Carrant Brook Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Strengthen leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders have the highest aspirations for academic excellence
  • governors hold senior leaders to account stringently for pupils’ outcomes
  • teaching is consistently good across the school
  • middle leadership is further developed through the effective monitoring of teaching, learning and assessment
  • checks on the progress of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities lead to a higher proportion making good progress.
• Strengthen the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that teachers:
  • have the highest expectations of pupils’ writing, particularly disadvantaged pupils
  • provide focused teaching which continues to remedy gaps in older pupils’ mathematics skills
  • further embed the school’s approach to teaching higher-order reading skills.
• Improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare by:
  • reducing the proportion of pupils who regularly do not attend school
  • consistently promoting positive attitudes to learning, especially in upper key stage 2.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders and governors’ aspirations for pupils’ academic excellence have not been high enough until very recently. The headteacher and other leaders are now quickly addressing former weaknesses. A combination of poor teaching in the past and a failure to respond effectively to new primary standards led to weak outcomes for pupils in the core areas of learning.
• Leaders have introduced systems to regularly monitor standards in teaching. However, many of these are recent and have yet to have a full impact. Consequently, inconsistencies continue to exist in teaching. Leaders are not doing enough to ensure that effective practice is shared across the school.
• Leadership of provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is not consistently effective in ensuring that interventions are accurately matched to the needs of these pupils. Recent improvements need fine tuning to ensure that more pupils make good progress.
• Almost half of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, said that they felt that the school is not well led and managed.
• Leaders have made good use of external support. Their self-evaluation of the school’s performance is mostly accurate and plans for development are focused on improving outcomes for pupils. Leaders’ actions ensure that teachers’ assessment of pupils’ attainment is uniformly accurate. As a result, teaching is typically well matched to pupils’ needs, including the most able pupils.
• The curriculum includes wider experiences for pupils to improve their skills in a range of artistic, creative and sporting activities. Leaders make good use of the sport premium, to ensure that improvements to the provision of physical education and sport for all pupils. Pupils enjoy activities such as raft-building during residential breaks. Older pupils say they would welcome greater opportunities to compete with other schools in sports such as football and rugby.
• The school’s approach to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils is effective. Leaders have created a school community where pupils are guided to be responsible citizens.
• Older pupils have a good understanding of fundamental British values. For example, they can explain why the rule of law is important in their lives. Pupils demonstrate their understanding of equality and tolerance. Events such as wheelchair basketball reinforce the inclusive ethos of the school.
• The school prepares pupils positively for life in modern Britain through carefully planned work. Pupils learn about a range of cultures and celebrate diversity with curriculum enrichment events such as Diwali day.
• All staff who responded to Ofsted’s online staff survey said that they felt proud to work at the school.

Governance of the school

• Governors have not held leaders to account sufficiently for pupils’ outcomes in recent years. The decline in standards has prompted leaders and governors to seek external support. The local authority has been effective in providing this support and there is now a sharper focus on teaching and learning.
• Governors have raised their profile within the school and now make regular visits. They have an increasingly accurate picture of the quality of education that the school provides.
• Governors’ monitoring of the additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is not having sufficient impact on the academic progress of this group of pupils. The school is aware of the need for more effective use of pupil premium funding and has commissioned an external review to support improvement.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff protect pupils against a wide range of possible risks. Leaders have created a culture where safeguarding is seen as everyone’s responsibility.
• Staff are appropriately trained and familiar with procedures necessary in the event of an incident. They know how to protect pupils from extremist views and radicalisation. Staff know the pupils well and monitor vulnerable pupils carefully.
• Leaders ensure that all the necessary checks are made on the suitability of staff, volunteers and visitors to work at the school.
• Pupils from all year groups can explain clearly how the school supports them to stay safe online. The majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, said that they felt that their children are safe in school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Turbulence in staffing has contributed to inconsistency in the quality of teaching. Teaching of current pupils is improving but is still too inconsistent across the school. Where teachers’ expectations are not high enough, pupils do not make good progress.
• Teachers’ expectations for writing are not consistently high enough. Where teachers have higher expectations, pupils’ writing skills improve. For example, in Years 3 and 4, well-structured and precise teaching enables pupils to make good progress in writing more complex sentences.
• Pupils write regularly across a wide range of subjects. A lack of high expectation for handwriting and punctuation impairs their progress in some classes. Teaching is not consistently supporting those pupils who need to catch up in writing. This includes some disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Historical weaknesses in teaching mean that some older pupils lack the key knowledge and skills needed to achieve well in mathematics. Changes have been made to maximise teaching opportunities for Year 6 pupils and they are effectively supported to catch up.
• The identification of, and pastoral support for, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, is effective. However, monitoring of the progress of these pupils is not yet sufficiently developed in order to ensure that more of them make good progress.
• Current pupils’ work on higher-order reading skills is leading to good progress for the vast majority of pupils. Teaching regularly ensures that pupils acquire the necessary skills to examine texts in detail. They can infer meaning, predict what will happen and assess characters’ feelings and actions. This work is successful in raising standards but needs to be further embedded with the highest expectations from all staff.
• Younger pupils who need to catch up quickly with reading, including those pupils who speak English as an additional language, are effectively supported to do so.
• The school has made improvements to the teaching of mathematics. As a result, pupils’ ability to use reasoning and problem-solving skills is improving.
• Pupils are typically keen to learn and the use of other adults to support learning is effective. Where teachers do not expect and encourage good attitudes to learning, pupils’ progress is limited.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils’ welfare is a priority for staff. Vulnerable pupils, and their families, are effectively supported by the school’s pastoral work. The school engages other agencies where necessary, to ensure that pupils’ welfare needs are met.
• The school is an orderly learning environment, and leaders take all reasonable precautions to ensure a secure site. Pupils are safe and feel safe. They are confident that the adults in the school will deal with their concerns. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online.
• Most pupils are confident, self-assured and know how to behave in social situations. Pupils show respect for others’ ideas and views. Older pupils talk enthusiastically about their responsibilities, such as being school council members, house captains and members of the eco council.
• Parents are mostly positive about the school’s attention to pupils’ welfare. The curriculum provides many opportunities for pupils’ personal development.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Pupils’ attitudes to learning are not consistently positive. Older pupils’ attitudes sometimes lapse and teachers are slow to re-engage pupils who lose concentration during lessons.
• The proportion of pupils who are persistently absent has been high over time. It has improved but remains above the national average.
• Older pupils feel bullying was a problem in the past but not now. They say that bullying is rare and that it is dealt with quickly if it occurs.
• Pupils’ conduct at break and lunchtime is typically positive. The changeover between lessons is calm and orderly. As a result, most pupils start each lesson ready to learn.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• In recent years, outcomes for pupils at the end of Year 6 have not been good enough. Pupils’ progress at the end of key stage 2 has been below national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils’ progress in English and mathematics improved in 2017, but remains below average.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the combined expected standard at the end of key stage 2, in reading, writing and mathematics is below the national average.
• With recent improvements in teaching, learning and assessment, most current pupils make progress in a wide range of subjects. However, progress is not consistently good, especially in writing.
• Current pupils in key stage 2 are making better progress than in previous years. However, it is not consistently good, especially in writing.
• The most able pupils have not achieved as well as they should, particularly in mathematics. The proportion of these pupils working at greater depth has been well below that found nationally. However, teachers’ planning is ensuring that the needs of the current most able pupils are routinely met.
• Disadvantaged pupils are making good progress in reading and mathematics, but they are not sufficiently supported to make good progress in writing.
• Some pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress in the core areas of learning due to specific school support. However, checks on the progress of SEN pupils who require support do not consistently lead to good progress.
• The school’s focus on developing mathematics is effective and having a positive impact on current pupils’ progress. The introduction of greater opportunities for pupils to reason mathematically and use their skills to solve problems is enabling most current pupils to make good progress.
• Pupils read widely and often. Those who need to catch up quickly are well supported. The school’s approach to higher-order reading is developing pupils’ skills in deduction, prediction and inference. It is particularly effective in Years 3 and 4, where pupils’ writing skills are consistently reinforced within reading lessons.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 115750 Gloucestershire 10042689 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 Foundation 7 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 163 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Allison Booth Maria Budd 01684 297065 www.carrantbrook.com head@carrantbrook.gloucs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 12–13 November 2014

Information about this school

• Carrant Brook Junior School is smaller than the average-sized junior school.
• The school meets the Department for Education’s definition of a coasting school based on key stage 2 academic performance in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is higher than the national average. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is higher than the national average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning across the school. Some of these were joint observations with the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
• The inspection team looked carefully at pupils’ work from all year groups and across a range of subjects.
• Inspectors talked with pupils from different year groups about how they feel about school, how teachers help them with their learning and how the school keeps them safe.
• The inspection team held discussions with school leaders, staff and governors. Inspectors took into account responses to questionnaires completed by staff and pupils.
• The inspection team looked at the school’s evaluation of its own performance, its improvement plan, school policies and the minutes of meetings of the governing body. Inspectors also considered a range of documentation in relation to child protection, safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.
• Inspectors listened to a selection of pupils read.
• Inspectors took account of 43 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View and spoke to several parents during the inspection.

Inspection team

Mike Brady, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Lindsay Gabriel Ofsted Inspector