Christ Church Church of England Junior School, Ramsgate Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Sharpen the focus on disadvantaged pupils to eradicate differences in attendance and outcomes compared with other pupils nationally.
• Refine teachers’ use of pupils’ existing capabilities and lift expectations to secure the highest outcomes across a range of subjects, including for most-able pupils.
• Ensure that the teaching and learning of science skills build consistently and progressively across the school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders and staff have established a clear ethos and culture where pupils achieve well, both academically and personally. They have secured positive outcomes for pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, the most able and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders have high expectations of pupils’ social behaviour.
• Governors, the diocese and the local authority have full confidence in the leadership and vision of the headteacher. His effective partnership with the deputy headteacher has motivated and united the staff team. Staff are committed and expressed exceptionally high levels of satisfaction about working at the school.
• Standards have risen since the school opened. The first set of published results for the school in 2015 were very positive, with different groups of pupils performing in line with or better than other pupils nationally, including disadvantaged pupils.
• There has been a measured response from leaders to the provisional results from the 2016 Year 6 tests, which were much lower than expected. Following a detailed analysis and discussions with other schools, leaders and teachers have swiftly implemented the adjustments that they believe will lead to significantly better results for current and subsequent cohorts.
• Leaders provide teachers with clear and effective feedback to improve their practice. They have challenged underperformance where necessary. They encourage teachers to be reflective about their own practice and teachers are receptive to this. Staff turnover has had a detrimental impact on some classes, including in the previous academic year, but the current teaching team is providing consistently good-quality teaching.
• The foundations are being laid to strengthen the roles of leaders responsible for particular subjects or aspects of the school’s work. Following recent appointments and a restructure, a number are new in post this year. They have made a positive start, but it is too soon to see any significant impact on pupils’ outcomes.
• Effective challenge and support from the diocese as sponsor have contributed well to improved leadership capacity and provision within the school. A well-established and constructive relationship, built on mutual confidence and trust, has ensured that this partnership is productive and beneficial. Typical of leaders’ openness and desire to improve, they still welcome two challenge and support visits annually offered to academies by the local authority.
• Leaders have forged useful links with other schools, for example to support the moderation of teachers’ assessments and secure a smooth transition between schools. Year 3 pupils have settled quickly and are relishing the ‘harder work’ that they say they have to do now. Most-able pupils, including those who are most-able and disadvantaged, speak enthusiastically about the work that they do at a local grammar school or with their visiting teachers.
• Effective use of pupil premium funding has secured positive outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Staff monitor individual pupils carefully, whatever their starting points, helping to ensure that disadvantaged pupils sometimes achieve as well as their most-able peers. Through their rightful attention to the outcomes of each and every pupil in the school, leaders recognise that strategically they have not had a sharp enough focus on disadvantaged pupils as a group in the school. Consequently, differences in their attendance, for example, though better in the current academic year so far, have not reduced quickly enough over time.
• Careful use of the sports premium has significantly increased both the range and participation levels in sports and physical activities for pupils in recent years. Physical education is a strong feature of the curriculum.
• The range of learning across subjects and enrichment activities provides varied positive learning opportunities for pupils. As well as promoting good outcomes academically, the promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is woven through all of the school’s work. Pupils reflect and debate well, engaging in thoughtful discussion, with their understanding of fundamental British values becoming increasingly deeply embedded.

Governance of the school

• The governing body is effective and improving. Governors are rightly proud of the school and know it well. Their knowledge, skills and experience complement each other helpfully.
• Training has helped the governing body to ask more pertinent questions as part of its challenge role. Regular visits to the school to meet with a variety of leaders allow for more detailed questioning and are an important part of governors’ work to hold school leaders to account.
• Governors are not complacent. They are aware of what the governing body does well and what it can still do better, taking action accordingly.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a well-established culture in the school where concerns are taken seriously and acted upon swiftly and systematically. Checks on new staff are rigorous and well organised. Staff training is regular, up to date and effective, meaning that staff are vigilant and confidently know and use the school’s procedures. Staff and governors have received specialist training on the government’s strategy to prevent radicalisation and extremism.
• Leaders are not complacent. They are reflective about any issues that arise, seeking to learn anything that they can and updating policies and practices accordingly, where relevant. They are proactive in reporting concerns to other professionals and agencies and acting on the advice that they receive.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers’ subject knowledge is strong and they are clear about what they want pupils to learn. Often, this gives pupils a better understanding that allows them to reflect and engage in thoughtful discussion.
• Adults ask probing questions and give pupils the chance to think and consider their responses. Because they are made to think things through, pupils also pose their own questions to clarify their understanding. The culture created as a result supports the learning of all pupils, including the most able.
• Mathematics teaching frequently demands elements of reasoning and problem-solving to challenge pupils of all abilities. The most able pupils are especially prompted to justify and explain their answers.
• Teaching assistants provide purposeful and well organised support to a range of pupils, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They take care to prompt and question without overly leading or restricting independence. They know individual pupils well, so give helpful reminders about personal targets as pupils are working.
• Staff assess pupils at the start of Year 3 and target support promptly to enable pupils to make good progress from their particular starting points.
• Adults’ effective feedback, both verbal and written, challenges pupils to improve their work. New Year 3 pupils are quickly learning the processes, with immediate improvements evident in the quality of their work as a result.
• Teachers give pupils plentiful opportunities to develop their reading, writing and mathematics skills across different subjects, drawing effective links between subjects to help learning make sense.
• Supported by specialists, rich experiences and effective teaching across sports, art and music were particularly praised by pupils and parents alike.
• The consistent strengths in teaching across the school contribute well to the good progress made by current pupils. Most-able pupils feel that they mostly get the right level of work that isn’t too easy. However, teachers’ use of what pupils already know and can do is not sufficiently refined to promote the best possible outcomes, and they could expect even more of pupils, including the most able.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Different groups of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, the most able and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, have positive attitudes to learning. They engage well and are proud of their work and achievements.
• Pupils are very supportive of each other and work well collaboratively. Opportunities to discuss their learning are managed well by pupils who are thoughtful, reflective and typically remain on task. They engage intelligently in discussions around equal opportunities, for example, and respond well when their thinking is challenged.
• Pupils are proud of their school and work. This is symbolised in the school mural, where pupils worked together, each designing and making a clay fish to celebrate individuality, coming together to make a ‘school’. However, the quality of pupils’ written work and presentation is variable and not reflective of their very best often enough.
• Most-able pupils enjoy being challenged and are not afraid or concerned to make mistakes, knowing that this helps them learn.
• Pupils feel safe. They learn well how to keep themselves safe, including on the road, by the sea and online.
• Pupils are overwhelmingly positive about the school’s work to tackle and prevent bullying. They are confident that any rare issues are very well dealt with and very few parents that responded to Parent View disagreed.
• Breakfast club gets the day off to a positive start for those that attend. Pupils enjoy the various activities such as chess, gymnastics and computing.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils, parents and staff report that behaviour is good. This confirms inspectors’ observations at different times of the day and other inspection evidence.
• Pupils know and understand the behaviour policy and are confident that staff follow this consistently to promote good behaviour. Leaders keep clear, detailed records of any incidents, including the timely follow-up or any further support that is required. There have been no exclusions.
• Most pupils attend regularly. Through the work of the family liaison officer and learning mentor, any absence is followed up immediately and pursued tenaciously. In recent years, disadvantaged pupils overall have missed too much school. So far this year, the picture is much improved, but leaders recognise that this must be sustained over time.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils make good progress over time in a range of subjects. A wide range of first-hand evidence shows that in the majority of cases disadvantaged pupils are achieving well in relation to their individual starting points. Staff identify pupils that are falling behind and target support accordingly.
• The school’s only published results show disadvantaged pupils performing better than other pupils nationally. In 2016, provisional results show that around half of all pupils, including some most-able disadvantaged pupils, attained the higher level in reading and writing, and around a third did so in mathematics.
• There is a strong culture of the importance and value of reading across the school. Pupils are proud of the library and most-able pupils were complimentary about the range of books that it offers. The librarian’s enthusiasm is overwhelming and this is supported by pupils who love to visit and choose a book in the exceptionally welcoming, vibrant environment.
• Pupils that arrive with weak phonics skills have the gaps in their knowledge and skills identified and targeted with additional support sessions. However, some pupils still lack confidence using these skills when tackling unfamiliar words. Leaders rightly have plans to use the key stage 1 expertise brought by recent staff appointments to improve phonics teaching.
• Pupils make good progress in writing and improvements are easily identifiable in pupils’ books already this year. Year 3 pupils are making a good start with joining their handwriting and organising their writing in paragraphs. Older pupils build their stamina to write for longer while sustaining the quality and organisation of their ideas. By Year 6, most-able pupils become increasingly adept at constructing effective complex sentences and adapting their style for different purposes, bringing greater sophistication to their writing.
• Across the school, pupils make good progress – gaining the confidence and capability to use and apply their mathematics skills. Most-able pupils in Year 4, for example, explained how they are increasingly challenged by more taxing tasks.
• Pupils learn well in a wide range of subjects. They find the range of experiences motivating and engaging, from interpreting and writing codes in computing to investigating historical artefacts and photographs. From virtually no knowledge of French when they start, pupils progress to speaking and writing sentences.
• Work in pupils’ books over the last year shows opportunities to practise a range of skills in science. Year 5 work shows how most-able pupils respond particularly well to opportunities to explain their results and conclusions linked to their predictions. However, the development and progression of science skills do not build systematically across the school and the range and quality of opportunities are variable.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make similarly good progress as their peers. Adapted resources enable them to access tasks as appropriate where pupils are working at a similar level as their peers. Very clear plans are in place for those working significantly behind others in the class to enable them to make progress from their own starting points.
• Up until 2015, an increasing proportion of pupils that had previously fallen behind had caught up with age-appropriate levels, ensuring that they were well prepared for the secondary curriculum.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of work produced by the previous Year 6. Taken alongside other evidence and assessments, provisional 2016 test results do not fully reflect their good achievement and progress; for example, their well-developed mathematics reasoning and problem-solving skills.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 139255 Kent 10019837 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 255 Appropriate authority The Diocese of Canterbury Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Lesley Johnson (Acting) Neil Tucker 01843 593350 www.christchurchjuniors.com headteacher@christ-church-ramsgate.kent.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• This junior school has a similar number of pupils as the average-sized primary school.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• Just over one quarter of pupils are known to be eligible for the pupil premium – just above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities supported by the school or with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is below average.
• The school met the government’s 2015 floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations of pupils’ attainment and progress.
• There is a breakfast club that is the responsibility of the governing body.
• The school opened on 1 December 2013. It is sponsored by the Diocese of Canterbury.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team visited all classes to observe parts of lessons, look at work on display and in pupils’ books and talk to pupils about their learning. They made many of these visits accompanied by the headteacher or deputy headteacher.
• In addition, inspectors scrutinised a range of pupils’ books from the previous academic year.
• The inspection team gathered evidence from a wide range of people through informal discussions and as part of scheduled meetings. This included pupils, parents, staff, leaders, members of the governing body, representatives of the diocese and a representative of the local authority.
• An inspector listened to pupils reading.
• Inspectors analysed 28 anonymous online questionnaires from pupils, 30 from staff and 53 responses to the online Parent View survey. They considered all written comments alongside other inspection evidence.
• Inspectors observed the work of the school throughout the day and sampled a range of documentation, including records of safeguarding checks and leaders’ own evaluations of the school’s performance.

Inspection team

Clive Dunn, lead inspector Sean McKeown Judith Askey Brown

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector