Bramley Sunnyside Junior School

School report Bramley Sunnyside Junior School Flanderwell Lane, Bramley, Rotherham, South Yorkshire S66 3QW

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Inadequate 4 Achievement of pupils Inadequate 4 Quality of teaching Inadequate 4 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Inadequate 4

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires special measures.  Achievement is inadequate and has been so since the previous inspection. Pupils do not reach the standards of which they are capable because they do not make the progress expected of them in English and mathematics.  Teaching is inadequate and this has been the case for a long time. Teachers do not always use questions well enough to challenge or check pupils’ understanding.  Teachers’ expectations of pupils are too low. Consequently, the amount of work produced by pupils and the way it is presented are not good enough.  Behaviour requires improvement because pupils become less attentive and disinterested during lessons where teachers talk for too long, especially during introductions.  The curriculum does not offer enough real-life opportunities and does not inspire or interest all pupils.  The impact of leadership and management over time is inadequate. Subject leaders are

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

new to their role and are in the early stages of learning how to carry out their duties. Leaders are not yet effective in raising pupils’ achievement.  The school’s action plans do not specify intended final outcomes clearly nor do they include any interim measures against which leaders and governors can evaluate progress.  Governors do not understand their roles and responsibilities or information about how well the school is performing. Their impact on the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement is inadequate.

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The school has the following strengths

 The recently appointed headteacher provides strong leadership and has been instrumental in starting to make significant changes within the school.  Pupils are happy and feel safe and conduct themselves well as they move around the school.  Relationships with parents have significantly improved since September 2012. Parents are more engaged with the life of the school.  Attendance is above average and continually improving because pupils like coming to school.  The school provides extra after-school clubs which are thoroughly enjoyed by most pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 18 lessons taught by 11 teachers. Three lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, staff, pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative from the local authority. A telephone conversation was held with another representative from the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 23 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), the school’s own parent survey and other information received from parents. Inspectors spoke informally to parents at the start of the day.  Inspectors looked at a wide range of documents including: the school’s self-evaluation, some of the school’s action plans, information on pupils’ progress and attainment, minutes of governing body meetings, records relating to safeguarding, attendance, behaviour and pupils’ work.

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Inspection team

Sharona Semlali, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Jane Salt Additional Inspector Joan McKenna Additional Inspector

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Full report

In accordance with 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 in the school.

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Information about this school

 This is slightly larger than the average-sized junior school.  The school was led by an executive headteacher from the time of the last inspection until the end of the summer term 2012. A new headteacher was appointed at the beginning of September 2012.  There have been a number of changes to the teaching staff since the previous inspection. There is a new senior leadership team and all other subject leaders are new to their roles.  The proportion of pupils with special educational needs who are supported through school action is below average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium (which is additional government funding for children in local authority care, or those known to be eligible for free school meals, or who are children of service families) is below average.

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Information about this school

 The school met the government’s current floor standard, which sets minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Eliminate inadequate teaching and improve the quality of teaching in Years 3 to 6 to good or better in mathematics and English in order that pupils make at least good progress by ensuring that:  teachers keep their introductions to lessons brief so that pupils are more active and attentive in their learning  teachers make sure that pupils understand what they are going to learn and know what steps they need to take to be successful  teachers’ questioning skills are developed further so that they can fully probe and challenge pupils’ knowledge and understanding  teachers’ expectations are raised so that pupils produce and present high quality writing in all subjects  teachers are given the opportunity to observe good and outstanding practice and learn from it  teaching assistants are effectively deployed to support pupils’ learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management and the school’s capacity to improve by:  developing the skills of the subject leaders so they can be fully effective in checking the quality of teaching and learning in their subjects in order to raise pupils’ achievement  ensuring that all school action plans are specific about what the final outcome will look like and include interim measures within an agreed timeframe, so that governors and other leaders can rigorously monitor the progress made  ensuring that lessons across a range of subjects offer real-life opportunities that meet the needs and interests of all pupils, particularly those known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of governance by:  ensuring governors receive training so they are clear about their roles and responsibilities and can help to drive school improvement very quickly  developing governors’ understanding of the school’s data so they can ask challenging questions and hold leaders to account  involving governors in deciding the allocation of pupil premium funding and monitoring its impact.

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 Attainment on entry in Year 3 is broadly in line with other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. However, when pupils leave at the end of Year 6, attainment is significantly below the national average and has been low since the previous inspection. This is because of inadequate teaching. Throughout the different year groups, pupils are not making enough progress in literacy, including reading, and mathematics.  Pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding make significantly less progress in English and mathematics compared to similar pupils nationally. The school offers support in small groups and individually for these pupils but its impact is not closely checked. The attainment of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is as low as that of other pupils.  Pupils with special educational needs and those who are supported at school action plus make inadequate progress over time in mathematics but do slightly better in English. During the last

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

term, they have started to make better progress. The school monitors the progress of these groups of pupils closely. However, the quality of support that these groups of pupils experience is inconsistent in lessons. Some pupils struggle to work independently because the extra support is not effectively deployed to help them to succeed.  Attainment in reading is significantly below that of other pupils nationally. When inspectors listened to the pupils read, they found that the more able pupils read fluently but their books did not sufficiently challenge them.  In some of the lessons observed in mathematics, pupils did not learn well enough because there were not enough resources to help them. For example, in a Year 4 mathematics lesson, pupils were confused when finding a fraction of a number and needed more practical, visual resources to support their learning.  Although their attainment is still too low, pupils are more successful in writing than they are in

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The achievement of pupils is inadequate

reading and mathematics. Pupils have a ‘writer’s toolkit’ booklet to help them to develop their writing skills. When they proudly shared their work with the inspectors, they explained how the toolkit has effectively supported their learning. However, pupils’ presentation and the amount of written work they produce in all subjects are not good enough.

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

 The impact of teaching over time on pupils’ achievement is inadequate. There have been many changes to the teaching staff and these interruptions have slowed pupils’ progress. Some teachers have been at the school for only a short time.  Most lessons observed at the time of the inspection were either inadequate or required improvement but a small minority were good. Such a small proportion of good teaching is not sufficient to make up for previously lost learning.  The weaknesses in teaching which prevent pupils from achieving well are:  teachers do not always make sure that pupils are clear about what they are learning. Pupils’ work shows that they do not often know the next steps needed to improve their learning  some of the activities that are set for pupils do not match their needs and ability. In a Year 5 English lesson on writing an introduction to a Viking myth, the task was too easy for the more

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

able pupils and limited their progress because they were all doing the same work as other pupils in the lesson. In a Year 4 mathematics lesson, the teacher set too difficult a challenge on using diagrams to compare fractions and recognise equivalents, and some pupils found the challenge too hard  teachers’ expectations are not high enough and do not ensure that pupils produce and present writing of a high enough quality in all their work  some of the questions teachers ask are not challenging enough and do not check pupils’ knowledge and understanding  teaching assistants have an inconsistent impact on pupils’ learning in lessons because they are not always successfully deployed. However, there are times when they are used well to support pupils’ learning. This was seen in a successful Year 5 lesson, where pupils were developing their historical enquiry skills to find out about the Vikings. The teaching assistant

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

effectively supported those with special educational needs, helping them to enjoy their learning and to achieve well.  A positive feature of the teaching is the way in which teachers encourage pupils to work well together in small groups without any fuss. In the small minority of good lessons, teachers clearly focus on learning and most of the activities match pupils’ needs.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 In the lessons where the work fails to meet their needs or the teacher is doing most of the talking, pupils tend to become more fidgety and passive in their learning and do not pay as much attention as they should.  Pupils are generally eager to learn and are quite motivated. Relationships between pupils as well as with staff are consistently positive and expectations are clear. Pupils are friendly, polite and courteous to others.  The school’s documentation clearly sets out the expectations for appropriate behaviour and records show that the pupils respond well to them.  Pupils say they feel safe in school. They fully understand what is meant by bullying and know about the different types. They report that bullying hardly ever happens and, if it does occur, it is dealt with swiftly. Pupils value the ‘listening box’ as they like using this to voice their concerns.  Parents are positive about behaviour and feel that their children are safe in school. The

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

inspection evidence confirms their views.  Attendance is above average and continues to rise. The number of exclusions has significantly reduced this year.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The impact of leadership and management on pupils’ achievement over time is inadequate. Leaders have not effectively addressed the weaknesses in teaching and most of the areas for improvement from the previous inspection are still the same. However, the recently appointed headteacher has acted very quickly in making some significant changes. The staff team is much happier but it is too soon to see the impact on pupils’ performance.  The school’s evaluation of its performance is overly generous and not accurate. Although the school has action plans to move the school forward, these do not state clearly enough what the end results should be. There are no interim steps to help governors or others to monitor how much progress is being made.  All leaders are fairly new to their roles. Senior leaders are increasing in confidence but are still dependent on the headteacher for direction. Subject leaders are at the very early stages of

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The leadership and management are inadequate

understanding their roles and responsibilities and, therefore, do not hold other teachers to account for how well pupils perform in their subjects.  The headteacher frequently checks the quality of teaching. Some of the leaders have undertaken some form of monitoring in their subjects but this has not yet resulted in raising pupils’ achievement.  The performance management targets used to improve the quality of teaching have recently been strengthened. Teachers now have more challenging targets that are linked to pupils’ outcomes, but these have not yet had sufficient time to have an impact on pupils’ attainment. Less-experienced teachers have begun to observe outstanding practice in other schools so they can improve their teaching.  Leaders are committed to promoting equality of opportunity. However, too many groups of pupils, particularly those with special educational needs and those known to be eligible for the

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The leadership and management are inadequate

pupil premium, do not receive enough support to achieve well enough. This prevents them from overcoming their barriers to learning.  The curriculum does not adequately meet the needs and interests of pupils to help them to make sufficient progress, particularly those known to be eligible for pupil premium funding and those with special educational needs. The curriculum does not offer enough real-life opportunities that excite the pupils, although it is enriched by a number of clubs which pupils enjoy. It adequately promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through assemblies and fundraising for charity, for example.  The school’s own survey and parents who wrote or spoke to inspectors informally show that parents are now more involved with the school. A parent said, ‘Things have improved and nothing is too much trouble’, and another comment was, ‘The new headteacher is putting things

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The leadership and management are inadequate

in place but it is too late for my child…’  The local authority’s involvement with the previous leadership was limited but current leaders are drawing on the available support for the school.  Safeguarding arrangements meet requirements. All appropriate training and policies are in place to keep pupils safe.  The school should not appoint newly qualified teachers.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The governance of the school:  Governors have been ineffective in driving the school forward since the previous inspection. They have not had any training. Newer members have recently joined and, therefore, without training, they lack an understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Even though they receive all of the school’s data, they do not understand it sufficiently to ask the appropriate questions to hold school leaders to account. They know that teaching is not as good as it should be, but are very reliant on information from the headteacher to inform them about rewarding good teachers and tackling underperformance. They have not been involved in any of the key decision-making processes, such as the allocation of the pupil premium funding, until recently. They are too dependent on the information given to them by the headteacher.

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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 106861 Local authority Rotherham Inspection number 405062

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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 Community Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 317 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jim Moore Headteacher Helen Headleand Date of previous school inspection 31 January 2011 Telephone number 01709 542231 Fax number 01709 701570 Email address bramley-sunnyside.junior@rotherham.gov.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

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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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