Innsworth Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Extend the skills of subject leaders so that they make a fuller contribution to the monitoring and development of teaching and learning in their areas of responsibility.
• Develop the role of governors so that they are able to confidently challenge leaders about pupils’ achievement.
• Strengthen the teaching of writing so that more pupils reach the higher standards by ensuring that teachers:
  • embed sentence construction so that punctuation is not missed out
  • eliminate common spelling mistakes.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Since the previous inspection, governors have taken positive steps to secure effective leadership by forming a federation with the local infant school. The executive headteacher has set a clear direction for the school and instilled a strong sense of high ambition. Her systematic approach to increasing the school’s effectiveness ensures that improvements in teaching, learning and behaviour are secure and sustainable.
• Improvement plans are sharply focused, with clear targets and timescales to ensure that they have the required impact. Senior leaders, including governors, monitor the plans regularly and adjust actions to increase the effectiveness of their work. This gives them an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Senior leaders track pupils’ achievement very thoroughly, enabling them to judge clearly the impact of new strategies and hold teachers to account more readily for pupils’ progress. The substantial proportion of pupils who join the school other than at the usual time settle in quickly and make good progress due to effective induction systems.
• Subject leaders have introduced initiatives to improve teaching in English and mathematics, which have been successful in speeding up pupils’ progress. They are not yet fully involved in monitoring teaching and its impact on pupils’ progress, limiting their ability to make further improvements.
• The redesigned curriculum successfully engages pupils’ interests, particularly those of boys. Effective learning is promoted by linking high-quality texts to topics, such as ‘Treasure Island’ and the history topic on pirates. Pupils’ aspirations are raised through a wide range of enrichment activities and events like singing at Gloucester Cathedral, developing their spiritual, moral, social and cultural skills well.
• The school’s values such as respect and truth, which incorporate British values, are firmly embedded throughout the curriculum. Staff and pupils demonstrate empathy and understanding through their daily interactions, preparing them well for life in modern Britain.
• The school promotes equality of opportunity well and tackles any discrimination effectively. Well-targeted support for pupils who have SEN and disabilities is successful in promoting good progress. The exceptional provision for pupils with emotional needs ensures that these pupils are fully included in school life.
• Leaders use the pupil premium fund wisely to ensure that disadvantaged pupils, including those who are the most able, achieve well both academically and in their personal development.
• Leaders also use the primary physical education and sports fund to good effect. Pupils enjoy taking part in a wide variety of sports competitions and after-school clubs such as athletics and street dance. The ‘trim trail’ and new playground resources have greatly increased pupils’ physical activity at break and lunchtimes.
• Parents are positive about the work of the school. They praise the approachability of staff and the increased opportunities to become involved in their children’s learning.
• Helpful support from the local authority adviser, external consultants and other colleagues in the Innsworth Schools Partnership has enabled leaders to validate their judgements, provide a range of training for staff and check the accuracy of teachers’ assessments.

Governance of the school

• Governors are ambitious for the school and fully share the headteacher’s inspiring vision and direction. They are knowledgeable about the school’s work because the headteacher keeps them well informed. They visit regularly to check for themselves, asking leaders pertinent questions about the learning.
• The governing body does not rigorously challenge leaders about pupils’ standards and follow this up with further checks. This limits the impact of their work in improving the school’s performance.
• Governors monitor the school’s budget closely to ensure that funds support improvements to teaching and learning. They have a clear understanding of how additional funds are spent to help disadvantaged pupils and to develop sport in school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders have developed a strong culture of vigilance where the safety and welfare of pupils has a high priority. They check regularly that their policies and systems are followed and are effective. Recruitment and vetting procedures for appointing staff are very thorough. Staff are trained in the latest requirements for safeguarding, including how to keep pupils safe from extremism and radicalisation. This ensures that they are very confident in reporting any concerns about pupils. All risks are comprehensively assessed by leaders and updated regularly, for example with regard to fire safety and educational visits.
• Leaders know the families of pupils who attend the school very well and are vigilant about pupils’ welfare, especially those whose circumstances make them vulnerable. The appointment of the family liaison officer has been a very positive step in strengthening relationships between home and school to promote regular attendance. Leaders work tirelessly with other agencies to ensure that pupils receive the care and support they need. Parents appreciate the welcoming and inclusive environment where their children feel valued and able to thrive.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching is consistently good. Teachers are skilful practitioners, with a friendly, upbeat approach that creates a productive environment for learning. Positive relationships, together with high-quality resources, such as new technology, motivate pupils and capture pupils’ interest.
• Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ achievement and their behaviour. They use the information from their assessments routinely to devise tasks that will increase progress rates. They make sure that the work is both challenging and enjoyable.
• Teachers use their subject knowledge well to plan work that builds on pupils’ learning. They explain and question skilfully to develop the learning further, often adjusting tasks and clarifying their instructions to speed up progress.
• The work planned for the most able pupils is suitably demanding and stretches their thinking well. For example, the most able Year 5 pupils were engrossed in solving problems about fractions and used their reasoning skills well to explain their thinking.
• Teaching assistants make a valuable contribution to learning. They work in close partnership with teachers to provide carefully tailored support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They help pupils manage their feelings and build their self-esteem well.
• Disadvantaged pupils, including the most able, benefit from well-focused support. This ensures that they make good progress and achieve as well as their classmates.
• The new approach to teaching mathematics is effective in ensuring that pupils develop fluency and accuracy in calculation skills. Increasingly, teachers provide challenging ‘twist it’ and ‘deepen it’ investigations and problems to extend pupils’ mathematical understanding.
• Recent improvements to the way reading is taught are having a marked impact on progress. Daily sessions with opportunities to read and discuss high-quality texts are ensuring that pupils develop their comprehension skills successfully.
• The teaching of writing is generally effective and teachers inspire pupils to write across subjects to good standards. For example, Year 6 pupils were motivated to write about the life of Howard Carter to a high standard during their work about Ancient Egypt.
• Progress is held back because teaching does not consistently ensure that pupils have mastered the basics of sentence writing, spelling and punctuation, which limits their achievement.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, greatly benefit from the breakfast and after-school clubs that help to improve their attendance and attitudes to school. Initiatives such as ‘Paws for Thought’ with visits from Darcy the dog who ‘listens’ to readers, enable pupils with emotional difficulties to overcome problems of anxiety and lack of confidence.
• The relationships between staff and pupils are very positive and contribute greatly to pupils’ enjoyment and success in school. Pupils are very clear that they are completely safe and very happy in school. Parents appreciate the excellent care that their children receive.
• Pupils undertake a range of responsibilities very reliably. For example, the ‘values ambassadors’ are very diligent in carrying out their role in identifying and nominating pupils for awards. This prepares them extremely well to become responsible citizens of the future.
• Pupils show a very good understanding of what constitutes bullying, such as racist name-calling. They report that bullying seldom happens but they have confidence in staff to sort it and any other problems promptly and effectively.
• Online safety has a high priority and pupils have a very secure understanding of how to stay safe online, both in and out of school. Pupils know not to give out personal information and to report cyber bullying should it occur. Pupils are trained to look out for any potential risks to their safety, for example in relation to strangers when going out on education visits.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are polite, friendly and confident when talking about their work to visitors to school. They readily welcome new pupils to the school, helping them to settle in quickly to class routines.
• Pupils cooperate well with staff and with each other in and around school. They show good empathy, particularly towards pupils who have SEN and disabilities. They demonstrate positive attitudes to their learning and maintain good levels of concentration in lessons.
• Pupils are clear about systems for acknowledging good behaviour and strive to earn a place in the ‘book of excellence’ for showing one of the school’s values in their conduct. Parents and staff are positive about standards of behaviour. The school’s records show that there are very few incidents of poor behaviour. The very small number of pupils who have poor behaviour are managed well.
• Occasionally, some pupils lose concentration and are inattentive in lessons, slowing down progress. Most pupils enjoy coming to school, which is reflected in their regular attendance and punctuality.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils enter the school with starting points that are broadly in line with those expected for their age. The high mobility rate of pupils both in and out of the school skewed results in 2017, not reflecting accurately the actual progress made by the end of Year 6. Work in pupils’ books, learning observed in lessons and the school’s own assessment data show that the progress of current groups is strong.
• Attainment at the end of key stage 2 in 2017 was in line with national figures. More pupils than previously are on track to achieve the expected standard for their age or better in English and mathematics. This prepares them well for the next stage in their education.
• The most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, make good progress as their work is consistently challenging. The strong focus on discussing their ideas in pairs or small groups in lessons helps to stretch and extend their thinking.
• Effective use of the pupil premium enables disadvantaged pupils to achieve as well as others from similar starting points. Extra help that promotes their emotional and social development, improving their self-esteem, is successful in speeding up progress.
• Pupils who have SEN and disabilities make good progress. Their support is carefully planned and provides small steps to meet their sometimes complex needs. Pupils are proud of their achievements and keen to try their best.
• Pupils read with fluency and confidence. Their comprehension skills are well developed because of the challenging tasks they undertake each day. The skills of the most able readers are extended effectively by the new range of high-quality books on offer in school.
• Pupils demonstrate good skills in calculation and a deepening understanding in all aspects of mathematics. They apply their knowledge and skills to investigating mathematical problems with increasing success.
• Pupils write regularly and at length across a range of subjects. They use sophisticated vocabulary to add interest to their work, for example when writing about the archaeology of ancient Egypt.
• On occasions, some pupils’ achievement is limited by mistakes in common spellings and the coherence of their work is marred by missing punctuation.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 115562 Gloucestershire 10042685 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 Maintained 7 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 149 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Godfrey Sterry Executive Headteacher Lisa Jones Telephone number 01452 730377 Website Email address www.innsworthjunior.org.uk office@innsworth-jun.gloucs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 4–5 December 2013

Information about this school

• The school federated with the local infant school in September 2014 to become part of the Innsworth Schools’ Partnership.
• The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. Pupils are taught in three mixed-aged classes of Year 3 and 4 pupils, one Year 5 class and two Year 6 classes. Significant proportions of pupils leave and join the school at times other than the usual admission time.
• The school met the government’s current floor standards in 2017. These set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The school operates daily breakfast and after-school clubs.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning across the school. Most observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher. In addition, they made visits to classrooms, the dining hall and the playground.
• Meetings were held with pupils, governors and school leaders. The lead inspector also spoke with an adviser from the local authority, who supports the school.
• Inspectors spoke to parents at the start of the school day, and took account of the 20 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View). They also took account of the 24 responses to the Ofsted staff questionnaire and the 24 responses to the pupil questionnaire.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents, including the school’s improvement plans. They examined information on current pupils’ progress, minutes of the governing body meetings, safeguarding procedures and the plans for the use of the physical education and sport premium.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read, talked to them in classrooms and evaluated samples of their work.

Inspection team

Sandra Woodman, lead inspector Patricia Dodds

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector