Woodbridge Junior School

Age group 7–11 Inspection date(s) 19–20 June 2012 Inspection number 378497 Woodbridge Junior School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 112494 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 378497 Inspection dates 19–20 June 2012 Lead inspector Andrew Stafford

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Junior School category Community Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 120 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Alison Siddall Headteacher Justin Mash Date of previous school inspection 11 December 2008 School address Grange Street Alfreton DE55 7JA Telephone number 01773 833138 Fax number 01773 520627 Email address Justinm3@woodbridge.derbyshire.sch.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspector observed eight lessons and five teachers who were teaching at the time of the inspection. He held meetings with parents and carers, groups of pupils, members of the governing body, staff and a representative from the local authority. The inspector observed the school’s work, and looked at its tracking of pupils’ progress, the minutes of meetings of the governing body, its self-evaluation and reports from the local authority. The inspector scrutinised 21 parental questionnaires and those completed by staff and pupils.

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Information about the school

This school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is much higher than average. Most pupils are White British and few are of minority ethnic heritage. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average. More pupils than in most primary schools join or leave the school other than at the usual times. The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress. Since the previous inspection, a new deputy headteacher has been appointed and there has been one other appointment to the teaching staff in January 2011. The school has achieved several awards including Healthy Schools status, and the Investors in Pupils award. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate

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Information about the school

Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 This is a satisfactory school. The school is moving forward securely on several fronts. Past underachievement has been overcome and pupils are making better progress. Consequently, they are well on track to achieve average levels in reading, writing and mathematics. The school is satisfactory rather than good because pupils are not always well enough informed how to improve their work and school leaders have not ensured sufficient good or better teaching to secure good progress for all pupils. Schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory may receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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Key findings

 Pupils achieve satisfactorily throughout the school. Historically, rates of progress have been inconsistent, but assessment information and inspection findings confirm that most pupils are, currently, making good progress. Although such improvement is encouraging, it is not securely embedded or consistent enough.

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Key findings

 Teaching is securely satisfactory and sometimes good. When teaching is at its best, pupils are fully engaged and teachers use accurate assessment information to guide their planning of learning. Pupils make slower progress when they are passive in their learning and when activities are not sufficiently matched to their needs and abilities.

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Key findings

 Considerable attention has been paid to improving behaviour. Pupils across the school feel safer and happier as a result of a more positive and consistent approach to managing behaviour and incidents. As a result, behaviour in and around the school is satisfactory.

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Key findings

 Leadership and management are satisfactory and have ensured better teaching and progress. Weaknesses in attainment and behaviour have been tackled effectively. Staff performance is better managed but not yet fully effective. Although senior leaders have a good awareness of the school’s strengths and weaknesses, the governing body’s understanding of pupils’ attainment and Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

progress over time is less well developed, limiting the contribution governors can make to strategic planning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure pupils are always actively engaged in their learning and have clear, personalised targets and consistent feedback that help them to improve their own work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 By July 2013, improve the quality of teaching so that it always ensures pupils make good or better progress, by:  using assessment information to match learning accurately to pupils’ needs  developing pupils’ independence in their own learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of the school’s leadership by ensuring that:  all leaders focus more closely on holding teachers and support staff to account for pupils’ progress and overall achievement  lesson observations, marking and analysis of work focus on pupils’ progress  the governing body’s ability to act strategically in driving improvement is improved.

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Achievement of pupils

Although pupils’ skills on entry are broadly average, they often have lower skills in communication, language and literacy than those usual for their age. They make satisfactory progress, leaving Year 6 with average levels of attainment overall. While attainment in mathematics has risen to match the national average, attainment in English has been less secure partly because of pupils’ lower starting points. Several pupils with literacy skills below those expected for their age occasionally join Year 6 midway through the year and struggle to make enough progress to achieve well in English. In general, pupils who join all year groups at times different from the usual starting points are supported well enough to make at least satisfactory progress.

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Achievement of pupils

While attainment in reading by the end of Year 6 is average, fewer pupils achieve the higher levels than in most schools. Inspection evidence confirms that staff are successfully addressing past weaknesses in reading attainment.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils were seen to work well in lessons and listen to and value the opinions of others. While pupils are fully engaged in some lessons, expectations of their active participation in learning are not always high enough and this limits progress, which is often otherwise good. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Achievement of pupils

The successful focus on improving the quality of teaching has had a positive impact on progress and achievement. There is no underachievement and pupils are making much better progress than in previous years; some are making consistently good progress. The achievement of some groups of pupils has also improved. For example, pupils known to be eligible for free school meals are already making more progress and are well ahead of the equivalent group last year. Although senior leaders have worked effectively to ensure that disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make at least satisfactory progress, their achievement is inconsistent, with pupils in some year groups making significantly more progress than others. This is because, too often, activities are not closely matched to the needs of individuals to enable them to make good progress. The same difficulty also sometimes applies across the age and ability range.

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Achievement of pupils

Inspection findings that achievement is satisfactory overall are not fully matched by the views of the very small minority of parents and carers responding to the Ofsted questionnaire, who think their children make good progress. Pupils enjoy school and are, increasingly, confident that they are doing well.

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Quality of teaching

Although some teaching is good, the inspection found teaching to be satisfactory overall, because it is not yet resulting in consistently good progress for all pupils. Most parental questionnaire respondents already consider their children are well taught.

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Quality of teaching

When teaching is at its best, well-planned activities engage pupils quickly in their learning. Pupils understand what they are learning and why they are learning it. Behaviour is managed well by the teacher and there is an atmosphere of busy concentration in the classroom. Teachers use their good subject knowledge to plan lessons that closely match pupils’ learning needs. Pupils are well informed about their learning so they are clear about their targets and how they will help them to improve their own work. Some teaching is less effective, particularly in using assessment information to match work to pupils’ needs and in use of targets and feedback. Teachers talk too much while pupils sit still and quiet for too long and some find it difficult to maintain attentive behaviour. Pupils are not expected to take responsibility for their own learning and work independently and this results in teachers and other

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Quality of teaching

adults working very hard and pupils not working hard enough. When pupils are given the opportunity to be more responsible for their learning, for example in a Year 5 literacy lesson, they were motivated and engaged and demonstrated good cooperation and collaborative skills.

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Quality of teaching

The teaching and support for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are satisfactory and improvements have been effective resulting in good progress for many of these pupils. However, the effectiveness of the support provided is not evaluated sufficiently in terms of pupils’ progress.

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Quality of teaching

Work in pupils’ books covers many subjects and there is good evidence of writing Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Quality of teaching

across the curriculum. For example, work in Years 3 and 4 includes many interesting topics – for example, the plague in Eyam and experiences in mountains. Teaching provides many opportunities for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development. For example, in Years 3 and 4, work on silhouettes of the London skyline generated moments of awe at the wonder of glowing light behind buildings.

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Quality of teaching

The teaching of reading is satisfactory and attainment is rising steadily because the regular guided-reading sessions to improve their reading skills are effective.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers’ marking is detailed and thorough in all classes. However, feedback is not focused well enough and pupils often cannot use the information to improve their own work. Marking is not always linked to the learning intention for the lesson and, therefore, provides little information to teachers as to whether the pupil has understood the learning in that session. Targets are in place, and are arrived at through accurately assessing pupils’ progress. They are precise enough to provide pupils with the detailed information they need to improve their own work, but are not yet fully embedded to impact significantly on results.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Inspection findings that pupils are safe in school were fully endorsed by a very large majority of parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire. Pupils say they feel safe in school. They have a sound awareness of different forms of bullying, including name calling, physical bullying and cyber-bullying. They are confident that bullying and any other concerns are dealt with quickly and effectively and are very pleased with recent changes in the management of their behaviour and safety. Many pupils went out of their way to tell the inspector how pleased they were that behaviour had improved within the school – resulting in gaining Investors in Pupils status. Many described the school as now being a ‘fairer place’ and they considered the staff had made the change possible; one pupil described them as ‘caring about us more than anything’.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Behaviour has clearly improved throughout the school and is, at least, satisfactory, creating a calm and well-ordered atmosphere. Most pupils demonstrate an eagerness to learn and get on with their work. Although there are still some incidents of challenging behaviour, the school has a clear and systematic approach to dealing with these, including very occasional low-level disruption in lessons. Attendance is average and the school has a range of effective strategies in place to, at least, maintain it at this level.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher, ably assisted by the deputy headteacher and other leaders in the school, has established a clear vision based on high expectations for pupils’ progress. The school accurately identifies its strengths and priorities for improvement. The impact of focusing on priorities can be seen in the trend of sustained improvement leading to the good progress many pupils have made this year. Achievement is at Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Leadership and management

least satisfactory for all pupils, behaviour has improved and pupils’ are learning successfully in class from better teaching. The developments that have taken place since the previous inspection have resulted in significant improvement, showing the school has the capacity to improve further. Successful action to improve behaviour management and provision for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs shows leaders’ effectiveness.

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Leadership and management

Teachers’ performance is managed well and has improved. Helpful, well-directed opportunities for professional development and support from senior staff have effected positive changes in teachers’ practice.

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Leadership and management

Effective systems to track pupils’ progress and challenging targets are beginning to create a school with high expectations that is focused on good progress for all pupils. However, there has not always been a sufficient focus on assessing pupils’ progress through observations of teaching and learning and teachers’ marking. Although there are regular observations to check the quality of teaching, monitoring is focused too much on what teachers do and not sharply enough on what pupils learn and the progress they make. Consequently, accountability for pupils’ progress has not been prioritised highly enough.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is broad and balanced and partnerships enhance music provision and environmental awareness. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted by frequent opportunities to reflect on values and beliefs, such as the work to eradicate leprosy across the world, and why ‘It’s Good to be Green’. Residential visits develop social skills. A wider cultural understanding is promoted through studies of ancient Greece and comparing the communities of Alfreton and London. Electing members of the school council help prepare pupils for future life in democratic Britain. The school’s community ethos engenders a strong sense of belonging, where pupils show high levels of tolerance and respect towards each other.

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Leadership and management

The governing body is committed to the school and fully supports priorities to take it further forward. They are not sufficiently well informed about school performance to challenge and drive improvement faster so that pupils make, at least, good progress.

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Leadership and management

The school has appropriate systems to keep pupils safe and arrangements for safeguarding meet statutory requirements. Equality of opportunity is promoted for all pupils. Progress is closely monitored and all groups and individuals achieve equally. Action is taken if any group or individual appears to underachieve. The school takes appropriate steps to ensure that there is no discrimination in this school.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 54 42 2 2 Primary schools 14 49 32 6 Secondary schools 20 39 34 7 Special schools 33 45 20 3 Pupil referral units 9 55 28 8 All schools 16 47 31 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September to 31 December 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance: the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour: how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Floor standards: the national minimum expectation of attainment and progression measures.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety: how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Woodbridge Junior School, Alfreton, DE55 7JA

Thank you for your friendly welcome when I inspected your school and for telling me what you think about it. I enjoyed talking to you and looking at your work. Thanks to all of you that completed the questionnaire. I thought you would like to know what I found out. You go to a satisfactory school – and one that has improved a lot.

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Inspection of Woodbridge Junior School, Alfreton, DE55 7JA

 You are making at least satisfactory progress and mostly reaching the levels of attainment expected for your age.  Your headteacher and the staff are working hard to make teaching and learning better so that you learn more.  Behaviour has improved and you told me you feel safe and that staff take good care of you.

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Inspection of Woodbridge Junior School, Alfreton, DE55 7JA

This is what I have asked the headteacher, governing body and teachers to do to make your school even better.

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Inspection of Woodbridge Junior School, Alfreton, DE55 7JA

 They must help you make more progress by making sure you know how well you are doing and understand what you need to do to improve your work and reach your targets.  Teachers should always give you work that challenges each one of you to learn at your own level and encourage you to work independently so your progress will improve.  Everyone in your school, including your governors, must have high expectations for your progress and ensure you all achieve well.

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Inspection of Woodbridge Junior School, Alfreton, DE55 7JA

You can help by always doing your best and asking for help if you do not understand your work. I wish you all the best for the future. Continue to try hard and enjoy your learning.

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Inspection of Woodbridge Junior School, Alfreton, DE55 7JA

Andrew Stafford Lead Inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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