Normanton Junior Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further improve the attendance of the small minority of pupils who are persistently absent by working closely with their families to make sure that they attend school as regularly as other pupils nationally.
• Further develop the skills of teaching assistants, so that they take on fuller responsibility for planning and monitoring the effect of their work on the progress of pupils of all abilities.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher has a clear and dynamic vision for the school. It is rooted in high expectations and leadership at every level. This vision is supported by rigorous and efficient systems for checking the school’s effectiveness. Leaders know the needs of the pupils and the wider community very well. Their assessment of how well the school is doing and what it needs to do next to improve further are accurate. They are driven by the determination that all shall do well.
• The headteacher has designed a curriculum that focuses on what pupils need to know and experience to be successful and happy. Working with her team of staff, she has established a culture of learning and continuous improvement for all. This ‘formal’ curriculum is underpinned by a wide range of extra-curricular activities, open to all. These extra opportunities in, for example, sport, music and the arts, allow pupils to explore and extend their understanding of the world and develop a joy in learning. As a result, they are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• The curriculum is interesting and knowledge-based. It gives pupils many opportunities to apply their developing knowledge and learning in a wide range of contexts. As well as core subjects such as English, mathematics and science, pupils have discrete French and music lessons each week. They also have a weekly outside learning session in the Oak school. Here, they learn both practical and team skills, and develop resilience.
• The headteacher is very well complemented by a deputy who is imaginative and meticulous in his approach. He gathers and uses information about the school’s progress to inform next steps, so that the school’s further improvement is rapid and secure.
• Leaders have developed accurate, externally checked, systems to check how well the school is doing. Information about pupils’ progress is gathered very regularly. Staff use this information to focus teaching precisely on what pupils need to do and experience next to make good and better progress.
• Leaders have also put in place rigorous and humane systems to assess the quality of teaching and its effect on pupils’ learning and well-being. Leaders use this information carefully to assess staff performance and help target support and training, so that the quality of teaching is constantly improving. Staff welcome this approach and the conversations it stimulates about teaching and learning. As a result, staff morale is high.
• Middle leadership is strong. Senior leaders have carefully and systematically supported middle leaders so that they, working together and with governors, play a vital role in improvements at the school. Middle leaders monitor the quality of teaching carefully and lead regular training for teachers and support staff.
• The physical education and sport premium is used well to provide professional development for staff and to extend opportunities for pupils. They can, for example, attend additional coaching sessions and enrichment activities. As a result, participation in competitive activity has increased, and pupils say that they enjoy the range of sports and other physical activities on offer.
• Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is used effectively to provide targeted work and guidance. As a result, these pupils, generally, attend regularly and make good progress across the school. Differences in progress are quickly diminishing.
• The additional funding the school receives to support pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is used effectively. The lead for this aspect of the school’s work has been very effective in ensuring that carefully focused actions are put in place to meet these pupils’ needs. She has also, through careful monitoring, assured the impact of these actions. As a result, these pupils make good progress from their starting points.
• Most parents speak very positively about the school and the service it offers their children. A significant number spoke positively about the school’s leadership and the care and challenge their children receive. As one parent wrote: ‘Perhaps the best indication of how good Normanton Junior Academy is, lies in the fact that the children love it; not because the building is nice or fancy, or the playground ultra-modern with play equipment, it’s due to the superb staff doing a wonderful job.’

Governance of the school

• Governors share leaders’ ambitions and high expectations. They know the strengths and areas for further improvement at the school, through the information provided by leaders and by their own diligent and active links with curriculum and other middle leaders. As a result, governors provide robust and focused challenge to school leaders about the progress of all groups of pupils from their starting points. The records of governors’ meetings and planning are full, succinct and fit for purpose.
• With the effective support of the Waterton Academy Trust, governors ensure that performance management procedures are effective in securing improvements to teaching and learning.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders maintain a culture in the school whereby staff show a clear understanding of their responsibilities and of the processes to keep pupils safe. As a result, staff promptly identify, and appropriately support, potentially vulnerable pupils. They also tenaciously engage with outside agencies to ensure that pupils get the support they need.
• Procedures for checking the suitability of visitors and staff recruitment are secure. Leaders check staff’s suitability to work with children appropriately.
• Pupils have many opportunities to learn how to stay safe, both through the subjects they study during class time and through assemblies. Pupils told inspectors that they regularly learn about how to stay safe online.
• Those pupils who inspectors spoke with said that they have staff they can go to if they have any concerns. They are confident that adults would listen to their concerns and take prompt, appropriate and effective action.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Staff know their pupils well and have strong subject knowledge. They plan learning which builds on what pupils already know. They develop pupils’ confidence, help them make connections, and reinforce their skills through careful, yet insistent, questioning. Detailed use of assessment ensures that learning is typically well matched to pupils’ needs.
• Relationships across the school between pupils and adults are relaxed and respectful. As a result, the classroom environment for learning is effective, and pupils have very positive attitudes to learning. They want to do well and, because teachers’ expectations are high, they generally do. The classrooms are attractive, uncluttered places to learn in. Pupils have ready access to materials, such as protractors and dictionaries, to support their learning.
• Staff provide feedback to pupils about their work that is in line with the school’s policy. Pupils show real pride in the presentation and neatness of their work. They generally respond promptly to teachers’ comments and advice, although inspectors did see some examples of pupils not responding to staff comments when they had been asked to do so.
• Pupils’ books and folders show them writing at length, in a range of ways, to suit their subject and audience. The written work of most-able pupils is characterised by its detail, neatness and thoughtfulness. This is because teachers have high expectations and provide all pupils, including the most able, with challenging and interesting things to do and explore.
• In mathematics, number and calculation skills are taught well across the school. This ensures that pupils are well placed to solve more complex problems and to reason mathematically. The pace of mathematics lessons is crisp. This is because teachers use imaginative and focused assessment to move pupils on appropriately to more complex and challenging work as soon as they are ready for it. Pupils report that they welcome and enjoy this.
• Reading is an aspect of the school’s work that is developing very well. The whole-school approach to reading, rooted in carefully chosen, high-quality class readers, has had a positive effect on pupils’ confidence in, and love of, reading. Pupils read widely and with increasing appetite. Staff show high levels of skill as they encourage pupils, through deft questioning, to explore how writers create effects and moods in their shared class reader. Inspectors saw pupils move on in their own written work to use some of the writer’s devices that they had explored.
• Parents receive regular and detailed updates on how their children are doing at school. As well as the regular written reports, staff are readily available if parents wish to talk about a particular issue. Parents said that they welcomed this aspect of the school’s work.
• Teachers meet with their pupils to discuss their work, progress and well-being. These termly one-to-one mentoring sessions are welcomed by pupils because they feel engaged and part of their own learning and know, in detail, how they are doing. The insights that teachers gain from these meetings mean that they are even better able to focus their teaching on what individual pupils need. Careful records of these meetings are kept and shared between pupil and teacher.
• The weekly outdoor Oak sessions for all pupils are well taught. These lessons are designed to encourage life and team-building skills. They are practical sessions that enable pupils to develop resilience and their abilities as leaders and problem solvers. An inspector saw a session where pupils, in teams, learned how to safely light a fire outdoors and then use it to prepare a cup of hot chocolate. Pupils’ delight and pride in their success was palpable!
• Additional adults are generally well deployed. They have a positive impact on learning because they support pupils effectively, and help to remove barriers to their learning by keeping them on track and focused on the task in hand. However, detailed records of the effect of the work undertaken by teaching assistants are not routinely kept. This means that opportunities can be lost to identify precisely what aspects of their support work well.
• Although the presentation of pupils’ work is, overall, of a good quality, some work in books is marred by poor handwriting. This is particularly the case where pupils’ grip of their pen or pencil is insecure and, as a result, letter formations are shaky.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils are polite, confident and aware of the needs of others. They relate well to each other and to staff. They spoke with real pleasure about how much they enjoy school and how well the staff care for them. They know that staff at the school would be there for them if they ever had a problem.
• Pupils develop high levels of empathy as a result of the detailed and imaginative way the school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. For example, they showed great maturity in their understanding of the implications of Down’s syndrome, which was a focus of a community event that took place during a morning of the inspection. They told inspectors that events like this help them understand what it is like to be somebody else and that this understanding reduces prejudice and discrimination.
• Pupils wear their uniforms with pride. They care for their school. There are many attractive and informative displays both in and out of the classroom that help pupils understand and celebrate their place in the school, the community and the wider world. There is no litter.
• The school engages very effectively with pupils’ homes and families. There are strong links with home. The vast majority of parents, when asked, said that they were very satisfied with the service that the school offers families and the wider community. They commented positively about the regular reports they receive about their children’s progress and well-being.
• Because of the school’s detailed and imaginative work, pupils have a very good understanding of the forms that bullying can take and what to do to combat it if it were to occur. Pupils say that they feel safe and are safe because of the school’s actions.
• Pupils show a mature attitude towards the different forms that family relationships can take.
• The school actively promotes a healthy lifestyle. Meal choices are healthy. Pupils know what constitutes a healthy diet. The Oak school outside learning area is a regular feature of every pupil’s learning. Pupils are regularly active during the school day. There are activity sessions in classrooms between learning sessions, and every pupil undertakes a one kilometre jog each day. Pupils report that they enjoy this aspect of school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• All staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Pupils told inspectors that behaviour was good. They reported that the school’s systems to support and reward positive behaviour work well and make a positive difference. As a result, disruption to learning is rare and, when it does occur, it is dealt with swiftly and consistently.
• The school’s own records of behaviour are detailed. Leaders regularly analyse these records carefully to help them discern patterns of behaviour, so that any poorer behaviour can be tackled before it occurs.
• As a result of leaders’ efforts, overall attendance is improving and is now in line with the national average. The attendance of the small minority of pupils who are persistently absent is also improving. However, it is still too high. Records show that the school’s work to improve rates of attendance is effective. Pupils are very clear about why it is important to attend school regularly.
• Pupils are generally very interested in what they do at school. They enjoy learning and finding out. They have responded very favourably to the school’s recent focus on reading. Pupils generally use their initiative and respond favourably when staff encourage them to do so.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Inspection evidence shows that, throughout each year group and across the majority of subjects, pupils make sustained and, often, substantial progress from their starting points. This is because they are taught effectively and are eager to learn.
• Evidence gathered through the scrutiny of a large number of pupils’ books, spanning a wide range of subjects, shows good and sustained progress across the school. The school’s own detailed, moderated and checked assessment information indicates that, in Years 5 and 6, pupils make particularly good progress. Inspection evidence supports this view.
• The well-designed curriculum ensures that pupils make good and sustained progress. This is because they are given tasks that challenge and interest them.
• As a result of good teaching, most-able pupils make very good progress. They are given many opportunities to extend and deepen their knowledge and understanding through open-ended activities and writing at length.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress as a result of the staff’s very detailed knowledge of their needs, and teaching which breaks down tasks into manageable steps. The leader for this area of the school’s work has also identified key areas for next steps in further improving the provision for these pupils. Links with parents and families are strong and also help ensure good progress.
• Across the school, disadvantaged pupils make good progress from their starting points in all subjects. This is because, as a result of leaders’ actions, all staff are fully aware of the needs of, and barriers to learning for, the disadvantaged pupils in their care, and teaching is more focused on supporting them. The one-to-one mentoring sessions for these pupils with their class teachers are particularly effective in accelerating their progress.
• Reading is a strength of the school. In particular, the peer mentoring that takes place regularly between pupils in Year 6 has a very positive impact on pupils’ progress. During these sessions the mentor, who is a stronger reader, reads while the mentee, who is a less strong reader, listens. The roles are then reversed. While the mentee reads, the mentor designs questions based on the other’s reading for follow-up discussion. These sessions are very effective and develop both pupils’ skills and facilities with reading, and their familiarity with the requirements of the end of key stage national tests. The school’s own detailed assessment of the effect of this, and similar activities to support the development of reading, shows a very positive effect. This is borne out by inspection evidence.
• Pupils are very well prepared for the next steps in their learning. Year 6 pupils show an eagerness and a real engagement with and pleasure in knowledge. They are confident and aware of the needs of others.
• Overall, leaders have significantly improved pupils’ outcomes across the school in a wide range of subjects, through a carefully designed and well-taught curriculum and rigorous assessment practices that inform next steps to success.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141878 Wakefield 10044120 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 Academy sponsor-led 7 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 321 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Headteacher Martin Beedle Trudie Southward Telephone number 01924 891546 Website Email address www.normanton-jun.wakefield.sch.uk/ office@normantonjunior.co.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Normanton Junior Academy is one of 10 schools in the Waterton Academy Trust. It is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• Most pupils are White British. Very few speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for the pupil premium is slightly above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• The school has an out of school club that offers before- and after-school sessions.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Year 6.
• Normanton Junior School joined the Waterton Academy Trust in August 2015, and became Normanton Junior Academy.
• Responsibility for the school rests with the board of trustees. The structure of the trust’s governance and management can be found on the school’s website.

Information about this inspection

• During the morning of the first day of the inspection, the school ran an event with a focus on inclusion to mark `World Down’s Syndrome Day’ for parents and the local community. Over 100 parents, carers and friends of the school took part in a range of activities around the school, across the whole morning.
• Inspectors observed learning in all classes across the school. Some lessons were jointly observed with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. Inspectors listened to pupils read and talked with them about their experience of reading both in and out of school.
• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other senior leaders, middle leaders and members of the governing body, including the chair. The lead inspector met with the chief executive officer and other officers of the Waterton Academy Trust. Inspectors reviewed a range of the school’s documentation, including that related to safeguarding, achievement, attendance and behaviour.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and conduct at breaks and lunchtimes.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide sample of pupils’ work from all year groups and a range of subjects.
• Inspectors took into account the 26 responses to a survey of staff, the 49 responses to a survey of pupils’ views and the 76 online responses from parents to Ofsted’s questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also spoke with parents and carers at the start and end of the school day to seek their opinions of the school’s work and care for their children. The lead inspector also reviewed responses from 47 parents via the free-text facility.
• Throughout the two days of the inspection, inspectors spoke with pupils, both formally and informally, about their learning, safety and well-being.

Inspection team

Mark Evans, lead inspector Lesley Bowyer Susan Twaits

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector