Eastlands Junior School (Welbeck Federation of Schools)

Eastlands Junior School Netherfield Lane, Meden Vale, Mansfield, NG20 9PA

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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

 Staff and leadership changes since the previous inspection have had an adverse impact on the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement.  Standards by the end of Year 6 have declined in English and mathematics. Not enough pupils make good progress because teaching requires improvement.  Teachers’ planning is not good. Tasks are not matched well enough to pupils’ abilities. This holds back progress.  Pupils’ fluency in reading is hampered by limited teaching in phonics (the sounds letters make) and reading records that are of limited value in moving learning forward.  Behaviour requires improvement. When lessons are not motivating, a small number of pupils lose interest in learning. A few do not attend school regularly.  Teachers accept too low a standard of presentation of work from pupils, and inaccuracies in grammar and spelling sometimes go unchecked.  Leadership and management require improvement. Subject leaders are not involved

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

enough in the checks on their subject. As a result, they have an inaccurately optimistic view of how well pupils achieve and how well their subject is being taught through the school.  Opportunities are limited for pupils to develop fluency in calculation, and reading, writing and mathematics skills in a wider range of subjects.  In the past, governors have not challenged the school robustly enough about pupils’ performance.

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The school has the following strengths

 The headteacher and the governing body know what needs to be done to improve the school’s performance and have made a secure start on the work.  This year, the proportion of pupils making good progress in English and mathematics has increased.  Pupils are keen to learn and relish learning when lessons interest them.  Pupil premium funding is spent wisely. The gap in performance between these pupils and others in their class is negligible.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed all the teachers. She saw 12 lessons, almost all jointly with the headteacher.  The inspector checked the quality of pupils’ work over the whole of this academic year from their workbooks, in all year groups and covering all abilities. Some of this scrutiny was carried out jointly with the headteacher.  The inspector listened to pupils reading and talked with them about their reading.  Discussions were held with pupils, staff, governors and a representative of the local authority.  There were too few responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) for an analysis to be undertaken. School information about parents’ views was considered, along with correspondence from a parent sent via the inspection provider. The views expressed in the 13 completed staff questionnaires were also considered.  The inspector looked at many documents including the school’s own information on pupils’

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Information about this inspection

current and recent progress, leaders’ monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning and records relating to behaviour. She also considered external reports and documents about the attendance and safeguarding of pupils.

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Inspection team

Ruth McFarlane, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is much smaller than the average size for its type.  Most pupils have White British backgrounds.  The school receives pupil premium money for a higher than average proportion of pupils. This is additional funding provided by the government for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, children from service families and those children who are looked after. All three are represented in this school.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is below average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also below average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  There have been considerable changes in both staff and leadership since the previous inspection. The headteacher took up her post in January 2012.

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Information about this school

 The school works with a ‘family of schools’ in the local area.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and teachers’ planning, and raise pupils’ achievement in reading, writing and mathematics by:  making sure teaching and its planning provide sufficient challenge for all pupils and meets individual needs  developing comprehensive phonics teaching  ensuring that ‘guided reading’ sessions meet the range of needs  using reading records more fruitfully to enable pupils and parents to take more responsibility for their own reading progress  providing daily opportunities for pupils to develop fluency in mathematical calculation  providing more opportunities for pupils to develop and apply reading, writing and mathematics skills across a wide range of subjects  ensuring that pupils’ behaviour is managed better to ensure consistently good learning and that teachers insist on neat presentation and accurate grammar and spelling.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the impact of leadership and management by:  ensuring that governors hold staff fully to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress  developing subject leaders’ roles to enable them to have an accurate view about the quality of learning and progress in their subjects  checking teachers’ planning and teaching robustly to ensure it leads to pupils’ good progress  ensuring that initiatives to raise attendance have a stronger impact on the few who are absent too often.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils do not make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. They enter the school in Year 3 with standards that are broadly average. Attainment at the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics is broadly average.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ achievement varies between subjects. In 2012, reading was a weakness. Pupils do not read widely enough because teachers do not place sufficient importance on maintaining records of pupils’ reading and ensuring that ‘guided reading’ sessions meet pupils’ differing needs. This affects pupils’ work in all subjects. Weaker readers struggle to read unfamiliar words because phonics is not given enough importance.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The teacher assessments in writing in 2012 showed an improvement on the previous year and the proportion achieving the levels in line with their age was higher than average. This was because pupils responded to the school thrust to improve writing. However, progress is not yet consistently good in writing because some pupils do not take enough care with their work, and teachers accept too many incorrect spellings and incorrect oral and written grammar. For instance, a minority of pupils say and write ‘we was’.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In mathematics, few pupils make progress at a good rate. As a result, pupils’ attainment in mathematics lagged behind that in English in 2012. School data and inspection evidence show that this picture is now starting to improve as the impact of new strategies begins to be evident. However, pupils struggle with problem solving because they are not fluent in calculating. For instance, Year 3 pupils could not work out how many bookshelves would be needed for two boxes of books.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The learning needs of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds, those who speak English as an additional language, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are appropriately identified by the school and additional support is provided. They are making the same rate of progress as other pupils.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupil premium funding is used successfully to support additional small-group activities and individual help for eligible pupils. As a result, in Year 6 in 2012, the attainment of pupils for whom the school receives additional funding in English was at the same level as others in the class, and in mathematics it was about half a term ahead. School data show at least equal progress made by this group of pupils compared with their classmates, showing that the school is promoting equality of opportunity and tackling discrimination effectively.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching has not had a good impact on pupils’ progress and learning since the previous inspection.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ planning does not always provide tasks to meet the needs of all abilities to ensure that pupils make good progress. The planned activities are sometimes too easy, and sometimes too hard. Sometimes the same task is provided inappropriately for all. In lessons, this results in some passive disengagement by the more-able pupils, and occasional disruption by a few others.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Planning for reading does not provide enough rigour or a systematic approach that meets pupils’ different needs. Consequently, reading standards dipped last year.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers plan too few opportunities for pupils to develop fluency in mathematical calculation and this means pupils sometimes struggle with problem solving.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers sometimes focus too much on what they and their pupils will do rather than what pupils will learn. In marking, teachers’ expectations of pupils to complete their work to a good standard, particularly to expect accurate grammar and spelling, are not always rigorous enough.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In lessons where teaching is good, tasks are well-matched to pupils’ abilities and, as a result, pupils are effectively challenged. Expectations of what pupils can achieve are higher and progress is good. This was the case in a mathematics session in Year 5 when pupils were given work of varying difficulty well-matched to their abilities, and the teachers’ good checks on learning ensured that more-challenging work was provided where appropriate and that pupils were taught effective strategies for calculating percentages.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 On occasion, pupils’ behaviour in lessons deteriorates when tasks in lessons do not captivate or interest them enough. Pupils’ occasionally poor presentation of work in their books confirms that this is the case over time.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Attendance is below average because, in this small school, the few who do not attend school regularly enough have a significant impact on attendance data. The school’s work in this area is having a positive impact but a few pupils and their parents have not fully understood the relation between attending school and pupils’ progress.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The behaviour of most pupils in lessons and around the school is good. Parents also believe behaviour is good. Pupils have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. They are keen to learn and enjoy tasks that motivate them and make them think. They are mostly considerate and respectful of each other and the adults around them.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are well cared for and say they feel safe. Most parents agree that the children are safe. Bullying is rare. Pupils are aware of the different types of bullying, including that based on prejudice and cyber-bullying. Pupils have a keen sense of right and wrong and say that behaviour is good, although they told inspectors that, ‘there are a few naughty ones’.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development helps pupils reflect on issues that affect their lives and the lives of others. This has created a happy school community and encourages responsibility. For instance, pupils visit an infants’ school on the same site, which is one of the ‘family of schools’ with which the school links, to help the younger children.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders and managers have allowed teaching and pupils’ achievement to decline since the previous inspection. Whereas before, pupils achieved exceptionally well, this is no longer the case. Staff changes and changes in leadership have not helped.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders’ checks of teachers’ planning and teaching have not been rigorous enough to lead to pupils’ good progress. No systematic checks have been made to ensure opportunities are identified for pupils to practice and apply their mathematical skills in subjects other than mathematics, and to develop reading and writing skills through a wide range of subjects.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The new headteacher and the governing body are determined that standards should improve. They know what needs to be done. Subject leaders are eager to contribute but are held back by their too generous a view of the school’s effectiveness based on their limited awareness of the quality of teaching, standards and progress in their subjects across the school. This is because the headteacher, who evaluates the school accurately, carries out most of the checks on teaching, learning and progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Initiatives introduced in the past year have already started to improve the rate of progress across the school in both English and mathematics because systems for checking on how well pupils are doing are more rigorous than previously and analysed more carefully and accurately.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders carefully manage staff performance. Decisions about pay progression are now linked closely to how well their pupils achieve. The development plan, including pupils’ progress as a priority, is also closely linked to teachers’ targets. Staff are now clearer than previously about how to improve their practice. As a result, the proportion of good or better teaching is improving and very recent improvements in pupils’ progress reflect this and demonstrate that the school has the capacity for improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Partnerships are developing well. Good use is made of visits to other schools in the ‘family of schools’. Linked training is beginning to improve teaching. Partnerships with outside agencies help follow up absence, and additional school initiatives, such as an attendance ‘leader board’, are leading to improvements.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Good use is made of the pupil premium funding and this has helped targeted pupils to catch up.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority gives the school good support. It has helped the new headteacher settle into her post and embark on the drive for improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governors have not asked challenging enough questions and held leaders fully to account for the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement. While they do check on how teaching is improving and now make sure that staff pay is justified by teachers’ performance and the results they achieve, they had not been doing so rigorously enough. As a result, the school’s performance has slipped since its last inspection.  There are improvements evident. New governors provide knowledgeable service. They understand the data on the school’s performance and are beginning to check far more rigorously what is being done to tackle any underperformance.  Governors have worked hard to balance the school’s finances. They know how the pupil premium funding is spent. They ensure that the school’s policies and procedures are up to date and that safeguarding procedures are all compliant with 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 122497 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 412362

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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 Junior School category Community Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 121 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Joanne Rush Headteacher Susan Gibbons Date of previous school inspection 8 June 2009 Telephone number 01623 842257 Fax number 01623 847381 Email address head@eastlands.notts.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

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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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