Lowe's Wong Anglican Methodist Junior School

Lowe's Wong Anglican Methodist Junior School Queen Street, Southwell, NG25 0AA

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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

 Pupils’ progress over time in writing and mathematics is not yet consistently good.  Teaching is not good because teachers do not check that all pupils fully understand what they are learning or ensure that the work set, particularly for more-able pupils, is challenging and quickly moves their learning forward.  Not enough teaching time is allocated to mathematics.  Marking does not give pupils enough guidance on how to improve their work.  Pupils do not have enough opportunities to apply their writing and mathematical skills across different subjects.  The newly devised roles for year-group and subject leaders have not been in place long enough for them to have a sufficient impact on achievement and teaching.  Parents feel they are not given enough information on the progress of their children.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils make good progress in reading.  Pupils behave well. They are polite, courteous and feel safe.  Attendance is above average.  Pupils empathise with and care for each other.  Pupils who join the school at other than normal times make good progress.  The headteacher and governing body have taken appropriate action to strengthen leadership and management, and the school now has the capability to improve.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 17 lessons. Three lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher.  Inspectors made a number of shorter visits to other lessons. They scrutinised work in pupils’ books. Meetings were held with the Chair of the Governing Body and other governors, a local authority representative and senior leaders.  Inspectors looked at documents relating to safeguarding, the arrangements for checking how well staff perform, the tracking and assessment of pupils’ achievement, records on attendance, behaviour and safety and the monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning.  Inspectors also took note of the 65 views of parents on Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They also took account of direct communication from parents. They considered the questionnaires completed by 19 staff.

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Inspection team

Zahid Aziz, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Alan Brewerton Additional Inspector Lindsay Hall Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Lowe’s Wong Junior School is larger than the average-sized junior school.  The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage and only a small number are from a range of different minority ethnic backgrounds.  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 well below average.  The proportion of pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium funding is well below average. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, those pupils who are looked after by the local authority and other groups.  The school is part of the Minster Teaching School Alliance.  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 in English and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and accelerate pupils’ progress, especially in writing and mathematics throughout the school, by making sure that teachers:  allocate the appropriate amount of time to teaching mathematics  use their knowledge of pupils’ previous achievement to plan activities which challenge all pupils, especially the more able  check that pupils understand what they are learning and what they have to do  ensure their marking shows pupils what they need to do to improve their work  extend the development of pupils’ writing and mathematical skills systematically across other subjects as pupil’s progress through the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:  year-group and subject leaders use their new responsibilities to make an effective contribution to the monitoring and support for teaching and to help raise achievement  parents are provided with clear and timely information about how their children are progressing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement is not good because pupils do not consistently make good progress in writing and mathematics across the school from their above-average starting points. The school does not, therefore, wholly succeed in its stated aim of offering equality of opportunity to all its pupils because teaching is not consistently good and insufficient time is given to the teaching of mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 At the end of Year 6, standards are above average, although few of the most-able pupils reach the higher levels that they are capable of in writing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In the past, not enough pupils have made rapid progress in writing and progress in mathematics has not been as good as it is in reading. However, there are signs that progress in writing is improving because new strategies have been put in place to raise attainment. In mathematics, however, improvements in progress have been slower and vary between year groups.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement in reading in Key Stage 2 is good. Pupils make good progress in reading throughout the school because of improved teaching of phonics (letters and sounds) and the school’s strong focus on building an effective partnership with parents over reading. This is well reflected in pupils’ attainment in reading, which is well above average for pupils of all abilities, including the most able.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In 2013, pupils in Year 6 for whom the school received the pupil premium were more than a year behind their classmates in reading, writing and mathematics. The current picture for eligible pupils is much better, and this attainment gap has narrowed sharply. This is because the funding has been spent on meeting the needs of identified pupils through additional adult support to speed up their progress. As a result, as is the case with other pupils, eligible pupils make good progress in reading but their progress requires improvement in writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make the same progress as other pupils. It is good in reading because of the support they receive from all adults in the classroom. It is less consistently good in writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils who join the school partway through their primary education benefit from good arrangements to help them to settle. As a result, they make good progress in relation to their various different starting points.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching has not been consistently good over time. Teachers do not always use time in lessons effectively, too little time is devoted to teaching mathematics and pupils are given too few opportunities to apply their writing and mathematics skills in other subjects. As a result, pupils do not make consistently good progress in either subject. Although, teaching is improving, this improvement is not consistently evident across all classes.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Not all teachers demand enough of the more-able pupils. In planning activities in lessons, teachers do not always take into account their knowledge of what pupils already know and can do. This means that the activities pupils are set are often not challenging enough to move their learning on quickly.  Not all teachers question pupils carefully enough to check on or extend their learning. Teachers who rely on individuals putting their ‘hands up’, do not ensure that other pupils answer up sufficiently. The result is that teachers do not know whether or not pupils have understood the points that they are being taught.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of marking requires improvement because, in many classes, pupils are not told clearly what they need to do to improve and how to achieve the targets they are given. In some cases, marking is clear and informative and here pupils respond well. However, this is not consistently the case across the school as a whole.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of reading is frequently good. Pupils are encouraged to read frequently and to explore a wide range of different kinds of books in school. Consequently, they enjoy their reading and make good progress in this key skill.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Support staff are used effectively and make a good contribution to pupils’ learning, particularly for those who need additional help with literacy and numeracy.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are cooperative, polite and considerate of the needs of others at all times. This is the strong feature of the school. Most have positive attitudes to learning and work well, even in less engaging lessons.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ take a pride in their work, and ensure that it is neat and tidy. They look very smart in their school uniform. They treat each other and adults with respect. This was clearly demonstrated on the playgrounds at break, when pupils were observed getting on well together.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour policies and procedures are implemented well and there are appropriate systems to record and analyse incidents, and to reward and improve pupils’ behaviour such as ‘Be the Best’. As a result, few incidents occur across the school and those that do, are very minor.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Members of the school council take their responsibilities seriously and have played a leading part in initiatives designed to improve the school. They are responsible for the ‘Worry Box’ and manage the ‘Friendship Bench’, as well as organising the purchase of play equipment for the school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Safeguarding arrangements meet national requirements.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are fully aware of different forms of bullying, such as homophobic name-calling, which they say ‘can segregate people’. They know how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance is above average and pupils enjoy coming to the school. The school take effective steps to ensure that pupils attend the school regularly and are punctual. Pupils are not allowed to take holidays during term time.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has identified the right priorities and produced an honest self-evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. He is giving a clear direction for the work of the school. Since the previous inspection, achievement in reading has improved and is now good. To a lesser extent, there have also been improvements in progress in writing over the past year. However, progress over time is not consistently good in either writing or mathematics.    There are weaknesses in the curriculum. Time for numeracy has been squeezed, and pupils learn other subjects through ‘carousels’, in which pupils move between different activities in turn. This means that, while pupils get good experience of dance, drama, Spanish and music, they do not practise or develop their writing and mathematical skills in other subjects sufficiently.    Until the recent appointment of new year-group and subject leaders and a new deputy

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The leadership and management requires improvement

headteacher, too much of the burden of monitoring and developing the school’s effectiveness has fallen on the headteacher. The restructuring through these appointments has provided the opportunity to redefine roles and responsibilities within the leadership team. As a result, action is now being taken to improve progress and teaching. It is, however, too soon for the impact of these initiatives to be fully evident.    In the past, the systems used to check and record pupils’ progress from their starting points have been weak. These systems are now more rigorous and teachers are held to account for the performance of pupils in their classes. However, the routine use by teachers of information on what pupils already know and can do is still not fully established across the school, resulting in some tasks being set that are too easy, particularly for the most-able pupils.   An improved performance management system is ensuring a closer link between teachers’

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The leadership and management requires improvement

performance and any proposed pay increases. School leaders require evidence of the impact of teachers’ work, so that only effective teachers qualify for higher pay.    The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils is a strong element of the life of the school. Pupils are taught to have respect for one another and to value each other’s feelings. Pupils develop an understanding and respect for other people’s beliefs and cultures; for example, through a visit to a Holocaust memorial.   Almost all parents say they would recommend this school to others. However, a significant minority feel that more information should be provided about their child’s progress in school.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school makes good use of the additional funding for sports by linking with a local college to train staff and by using sports trainers to extend the range of sporting experience for pupils. As a result, pupils’ gain new knowledge and are developing a healthy lifestyle.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has benefited from its involvement in the Minster Teaching School Alliance. The local authority has provided effective support and advice in matters such as dealing with staffing changes. However, its involvement has not ensured that teaching is good enough or that pupils are making sufficient progress over time.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governance is improving. Governors bring expertise, skills and an understanding of education to the school and ensure that it has an increasingly clear strategic direction. The governing body has undertaken its own review of governance and has responded well to the recommendations arising from it. Governors undertake training and are involved in the school’s self-evaluation and development planning. They have a growing understanding of school and national data and can compare the school’s performance with that of others. They are effective in holding school leaders to account, offering regular challenge and support. Within the school’s tight budget, they have, for example, recruited a new deputy headteacher and appointed year-group leaders, to focus on improving teaching. They have a good understanding of the quality of teaching through visits to the school. They ensure that pay

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The leadership and management requires improvement

increases are closely linked to evidence about teachers’ effectiveness. Governors regularly evaluate the impact of decisions about the use of pupil premium funding to close gaps in pupils’ achievement. The governing body ensures that all statutory duties are met.

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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 122769 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 425035

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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 Foundation Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 358 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jo Lewis Headteacher Mike Follen Date of previous school inspection 7 February 2012 Telephone number 01636 813432 Fax number 01636 815223 Email address office@loweswong-jun.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

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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