Askern Spa Junior School Ofsted Report

Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Urgently improve the culture of safeguarding by ensuring that:
  • all staff receive appropriate and up-to-date safeguarding training
  • procedures for vetting and checking staff are reviewed in line with good practice
  • rigorous procedures are in place to check the attendance of pupils who are educated off-site
  • leaders take immediate measures to address the high proportion of pupils who are persistently absent.
• Rapidly improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • using the pupil premium funding effectively in order to improve the progress of disadvantaged pupils
  • accurately assessing the effectiveness of support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities in order to ensure that their needs are met
  • developing the leadership skills of all subject leaders so that they can improve the quality of teaching in their subjects and support senior leaders to raise standards
  • ensuring that the curriculum provides a clear progression of skills in all subjects, particularly in science, geography and RE
  • developing a consistent approach to managing poor behaviour
  • ensuring that governors hold leaders properly to account for safeguarding, pupils’ outcomes and the quality of education that they receive.
• Urgently improve the quality of teaching and learning in order to rapidly improve the outcomes for pupils in reading, writing and mathematics by:
  • raising expectations of what pupils can achieve
  • making sure teachers routinely assess how well pupils are achieving so that learning activities are planned to meet their needs
  • providing work that challenges pupils of different abilities so that they make rapid progress from their respective starting points
  • giving pupils more opportunities to solve problems in mathematics
  • ensuring that pupils develop their writing skills and apply them effectively for a range of purposes. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. An external review of the school’s use of pupil premium funding should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

• Since the last inspection, leaders and governors have not done enough to ensure that all groups of pupils make sufficient progress in their learning. Consequently, outcomes for pupils have been significantly below average, and the school has failed to meet the minimum standards set by the government for pupils’ performance for the last two years.
• Leaders have allowed a culture of low expectations to develop. Leaders are not ambitious enough about what their pupils should be achieving.
• Leaders, including middle leaders, do not know what they need to do to improve the school. They have not devised robust plans to tackle underperformance or given clear guidance to teachers on what they need to do to improve.
• Leaders do not know how well disadvantaged pupils or pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are doing, because of ineffective assessment. Leaders are not making effective use of additional funding to accelerate progress for these pupils and, as a result, their progress and attainment remain weak.
• Leaders, including subject leaders, do not have an accurate view of provision and standards in the wider curriculum; assessment procedures for subjects beyond English and mathematics are poor and the quality of teaching is not routinely monitored.
• Although provision for music and art are good, subjects such as science, geography and RE are not covered in sufficient depth. Consequently, pupils are not developing their skills and knowledge in these subjects and standards remain low.
• Leaders and staff are inconsistent in their response to dealing with incidents of poor behaviour. Leaders have not planned appropriate strategies to improve behaviour in the school.
• Pupils develop socially, morally, spiritually and culturally through a range of activities that leaders provide. The pupils develop some understanding of different cultures through music and assemblies. Pupils take part in activities to support charities and are developing strong links with the local community. Elections for the school council, and for the roles of head boy and head girl, are developing pupils’ understanding of democracy. These activities are helping to prepare pupils positively for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders have used the primary school physical education (PE) and sport funding to good effect. The additional funding is used to support the development of teachers’ expertise in teaching PE, as well as widening the opportunities for pupils to engage in a range of after-school sports clubs and sporting opportunities.
• Over time, the local authority has provided significant support for school leaders. However, leadership and standards have not improved. More recently, the local authority has commissioned the support of a local leader of education who is a headteacher from another school. He has implemented changes over a short period of time, but it is too soon to measure the impact.

Governance of the school

• Over time, arrangements for governance of the school have proved ineffective. Governors have not robustly held leaders to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes, and have not ensured safeguarding is effective.
• In the past, governors have not been provided with sufficient information about how well the school is performing. They have too readily accepted reasons for pupils’ low outcomes and have not challenged leaders on what actions will be taken to tackle this.
• The governing body has been strengthened. A new chair of the governing body has been appointed and new governors have specific skills that will provide much-needed expertise and challenge. They understand fully the issues they must deal with and show determination to tackle them. However, their appointments are very recent and, as such, have yet to impact on improving the school’s performance.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. The culture of safeguarding is weak. During the inspection, lapses in the school’s safeguarding procedures were found.
• Not all staff have received safeguarding training, and training that has taken place is not recorded effectively. As a result, leaders are not able to be certain what training staff have received and when. Safeguarding procedures are not reviewed regularly or updated with good practice, including the required checks for all those who work at the school.
• The registration of pupils is not rigorous. Leaders do not have protocols in place to check on the attendance of pupils attending alternative provision. Teachers are uncertain about how many pupils should be present in their classes and which pupils are attending on any particular day.
• The proportion of pupils who are persistently absent from school is well above average and increasing. Leaders have not introduced effective initiatives to improve this, and procedures to check on the well-being of these pupils are not rigorous.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

• Teachers’ expectations of what pupils are capable of are too low. As a result, pupils do not make strong progress, and their outcomes are consistently below those expected for their age.
• Teachers are not assessing what pupils know regularly. Consequently, they are not planning effectively. This hampers progress because pupils of different abilities are completing work that is too easy, and that adds little value to what they already know.
• In mathematics, teachers do not focus enough on developing pupils’ problem-solving skills. This slows the progress that pupils make in this subject.
• Teachers do not give pupils enough opportunities to use and apply their writing skills in a range of subjects and styles. As a result, too many pupils are not achieving the standard of which they are capable, and too few exceed age-related expectations in writing.
• Teachers do not make reading a high priority. They do not routinely assess how well pupils are achieving to ensure that they are sufficiently challenged with the texts that they are reading.
• The teaching of subjects other than English and mathematics, such as science, geography and RE, is poor. Subjects are not covered in sufficient depth and pupils are not developing the skills and knowledge in these subjects well enough.
• While in some lessons pupils engage in their learning with enthusiasm, this is inconsistent. Sometimes pupils lose interest in what they are learning and are easily distracted. Teachers are not consistent in managing this effectively.
• The learning needs of pupils identified as having SEN and/or disabilities are not met. The support that they receive does not help them catch up in the way that they should.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate.
• Pupils have some opportunities to learn about different faiths and cultures. However, pupils’ learning in this area is not well developed. Leaders recognise that the curriculum does not ensure that pupils develop an understanding of a range of religions or how people of other faiths worship.
• Although the majority of pupils demonstrate positive attitudes towards learning, at times, particularly when teaching fails to capture and retain their interest, pupils’ attention wanes and their progress slows.
• Pupils do not consistently show self-control and discipline when unsupervised. On the playground, in the dining hall and down the corridors, pupils can sometimes be boisterous and unruly.
• Pupils have opportunities to attend a range of after-school clubs, such as for sports and computers, and a breakfast club is available for pupils each morning.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in school. They know who to speak to if they need help and they understand how to keep themselves safe online.
• Pupils who attend alternative provision are gradually managed back into the school over a period of time.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is inadequate.
• Leaders have not dealt with poor attendance rigorously enough. Absence rates and the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent from school have been consistently above national averages. This poor level of attendance has, over time, had a detrimental effect on pupils’ outcomes.
• Leaders have not done enough since the previous inspection to secure good behaviour. Over time, fixed-term exclusions have been well above national averages.
• The school has extensive records of incidents of poor behaviour. A number of these were racist incidents and alleged bullying. Although these records are detailed, they lack clarity on how they have been dealt with.
• Parents have mixed views about the school. While some feel that that their children are settled and happy, there are several parents who are concerned about poor behaviour in the school. A staff survey also indicated that a number of adults working at the school have some concerns about how well inappropriate behaviour is dealt with.

Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

• The proportions of pupils who achieve the expected and higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 are well below national averages. The progress pupils make from their different starting points is significantly below average in all subjects, and has been for the last three years.
• Year 6 pupils are ill prepared for the next stage in their education. Across the curriculum, a large proportion of pupils leave primary school without the knowledge and skills that they require to access learning at key stage 3.
• Leaders and teachers do not have high enough expectations of pupils. As a result, current pupils are making slow progress in reading, writing and mathematics, and they are not attaining the standards that are expected for their age.
• Disadvantaged pupils do not achieve well enough, and they are underachieving considerably across the school. Differences in performance between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally are increasing because the government’s additional funding is not being used effectively to support them.
• The most able pupils do not achieve well. The work they complete is too easy and they do not have sufficient opportunities to extend their learning. Consequently, these pupils do not attain the high standards of which they are capable.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are making particularly slow progress and the difference between their performance and that of other pupils is increasing.
• In subjects such as science, geography and RE, activities show a lack of challenge and progression of skills. Consequently, pupils’ subject knowledge is weak and they are making poor progress.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 106673 Doncaster 10042189 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 323 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Martin Drake Elaine Exley Telephone number 01302 700 332 Website Email address www.askernspa.doncaster.sch.uk head@askernspa.doncaster.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 11‒ 12 March 2014

Information about this school

• The school is larger than an average-sized primary school.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage. A large minority, some 7%, of the pupils are of Gypsy/Roma heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, who are known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium funding, is well above average.
• The school does not meet the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school meets the Department for Education’s definition of a coasting school based on key stage 2 academic performance results in 2015, 2016, 2017.
• A headteacher from a local primary school is acting as an interim executive headteacher and providing formal support for leaders. This local leader of education support is funded by the local authority.
• The school provides a breakfast club each morning for pupils.
• The headteacher was not in her current post at the last inspection, having taken up the role in 2016.
• Currently, there is a small number of pupils who attend an off-site alternative provision.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes. Some lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.
• A sample of pupils’ work from all classes was scrutinised.
• Inspectors listened to a selection of pupils read from all year groups.
• Meetings were held with pupils, the interim executive headteacher, the headteacher, other staff, four members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors observed pupils moving around the school, including on the playgrounds, during breaks and in the dining hall.
• Inspectors scrutinised a number of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, school improvement plans, attendance records and safeguarding information.
• Inspectors took account of the 11 free-text opinions from parents and the 12 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also took account of the 19 staff surveys that were given to inspectors during the inspection.
• Inspectors spoke informally with parents at the start of the school day. The lead inspector also had a telephone conversation with a parent.

Inspection team

Alan Chaffey, lead inspector Andy Taylor Simon Bissett

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector