better progress if they are to attain in line with or better than other pupils in the school.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress over time. However, this vulnerable group does not make better progress because not enough focused consideration is given to the small steps required for them to make accelerated progress in the shorter term.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141655 East Sussex 10040907 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 Academy sponsor-led 7 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 227 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Zoe Doye Katharine Hurd 01424 421 397 www.allsaintscejunioracademy.org office@allsaintscejunioracademy.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• This was the first inspection of the school since it converted to academy status and joined the Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust in February 2015.
• The school is led by its own headteacher with a local board of governors who have delegated powers from the multi-academy trust.
• The school meets the current government floor standards, which are the minimum standards for pupils’ attainment and progress.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors carried out 15 classroom observations during the inspection, visiting every class at least once. During classroom visits, inspectors observed teaching and learning, assessed the quality of pupils’ work and talked to them about the progress they were making.
• Inspectors attended a collective worship assembly of the whole school. One inspector carried out a ‘learning walk’ across the school, which focused on the breadth and balance of the school’s curriculum.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in classrooms and as they moved around the school. This included at the start and finish of the school day, and at break and lunchtimes.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, a group of four teachers, non-teaching support staff, the chair of governors accompanied by one other governor, a representative group of pupils and a representative of the multi-academy trust.
• An inspector met with parents at the start of the first day of the inspection. Inspectors took into account the 33 replies to the online Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View, as well as the accompanying free-text messages.
• A wide range of documents and policies were scrutinised, including those regarding the safety of pupils. As well as looking at pupils’ work in classrooms, a separate scrutiny of English and mathematics books was held in the presence of the school’s leaders for English and mathematics.
• The school’s own self-evaluation, improvement planning and information about pupils’ outcomes were considered. Minutes of governing body meetings and notes of visits from improvement advisers of the multi-academy trust were also taken into account.

Inspection team

Clive Close, lead inspector Amanda Gard

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector