Marchwood Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that the presentation of pupils’ work, and their handwriting, is consistently of a high standard.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The highly skilled headteacher leads the school with passion and a determination to ensure that all pupils achieve as well as they possibly can. Clear and well-judged strategic plans ensure that the school continues to improve and excel. Pupils are inspired to deepen their knowledge and skills and make outstanding progress.
• Leaders target additional pupil funding expertly. This leads to disadvantaged pupils making very good progress across all subjects, especially reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders support disadvantaged pupils’ social and emotional needs very well by ensuring that staff are appropriately trained. Breakfast and ‘lunch bunch’ activities provide effective help that enables pupils who attend to be ready for learning.
• Leaders also use specific funding for pupils from service families exceptionally well. They have a keen sense of what is important to pupils and their community. For example, to commemorate the sacrifice of the 19 Marchwood men who lost their lives in the First World War the ‘Marchwood Troopers’, a group of pupils from service families, led the school in creating a remembrance garden. This enabled the Marchwood Troopers, and the rest of the school, to remember not only the fallen but their own parents who are still serving.
• Staff, including newly qualified teachers, are overwhelmingly positive about the support they get from leaders. They believe they are valued and listened to, and that their ongoing development is personalised and highly effective. One staff member said, ‘The support I have had at Marchwood has kept me in teaching.’ Another member of staff stated, ‘It’s a privilege to work here.’ The promotion of staff well-being, and the stability it brings, helps to promote a ‘can-do’ attitude among the school community which rubs off on pupils.
• Most parents rightly express very positive views about the school and how well it is led. One commented, ‘My son has flourished since being part of the Marchwood family.’ Others reflected on ‘the strong leadership team at the helm’ and that ‘all teachers have the same ethos which comes from the headteacher’.
• Leaders ensure that staff have training to help continually improve their expertise. Coaching helps teachers to share their strengths with others and to address their specific needs. A culture of learning permeates the staff at all levels which in turn benefits pupils’ learning.
• The knowledgeable special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) ensures that the learning and welfare needs of pupils with SEND are met very well. Pupils’ progress is monitored closely. Useful and specific support challenges pupils to try hard and persevere. As a result, pupils with SEND make strong progress from their starting points. Some catch up so well that they no longer need additional support for their learning.
• Middle leaders are highly skilled and keen to take on responsibility. They lead their subjects exceptionally well and are trusted to make changes and take risks when required. Senior leaders make sure that all leaders have opportunities to lead initiatives, monitor impact and share findings with staff. For example, the SENCo has used this approach to introduce a successful mentoring scheme which is improving disadvantaged pupils’ progress in reading.
• The curriculum is interesting and exciting, with rich opportunities for pupils to develop excellent subject-specific knowledge and life skills. It includes a rich range of subjects and is enhanced by a wide range of trips and visitors that help bring learning to life.
• Parents and pupils are very appreciative of the numerous clubs that are available. These include tag rugby, dodgeball and French. One parent wrote, ‘We were thrilled to see so many club opportunities offered.’
• Leaders use sports premium funding incredibly well. The range of sporting opportunities offered is extensive and a high percentage of pupils participate regularly. Many take part in inter-school sports.

Governance of the school

• Governors are knowledgeable and have the skills to hold the leaders successfully to account across all areas. For example, their membership includes those with extensive safeguarding experience and others who are adept at scrutinising and interpreting assessment information. As a result, any dips in the school’s performance are quickly identified and challenged.
• Governors monitor staff performance effectively. They ensure that staff are focused on identified priorities. This results in the school continuing to improve.
• Governors’ understanding of school initiatives helps them to challenge leaders about the effectiveness of their actions. For example, they talked knowledgeably to inspectors about ‘Starstruck’, an initiative that supports improvements in attendance.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding is a high priority. Leaders ensure that all staff and volunteers are thoroughly checked and trained before they start work. When concerns about pupils’ welfare are raised, they are addressed immediately and effectively. As a result, pupils receive the help they need to stay safe and thrive.
• Pupils are taught to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils in Year 6 follow four rules when dealing with social media: zip it; block it; flag it; respect it. In Year 3 pupils learn how to look after their friends and report any concerns they have to adults.
• Parents overwhelmingly state that their children are safe in school. They receive useful information on subjects such as e-safety and keeping children safe from abuse. Parents appreciated the opportunity to have training on internet safety as it kept them up to date on the dangers children face online.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teachers use their excellent subject knowledge to plan activities that build highly successfully on pupils’ previous learning. Pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding develop very well over time, especially in their writing and mathematics work.
• Teachers’ skilful questioning helps pupils to make very strong progress. This was exemplified, for example, in a mathematics lesson where pupils checked the answers to their calculations using the inverse rule. Staff asked specific questions that enabled them to determine precisely when pupils were ready to move on.
• Teaching in mathematics is very effective. Teachers skilfully ensure that pupils understand the different ways that they can solve mathematical problems. This develops pupils’ resilience and deepens their learning.
• Classrooms are very purposeful and calm. Pupils discuss their learning using subject-appropriate vocabulary correctly. Typically, pupils show great care when they present their work. Nevertheless, on occasion, teachers do not ensure that pupils’ presentation and handwriting match the high standards of which they are capable.
• The interesting and exciting curriculum is very well planned. Teachers ensure that there are numerous opportunities for pupils to write purposefully across all subjects. For example, in Year 6, pupils excitedly prepared to write scripts for a shadow puppet show they will be performing for Year 3.
• Teachers use assessment well across subjects to make sure that pupils, including the disadvantaged, make excellent progress. Teachers know their pupils extremely well and set tasks that match pupils’ needs closely.
• Leaders have ensured that improving pupils’ reading is a priority with all staff. Teachers’ feedback to pupils has a positive impact on their understanding of what they have read. This approach enables teachers to determine pupils’ understanding and move their learning on. All pupils, including those from service families and disadvantaged, make strong progress in reading.
• Teachers make sure that pupils are very well prepared for their future education and life. For example, in mathematics, teachers ensure that pupils develop their mental agility to reason and solve problems in a real-life context.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils want to succeed and be challenged in their learning. They support each other well, enabling learning to be uninterrupted.
• Pupils spoke knowledgeably about the school’s ‘ARCTIC’ values of achievement, respect, cooperation, trust, independence and care. The school’s culture reflects these. A parent commented that the ARCTIC values are respected by all regardless of a pupil’s development, their culture, beliefs or gender.
• Staff recognise the particular emotional needs of children who have a parent in the army and have developed the Marchwood Troopers group to support them. The success of this work was recognised when the school won the ‘festival of friends’ award for welcoming military families as a result of the Marchwood Troopers’ diversity exhibition celebrating individuality.
• Pupils talk about the close school community and refer to it fondly as the ‘family of Marchwood’. They value the peer support that they give each other and talk confidently about the support adults in school give them. Pupils know that they can talk to adults in school if they have any worries. Pupils told inspectors that bullying was rare and, if it did occur, dealt with speedily.
• Parents commented favourably upon the social development opportunities that the school offers to their children. Pupils are well prepared for life beyond school because of the high behaviour expectations, residential trips and sports clubs.
• ‘Junior leaders’, an elected group of Year 6 pupils who work with school leaders, are proud of their leadership roles. They told inspectors that they value the strong relationships that they have established with adult leaders. Pupils are committed to the ‘Marchwood family’ and promote activities such as inter-house competitions that help pupils in different year groups get to know each other. They described keeping to the manifesto promises that they made when they were elected and are aware that more clubs not associated with sports would be appreciated by many pupils.
• Pupils are extremely well prepared for life in modern Britain. They learn to appreciate British values. Pupils have a huge respect for different cultures. They also determine which charities to support. Through the election of junior leaders, pupils also have a growing knowledge and understanding of democracy.
• The breakfast club offers an opportunity for pupils to develop socially. Staff are well trained to nurture and support pupils. This promotes pupils’ improved attendance and punctuality. One pupil described how he can ‘relax before he starts work in school’, which helps him to be ready to learn.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils are delightfully respectful and polite to both peers and adults. They behave exceptionally well in lessons and around the school. During the inspection, they were very responsive to adults in a variety of situations. For example, during ‘dodgeball’ club pupils were participating enthusiastically but responded immediately when asked to focus on the teacher.
• The headteacher has established a highly effective, systematic approach to recording any incidents of poor behaviour. This ensures that behaviour is outstanding for all groups of pupils. Parents state that the headteacher and school deal with any concerns that they have promptly.
• Attendance is above the national average for primary schools. All groups of pupils, including those from service families and disadvantaged pupils, attend well. Leaders maintain a strong focus on improving attendance still further. For example, the ‘Starstruck’ initiative has helped to reduce persistent absence so that it is now below the national average.

Outcomes for pupils

Outstanding

• Pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is consistently well above the national average. The proportion reaching greater depth is almost double that seen nationally. Consequently, pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• Mathematics is a particular strength of the school. Pupils’ books show that they make very strong progress. For example, some low-attaining pupils in Year 3 used apparatus to add and subtract numbers over 1,000 at the start of the academic year. Within a short period, these pupils were able to add and subtract similar numbers without the need of apparatus.
• Previously low-attaining pupils’ results are rapidly improving. Pupils use their mathematical skills very effectively to reason and problem solve. As a result, pupils’ rates of progress and attainment are consistently higher than the national average.
• All groups of pupils make strong progress in reading and writing. In all year groups, pupils have a wide range of opportunities to read and write purposefully across the curriculum. Their understanding of challenging vocabulary, and their ability to use it correctly, ensures that all pupils make excellent progress.
• Service children, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND make exceptionally strong progress in writing and mathematics. Their progress in reading is improving. Disadvantaged pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is rapidly improving and over time is catching up with other pupils nationally.
• Careful assessment of pupils’ subject-specific knowledge and understanding ensures that pupils also make strong progress in other subjects across the curriculum.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 116073 Hampshire 10054141 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 Community 7 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 338 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Dan Tasker Laurie Anderson 02380 863105 www.marchwoodjuniorschool.org.uk adminoffice@marchwood-jun.hants.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 9 January 2018

Information about this school

• The school is larger than the average-sized junior school.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is below the national average for primary schools. This incorporates a number of pupils whose parents are in the armed forces.
• Fewer pupils leave or join the school at times other than the start of the academic year than the average in schools nationally.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is above the national average.
• The school was inspected in January 2018 under section 8.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors met with groups of staff, parents and leaders.
• Inspectors observed learning in 26 lessons. They spoke to pupils and looked at work in their books. All of these activities were carried out alongside the school’s senior leaders.
• Parents were met informally at the start of the day and inspectors took into account 183 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, including 50 free-text comments. The lead inspector also considered 14 letters or e-mails received from parents.
• The inspection team reviewed a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, action plans, minutes of meetings, and safeguarding and pupils’ progress information.
• Pupils were listened to as they read and the inspection team spoke to pupils to gather their views about the school.
• The inspection team met with school leaders, the chair and members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.

Inspection team

Becky Greenhalgh, lead inspector Debra Anderson Jane Edwards

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector