Great Bradfords Junior School

Great Bradfords Junior School Marlborough Road, Braintree, CM7 9LW

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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 Good 2

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

 Pupils make inconsistent progress, especially in mathematics because they lack practical problem-solving skills and this limits their achievement.  Progress in writing is too slow because pupils do not have enough time to practise using effective writing features in extended pieces of writing.  Teaching has not been good enough to make sure all pupils, including those who need extra help, make consistently good progress.  Pupils’ independence is not developed well, especially when answering questions. They are too reliant on adult support because of being overly guided to the answer.  Teachers are not always clear enough about what they expect different groups of pupils to learn in the lesson. When this happens, they do not provide suitable work to keep pupils of all abilities working at full stretch.  Teachers do not always check carefully enough whether all groups of pupils are achieving well in lessons, and do not adapt their planning

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

based upon the levels previously reached by pupils.

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The school has the following strengths

 The new headteacher and senior staff’s vision for the school is clear and shared by staff who are committed to raising achievement. Teachers’ performance is checked effectively and this is leading to improvements.  The headteacher is well supported by the senior staff and governors. They have been working effectively to improve the quality of teaching and learning.  Attainment at the end of Year 6 is above average and rising because progress is quickening.  Pupils’ behaviour is good. They show positive attitudes to learning in lessons.  The school provides well for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 20 lessons, of which one was a joint observation with the headteacher. Additionally, inspectors made a number of short visits to lessons and an assembly.  Meetings were held with groups of pupils, representative governors including the Chair and Vice- Chair and with school staff, including senior and subject leaders.  A meeting was held with two representatives from the local authority.  Pupils’ work in books was scrutinised and a representative sample of pupils was heard to read. Information and data about the performance of pupils in national tests and work completed in classrooms were analysed.  Records and logs about pupils’ safety, attendance and behaviour were examined.  The school’s self-evaluation documents and improvement plans, together with the minutes of governing body meetings and reports written by representatives of the local authority, were considered.  Inspectors heard the views of parents, pupils and staff. Twenty-four parents responded to the

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Information about this inspection

online questionnaire (Parent View) and more spoke to the inspectors in the playground before and after school.  The inspection was carried out in response to a complaint being made to Ofsted which raised serious concerns. The complaint was deemed to be qualifying complaint and Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector decided that inspection of the school should be brought forward to follow up the whole-school issues that were raised. Inspectors sought to establish:  issues of behaviour and progress for different groups of pupils, including for the more-able pupils  training of non-teaching staff (particularly on physical handling of children and behaviour management)  plans for deployment of learning support assistants (LSAs) in the academic year.

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Inspection team

Richard Blackmore, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Diana Songer-Hudgell Additional Inspector Rosemary Keen Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a larger-than-average-sized school.  Most pupils are White British with English as their home language. The proportion of pupils at an early stage of learning English as an additional language is lower than that seen nationally.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is average as is the proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs.  There is a lower than average proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium. (The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those children that are looked after by the local authority.)  The school meets the government’s current floor standards that set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The new headteacher started in April 2013 and there is a new acting deputy headteacher.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching throughout the school so that it is consistently good by ensuring:  teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve and use information on pupils’ previous achievement to plan activities that are carefully matched to their needs  lessons are consistently challenging and offer opportunities to work independently so that they make pupils think for themselves  that teachers keep a careful check on pupils’ learning during lessons and ensure that it is applied consistently well across all subjects so that pupils improve the speed at which they learn.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve progress in English and particularly mathematics by:  providing further and more frequent opportunities for extended writing  ensuring pupils are given clear advice on how to improve the use of mathematical strategies  providing well-planned opportunities to extend pupils’ practical and problem solving skills in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress varies across the school, especially in mathematics. Consequently, they are not building as quickly as they could on their above average attainment when they join the school. However, progress is improving, for example in reading where pupils’ skills are developing quickly due to the better organised and well-resourced guided reading sessions.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Not enough pupils have secure skills of spelling and punctuation to enable them to write fluently and confidently. Consequently they find writing difficult and, combined with too few opportunities to write at length, this limits the progress they make and the quality of their writing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Too few pupils make more than expected progress, especially in Years 3 and 4, because of an over reliance on worksheets. The proportion of pupils making the expected two levels of progress is now similar to pupils in other schools in mathematics and slightly better in English.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Information about pupils’ progress has not always been passed on from teacher to teacher and used in enough detail. School leaders have recently adopted a system for tracking and using information on pupils’ progress and attainment which means that pupil assessment data is gathered each term. This is used more systematically now by all teachers and is improving the rate of progress in lessons. However not all groups, including the more-able pupils, are yet consistently provided with challenging work matched to their abilities.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement at the end of Year 6 for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs was behind similar pupils nationally in 2012 and they had made slower progress than other pupils in the school. Progress is improving for these pupils but inconsistencies remain because they are not always set individual targets that are sufficiently challenging.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress in mathematics is speeding up in Year 5 and 6. Although most have a basic grasp of number skills which they use to solve problems and calculations they do not all progress at a rapid enough rate. During the inspection, pupils in most classes were learning about strategies for addition and subtraction but there was little difference in the level of work being set for pupils of different abilities and too few opportunities to solve real life problems.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils in receipt of the pupil premium make similar progress to other pupils but they do not attain as highly by the end of Year 6. The funding is used to provide small group and one-to-one support sessions focusing on reading and writing skills. In 2012 these pupils were two terms behind their classmates in both English and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In most classes pupils’ progress is accelerating because the governors have made some strong appointments to the senior staff team. This is making a difference in the quality of teaching which has shown secure and quick improvements, particularly in the last two terms. Pupils are now making greater progress because they are developing a greater understanding of the subjects and becoming more enthusiastic about learning.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because inconsistencies in the impact of teaching have resulted in progress that is too slow. Teachers do not consistently plan tasks well to match pupils’ individual needs, abilities and interests and do not routinely expect enough of them.  There are occasions when teachers spend too long introducing work and the pace of learning drops. This is also true with some teachers who have strong skills of explanation and questioning but miss opportunities to let pupils think of answers for long enough before providing help.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers’ monitoring of pupils’ learning within lessons is becoming more accurate and effectively used. Good practice was seen in some classes where they changed and adapted the tasks that pupils were given. However, not all teachers are employing this strategy continually to ensure good progress throughout lessons.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Some teachers have high expectations and this leads to work that is challenging. However, in less effective lessons lower expectations, due to limited knowledge of the assessment of pupils’ abilities, lead to tasks that are not sufficiently demanding. As a result, some learning, particularly that of some more-able pupils, proceeds too slowly and pupils do not achieve the levels of which they are capable.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Lessons have interesting topics and a range of activities that interest pupils and allow them to see the links between subjects. Teachers question pupils well and encourage them to talk through ideas and solve problems with a partner. Teachers skilfully explain what pupils are to learn and lead them through ways to do tasks.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Learning support assistants support learning well. For example, in a lesson on sentence building, skilful questioning and modelling of language added to pupils’ understanding and effectively extended their vocabulary. This is helping to quicken the achievement of pupils with disabilities and/or special educational needs.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils move calmly around the school and they play very well together in the large outside areas. Older pupils show great care for those younger than themselves and support the staff by being playground buddies and leaders.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are keen to learn and this is a strong feature of the school. Pupils show commitment and a determination to succeed. Pupils usually maintain concentration and behave well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils feel very safe and are aware of different forms of bullying, including cyber-bullying and racism. They are very clear that any form of bullying is rare and when it does happen they are confident that it will be quickly dealt with.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy school. They behave well in the majority of lessons and around school, treating each other and the adults working with them respectfully. In most lessons, particularly where teaching captures their interest fully, pupils behave well and approach their lessons with interest and enthusiasm. Occasionally, however, when teachers get the level of challenge wrong pupils lose concentration.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Average and improving attendance rates show pupils’ positive attitudes towards school and learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 A large majority of parents responding to Parent View and those who spoke to inspectors are pleased with the standards of behaviour in the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The leadership of the new headteacher underpinned by the work of her senior team in the last year has strengthened the performance of the school. Self-evaluation is accurate and based on a secure knowledge of the school. The quality of teaching is rapidly improving because during the previous academic year all leaders and managers have checked the impact of teaching on learning regularly and used outcomes to tailor training for staff, with a focus on tackling weaknesses. For example, pupils’ work shows that marking has quickly been developed to tell pupils explicitly how to improve their work.

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The leadership and management are good

 Recent improvements demonstrate that the school has the capacity to improve although there has been insufficient time for the full impact of these improvements to be reflected in pupil outcomes. The leaders’ approach to ensuring that there is no discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities exist for all pupils is demonstrated by the improvements in progress for all groups of pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders have improved teaching through regular lesson observations, detailed feedback to teachers and follow up checks on aspects previously identified as being weak. The advice and mentoring given to newly qualified teachers and more experienced teachers has been valued. Performance management targets are sharply focused upon pupils’ progress and achievement and their responsibilities and experience. Middle leaders are now more involved with monitoring and improving pupils’ achievements.

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The leadership and management are good

 School leaders deploy learning support assistants effectively. They use a range of information related to pupils’ needs and the skills of staff to ensure that pupils receive the right support. The impact of this careful planning is seen in the increasing number of pupils with disabilities and/or special educational needs who are making good progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff access appropriate professional development to support the drive for faster rates of progress. This well-focused training has improved behaviour and resulted in rising achievement. The quality of teaching is improving strongly and is checked by a variety of activities, including looking at pupils’ work.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s curriculum provides a range of opportunities for pupils to extend their experiences of the world around them. Well-conceived topics are shared with parents so that they can contribute to their children’s learning. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is central to the curriculum and opportunities to reflect the school’s agreed values of ‘be safe, be kind, be responsible’.

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The leadership and management are good

 All statutory requirements for safeguarding are met and managed effectively. The knowledge and skills of staff are kept up to date through regular and rigorous training using internal and external specialists. This includes training of adults about how to manage behaviour.

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The leadership and management are good

 The primary school sports’ funding is being used well to develop pupils’ balance, control and coordination by specialist teachers providing good quality dance lessons and the school has identified appropriate ways of evaluating the spending.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has provided effective support for this school with issues such as training for subject leaders and governance.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governing body has a clear understanding of the strengths of the school and areas for development and this helps them to increasingly challenge school leaders effectively. Governors are aware of the way in which pupil premium funding and sports funding has been spent and have taken decisive action about the budget and how to deploy staff. Until recently they have not always been clear about links between staff performance, pupils’ progress and movement up the salary scale but are fully supportive in the drive to improve teaching and raise achievement. They have a good understanding of the school’s performance in the national context because they check and question the school’s work for themselves, undertake any relevant training and analyse pupil performance data. They know how good the teaching is and what needs to be done to improve it further.

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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 114984 Local authority Essex Inspection number 429326

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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 349 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Karen Ogan Headteacher Fiona Dorey Date of previous school inspection 1 May 2012 Telephone number 01376 326739 Fax number 01376 552672 Email address admin@greatbradfords-jun.essex.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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