Ladbrooke Junior Mixed and Infant School

Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 19–20 June 2012 Inspection number 379404 Ladbrooke Junior Mixed and Infant School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 117370 Local authority Hertfordshire Inspection number 379404 Inspection dates 19–20 June 2012 Lead inspector Miranda Perry

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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 Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 234 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lesley Gawen Headteacher Tracey Webster Date of previous school inspection 21 October 2008 School address Watkins Rise Potters Bar EN6 1QB Telephone number 01707 652882 Fax number 01707 642832 Email address admin@ladbrooke.herts.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 thi nk 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. Twenty-five lessons or part lessons were observed, amounting to about eight hours in total, taught by eight teachers. Five lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher. Meetings were held with groups of pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and staff. Inspectors looked at a range of evidence, including the school’s documents on self-evaluation and safeguarding. They observed the school’s work, looked at pupils’ books and the tracking system used to monitor pupils’ progress. Inspectors considered the responses to the 53 questionnaires completed by parents and carers as well as those completed by pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

Ladbrooke School is an average-sized primary school. The number of pupils from minority ethnic heritages, and pupils who speak English as an additional language is above average. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, is average. The school meets the current floor standards, which set the government’s minimum expectations for attainment and progress. 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

 This is a good school. Attainment is above average. The school is not yet outstanding because, although there are examples of outstanding progress, the majority of pupils make good progress as a result of teaching that is largely good, not outstanding.

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Key findings

 Pupils achieve well. Attainment by the end of Key Stage 2 has been above average for the last three years. Progress has improved since the last inspection, and is now good overall in both Key Stages 1 and 2. In Key Stage 2, more-able pupils achieve highly in mathematics, and there are some examples of outstanding progress in Year 6. There is no difference in progress between different groups of pupils. but occasionally in lessons, pupils make satisfactory progress when teachers have not checked their understanding.

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Key findings

 Pupils enjoy exciting and challenging lessons, where they are inspired and motivated. Their books are thoroughly marked, and this results in pupils knowing how well they are doing. When lessons are not planned in direct response to how much pupils learnt in the lesson before, pupils do not always reach their potential.

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Key findings

 Pupils behave well and have a conscientious attitude to learning. They have high expectations of themselves. They act safely, and their positive behaviour contributes to a calm, purposeful, and happy atmosphere.

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Key findings

 Leaders have managed teachers’ performance successfully, so that, since the last inspection, teaching has improved from satisfactory to good. Pupils relish the new creative curriculum, because it enables them to explore the spiritual, moral, social and cultural aspects of their work. Senior and middle leaders regularly discuss with their colleagues how to improve individual pupil’s progress. These conversations are not formalised in the school’s planning, monitoring and evaluation and, consequently, do not always have an impact on the rate of progress. 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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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 By January 2013, increase the amount of outstanding teaching to at least 50% by ensuring that:  all teachers check pupils’ understanding throughout the lesson, systematically and effectively  all teachers plan lessons in response to the progress made by pupils in the previous lessons.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 By July 2013, improve progress so that it is rapid and sustained for the majority of pupils by making the regular informal discussions which take place about pupils’ progress part of the school’s formal improvement planning, monitoring and evaluation.

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Achievement of pupils

Children enter the Nursery Year with knowledge, skills and understanding broadly in line with national expectations for their age and leave the Reception Year slightly above national expectations in all areas. Pupils make good progress in Key Stage 1. For example, over the two days of the inspection, pupils in Year 2 progressed from accurate measurement of straight lines, to accurate measurement of complex shapes such as body parts. One pupil commented, ‘Straight lines are easy now. I’ve just had to measure my head.

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Achievement of pupils

In Key Stage 2, pupils make good progress across the key stage, with some examples of outstanding progress. Some pupils in Year 6 make outstanding progress in mathematics because their misconceptions are always challenged. The more-able pupils Year 6 make outstanding progress in mathematics because they regularly work on extension activities which get them to explain or revise their calculations. Questioning at high levels in English and mathematics helps some pupils from minority ethnic heritages to improve their learning rapidly. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make progress equal to their peers. This is because teaching assistants have a good understanding of their specific needs. Pupils do not make rapid progress when teachers fail to test their understanding during the lesson.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment in reading is above average by the end of both Key Stages 1 and 2. By the time they leave school, pupils’ attainment in reading is around one term ahead of the national average. Pupils are particularly interested in reading different kinds of texts, for example, information leaflets, and this interest is cultivated through the creative curriculum. In the Reception Year, phonics (letters and sounds) is well taught, so that children are confident in sounding out words independently. Parents 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

and carers think their children make good progress at all key stages.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils feel that they are challenged in their lessons, and that it is their responsibility always to make their work better. Lessons focus on helping pupils develop skills to improve their work. In a Year 5 English lesson, pupils of all abilities were entirely focused on reviewing a piece of writing so as to eliminate all grammatical and spelling mistakes. Pupils respond to the high expectations of their teachers and put in a lot of effort to get good outcomes. For example, in a Year 4 lesson, a group of pupils worked tirelessly with their teacher on one sentence to make sure they had included adjectives and adverbs which gave the reader the right impression of a character.

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Quality of teaching

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage enjoy learning which is challenging and exciting. For example, in the Nursery Year, they enjoyed solving the puzzle of how to set up a series of bridges so that toy cars could race without stopping. The teaching of reading is good. A phonics programme, which is consistent across the Reception Year, Year 1 and Year 2, leads to good progress in reading.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils who speak English as an additional language are particularly positive about the creative curriculum’s focus on the spiritual, moral, social and cultural context of their learning. For example, they said that their project on chocolate made them understand the history and conflicts behind the making of a chocolate bar. Pupils enjoy working with pupils from other year groups, and have been pleasantly surprised by how much they can learn from pupils younger and older than themselves. Pupils, parents and carers think that teaching is good.

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Quality of teaching

Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are taught well. Some of the pupils’ needs are highly complex, and the school responds to these in lessons in a highly individualised way. Parents and carers commented on how well disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are included in all classroom activities where possible.

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Quality of teaching

On occasion, teachers do not check whether pupils understand different parts of a lesson. Sometimes, for example, teachers are satisfied with only a minority of hands going up to answer a question aimed at checking the understanding of the whole class. Lessons are planned in response to the progress pupils need to make over time to achieve well. However, if pupils have misunderstood something in the previous lesson, or have made exceptional progress, the plan for the next lesson is not always revised accordingly. In these instances, pupils’ progress do not always make as much progress as they could.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ good behaviour makes a strong contribution to their learning. High expectations and good behaviour are established in the Nursery, where boys 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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Behaviour and safety of pupils

girls play very well with each other and children are sensible when playing with exciting apparatus. Children treat each other with respect, and invite, without prompting, any child who is alone to join in with them.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils work well in groups at all key stages and support each other to stay on task. For example, in a Year 3 lesson, when pupils had to work as a group to produce a life-size diagram of themselves, they allocated roles to each other, encouraged each other’s participation, and were determined to finish the task to a high standard.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Around the school, pupils behave courteously and politely. In the playground and dining hall, there is a friendly, calm and positive atmosphere. Pupils go out of their way to welcome visitors and ask them about themselves. One pupil said, ‘We always hope visitors have a nice time here.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Parents, carers and pupils think that behaviour is good. All parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire believe their children feel safe at the school and the pupils agree. They think that the school educates them well to behave safely in potentially dangerous situations, such as swimming lessons, science experiments or fire drills. Pupils feel that bullying hardly ever happens, but are confident that the school deals with it effectively when it does. They have appreciated the school assemblies which prepared them to deal with different types of bullying, such as cyber-bullying. Pupils’ attendance is consistently above average.

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Leadership and management

Leaders have brought about significant improvements since the last inspection, and the staff are fully committed to the changes that have taken place. Teachers have really valued how the senior and middle management team has been developed. The role-modelling and coaching provided by the headteacher and deputy headteacher, have been key to school improvement. A systematic and challenging performance management strategy, combined with an extensive and well-focused professional development programme, has been instrumental in moving teaching from satisfactory to good

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Leadership and management

The governing body has played a key role in bringing about improvements in achievement and teaching. For example, their processes for appointing new staff have been rigorous, and they have established new staff structures with the priority of ensuring the school’s capacity to improve. They take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously, and all statutory requirements for safeguarding are met.

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Leadership and management

Parents and carers feel that the school’s communication with them is good, and much better than it has been in the past. They appreciate the headteacher’s visibility, ‘she is everywhere’ one parent commented, and are particularly impressed by how the school works with them if their child is going through any difficulties at home.

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Leadership and management

Leaders and managers identify areas for development and take actions which improve them. As a result, progress has improved and attainment has remained 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

above average. Staff appreciate an ethos of trust, where they can be open about areas of weakness, and what is needed to address these areas. Nevertheless, although progress is frequently discussed, these discussions do not always inform planning.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum meets pupils’ needs well and provides a wide range of activities to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. As a result, pupils are curious about new things. They are very enthusiastic about the broad range of extra- curricular opportunities available to them, such as chess, camping and outward bound trips. They are very interested in different religions, and understand tolerance. It is noticeable in the playground how well pupils from different heritages play with each other. They benefit from being in a school which promotes equality of opportunity by working hard to close the gaps in achievement between different groups of pupils. One pupil commented, ‘This is the kind of place where everybody does very well.

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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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1QB

It was a real pleasure for my colleague and I to spend two days inspecting your school. Thank you for your warm welcome. We were really impressed by how hard you work in lessons, and how keen you are to improve your work. We agree with you that your school helps you to do well.

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1QB

You go to a good school and make good progress in lessons to reach standards above those in most schools. You are really eager to learn new things, and love lessons where activities are exciting and challenging. You work very well with each other, and we are glad you are so positive about your new creative curriculum. We can see that marking in books helps you know how well you have done, and challenges you to do better.

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1QB

We have asked your headteacher and governors to help you make even better progress. To do this, we want your teachers, in every lesson, to check your understanding of what you are being taught. When the teachers have found out what you understand, we want them to plan the next lesson, so that it helps you with anything you have found difficult and challenges you when you have found anything easy.

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1QB

You can help by continuing to behave well so that it helps your learning, and by always showing and telling the teachers throughout the lesson whether you understand or not.

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1QB

Miranda Perry 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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