Drayton CofE Junior School

Age group 7–11 Inspection date(s) 23-24 May 2012 Inspection number 395605 Drayton CofE Junior School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 131287 Local authority Norfolk Inspection number 395605 Inspection dates 23-24 May 2012 Lead inspector Julie Winyard HMI

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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 Voluntary Controlled Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 325 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Rev David Wells Headteacher Martin White Date of previous school inspection 27 November 2008 School address School Road Drayton Norwich NR8 6EF Telephone number 01603 867504 Fax number 01603 261410 Email address admin@draytonjunior.norfolk.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 inspection team observed 20 lessons and all teachers present during the inspection. Inspectors also observed nine parts of lessons which included short observations of the teaching of sounds that letters represent (phonics), and intervention groups for disabled pupils or those with special educational needs. Meetings were held with staff, the Chair of the Governing Body, a representative from the local authority and groups of pupils. Inspectors observed the school’s work, including hearing some pupils read; they also looked at a range of documentation including self-evaluation documents, analysis of performance data, action plans and governing body minutes. Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work in English, mathematics and writing across the curriculum. Inspectors took account of the responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning

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Introduction

the inspection, and took note of the 110 questionnaires returned by parents and carers, including comments made about the school.

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Information about the school

Drayton Junior School has an above average number of pupils compared with similar schools. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well below average, as is the number of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. However, there is a larger number of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs than in similar schools nationally. Most pupils are of White British heritage and few speak English as an additional language. The school has the following awards: Eco-Schools Green Flag, Football Association Charter Mark and a High Quality Physical Education Charter Mark from the local authority. The school meets the current government floor standard, which sets the minimum expectations for progress and attainment in English and mathematics.

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Key findings

 In accordance with section 13 (3) 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.

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Key findings

 The school is not satisfactory because it has made insufficient improvement since the last inspection on the key issues identified. Pupils’ achievement in English and mathematics has declined and is inadequate. The achievement of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is satisfactory due to the good leadership of the special educational needs coordinator and careful monitoring and learning support.

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Key findings

 Leadership and management are inadequate. There is inadequate capacity for further improvement. Middle leaders do not have the opportunity to improve achievement in their year groups or subjects, and senior leaders are not sufficiently robust in their actions to ensure that all teaching is good or better. The curriculum is satisfactory, with a good focus on developing pupils’ creativity through themed projects and enrichment activities, but some opportunities are missed to promote their basic literacy and numeracy skills.

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Key findings

 The quality of teaching over time is inadequate. Most teaching seen during the inspection was satisfactory, but this is not good enough to accelerate pupils’ progress and reverse past underachievement. A few good and outstanding lessons were seen, but good practice is not shared and teachers do not have a common understanding of what constitutes successful learning or teaching.

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Key findings

 Pupils’ behaviour is satisfactory. In lessons pupils are too often passive rather than actively engaged. Their behaviour around the school and on the playground is consistently good, and they have a very strong understanding of right and wrong that reflects the school’s deeply held values. Pupils say they love coming to school, and break and lunchtimes are special because of the strong and effective emphasis the school gives to supporting good relationships.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 As a matter of urgency improve the quality of teaching in order to boost the progress pupils make by ensuring that:  teachers have a shared understanding of what constitutes good learning and teaching  teachers use pupils’ positive attitudes to learning to enable them to become independent learners  all tasks are precisely and appropriately matched to pupils’ different abilities  marking and feedback are of a consistently high quality  teaching assistants fully understand their role in supporting learning so that pupils can make their own choices about approaches to take.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ achievement in mathematics and English by:  embedding key skills in numeracy and literacy across different subjects  giving pupils more opportunities to use and apply their mathematical knowledge and understanding in solving real-life problems.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the leadership and management of teaching and learning by:  ensuring middle leaders have regular opportunities to evaluate teaching and its impact on learning in their subjects and year groups  raising the quality of feedback to teachers about how to move their teaching on, and providing them with high quality training  making sure the school development plan has clear targets for improvement so that the impact of actions can be judged.

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Achievement of pupils

Achievement has declined significantly since the last inspection. Pupils came into the school with attainment that was above average, but left last year having attained below the national average. Following last year’s low Key Stage 2 results the school put a number of measures in place to improve achievement, including booster classes and intervention programmes. Although these have had some impact, the current Year 6 pupils are still not achieving well enough. A legacy of poor teaching has left gaps in pupils’ learning.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ attainment in mathematics has been low for some time. This is because pupils are not taught how to use and apply their mathematical knowledge and skills to real- life problem solving activities, nor are they given enough independence to plan and carry out investigations.

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Achievement of pupils

Middle- and higher-attaining pupils do not always achieve enough in lessons because tasks are not consistently well-matched to their learning needs and do not always challenge them. This view was confirmed by pupils. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make satisfactory progress because activities and interventions planned for them are appropriate.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment is below average. Pupils’ progress in reading is better than in writing and mathematics but overall is inadequate. While pupils make some progress in learning to use different strategies for reading unfamiliar words, and more able pupils read with fluency, they do not make good enough progress given their starting points on entry to the school.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ presentation of their work is too variable. In some cases good handwriting is not encouraged by teachers’ own written comments, which are not legible to pupils. Parents and carers feel that their children make good progress, but inspectors found that too many pupils are not doing as well as they could and overall they make inadequate progress.

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Quality of teaching

The quality of teaching has declined since the last inspection. In too many lessons teachers talk for too long. They do not always give pupils sufficient thinking time and, after posing a question, tend to give their version of the pupil’s answer rather than asking them to explain further, or seeking answers from other pupils. Some opportunities are missed to encourage pupils to project their voices so the whole class can hear what is being said. The school has identified the need for change and in recent months there has been some improvement. Teachers plan clear learning objectives but do not always ensure pupils know how to be successful in meeting them. Pupils are given opportunities to talk through ideas with a partner but the time allowed is often insufficient for pupils to think, share and explore concepts. Although some better practice is beginning to improve pupils’ achievement, this picture is not

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Quality of teaching

There is very little opportunity for pupils to use strategies in mathematics to solve problems for themselves because teachers set out what pupils must do in a very prescriptive manner. Occasionally pupils are helped to think for themselves, learn from each other and produce their best work. For example, in a good mathematics lesson seen, the teacher asked the class to listen to a pupil’s good method for working out a problem. The teacher made sure the pupil explained clearly and gave the reasoning behind the choice of method. Pupils were given precise timescales to complete activities; this helped ensure they were fully focused throughout each task. All the activities had the right level of challenge for different ability groups within the class. This practice is not widespread.

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Quality of teaching

The majority of parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire say their children are well taught. However, a few raised concerns about whether their children are given the right level of challenge to ensure the best level of progress. Inspectors found that matching work to individuals’ abilities was a weaker aspect of teaching.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers ensure pupils have targets but often these are not sufficiently challenging or reviewed frequently. There are inconsistencies in teachers’ written and verbal feedback to pupils. They are not always told why a piece of work is good or precisely how to make further improvements. Teachers have high expectations for pupils’ behaviour and disruptions of any kind in lessons are very rare.

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Quality of teaching

The school is improving systems for identifying disabled pupils and those with special educational needs in order to target learning support. This underpins the better progress made by these pupils. However, teaching assistants sometimes provide too much help so that the pupils do not think enough for themselves.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive, and their attendance is high. They are mostly attentive and ready to learn in lessons, even when they are not fully involved. Pupils are kind to and supportive of each other. This is due to their good moral development and sense of what is right and wrong, underpinned by the school’s deeply held values. Relationships between pupils and adults are good and pupils socialise and play well together at break times. For example, in a Year 6 football game, all who wished to play were welcomed whether able-bodied or disabled. Throughout the school there is an atmosphere of respect and dignity.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The majority of parents and carers say their children are safe at school and behave well. A few raised concerns about bullying but pupils are adamant that there is no bullying and that any incidents of unkindness are dealt with rapidly and effectively; so most feel safe at school. The school’s record of incidents is comprehensive and supports what pupils say. It shows, for example, that incidents of racial discrimination are infrequent and are dealt with robustly.

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Leadership and management

The actions of the headteacher, senior and middle leaders have not been effective enough in improving pupils’ achievement, and demonstrate insufficient drive to bring about change. Although some recent action has been taken to improve teaching, change is not happening fast enough. Teachers do not receive adequate professional development to improve their practice and performance management is not robust enough to drive forward improvement. There is no shared understanding of what constitutes good learning and teaching. Teachers do not have the opportunity to observe the good and outstanding teaching that exists in the school. The school’s self-evaluation is over-optimistic. The school development plan is weak and lacks clear targets for improvement against which to measure progress. Consequently, the school’s capacity to make the rapid improvements required is inadequate. Equality of opportunity is not promoted effectively for pupils as too many underachieve

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is broad and balanced with a good range of enrichment activities, such as instrumental lessons, which pupils enjoy. Good links are made between subjects through themed projects; however, the promotion of pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills is not as strong as it should be.

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Leadership and management

Achieving the Eco-School’s Green Flag status is commendable and pupils are fascinated by the live video link to a birds’ nest. The school works well in supporting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. They learn how to stay safe and are confident in sharing how they feel about each other; for example, in the ‘circle of friends’ sessions. Pupils have good opportunities to learn about other cultures through the curriculum. They also learn well about democratic principles such as in the work of the school council. Pupils’ spiritual development is less well promoted because they are not always enabled to reflect on their achievement in lessons or actively contribute to collective worship. Most parents and carers are very pleased with the school and feel it engages well with them.

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Leadership and management

The governing body has begun to question why achievement is declining but, because governors have only recently received comprehensive training in how to interpret the data presented to them, they are unable to pursue this robustly enough. Safeguarding arrangements fully meet requirements.

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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 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 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 2010 to 31 August 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

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 Drayton CofE Junior School, Drayton, Norfolk, NR8 6EF

My colleagues and I really enjoyed meeting you when we visited the school. Thank you for all the time you spent with us talking about your work and for filling in the questionnaires.

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Inspection of Drayton CofE Junior School, Drayton, Norfolk, NR8 6EF

We agree with those of you who told us that there is not enough challenge in most of your lessons and that you could work harder. Because of this we have placed your school in a category called ‘special measures.’ This will help your teachers to plan lessons that help you to do your best work all the time. We have also asked your teachers to make sure you have more of a chance to talk about your ideas in lessons, and to plan and carry out your own investigations and problem solving. We think some teachers’ marking is not as useful as it should be because their handwriting is hard to read and their written comments do not explain what is good about your work or how you can make it even better.

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Inspection of Drayton CofE Junior School, Drayton, Norfolk, NR8 6EF

On a positive note, we think that the school works very hard in helping you to respect each other and get on together as friends. For example, we were very impressed with how happily you play together and include everyone who wants to join in. It was good to see how much you enjoy learning and coming to school every day. You have done well to achieve the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.

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Inspection of Drayton CofE Junior School, Drayton, Norfolk, NR8 6EF

We have asked your headteacher, the deputy headteacher and other staff to work on three main areas.

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Inspection of Drayton CofE Junior School, Drayton, Norfolk, NR8 6EF

 Improve the quality of teaching so that you all get work in lessons which is not too easy and not too hard, and which encourages you to think for yourselves.  Provide you with more opportunities to develop your literacy and numeracy skills in all subjects.  Check carefully that the school is improving as a result of the work they do.

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Inspection of Drayton CofE Junior School, Drayton, Norfolk, NR8 6EF

We would like to wish you every success for your future lives.

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Inspection of Drayton CofE Junior School, Drayton, Norfolk, NR8 6EF

Julie Winyard Her Majesty's 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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