Fairisle Junior School

Fairisle Junior School Fairisle Road, Lordshill, Southampton, SO16 8BY

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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 Require improvement 3

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

 The progress that pupils make is inconsistent across different year groups and subjects. Teachers do not rigorously assess the progress of pupils often enough.  Standards in reading have typically been slightly below average. Weaker readers in Years 5 and 6 do not read enough to adults in school.  Staff who support disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are not always fully aware of these pupils’ needs and there are times in lessons when support staff do not contribute to pupils’ learning.  Not enough teaching is consistently good. Work is not always set at the right level of difficulty, particularly for more able pupils, and marking does not sufficiently involve pupils in their own learning.  Pupils are not given enough opportunity to progress quickly in their written work or to write extensively across a range of subjects.  Subject leaders do not yet make full use of available data to influence pupils’ progress.

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

Senior leaders do not always do as much as they should to ensure that teaching is consistently good or better. Governors are not at full capacity and so a smaller number have to do the work required.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils behave well in lessons and feel happy and safe in school. They are polite and enjoy good relationships with adults and each other. Pupils are keen to learn when activities interest them.  The school is very inclusive. All groups of pupils are equally respected and discrimination of any kind is not tolerated.  The curriculum has a positive impact on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. There is an extensive range of extra-curricular activities, particularly in sport and music, including the choir and orchestra.  Leaders, managers and governors have eliminated all inadequate teaching, and the school is improving.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 21 lessons and part-lessons, including four joint observations with the senior leadership team. In addition, inspectors heard children reading and scrutinised the work in their books.  Meetings were held with two groups of pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and school staff. A telephone call was made to a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors took account of 20 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) as well as talking to a few parents at the end of a school assembly.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and analysed an extensive range of documents and policies, including the school’s own data on pupils’ current progress, planning and monitoring documentation and records relating to behaviour. Safeguarding documents were also scrutinised.  The views of staff were analysed through the 25 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Liz Bowes, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Jacqueline Good Additional Inspector Michael Barron Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Fairisle Junior is larger than the average-sized junior school.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in the care of the local authority, pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and pupils with a parent in the armed services, is higher than the national average. Currently there are no pupils from forces families on roll.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported through school action is well above the national average. The proportion of pupils who are supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is lower than average, as is the number of pupils whose first language is not English.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations

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Information about this school

for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The headteacher has been the executive headteacher at another school since June 2013.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to ensure that it is all good or better by ensuring that:  marking involves pupils in their own learning by giving them effective feedback on what they need to do next  teachers and leaders rigorously assess the progress of their pupils on a regular basis  teachers have high expectations and always set work at the right level of difficulty for different ability groups  maximum opportunities are given for pupils to progress quickly in their written work in lessons.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ progress across the school by:  giving those with less-developed reading skills more opportunities to practise their skills in school, especially in Years 5 and 6  providing pupils with more opportunities to write at length in all subjects  ensuring that staff who support disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are fully aware of these pupils’ needs during lessons.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by:  strengthening the role of subject leaders with responsibilities for checking pupils’ progress so that prompt action can be taken to bring about improvement  ensuring that the feedback on lessons by senior leaders leads to consistently good or better teaching  increasing governor representation to the full quota.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ progress across the school is inconsistent. In 2013, while many pupils made better progress by the end of Key Stage 2 in both English and mathematics, there were significant variations between different groups of pupils and year groups. For example, the more able pupils made very little progress in reading in Year 6. There was weaker overall progress in Year 3, and in Year 5, pupils made limited progress in writing.  Pupils enter Year 3 with standards that are broadly average and by the end of Year 6 their attainment is broadly average in writing and mathematics but typically slightly below average in reading. Pupils’ slower progress in reading is due in part to the fact that weaker readers in Years 5 and 6 do not have enough opportunities to read to adults when in school.  The progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is also variable. At the time of the inspection there were few interventions taking place owing to staff sickness, and

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

work observed in lessons showed that some support staff are not fully aware of these pupils’ needs.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language and those from minority ethnic backgrounds progress at the same rate as their peers.  Pupil premium funding is used well, which supports the judgement that the school is successful at promoting equality of opportunity and tacking discrimination. Typically, pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium achieve better in this school than nationally. Over time they do better in English than their peers at Fairisle, and the 2013 data show that the gap is now closing in mathematics. The funding is to provide additional targeted teaching to increase pupils’ progress and attainment.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching is not consistently effective enough to secure good progress for all pupils.  Teachers do not assess the progress of their pupils rigorously enough on a regular basis.  Pupils are not always sufficiently involved in their own learning. While pupils have an awareness of how they are doing in reading and writing, they do not know what level they are working at in mathematics. In both English and mathematics, pupils are unsure of how to improve their work because marking, although regular, does not indicate clearly what they need to do next. There are also too few opportunities for pupils to comment on how hard, or easy, they found a piece of work, or whether they are ready to try something more challenging.  In some lessons pupils do not learn as effectively as they could because teachers spend too much time talking, leaving many pupils passive and unengaged for extended periods of time.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

Progress in writing was hampered in some lessons when books were not given out until a few minutes before the end of the lesson. Sometimes pupils did not have enough opportunities to write extensively in subjects other than English.  In some classes teachers have expectations of their pupils that are too low. They do not set work of the right level of difficulty for different ability groups, especially for more-able pupils.  There is no inadequate teaching, and in lessons where teaching is good or better, tasks are well matched to pupils’ abilities; as a result, pupils are effectively challenged. Learning proceeds at a brisk pace and nobody is left behind. There are high expectations of what pupils can achieve and their progress is good. This was the case in an outstanding guided reading session in Year 6, where the teacher’s good questioning skills developed pupils’ ability to use evidence.  Inspectors also saw lessons where pupils were fully engaged in their own independent learning.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

In one lesson they voted to continue their own active research rather than gathering together to listen to the teacher.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Parents and carers agreed that their children feel safe and happy in school and pupils told inspectors the same thing.  Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and they work well independently and also in groups. They sit still and behave well for long periods of time, even when the pace of learning slackens. Pupils are keen to contribute to all lessons and enjoy expressing their ideas and getting involved in tasks. Behaviour is not outstanding because when a task does not capture their imaginations pupils can become restless.  Pupils enjoy taking responsibility in classes and around the school. They are polite to visitors and proud of their school. Pupils were keen to tell inspectors about their community links. There are many positive contributions to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. One of these is the strong music provision, where the choir and orchestra perform at local civic

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

ceremonies. All pupils are encouraged to create music. This was demonstrated by the hugely popular extra-curricular drumming activity.  Pupils show a good awareness of the needs of others, including disabled pupils.  Attendance has improved significantly over the last few years and is now above the national average. The school has worked hard to improve attendance by the use of incentives such as best attendance class of the week. Pupils arrive for school on time.  Pupils reported that bullying is not a problem and that they are confident that staff would deal with any concerns. They know about the different types of bullying such as cyber bullying and prejudice-based bullying.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Subject leaders and senior leaders do not use available data to track pupils’ progress closely enough and pupils do not have enough guidance on how they can make good progress. While senior leaders observe lessons regularly, they do not always ensure that their feedback to teachers leads to consistently good or better teaching.  There has been a high turnover of staff in the last year, with many newly qualified teachers joining the school. They feel well supported and are enthusiastic about this improving school. Some subject leaders are new in post so their plans for improvements are still at an early stage.  Systems have recently been tightened so that the management of teachers’ performance is closely linked to pay. Experienced staff have been very active in coaching individuals to improve and the school has used expertise from other local schools. The local authority has provided a light-touch level of support to the school.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Fairisle is well supported by its parent community and, in turn, the school provides effective support to families which are going through difficulties. Pupils are encouraged to attend consistently and take an active role in school life, and all have an equal opportunity to do well.  Pupils enjoy the curriculum, which has been developed around the concept of the power of reading. Pupils chose themes, such as recycling, and then are given a book on that theme. This theme is then enhanced through various visits, such as to a local store to see how recycling operates in a commercial environment. There is a wide range of extra-curricular activities that many pupils enjoy.  The school has a good plan in place to use the additional government funding to increase participation in sport and has added additional funds out of its own budget. It is already heavily involved in promoting all kinds of sports, including six-a-side football. The additional funds will

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The leadership and management require improvement

be spent on more sports festivals which encourage everyone’s involvement in developing healthy lifestyles.  The governance of the school:  The governing body provides a good level of challenge to the school. Governors are well trained and ask searching questions of the headteacher. They understand data and know what needs to be done to improve the school’s performance. They know that the pace of change needs to be quicker to improve pupils’ achievement. They have provided good support to the school in managing staff who are underperforming and have a clear understanding of the link between pay and performance. Finances are well managed, including the pupil premium; governors are aware of the effective impact of the additional teacher. Governors give appropriate support to the school in meeting its safeguarding responsibilities, including those in relation to recruitment, and ensure that the school’s systems for safeguarding meet

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The leadership and management require improvement

statutory requirements. There are some vacancies on the governing body and, as a result, existing governors have to fulfil a number of different roles.

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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 116253 Local authority Southampton Inspection number 427315

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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 354 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jackie Meering Headteacher Peter Howard Date of previous school inspection February 2011 Telephone number 023 8073 3415 Fax number 023 8073 4473 Email address info@fjslive.net 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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