Edge Hill Junior School

Edge Hill Junior School Sycamore Road, Stapenhill, Burton-on-Trent, DE15 9NX

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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 Requires improvement 3

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

 Teaching has not been consistently good enough over time to ensure pupils achieve well. Teachers do not always ensure that time in lessons is used effectively.  More-able pupils are not challenged consistently to do their best. There are very few planned opportunities for gifted and talented pupils to help them to extend their skills.  Marking is not consistently good enough in writing and too underdeveloped in mathematics to help pupils to improve their work.  There is not enough support for the pupils known to be eligible for free school meals who need extra help in mathematics.  Leaders’ handling and use of data is not consistently confident or skilful enough to enable them to fine-tune actions and goals for the school’s development.  Not enough work has been done to prepare staff to undertake key middle leadership roles when the opportunity arises.  Leaders have not monitored attendance carefully or promoted it purposefully enough to

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

ensure it remains at least in line with national averages.

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The school has the following strengths

 Year 6 pupils’ attainment in 2013 was the highest it has been for more than five years.  Rates of progress are improving across the school and most groups of pupils who lagged behind are catching up.  The proportion of teaching which is good is steadily increasing. The new ‘forest schools’ initiative is already demonstrating its worth, for example in developing pupils’ team- building skills.  Pupils’ behave well. Warm, constructive relationships encourage pupils to act considerately towards each other and to staff, and to have positive attitudes to learning.  Pupils feel safe in school and are confident in their knowledge that they have someone to turn to if they feel troubled.  The academic progress and pastoral well-being of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is checked effectively.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching in 19 lessons taught by 15 teachers and/or teaching assistants. Three of these lessons were observed together with a member of the senior leadership team.  Samples of pupils’ work in English, mathematics and history were analysed. An inspector listened to a few Year 6 pupils reading.  Meetings were held with school staff, a group of pupils and three governors. The lead inspector spoke on the telephone to a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 12 questionnaires completed by staff and the 21 responses by parents to the online questionnaire (Parent View). An inspector spoke informally to some parents at the beginning of the school day.  Inspectors looked at a range of evidence including: the work in pupils’ books; monitoring records; subject improvement plans; the school’s own data on pupils’ attainment and progress; a local authority consultant’s report; and policies, procedures and records relating to safeguarding,

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Inspection team

Derek Aitken, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Helen Booth Additional Inspector Jayne Clemence Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than most primary schools.  Most pupils are from White British backgrounds. No pupil is currently at an early stage of learning English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium, which is additional funding for certain groups such as those known to be eligible for free school meals, is below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is well above average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The school hosts an after-school care club, but this is not run by the school and is inspected separately.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make teaching more consistently good or better so that pupils make faster progress, by ensuring all teachers:  use time in lessons well to enable all pupils, especially the more able, to learn at a brisk pace  give more-able pupils work that challenges them throughout the lesson  make better use of marking in mathematics and in writing.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ achievement by:  increasing considerably the range of opportunities for gifted and talented pupils  ensuring that pupils known to be eligible for free school meals have extra help in mathematics where needed.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership, management and governance by ensuring that:  leaders use data confidently and accurately to monitor the progress of all groups of pupils across the key stage and to set goals sharply for school improvement  experienced, talented staff receive the training they need to undertake key leadership responsibilities when they arise  the school has clear plans for the way the use of primary sports funding will be further developed and evaluated.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that pupils’ attendance rises to at least the national average by July 2014 by:  implementing rigorous systems for checking up on attendance and promoting its importance more vigorously to pupils and parents alike.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics when they join Year 3 is a little above average. In 2012, Year 6 pupils underachieved and their attainment was below average. In 2013 attainment rose to average and this improvement is being maintained by current Year 6 pupils. Their standards in reading and mathematics are a little above average. Pupils of different ethnic groups make similar progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Despite this upward trend, Year 6 pupils have not made consistently good progress through the school. Although most Year 6 pupils in 2013 made expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics, the proportions who exceeded expected progress lagged behind national figures.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Given their starting points, not enough pupils are achieving the higher Levels 5 and 6. Opportunities are sometimes missed in lessons to stretch the most-able pupils and provision for gifted and talented pupils is very limited.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Year 6 pupils in 2013 known to be eligible for the pupil premium did not all make as rapid progress as other pupils. They were working about one and a half terms behind their classmates in mathematics and about two and a half terms behind in English.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ attainment in Years 3 to 5 is rising and rates of progress are steadily increasing in all year groups due to improvements in teaching. Variations in the achievement of different groups are reducing and pupils who are eligible for free school meals are making more rapid progress in English. Nonetheless, inconsistencies remain. In most year groups girls outperform boys in writing and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals in Years 3 to 5 do not make as much progress as their classmates in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Girls do better than boys in writing because they are more skilled in applying ideas which have been discussed in class in different forms of writing, including creative accounts. Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals receive much more support to help them develop their basic skills in literacy than in numeracy.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils enjoy reading, because texts are well chosen to capture their interest. They understand the texts well, but sometimes more-able pupils would benefit from being given more challenging stories to read.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are monitored closely and most of these pupils make at least the progress expected of them.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching is variable. Typically it ranges from requires improvement to good, although it is outstanding in a few lessons. Though it has improved, too much requires improvement to be judged good overall.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In some lessons teachers do not match work exactly to meet the needs of all groups of pupils or do not ensure that the pace of learning is brisk. More-able pupils occasionally have to wait too long while the teacher explains new ideas and methods to all pupils in the class before they can start working on their own. Sometimes, able pupils finish their work and have nothing more challenging to move on to.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Writing skills are usually taught well in lessons. Teachers plan introductory tasks carefully as ‘hooks’ to capture pupils’ interest. Boys’ oral answers often show they are capable of thinking creatively, but girls are more adept at transferring these new ideas, for example alliterative phrases, into their written work. Teachers give much more attention in their marking to improving technical aspects of pupils’ writing, such as punctuation, than to helping pupils to use the more complex vocabulary they encounter or discuss in lessons.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Marking, although regular, is not consistently good across the school, especially in mathematics. It does not always provide pupils with enough guidance to help them to improve their skills and achieve well.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In most lessons teaching assistants support disabled pupils and those with special educational needs well. They recognise what needs further repetition and consolidation and their questioning is usually well matched to these pupils’ varying levels of ability.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Focused targets for improvement and the employment of new teaching assistants are helping to increase the proportion of teaching which is good. In the best lessons teachers use time, questioning and resources skilfully to ensure all groups of pupils can understand how well they are doing and make fast progress. This was seen, for example in a mathematics lesson in Year 5, where pupils confidently solved addition and subtraction problems.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ behaviour is a strength of the school. Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and supportive and pupils, especially those in Years 5 and 6, show very mature attitudes. Routines are well understood and accepted, pupils are self-disciplined and quick to cooperate and very little time is lost if pupils need to move between activities or lessons.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils listen carefully to the teacher and each other and most pupils are keen to respond to the teacher’s questions. They can nearly always be relied on to get on with their work when staff are helping other groups of pupils.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 A ‘success story’ of the school’s work is the ‘forest schools’ project. Although this initiative was introduced only at the start of the school term, observations and discussions with staff, parents, pupils and governors confirm this has whetted pupils’ appetite for learning and is promoting their collaborative skills well, although it has not had time to show sustained impact on their achievement.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are happy and feel safe in school. They say they like it because staff are caring and help them to get on well with each other. They have very few concerns about pupils’ behaviour in lessons. They say that bullying is highly unusual and that, if it occurs, it is dealt with quickly and firmly. Behaviour logs show that prejudice-based incidents and exclusions are rare.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils play well together and play their part in ensuring that the atmosphere around school is purposeful and positive. The Year 6 ‘yellow cap’ pupils are out in force at playtimes to support any pupil who needs a helping hand. Other pupils show courtesy and consideration for each other in the playground and in corridors.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Systems for managing pupils’ behaviour, whether through merits or sanctions, are very effective. Pupils are well supported in the nurture group to acquire the social skills they need to discuss issues which are troubling them and to work towards resolving difficulties with adults or their peers.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Although pupils’ rates of attendance have not changed since the previous inspection, they have fallen to below average as rates nationally have increased. The number of pupils who took holidays in term-time last year increased. Leaders have given limited priority to monitoring and improving attendance, and communicating its importance to parents.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Significant changes in staffing in the middle leadership posts of English and mathematics have slowed the school’s efforts to drive improvement quickly in the last three years. Currently, the headteacher and deputy headteacher are overseeing much of the work in these two subjects. Not enough emphasis has been placed on preparing talented, experienced staff to be responsible for leading key subjects when opportunities arise.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Senior leaders have adopted a new tracking system in the last year to monitor pupils’ progress and are now looking closely at the progress different groups of pupils need to make to ensure they achieve well over the key stage. However, leaders’ use of data has not been consistently rigorous enough to make sure actions they take are fine-tuned for maximum improvement.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The first instalment of the recent national sports funding for primary schools has been spent suitably, for example in employing a new physical education specialist, but plans for training other staff and for checking its impact on pupils’ physical skills and well-being are not yet fully developed.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Some good gains have been made in improving the quality of teaching in lessons, especially in the selection of methods and resources chosen to engage pupils’ interest in learning. Useful training has been provided to improve the skills of a few targeted staff. This is paying dividends in terms of improved progress across the school, and illustrates the school’s capacity to improve.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Support for the academic progress and pastoral well-being of disabled pupils and pupils with special educational needs is regularly reviewed and updated. Their progress is analysed systematically and linked to interventions which are carefully chosen in consultation with parents, staff and external agencies. This is effective in ensuring equal opportunities for these pupils to succeed.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 A wide range of activities beyond lessons, including musical drama productions such as ‘Annie’ and ‘Guys and Dolls’, enjoyable assemblies and the new ‘forest schools’ project, help to raise pupils’ self-esteem, develop collaborative skills and promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Over time the local authority has provided the school with limited support. However, their monitoring visit in July 2013 has had a proven impact on supporting recent improvements in the quality of teaching.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governance is effective. A new appointment to the governing body has injected some fresh ideas and is providing useful support for the Chair. Aspirations for school improvement have increased.  Governors have carefully reviewed their systems for checking up on the school’s work. An improvement committee and ‘monitoring mornings’ (visits) have been set up. These visits, which include lesson observations and which are linked to specific aspects of pupils’ learning and well-being are helping governors to hold leaders to account.  Governors now have a secure overview of how well pupils are doing and the areas where they need to do better. They know why pupil premium funding is spent in particular ways, but past limitations in the available data have restricted their ability to make a rigorous assessment of its impact on the achievement of eligible pupils.  Governors review closely the headteacher’s performance. They make sure that appropriate

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The leadership and management require improvement

procedures are followed for staff pay rises and promotion.  They ensure that the school’s systems for safeguarding are secure and meet current national 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 124045 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 426988

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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 327 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Carolyn Robinson Headteacher Michael Mander Date of previous school inspection 8 December 2011 Telephone number 01283 239040 Fax number 01283 239048 Email address admin@edgehill.staffs.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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