Bilton CofE Junior School

Bilton CofE Junior School Plantagenet Drive, Bilton, Rugby, CV22 6LB

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Pupils do not make enough progress.  Teaching in most subjects remains too variable in quality.  Teachers do not always plan work that is matched to the needs of all the pupils in each class.  Marking is not used well enough and so some pupils are not clear about how to improve their work.  Teachers do not always assess pupils’ progress during lessons effectively and so not all pupils get the best from the session.  Governors do not have a detailed understanding of how small the gap is in results between pupils who have additional funding and the others.

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The school has the following strengths

 A scrutiny of pupils’ work and observations of lessons show that rates of progress have improved within the last school year.  Pupils’ behaviour is good in lessons and around the school. Pupils are respectful and show good manners.  Attendance is high and pupils arrive at school on time.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited all classes and observed teaching in 28 lessons. They were accompanied by the headteacher during five of these lessons and by the deputy headteacher in ten lessons. In addition, inspectors observed pupils’ social skills during morning break, at lunchtime and when they moved around the school.  Inspectors looked at the work in pupils’ books, listened to a sample of pupils read in Year 6, and held discussions with pupils about their learning and experience of school.  Inspectors held meetings with senior members of staff in addition to middle leaders, two members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors considered the views expressed by 14 members of staff who completed questionnaires. They took account of the 57 responses to the online Parent View survey during the inspection, and held a number of informal conversations with parents.  Inspectors looked at a wide range of documents, including the school’s improvement plan,

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Information about this inspection

documents relating to the management of performance, safeguarding checks, and data about pupils’ current progress.

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Inspection team

James McAtear, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Mike Thompson Additional Inspector Yvonne Watts Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Bilton Junior is a larger-than-average three-form entry primary school  The proportion of pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium (which provides additional funding for pupils in local authority care and those known to be eligible for free school meals) is below average.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language and those with minority ethnic heritages is broadly average.  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs is broadly average overall. Fewer than average are supported at school action and more than average are supported at school action plus or with a statement.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress.  The school has recently had a change of Chair of the Governing Body. The headteacher and deputy headteacher were appointed in September 2012.  The school uses its own facilities to educate pupils and does not use alternative provision.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that teaching is consistently good or better and that, as a result, the proportion of pupils making and exceeding progress compares favourably with national figures, by  sharply focusing planning on what pupils should be learning, rather than just the activities to be completed  consistently matching work to the different abilities of the pupils in each class  giving all pupils clear guidance through marking that shows them what they need to do to improve  checking during lessons that pupils fully understand what they have learned before moving on to the next part of the lesson  making sure that all staff have high expectations about the potential of less able pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure that governors know a lot more about how much the gap in results is reducing between pupils who receive additional funding and the others.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are around a term ahead of the level expected of their age group when they join the school in Year 3 and are still only around a term ahead in Year 6. This does not represent good progress. A scrutiny of pupils’ work shows that rates of progress during the last academic year have improved. However, they have not yet improved enough to ensure good achievement.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are articulate and have a really wide vocabulary. Progress in reading is in line with national expectations throughout all year groups. Pupils’ ability to read well allows them to learn appropriately in other subjects such as history and geography. Both boys and girls read with confidence and fluency and leave school with a love of books.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils use their skills in writing effectively to support their work in other subjects. For example, pupils in Year 4 made good use of their note-taking skills when answering questions about life in the rainforest.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school’s tracking system and evidence from lessons and pupils’ books confirm that disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make progress at rates similar to those of other pupils. This is because teachers and extra adults are providing well-targeted support and carefully designed extra help.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school spends pupil premium funding on providing extra help for the pupils for whom this funding is intended. This includes providing an additional helper who is able to support them individually with their learning. These pupils make progress at rates similar to pupils overall. The gap in results between those pupils who receive additional funding and the rest is reducing a little.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because teachers do not always set work that meets the needs of all learners within each class. In some lessons, work is too easy for some pupils.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Lesson planning too often focuses more on the activities to be taught rather than the intended learning. For example, in some cases planning does not explain clearly what pupils can learn from what they have done.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Too often, teachers do not gather and use information during lessons about how well pupils are learning in order to adjust their teaching to meet the needs of the pupils. For example, in some lessons teachers are not checking that pupils have fully understood what they have been taught before moving on to the next part of the lesson.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Extra adults work well with teachers to help individual children and groups of children. This is because teachers organise how to use assistants carefully and show high levels of respect for these extra adult assistants. This means that pupils who follow their example readily accept help with their learning.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Marking in books is regular and, in most cases, it explains what they have done well. In some cases, teachers’ comments do not provide enough detail to make it clear to pupils what they need to do to improve.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Lesson observations, scrutiny of pupils’ work and the school’s tracking data show that teaching is improving. There is some good practice in all subjects and in all year groups. However, there is not enough consistently good teaching and sometimes teachers do not expect enough of less able pupils.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of the school’s recent work in improving the performance of teachers is having an effective impact in improving learning, although this is not yet the case in all lessons.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils display consistently positive attitudes during lessons. They listen well and are keen to help each other with their learning. The school ensures that pupils have a very clear understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils report that instances of bullying are rare. They know who to speak to if they need advice and say the school deals with their concerns well. Older pupils are now helping to support younger pupils in their development by helping them, as mentors, with their work in school and they enjoy taking responsibility for this.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils display good manners in their dealings with all adults and with each other. The school’s use of a house system, with each house named after trees (oak, sycamore and chestnut), has been effective in the social development of pupils.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance is high and pupils arrive at school on time. Pupils say they enjoy coming to school because they find their lessons interesting.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The leadership and management of the school is not yet good because pupils do not make consistently good progress and not enough of the teaching is good or better.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The new headteacher and governing body are determined to improve the school. They have agreed clear and detailed plans to improve the school. Staff at all levels are held to account for the progress made in areas of the plan for which they have responsibility. However, actions taken by governors and school leaders have not yet had time to have the impact intended.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Inspection questionnaires returned by members of staff show that the leadership of the school has their full confidence. The school is now seen as receptive to the views of all staff and parents. Parents and staff say that communication within the school and within the community are now good.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has clear systems for the performance management of staff. These are carefully linked to salary progression and the training of teachers and support staff.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s ideas about what it will do to improve have been developed with parents and all staff, for example through parent discussion groups. The responses received from parents show clearly that they have confidence in recent changes being made at the school.  In addition to the overwhelmingly positive responses to the online survey of parents’ views, some parents wrote to the inspectors. Typical of the many appreciative comments made are: ‘I am very excited about the changes taking place at Bilton.’

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Systems for checking and developing the quality of teaching, including frequent lesson observations by senior leaders and on-going training of staff, have allowed the school to make suitable recent improvements.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The range of subjects and activities is broad and includes an appropriate number of interesting topics. The school is continuing to develop these in order to ensure that lessons are more exciting for pupils. For example, pupils are able to use what they have learned while on school trips in their lessons and when writing so that these lessons are more interesting for them.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Learning in class is supplemented by opportunities in music and sports activities, as well as a range of stimulating visits and visitors. These promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well by providing valuable experiences for pupils. For example, the school’s use of its choir in the community has developed pupils’ cultural and social growth.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority provides little support for this school despite the need for it to improve in recent years.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is well informed about the school’s processes for monitoring and its work in managing the performance of teachers. It has ensured that teachers’ pay is linked to performance and that systems to improve teachers’ performance through improved monitoring and training have been put in place by the headteacher. It has an appropriate knowledge of how good the quality of teaching is. The governing body is closely involved in creating the school’s improvement plan. It ensures that the use of pupil premium funding is meeting the needs of pupils by funding extra help for eligible pupils and is aware that these pupils are making progress similar to pupils overall. It is not sufficiently clear about how effectively the gap in results between those pupils who have additional funding and the rest are reducing. It ensures that arrangements for safeguarding fully meet statutory requirements.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 125682 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 402348

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary Controlled School Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 403 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Simmonds Headteacher Andrew Edwards Date of previous school inspection 1 December 2009 Telephone number 01788 810675 Fax number 01788 522576 Email address office@biltonjuniorschool.co.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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 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

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School details

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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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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