Chetwynd Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the consistency and quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that they are good or better, and improve the rates of progress for pupils in reading and mathematics by:
  • ensuring that all teachers have sufficiently high expectations of what pupils can achieve and set work that is accurately matched to their abilities, especially for pupils of average ability and the most able pupils
  • ensuring that teachers and other staff place a higher focus on developing pupils’ depth of understanding of what they read
  • ensuring that teachers provide more opportunities for pupils to apply their mathematical skills and knowledge through problem solving using reasoning
  • developing more opportunities for pupils to apply mathematical knowledge in other subjects.
• Improve leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that all leaders make greater use of the assessment information that the school holds to analyse the impact of teaching on particular groups of pupils
  • further developing monitoring and evaluation systems so that leaders have a more accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement improving provision for disadvantaged pupils by accurately matching actions to address pupils’ specific barriers to learning
  • developing subject leaders’ skills in monitoring teaching and evaluating its impact on learning within their areas of responsibility.
• Improve governance of the school by ensuring that all governors have a secure and accurate understanding of how pupils are achieving, and use this information to hold leaders to account. An external review of governance should be undertaken to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders have an over-optimistic view of the quality of teaching. While they undertake a range of monitoring and evaluation activities, including scrutiny of work and observations of teaching, leaders have not ensured that there has been a clear focus in these activities linked to the school improvement plan. This has limited their ability to gain an accurate view of where aspects of the school’s work need to improve. The information that leaders have provided to governors and parents has, at times, not presented a clear picture of how the pupils at the school are achieving compared with other pupils nationally.
• Leaders have not ensured that they have used the assessment information that is gathered to clearly understand whether pupils are making sufficient progress in their learning from their starting points in school. As a result, they have not taken decisive enough action to improve teaching where it has not been meeting the needs of the pupils. Leaders have established strong cluster-group working relationships with other local schools that include shared moderation of pupils’ work. While this has allowed them to gain an accurate view of the quality of pupils’ writing, it has not been as successful in mathematics or reading.
• Subject leaders are not effective enough in bringing about improvements within their areas of responsibility. They are not sufficiently skilled in evaluating the outcomes from the monitoring activities that they undertake to have a clear and realistic view of the quality of teaching and the impact it has on pupils’ learning. As a result, they are not in a strong enough position to formulate plans for improvement that focus on the most pressing priorities.
• Leaders identified that in recent years, disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes have been too low. As a result, in 2016, they commissioned an external review of the use of pupil premium funding. This led to changes in the deployment of teaching assistants and a greater focus on the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. There have been some improvements in outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, but differences in attainment against other pupils nationally are still too great. Leaders recognise that they need to have a more accurate understanding of the specific barriers to learning of individual pupils to ensure that support and interventions can be incisively matched to specific needs.
• The headteacher and deputy headteacher have ensured that pupils’ welfare and well-being are central to the work of the school. They have a strong awareness of the particular difficulties that face some of the most vulnerable pupils and work closely with outside agencies, including counselling services, to provide support to pupils and their families. As a result, pupils feel happy and settled in school and speak warmly of the relationships between themselves and members of staff.
• Leaders have set high expectations for pupils’ development as responsible and caring citizens of modern Britain. This is demonstrated in a harmonious community where tolerance and respect are clearly evident through the attitudes and behaviour of the pupils.
• There is a strong emphasis from leaders on supporting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils learn about the beliefs and traditions of other religions and take part in visits to a local mosque and church, and receive talks from representatives of different faiths. Pupils are encouraged to consider other people in society and respond to this well, including through donations to the local foodbank as part of Harvest celebrations. Good opportunities are created for pupils to develop their musical interests and abilities. For example, a group of pupils recently gained great pleasure through performing at the ‘Young Voices’ event in Birmingham as part of a choir of thousands of children.
• Leaders have established a broad and balanced curriculum that enables pupils to make clear links between subjects through well-planned topics, such as ‘Food and Farming’ and ‘Invaders and Settlers’. Good use is made of specialist teaching in some subjects, such as information and communication technology and modern foreign languages (MFL). All pupils in Years 3 and 4 learn French and then move on to Spanish in Years 5 and 6.
• Pupils’ learning is enriched and extended through regular trips, such as to the Black Country Museum and the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre. Pupils in all year groups are offered the chance to take part in residential trips, including to Marle Hall in North Wales, and an overnight camp in the school grounds. These provide pupils with good opportunities to participate in team-building and adventurous activities.
• Pupils are appreciative of the range of clubs and after-school activities that are available to them, including a dance group and an eco-squad. While a small number of parents expressed some concern over how places were allocated when activities were over-subscribed, leaders are already taking action to address this and to ensure that as many pupils as possible can participate in enrichment activities.
• The additional physical education and sport funding is used well to provide pupils with a range of physical education activities, including a block of tuition at a local gymnastics club. Opportunities for pupils to take part in competitive sports, including netball and cross-country, against other local schools have been increased. Pupils have gained good levels of success in inter-school competitions and were winners of the local seven-a-side football competition in 2017.
• Leadership of provision for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is good. Leaders have made significant changes to how support is provided over the past two years. This has helped to ensure that teachers have a far greater awareness of the needs of any pupils in their classes who have SEN and/or disabilities and their responsibilities in meeting these needs. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with outside agencies, including occupational therapists, to provide support to pupils who would benefit from it. Additional funding is used effectively to provide one-to-one support as appropriate and to access specialist advice. Parents and carers are kept well informed about their children through regular meetings, and speak positively of the changes that have taken place in this aspect of the school’s work.

Governance of the school

• While governors have undertaken a range of monitoring activities to give them an understanding of the school’s work, they have not focused sufficiently on the progress that pupils make as they move through the school. This has meant that governors have not been in a strong enough position to provide both support and challenge to the headteacher and other leaders. They have not used the range of assessment information that is available to them sufficiently well to ask searching questions of leaders and to identify specific aspects of provision that are not as effective as they should be.
• Governors were supportive of the need for the external review of pupil premium funding that took place in 2016. However, they have not subsequently ensured that all the actions that have taken place have had sufficient impact on improving outcomes for these pupils.
• Governors show great commitment to the school and are determined that pupils will do well in all aspects of their school life. They are frequent visitors to the school and ensure that they listen to and respond to the views of stakeholders, including parents.
• A number of new members have recently joined the governing body. They, together with longer established governors, recognise that an external review of governance will help support them in improving their effectiveness in school leadership.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have ensured that staff are well trained in identifying, reporting and recording any concerns relating to the safety and well-being of pupils. Leaders provide regular training sessions and then check to see whether staff understand what this means for them in their work in school.
• There is effective shared leadership of safeguarding. Leaders are diligent in following up any referrals that they make to outside agencies about pupils and persist in challenging these services if they identify that insufficient action is being taken.
• Leaders have a clear understanding of the threat that radicalisation and extremism poses to pupils and relate this well to local issues. Staff have all received recent training on their responsibilities in this area of safeguarding.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is inconsistent across the school. As a result, not all groups of pupils make good progress, especially in reading.
• Teachers do not all have sufficiently high expectations of what pupils can and should achieve. There are too many occasions when teachers set tasks that are not sufficiently challenging, particularly for pupils of average ability and the most able. Some pupils spoken to during the inspection commented that at times they found the work too easy.
• The teaching of reading is not sufficiently focused on developing pupils’ depth of understanding. The majority of pupils start at the school with good skills in decoding words and read fluently and with expression. However, these skills are not built upon successfully. The comprehension activities that teachers set for pupils are undemanding and do not help pupils develop skills in inference and deduction. Frequently, all pupils undertake the same task and this slows the pace of learning for many pupils.
• While teachers are effective in teaching computational skills in mathematics, such as division and multiplication, they provide far too few opportunities for pupils to apply their knowledge in problem solving using reasoning. This results in pupils not developing the depth of learning in this subject of which they are capable.
• Opportunities for pupils to apply their mathematical skills in other subjects, such as science and geography, are underdeveloped. This limits pupils’ abilities to think about the application of mathematics in purposeful situations and to make decisions about what specific aspects of mathematics would be required to undertake a task.
• The teaching of writing is a strength of the school. Teachers plan and teach activities that are of interest to the pupils and set them tasks that allow them to use their knowledge of grammar, punctuation and spelling in independent, extended pieces of writing. Teachers’ expectations of pupils are high and this results in work that is of good quality. Presentation of work is of a good standard and pupils develop and apply a well-formed, cursive style of handwriting.
• Teachers also place a strong emphasis on applying writing across other subjects, including through topic work. Pupils show the same care and attention in all aspects of their writing.
• Teaching is strongest in the Year 6 classes. Teachers use their subject knowledge very well to motivate and inspire pupils. For example, in a Year 6 lesson, pupils listened with rapt attention as the teacher read an extract from the novel ‘Frankenstein’. The teacher used questions incisively to probe pupils’ understanding and ensured that they were sure about the meaning of unfamiliar words. Pupils were clear about what they were expected to achieve and as a result settled quickly and diligently to the activity.
• Teaching of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is good. Teaching assistants provide good support to pupils and provide clear explanations to pupils on how they can undertake a task.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils say they enjoy school and are appreciative of what it offers them. This was demonstrated through the positive views expressed by the very large majority of pupils who responded to Ofsted’s questionnaire. Pupils show pride in their work and take care of the school environment. There is a calm atmosphere in the dining hall at lunchtime and pupils demonstrate good table manners, talking quietly to their friends.
• Relationships between adults and pupils are good. Pupils are polite, well mannered and considerate towards each other. They have a good understanding of how to keep safe and say that the school supports them in this aspect of their personal development. Pupils spoke knowledgeably and sensibly to inspectors about the potential dangers that social networking on the internet could pose. They understood the need to keep passwords secure and to not give out personal information.
• Pupils have a good understanding of what bullying is and the upset that it can cause to others. Pupils say that bullying is not a problem in school and that if it were to occur, adults would deal with it swiftly and effectively. This was also the view of the majority of parents who responded to the Parent View questionnaire.
• Leaders have ensured that there are good systems in place to support vulnerable pupils, including through access to counselling services. Teachers and other adults know the pupils well and are sensitive to their emotional and welfare needs.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils conduct themselves well, both in lessons and at less structured times, such as breaktime and lunchtime. They respond quickly to requests and instructions from staff and understand and adhere to the school’s high expectations of behaviour.
• There are effective systems in place to promote good attendance. Pupils with particularly high attendance receive awards, and class attendance is celebrated through newsletters and at achievement assemblies. Pupils understand the need to attend regularly and on time. As a result, overall attendance has been above the national average for the past three years.
• Occasionally, when teaching is less engaging, a minority of pupils lose attention and do not engage fully in their work. However, they do not disrupt other pupils’ learning.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils’ progress as they move through the school is inconsistent. Evidence gathered during the inspection, including from scrutiny of work in books, listening to pupils read and from the school’s own records, shows that current pupils make less progress in reading than in mathematics and writing. This reflects the lack of emphasis placed on developing depth of understanding in reading.
• In 2016 and 2017, the progress of pupils in the assessments at the end of key stage 2 was well below that of other pupils nationally in reading. This was particularly the case for pupils of average ability, the most able pupils and disadvantaged pupils. While the majority of pupils reached the expected standards for their age, attainment in reading was below that of mathematics and writing.
• Attainment for disadvantaged pupils improved in 2017 from the previous year, but was still below that of other pupils nationally in all subjects. The greatest gap was in reading.
• Outcomes in writing are strongest. Pupils currently in school produce well-constructed pieces of writing that demonstrate their secure understanding of spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• The majority of pupils leave school at the end of Year 6 with attainment that is in line with national standards. This means that they are appropriately prepared for their move to secondary school.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are now making better progress due to the changes that have been implemented by leaders. While these pupils’ attainment is often below that of their classmates, their progress is generally good.
• Pupils make good progress in other subjects, such as MFL and history. Teaching is made interesting and relevant and, as a result, pupils produce work of a good standard and are engaged by their learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 125591 Warwickshire 10043157 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 353 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address John Abercrombie Roy Garner 02476 340154 www.chetwyndjuniorschool.co.uk head2581@we-learn.com Date of previous inspection 13–14 February 2013

Information about this school

• Chetwynd Junior School is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is below that in most schools.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• There are three classes in each year group.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics for pupils in Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 23 lessons or parts of lessons. A number of these observations were undertaken jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
• The inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books and listened to pupils read. They met with two groups of pupils. The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at lunch- and breaktimes, as well as in lessons.
• The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the school’s checks and records relating to safeguarding, child protection and attendance, records of how teaching is managed, and the school improvement plans.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator and two middle leaders. The lead inspector met with three members of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body. He met with a representative from the local authority.
• Inspectors took into consideration the 88 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, and 49 free-text comments from parents. Inspectors met parents at the start and end of the school day. They considered the 29 responses from staff to a questionnaire and the 102 responses to a pupil questionnaire. Inspectors also took into account the responses to a recent parent questionnaire carried out by the school.

Inspection team

Adam Hewett, lead inspector Benjamin Taylor Julie Griffiths

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector