Henry Hinde Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 13(4) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Make sure that there is a continued focus on improving teaching and learning further by:
  • ensuring that teachers provide the right level of challenge and support in lessons for the most able pupils
  • pinpointing where achievement gaps exist, particularly between disadvantaged pupils and others, so that the right interventions are in place to help them catch up
  • using assessment information better to identify when pupils start to fall behind and address any weaknesses in their learning to help them reach their full potential
  • building on the strongest teaching that now exists in some classes so that all teachers and support staff can see and share this best practice.
• Raise standards and improve pupils’ achievements in reading, writing and mathematics by:
  • building on the start made in raising the profile of reading across the school to give more opportunities for pupils to read widely and often
  • making sure that pupils’ spelling is accurate, and handwriting is well formed in all classes
  • continuing to focus on sustaining improvements to the quality of pupils’ independent and extended writing
  • making sure that in mathematics lessons teachers check any misunderstandings or gaps in pupils’ knowledge when pupils tackle problem-solving tasks independently. An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Since the school’s previous full inspection, and subsequent monitoring inspections, there has been a marked improvement to the effectiveness of the school. Since joining the school after it was placed in special measures, the headteacher and assistant headteacher have been brave, determined and successful in dealing with many difficulties facing the school. These include low standards, staffing instability, poor morale among staff, parents and carers, and a historical legacy of weak teaching, leadership and governance.
• The headteacher and assistant headteacher have managed change very well. The headteacher’s ambitious and determined leadership has boosted staff morale and confidence. Pupils and parents believe the school is, as one parent commented, ‘in a much better place now’. Many other parents and pupils share this view and believe their school is, as one group of pupils said, ‘Really good. I love coming to school and being with my friends. Teachers really care about you.’
• The many staff changes since the previous inspection have been necessary to eliminate inconsistent practices and weak teaching. It is understandable, therefore, that these changes and the restructuring of roles and responsibilities have disrupted pupils’ learning and progress in the past. Leaders and governors have an accurate view of where the school is now and understand that there is still more work to be done to raise standards and improve teaching still further. As the headteacher stated, ‘This is still work in progress and we will get there.’
• The headteacher and governors restructured senior and middle leadership teams. Intelligent recruitment of effective teachers over the past 12 months has led to a team of skilful and effective practitioners who share a common vision for sustained improvement. Together with a more focused and effective governing body, leaders are securing improvements to pupils’ achievement and teachers’ performance in all classes. There is now good capacity for sustained improvement.
• Assessments of pupils’ learning and progress are now more accurate than previously and are helping to identify those groups of pupils most in need of support. However, there is still a great deal to do to recover the historical legacy of low standards and underachievement.
• Improvement planning is now sharp and accurate and provides a clear route map for leaders and governors to gauge and monitor the school’s improvement. The headteacher and governors identify the right priorities in their strategic plans. Senior and middle leaders monitor lessons, pupils’ work and assessment information regularly. This systematic approach is helping to improve pupils’ progress and teachers’ performance. However, there is scope to do better with assessment information to identify the most effective interventions that will improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders recognise that there remain significant differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of others. The most effective teaching is starting to reduce these differences. Since the start of this school term, additional support and intervention have been put in place in Year 6. This is managed by a skilled teacher who works with learning support assistants to teach small groups of pupils who need to catch up on lost ground. However, there is still a great deal that needs to be done to target pupil premium funding better to support all classes and close achievement gaps between disadvantaged pupils and others.
• The funding for pupils with SEND is being used well. The teacher responsible for managing SEND provision is very skilled and well qualified. Interventions and resources are well planned and deployed to most effect to support pupils who have additional learning needs, disabilities, specific learning needs and emotional or behavioural difficulties. The management and oversight of SEND provision are strong and this is resulting in pupils making good progress.
• The headteacher and assistant headteacher have done well to utilise the support of the new multi-academy trust, Transforming Lives Educational Trust (TLET). Training and professional development for all staff is well planned and effective. External reviews, training and evaluations carried out by independent consultants, including the support from an improvement officer of Warwickshire local authority, have made a good contribution to improving leadership, teaching and governance.
• The assistant headteacher and middle leaders are good role models and share their expertise with staff to influence and help improvement. In addition, the headteacher has deployed the most effective teachers to work alongside other staff. Increasingly, teachers and support staff are benefiting from seeing and sharing good practice. Previous monitoring inspections reported significant improvements to the quality of teaching. This has been sustained.
• The school’s curriculum includes a good range of enrichment, such as outdoor learning, educational visits, sport and the creative and performing arts. These make a good contribution to pupils’ behaviour, attitudes to learning and to their regular attendance at school. Pupils benefit from a good range of sports, team games and activities. Effective use is made of the primary physical education and sport premium.
• Leaders and staff have galvanised the school community through a difficult period of instability and uncertainty. The school community and families served by the school benefit from and share in values which are integral to the British way of life. Pupils learn to respect each other. They learn about the world’s major faiths, customs, beliefs and cultures. The staff plan activities and educational visits and commemorate important events, such as the recent national Remembrance Day services. These activities, and more, make a very good contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Governance of the school

• Governance has improved since the previous inspection and is now good and effective. The chair, vice chair and all governors keep in regular touch with the leaders and staff to account for pupils’ achievement and staff performance.
• Governors are a committed and skilful team who make a significant contribution to the work of the school and its community.
• Governors have an accurate understanding of the most important priorities related to teaching and pupils’ achievement. They recognise, and rightly, that the most immediate priority is to focus on lifting pupils’ attainment and progress in all classes. They also recognise that the current focus should be on providing the necessary resources and interventions which will close differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of others.
• Governors have a good understanding of pupil performance data, enabling the governing body to challenge underperformance.
• Members of the governing body and the new trust, TLET, bring a range of expertise and skills. They and the trust are now looking forward to the start of a new partnership in January 2019. Leaders, staff and governors are now committed to both the school and the wider community of schools across TLET.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. There is a strong and vigilant culture of safeguarding to ensure that pupils are safe, protected, healthy and happy in school.
• Staff vetting and safeguarding procedures are robust and fully meet statutory requirements. Governors ensure that all safeguarding policies and staff training are up to date. Systematic audits and reviews are carried out. Leaders regularly carry out risk assessments and monitor how well staff deal with incidents and concerns.
• Vulnerable pupils and families are supported and treated with dignity and care. There are effective arrangements in place to keep in touch with vulnerable and hard to reach families. Home visits are carried out by the headteacher and family liaison worker to ensure that pupils are safe, when not attending school. Leaders and staff maintain good relationships with parents and the local community and go that extra mile to make sure that pupils and their families are given high priority.
• Most of the parents inspectors spoke with were unanimous in their belief that pupils are safe in school. Pupils say that the staff and other pupils make them feel very safe, valued and secure.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching requires improvement because it has not yet led to consistently good achievement for all pupils. The historical legacy of instability to staffing and some weak teaching in the past have stalled pupils’ learning and progress.
• The work in pupils’ books, assessments of their progress and observations of learning in lessons show that pupils should still be achieving higher standards. However, there are signs of improvement to teaching and assessment now that leaders have brought much welcome stability to the school.
• Inspection findings confirm that teachers are increasingly adopting more consistent practice. Leaders are improving the quality of teaching but recognise also that teachers do not always adapt questions and tasks enough to extend pupils’ learning and help deepen their knowledge and understanding.
• There is good practice, however, in most classes, when teachers probe further when asking challenging questions. In many lessons, pupils are often asked to check their work and improve or correct mistakes while these are fresh in their minds, but this is not yet consistent practice in all lessons.
• All staff and most of the parents spoken with during the inspection are pleased with the improvements to teaching. Pupils are catching up on lost ground and learning more than they did previously. This is having a positive impact on improving pupils’ achievement. However, the most able pupils are not being provided with the right level of challenge in some lessons.
• Pupils with SEND receive good-quality support. These pupils make good progress and are helped to work towards their individual learning targets. Similarly, the interventions and additional support provided for pupils in Year 6 are also working well. Assessments show that some pupils need to catch up on a lot of lost ground in both Year 6 classes. Approximately one in three pupils in both classes receive daily English and mathematics intervention work, in addition to the work they do with their classmates. These additional interventions are effective and provide good support for the small number of pupils learning English as an additional language. The combination of this work and much improved teaching in Year 6 is working well and is closing differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of others in these classes. There is scope now to extend this effective support to other classes.
• A good start has been made by leaders and staff to raise the profile and importance of reading. In addition to regular opportunities to choose books to read in school and at home, teachers provide pupils with a recommended reading list. This provides increasing opportunities for pupils to read more challenging books. There is still more to do, though, in order that pupils read widely and often as reading standards in some classes have been historically very low.
• Assessments are accurate and enable teachers to identify groups of pupils and individuals to check their progress and attainment. Leaders and teachers have done a great deal to improve assessment. As a result, most lessons build on work previously covered. However, teachers are not using assessment information well enough yet to identify when pupils start to fall behind. This is particularly important for disadvantaged pupils, where the difference between their achievement and that of other pupils nationally is very wide in some classes.
• Pupils are writing independently with more confidence and accuracy, because teachers provide opportunities for them to edit and improve their writing. Pupils also write more now than was the case previously. This is a significant improvement on previous monitoring inspections. However, there is still more that should be done to improve some pupils’ handwriting and spelling. Pupils’ work shows that some make repeated and unnecessary spelling errors. In some cases, the words pupils misspell are not complex or difficult to learn.
• In mathematics lessons, teachers are providing some good opportunities for pupils to work out number problems or more complex tasks that require different number calculations. The most effective practice enables pupils to learn through trial and error, before working out problems using logical thinking. However, in some lessons, pupils struggle with simple mental arithmetic and teachers are not always addressing this. This slows learning and limits opportunities for pupils to master skills and understanding to learn in greater depth.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• ‘Everyone cares for you and I love coming to school,’ and ‘Things have really improved, and we are doing really well’ were just two of the many positive comments made by pupils to inspectors. There are positive and supportive relationships between pupils and staff.
• There is a real sense of collective responsibility because pupils have good opportunities to participate and contribute to their school community. This is having a positive impact on their personal, social and moral development. For example, librarians and junior leaders contribute to their school. Inspectors observed, on many occasions, pupils playing cooperatively at breaktimes and caring for others, including looking after vulnerable pupils or those with a disability.
• Pupils are taught how to deal with bullying, internet safety and the risks of radicalisation or exploitation. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe in school and know how to share any concerns they may have with leaders and staff.
• Many parents told inspectors that the headteacher, staff and other pupils are caring and respectful of everyone. The pastoral support and welfare provided for vulnerable pupils and their families are first class.
• Pupils feel confident and relationships with staff are very positive and supportive. The most vulnerable pupils receive extra support from teachers and support staff. The family liaison worker and headteacher are very good at identifying pupils who feel insecure or worried. They focus on pupils’ emotional and mental well-being to ensure that pupils feel safe in school and can share any worries they have with a member of staff.
• Most parents feel that the staff are responsive and communicative now, but a small number believe that staff were not always like this in the past. The legacy of instability still affects the views of some parents. However, inspectors confirm that leaders and staff are committed to pupils’ personal development and well-being and make a strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are usually well behaved and attentive in lessons. Pupils dress smartly in their uniforms and are proud of their school. Those with specific responsibilities wear their school badge with honour. A new school badge will shortly be introduced, designed by pupils, ready for when the school joins the new academy trust in January 2019. Pupils are keen to share their work with others and appreciate the way staff value their efforts by rewarding good behaviour and effort in lessons.
• Pupils are eager to contribute to class and group discussions. However, in some lessons, when pupils work independently, teachers and support staff do not challenge or keep pupils on task, resulting in pupils losing concentration. Some ‘off-task’ behaviour, although rare, does disturb the learning of others at times.
• Pupils listen and respond enthusiastically during most class discussions. For example, during a writing lesson, pupils in Year 5 very quickly noted down what they had learned previously, to identify the characteristics of non-chronological writing. They shared their ideas with other pupils and their teacher. This was both productive and effective in helping pupils to start the lesson. Behaviour like this is increasingly becoming common practice in lessons, now that teachers set consistent expectations for work and behaviour.
• Pupils support each other and cooperate when working with their classmates in table groups. Teachers encourage pupils to share ideas and to listen to each other with respect and courtesy. As a result, even the most reluctant pupil is encouraged to contribute.
• Pupils enjoy school and this is reflected in their keen and smiling faces as they come through the school gates each morning. Attendance rates compare well with national figures and pupils are usually punctual and ready for school and learning. Any pupils who arrive slightly late are checked in by administrative or support staff with sensitivity and encouragement.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• The standards pupils reach in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2 have been historically too low. Standards are improving, reflecting much improved and consistent teaching. However, pupils should still be doing better in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Most pupils join the school in Year 3 with skills and abilities that are typically in line with or above those expected for their age. However, this profile is changing as increasingly more vulnerable and disadvantaged families join the school and many pupils are starting school with low skills and abilities. In addition, an increasing number of families whose children are in the early stages of learning English attend the school.
• Too few of the most able pupils reach the higher standards or learn in greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics across the school. Again, this is improving but there is still some way to go to enable all pupils to catch up on previously lost ground.
• National assessments at key stage 2 in 2017 and provisional results for 2018 show that standards were too low in reading, writing and mathematics. Although the results represented a slight improvement on the previous year, it reflects a historical legacy of underachievement when the school was in special measures.
• Current assessment information in all classes show an uplift and improvement. However, in some classes, there remain significant differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of others nationally who are not disadvantaged. There is evidence in Year 6 that these differences are narrowing quickly. The additional intervention work and strong teaching across Year 6 is bridging the gap. However, leaders and staff recognise that there is still a great deal to do in other year groups to narrow these differences further.
• Pupils’ achievement in reading still needs further improvement. Pupils are not using an extensive range of vocabulary when writing, because many are still not experiencing a wide enough range of books, authors and genres when reading independently. Leaders are addressing this with the introduction of recommended reading lists for all classes and a much improved library and classroom reading resources.
• Pupils’ progress in writing is improving, because they are now writing more extensively than previously, and this is increasing their skills, abilities and confidence. However, some pupils still make too many repeated spelling errors and, for some pupils, their handwriting is not improving enough.
• Pupils with SEND make good progress. They receive carefully tailored and timely support. The effective management of SEND provision enables teachers and support staff to plan the right interventions.
• The small number of pupils who join the school at different times and who are learning English as an additional language make good progress. They are well supported and soon settle into school with their classmates, who also help them to converse and communicate.

School details

Unique reference number 140372 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 10051914 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Junior School category Academy converter Age range of pupils 7 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 260 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Jaimie Matthews Headteacher Rachael Allen Telephone number 01788 811392 Website netacademies.net/henryhinde/ Email address office.henryhindejunior@netacademies.net Date of previous inspection 29–30 November 2016

Information about this school

• This school is an average-sized junior school. Most pupils are from White British backgrounds and approximately one in ten come from a range of other heritages. A small number of pupils speak English as an additional language, although this is increasing. The proportion of pupils with SEND is above that of most schools. A higher than average proportion of pupils are eligible for free school meals and come from disadvantaged families.
• The school was placed in special measures at the time of the previous inspection. Since then, Her Majesty’s Inspectors carried out four monitoring inspections, including this inspection. The two previous monitoring inspections judged that the school was taking effective action towards its removal from special measures. This inspection converted to a full inspection and removed the school from the special measures category.
• From January 2019, the current multi-academy trust, NET Academies Trust, will no longer be the responsible body for the school. A new trust, Transforming Lives Educational Trust (TLET), will take over in January 2019. The school’s name and status will remain the same. Henry Hinde Junior School will be the third school managed by TLET under a scheme of delegation agreed with the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
• Since the previous inspection, there have been considerable staff changes, including the appointment of the headteacher and assistant headteacher soon after the previous full inspection in 2016. There have also been significant changes to the composition of the governing body since the previous inspection. Leaders and governors have commissioned additional support from external consultants and improvement advisers from TLET, other education service providers and Warwickshire local authority.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited parts of lessons in all eight classes, as well as observing intervention and support groups. Many visits were made jointly with the headteacher and assistant headteacher. Inspectors looked at samples of pupils’ work in books, assessment information and records of previous work, including work displayed on walls in classrooms and corridors.
• Inspectors considered a range of documentation, including: leaders’ evaluations of the school’s effectiveness; the school’s improvement plan and NET Academies Trust’s statement of action; assessment information and tracking data about pupils’ achievement, progress and performance; and some school documents and data relating to governance, teaching, attendance and safeguarding.
• Inspectors spoke to pupils during lessons. They met with two groups of pupils to hear them read and to discuss their work, behaviour and safety. Inspectors spoke to pupils during breaktimes and lunchtimes to ask them for their views about the school.
• Inspectors spoke to several parents to seek their views about the school and analysed the 119 responses to Parent View. Inspectors spoke with staff during the inspection to gauge their views about the support and training they receive.
• Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, assistant headteacher, subject and phase leaders. The lead inspector held a meeting with four governors, including the chair and vice chair of the governing body. A meeting was held with the chief executive officer designate of the new multi-academy trust, TLET, and another meeting was held with the teacher responsible for managing the SEND provision. The lead inspector also checked safeguarding and staff vetting records.

Inspection team

Charalambos Loizou, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Tina Willmott Ofsted Inspector Mark Bailie Ofsted Inspector