Drayton CofE Junior School

Drayton CofE Junior School School Road, Drayton, Norwich, NR8 6EF

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Inadequate 4 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  The great majority of teaching is good. Lessons are planned to take into account pupils’ different levels of skills, knowledge and understanding.  Conscientious marking provides pupils with clear guidance on how to improve their work.  Pupils are now making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics, and this is helping them to make up for slower progress in the past.  Pupils behave well and enjoy school because of the rich variety of learning experiences and the good care they receive. They are keen to learn and to meet their individual targets.  Attendance is above average.  The support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is good. The extra lessons provided for pupils who are falling behind or who have gaps in their knowledge are effective in helping them catch up.  The school is well led. Senior leaders monitor teaching and track pupils’ progress well. Staff

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

morale is good. Teaching staff understand their responsibility for ensuring that all pupils succeed.  The governing body holds the school to account well. They have a good understanding of the school from their visits, the information they receive and the way they question senior leaders.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 While teaching has improved rapidly, it is not yet outstanding.  Pupils are still making up for the previous period of slow progress. In addition, pupils’ progress slows for a while when they transfer from their infant school.  The feedback to teachers after lesson observations does not always provide enough detail on how to teach a specific subject better.  Subject leaders are still developing their roles in the new leadership structure. 2 of 10

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 16 lessons and an assembly. Four were joint observations with members of the senior leadership team. In addition, the inspection team made a number of short visits to small-group sessions to observe the support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and for pupils who need help to catch up.  Inspectors looked closely at documents and met with the headteacher and other senior leaders, groups of pupils, teachers and teaching assistants, members of the governing body, a representative from the local authority and a Local Leader of Education who has been supporting the school.  Inspectors took account of 60 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View). They observed the school’s work and scrutinised a number of documents including: the school’s improvement plan, data on pupils’ current progress, planning and monitoring files, minutes of meetings and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Stephen Abbott, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector John Mason Additional Inspector 3 of 10

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Full report

In accordance with section 13 (4) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures.

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Information about this school

 Drayton Junior School is larger than the average primary school.  The great majority of pupils are of White British heritage and few speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs who are supported by school action is slightly below the national average. The proportion supported by school action plus external support, or with a statement of special educational needs is also slightly below average.  The school receives additional funding, known as pupil premium, for a below-average proportion of pupils. Pupil premium funding is provided to improve the progress of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, those who belong to military service families and those who are looked after by the local authority.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress.

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Information about this school

 At its last inspection in May 2012, the school was found to require special measures. The school was required to improve: the quality of teaching, pupils’ progress in mathematics and English; and how leaders check and improve the quality of teaching and plan for the future.  In December 2012, the school’s religious character was inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Consolidate the recent improvements in pupils’ progress by:  developing stronger links between Year 3 teachers and their Year 2 counterparts in the infant school so that Year 3 teachers know more about the teaching approaches that pupils have previously experienced  increasing the support provided for the small number of pupils who are working below the level expected for their age when they join the school, to ensure that they all make the progress expected  ensuring that the less confident readers continue to receive additional support when they reach Years 5 and 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve the quality of teaching and learning by:  increasing the level of subject-specific detail in leaders’ lesson observation records so teachers receive clearer guidance on how to improve their teaching of the subject concerned  ensuring that teachers have the necessary subject knowledge to make the best use of the specialist science room. 4 of 10

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ progress has improved considerably since the monitoring visit in November, especially in Year 5. In all year groups, pupils are writing fluently across a range of subjects and are developing their problem-solving skills in mathematics. Pupils are learning to be more independent, making decisions for themselves and being less reliant on help from the teacher or teaching assistant.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Good progress in reading, writing and mathematics over the last five terms is helping pupils in Years 5 and 6 to make up for their previous underachievement. Standards are now above average in reading and average in writing, but still slightly below average in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Standards slip back for a while when pupils transfer from their infant school. This is as shown by the initial assessments of Year 3 pupils, which are often lower than the pupils achieved at the end of Year 2. This is due to a number of factors, including the long summer break, the need to acclimatise to a new school and the different approach to assessment between Key Stages 1 and 2. The school is aware that there is a small number of pupils who need additional support in Year 3 to make the progress they should.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Year 3 pupils have made good progress in relation to their initial assessments. Year 4 pupils have made even better progress and have more than overcome any slippage in the move between schools.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The great majority of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are making progress at or above the expected rate. The school identifies all pupils who are at risk of falling behind and uses a variety of ways to help them catch up. These include extra classes, booster groups, one-to-one tuition and additional classroom support. These interventions are also used to support pupils for whom the pupil premium funding is received. In the 2012 National Curriculum tests, the pupil premium group in the school were, on average, just over a term behind the other pupils. Nationally, the gap between the groups is twice as large.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most of the supported pupils have responded well. For example, the mathematics support programme in Year 5 has helped previously underachieving pupils to make a year’s progress in just six months. However, progress has slowed slightly in reading in Years 5 and 6, because the support for weaker readers in mainly focused in Years 3 and 4.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching has improved considerably since the last inspection and the great majority is now good. Pupils are developing greater independence because teachers give them more time for individual work. More pupils can contribute to whole-class discussions because teachers give them brief opportunities to discuss ideas with their ‘talk partners’ before seeking responses. Teaching assistants help pupils to think for themselves rather than simply telling them what to do.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The planning of lessons takes good account of pupils’ previous learning. This happens in two ways. At a broad level, work is customised for pupils at different levels of attainment. In addition, teachers adapt their approach depending on what pupils found difficult or easy in the previous lesson. One Year 6 English lesson was outstanding as a result of the way the teacher adapted her approach to build on the previous lesson.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The good whole-class teaching is supplemented by the effective catch-up and support programme. The improvements in teaching and support are responsible for pupils’ good learning and progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils know how well they are doing in key subjects, especially in English. Teachers are marking consistently well, providing clear guidance to pupils on how to make their work better. Pupils usually respond to this guidance but this is not yet consistent across the whole school. In some cases, the pupils’ response is missing or not acknowledged. Homework is used to reinforce mathematics and English skills but is used less well outside these core subjects.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The main focus in the school has been on improving mathematics and English and the impact has been clear. Teachers are now confidently planning and teaching good lessons. However, in science, teachers are not always confident in their subject knowledge, especially in relation to practical experiments. The school has a specialist science room and good resources for practical work as a legacy of its former middle school status. However, science experiments are not always well conceived in the way they relate to scientific theory. Teachers do not have the benefit of a central bank of correctly set-up experiments on which they could draw.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy school and feel that they are part of a close-knit and harmonious community. Their behaviour in lessons and around the school is consistently good. There are well-established routines that ensure that pupils can play safely. The ‘buddy’ system helps to avoid any pupil feeling left out and helps to develop pupils’ caring attitudes and their empathy with the feelings of others.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties are well supported to manage their emotions and behaviour, and to get on with others. As a result, major disruptions in lessons are rare.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Nearly all the parents and carers who responded to the Parent View questionnaire agree that their children are safe and that behaviour is good. Pupils say they feel safe in school and they are confident that there will always be a sympathetic adult they can talk to if they have problems. They know about the different forms of bullying and say that bullying is rare.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s rich extra-curricular programme is well supported by pupils. They join in enthusiastically in sporting and musical activities. They contribute well to the wider community. Pupils support charities such as Comic Relief, Children in Need and Farm Africa, and the school choir performs for community events, including in a local nursing home.

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The leadership and management are good

 Strong leadership and management have played a key role in turning the school around, moving it from special measures to good in less than a year. Senior leaders and governors have taken a realistic view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. They have focused on the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection, but not at the expense of the school’s strengths that create such a sense of belonging among pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school leadership is now more broadly based. A leadership restructure has allowed leadership responsibilities to be aligned with the school’s priorities. These have led to better teaching and higher achievement, especially in mathematics and English. The mathematics coordinator has revised the school’s calculation policy to include fractions and decimals, and guidance on the standard written methods. The literacy coordinator has introduced a straightforward handwriting policy to ensure that pupils are able to write comfortably and neatly.

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The leadership and management are good

 The assessment coordinator has introduced a new system for recording pupils’ attainment. This makes it easier to provide governors with an overview of the school’s performance. The accuracy of assessments has been improved by using tests to validate teachers’ assessments. Better tracking of pupils’ progress has allowed interventions to be targeted on those most in need. Marking has improved so pupils get better guidance on their learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teachers are now held to account for the progress of each pupil through regular pupil progress meetings. As a result, teachers are becoming more pro-active in identifying for themselves the pupils who need extra support and in devising suitable interventions.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher have worked hard to improve teaching and learning through lesson observation and feedback, coaching and training, and by making time for teachers to work together. The deputy headteacher has played an important role as an expert teacher, modelling good practice. The subject coordinators have also become more involved in lesson observation and work scrutiny. This has allowed them to check that policies and procedures are being followed and also to identify further areas for improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 While the quality of feedback on the performance of teachers has improved, it does not always have enough focus on subject-specific issues. Feedback does not always give teachers whose lessons require improvement enough detail on what needs to change.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff morale is good. Teachers and teaching assistants have worked hard to ensure that lessons are well planned and meet each pupil’s needs. Each year team now meets regularly and plans work collaboratively. This helps to reduce individual workloads and to ensure consistency across classes.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school benefits from good resources, including a swimming pool and specialist rooms for science, cooking and art. These enrich the teaching programme, which provides pupils with good opportunities to develop their skills in reading, writing, mathematics and information and communication technology. It also contributes to pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided good support for the school during its spell in special measures. Direct support from advisers, including work with the coordinators, has helped to improve teaching and learning in literacy and mathematics as well as to strengthen the leadership of these subjects. The school has worked well with a Local Leader of Education, whose school has provided a rich source of development for teachers and leaders. As a result, teachers are now convinced of the benefits of watching each other’s lessons.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school reports good relations with the neighbouring infant school, but there is limited direct contact between teachers. As a result, Year 3 teachers are not always sure what previous experiences their pupils have had.  The governance of the school:  The governing body has sharpened the way it holds senior leaders to account. They have stepped up their involvement in monitoring, through visits to the school and by talking to parents and carers, pupils and staff. Governors now ask challenging questions based on the comprehensive information they receive about pupils’ progress. For example, governors asked if there was a ‘plan B’ for a year group where the progress of some students had temporarily stalled.  The governing body promotes equality by paying close attention to the progress of different groups of pupils. As a result, they have been able to report positively on the impact of the pupil premium funding.

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The leadership and management are good

 Governors ensure that finances are prudently managed, checking that key resource decisions provide good value for money. They have established a rigorous approach to the performance management of the headteacher and are strengthening their role in ensuring that pay increases for all staff are linked to good outcomes for pupils. Critically, they hold fast to their vision of the school providing a broad education and being anchored within its community. 8 of 10

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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. 9 of 10

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School details

Unique reference number 131287 Local authority Norfolk Inspection number 410484

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 321 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Rev David Wells Headteacher Martin White Date of previous school inspection 23–24 May 2012 Telephone number 01603 867504 Fax number 01603 261410 Email address admin@draytonjunior.norfolk.sch.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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