Castle Hill Primary School

Castle Hill Junior School Greenbank, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG23 8BN

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Leaders have created a school where respect and care for everyone are at the heart of everything it does. The school is an extremely harmonious community where pupils’ behaviour is outstanding.  Teaching is consistently good. Teachers’ good subject knowledge enables them to assess pupils accurately and plan interesting lessons that meet the needs of all groups of pupils.  The good teaching results in pupils making good progress in English and outstanding progress in mathematics. Pupils attain standards above national averages in English and well above national averages in mathematics by the end of Year 6.  Teachers value the support they receive from school leaders to improve their teaching and continually strive to become better teachers.  Pupils love coming to school and say that they feel very safe. They are proud of their school uniform and are smart, impeccably well- mannered and extremely proud of their school.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

The school’s procedures for keeping pupils safe and secure are outstanding.  Parents and carers, pupils and teachers are fully supportive of what the school is trying to do. Everyone is pulling in the same direction and striving to make the school even better.  Leaders, including governors, know the school extremely well. This enables them to correctly identify what needs to be done to make it even better and make appropriate plans for the future.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 Progress in reading and writing is not as fast as in mathematics because pupils in Years 3 and 4, particularly those who are more able, do not read and write in a wide variety of different contexts and subjects.  Teachers’ marking does not always give pupils effective guidance as to how they can improve their work, especially in writing, which sometimes slows their progress.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 15 lessons. In addition, inspectors made a number of other short visits to lessons. They also looked at pupils’ books and observed other aspects of the school’s work.  Meetings were held with members of the governing body, including the Chair of the Governing Body, and teachers and school leaders. Pupils took inspectors on a tour of the school. The inspectors also listened to pupils read and spoke with them about their reading.  Inspectors took account of the 28 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors also spoke to parents and carers at the school gate. Inspectors reviewed 20 questionnaire responses from staff.  A number of documents were looked at, including the school’s own information relating to pupils’ achievement, the school’s self-evaluation summary and plan, records relating to behaviour and attendance and checks on teaching, and documents relating to safeguarding. The inspectors also

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Inspection team

Martin Marsh, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Carol Worthington Additional Inspector Ken Bryan Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized primary school.  Nearly one in five pupils is known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which is additional government funding to support pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, looked after children and children of service families. In this school, the eligible pupils are those eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is above average. The proportion on school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  One in seven pupils belongs to ethnic groups other than White British with about half of these not speaking English as their first language.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and raise achievement so pupils make outstanding progress over time by:  ensuring pupils, especially those who are more able in Year 3 and Year 4, read a variety of different texts and write in a wider range of contexts and subjects  making sure that pupils understand how they can improve their work, especially in writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils make at least good progress in English and mathematics throughout the school. By the time they leave in Year 6, they reach standards that are above average in reading and writing and well above average in mathematics.  The basic skills of literacy and numeracy are taught very well. The well above average attainment in the 2013 Key Stage 2 English grammar, spelling and punctuation test is evidence of the strong emphasis the school places on developing pupils’ understanding of these key skills. In mathematics, pupils develop excellent confidence with mental and written calculations and so can approach problems confidently.  By the time pupils leave in Year 6, they have developed fluent reading and a real love of books. Pupils who are not as fluent in reading when they enter the school are given good help in learning and consolidating the sounds that letters make (phonics) so that they quickly become

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The achievement of pupils is good

more confident. More-able readers’ progress is good overall but is sometimes slowed down in Years 3 and 4 because they are not given a wide enough variety of challenging texts to read to enable them to develop more advanced reading skills.  More-able pupils are regularly challenged with harder content in mathematics lessons. Pupils in Year 4 were wrestling with trying to find the different ways of replacing the question marks in the equation 545 - ??9 = 1?6 to make it true. This enabled them to deepen their understanding of subtraction and make faster progress as a result. More-able pupils in Year 6 can confidently divide a decimal by another decimal using both mental and written methods. This level of challenge enables more-able pupils to make excellent progress.  Although 2013 Key Stage 2 statutory assessments indicated that pupils eligible for additional funding through the pupil premium were eight months behind in mathematics and six months in

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The achievement of pupils is good

reading and writing, this was due to lower starting points. They made good progress, similar to their peers’. The school’s current eligible pupils are making faster progress than their peers because they are getting excellent additional support from a qualified teacher that the funding provides. What they need to quicken their progress is accurately identified and teaching is very focused on what they need to learn.  The school places a great emphasis on developing pupils’ speaking and listening skills. By the time they leave in Year 6, pupils are very articulate and extremely thoughtful in response to questions. This emphasis contributes to those pupils for whom English is an additional language learning as well as their peers. Also, pupils from a wide range of ethnic communities make similarly good progress to other pupils.  The needs of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are identified well and

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The achievement of pupils is good

good additional support helps them to make at least the same progress as other pupils. This shows the school is successful in providing equality of learning for all pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 All lessons are characterised by excellent relationships between teachers and pupils. Pupils always listen attentively and, when asked to work on their own or in a group, they do so enthusiastically and very hard, enabling them to learn well. Only on rare occasions do pupils not finish what they are asked to do.  Teachers have very good subject knowledge and this enables them to assess very accurately where pupils are so that they can plan activities appropriate for different groups of pupils. Teaching helps pupils to deepen their understanding and wrestle with difficult ideas. In Year 6, pupils were analysing two pieces of text which were giving different viewpoints on organic produce. Pupils deepened their understanding of writing a balanced argument as the teaching challenged them to think deeply about the subject.  Pupils highly value the care with which their books are marked, responding to comments that

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The quality of teaching is good

are made and typically thanking teachers for their comments. In mathematics pupils are often set an additional question to consolidate or move their learning further. Pupils’ understanding of how they can improve their written work is not as strong. This means they sometimes repeat the same mistakes in different pieces of work because they are not sure what skills they are trying to develop.  Teaching consistently provides ways to motivate and interest pupils and link learning in English and mathematics lessons to other subjects which help makes the learning relevant and interesting. Older pupils do extended pieces of writing and these are often linked to books they are reading or work in another subject. In Year 3 and Year 4, pupils do not readily research or write extended pieces of work. As a result, they do not apply their English skills in as wide a range of different contexts and subjects as they could.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Additional adults are well trained so groups and individuals they work with learn well, both in lessons and in the extra guidance and support they give outside the classroom. They help pupils who are disabled or have special educational needs to know what they need to do in lessons by extending their learning and providing extra resources if necessary.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Parents and carers almost unanimously agree with this. Pupils are impeccably behaved in lessons and around the school and extremely polite and courteous. The school’s motto – ‘Manners Matter’ – is totally lived out in the high level of respect that they show all the time. For example, all the pupils make sure they let adults go through doors first. Pupils loved talking to inspectors about their work or reading to them.  There are exceptional rewards systems that the pupils totally understand and work towards. For excellent behaviour, full attendance, correctly worn uniform, completing homework and reading lots of books, pupils earn ‘Charter Marks’. Striving towards the gold charter mark is a strong ambition for every pupil. There is a system used in classrooms called ‘Good to be Green’ in which pupils receive warnings if they fall short of the highest standards of behaviour. The pupils told us

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

this is hardly used and the inspection team did not see it used during the inspection.  ‘We help people come up with solutions if they have a friendship problem.’ This was how a peer mentor saw her role but she also said the services of this group were rarely used. Pupils respond to the many ways in which they can take responsibility in school: as lunchtime leaders, helping in the school office, serving on the school senate or becoming head boy and head girl.  All adults have very high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Adults show a high level of respect and care for pupils. This is reciprocated by the pupils’ respect towards adults and each other. There are a few pupils who find managing their own behaviour difficult at times but they are helped to overcome difficulties quickly so their actions do not interfere with either their own learning or the learning of others.  Pupils understand about the faiths and cultures represented in their school and in the wider

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

United Kingdom community. The school also has an International School award. Pupils told inspectors how a child whose parents or carers come from Bulgaria had shared his culture with other pupils. They fully respect people’s differences and, as a result, there are no racist comments or derogatory language of any sort. This shows the school is highly successful in fostering outstanding relationships and tackling discrimination resulting in an extremely harmonious school community.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Systems to keep track of visitors and make them aware of procedures for fire safety and other health and safety matters are excellent. Visitors also are required to read the school’s child safeguarding information when they come to the school. Child protection systems and procedures are very rigorous and staff are well trained to deal with any situation that might arise. Pupils feel very safe and almost all

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

parents and carers who responded on Parent View agreed with this.  Bullying incidents are extremely rare. The pupils are fully aware of the various forms of bullying, including cyber bullying, and are fully versed in how to avoid the potential hazards of electronic media. Opportunities within subjects, for instance in English when discussing arguments for and against why mobile phones should or should not be allowed in school, reinforce this awareness. Pupils know it is wrong to use racist and homophobic language and so no prejudicial bullying happens. This shows the school is highly successful in fostering outstanding relationships and tackling discrimination.  Pupils understand how eating healthily and exercising regularly are good for them. They get fully involved in physical education lessons and the after-school clubs that offer aerobic exercise are well attended. The extra government funding to increase sports participation is being used to

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

improve staff confidence in teaching physical education, including gymnastics, increasing the opportunities pupils have to compete in competitive sport and widening the range of sports on offer.  Attendance is well above average and pupils are punctual for school and ready to learn.

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The leadership and management are good

 The long-standing headteacher provides inspirational leadership. He believes passionately that pupils should get the very best out of their education and works extremely hard to ensure they do. He has built a group of staff around him that totally subscribe to the values, beliefs and attitudes that he and the school promote. ‘I am incredibly proud to be a member of staff at this school! It is a fantastic place to work’ and ‘I love working at this school’ were typical of the views expressed by staff to inspectors. All parents and carers who responded on Parent View or who were spoken to at the school gate believed the school to be well led and managed.  In the last two years, the school has had experienced staff move on to promotions in other schools and has successfully developed the middle leadership roles. Middle leaders are starting to have a significant impact on raising still further the quality of teaching. School leaders have

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The leadership and management are good

given excellent support to three teachers new to the teaching profession who have started working at the school within the last two years. They are now teaching consistently well and really value the support they have been given early in their careers. The school has also had to manage an extensive building programme which is now complete. Despite this, standards of mathematics have improved and standards in English have been maintained.  Systems to check on the progress of pupils are rigorous and robust. Pupils who are falling behind are quickly identified and so additional help can be given to help them catch up. Similarly, checks on teaching through the appraisal process are equally rigorous and robust, and teachers’ strengths and areas for improvement are accurately identified. Teachers are very positive about the help they receive to improve, be it from colleagues within the school or training courses that they are encouraged to attend.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum is continually evolving to meet the needs of the pupils and provides them with many memorable experiences. Music is particularly strong. Many pupils learn a musical instrument and one inspector enjoyed hearing 30 children playing recorders in Year 3 while he listened to children read just outside the classroom. There is also a choir and a ‘rock’ choir. Year 6 pupils are writing an opera. The curriculum is enhanced by events such as book week and enterprise week. The curriculum fully supports pupils’ well-being and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and makes a significant contribution to their outstanding behaviour. By the time pupils leave the school, they are very well formed young people, totally prepared for the next stage in their education.  The outstanding behaviour, the development of middle leaders and teachers new to the profession, the successful management of an extensive building programme and the

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The leadership and management are good

improvements in mathematics are evidence of the school’s strong capacity to improve. Leadership and management are not outstanding because achievement in English and teaching overall are not outstanding.  The local authority provides an appropriate level of support for this good school.  The governance of the school:  The governing body shares the headteacher’s drive and vision and is highly supportive of senior leaders. Governors visit regularly and have a good knowledge of the school, particularly the complexities of the school’s data, the quality of teaching and how the school compares to other schools. They use this information to challenge it in a very supportive way and contribute well to making plans for the future.  Governors understand the close link between the checks on teachers’ performance and teachers’ pay, and what is being done to reward good teachers and support their development. Governors know how the pupil premium is being spent and know that the gap in

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The leadership and management are good

attainment is being closed, particularly this year through the appointment of a specialist teacher to work with the pupils.  Training is provided to governors through the local authority governor services team. This includes training for new governors. Governors value the presentations they regularly receive from school leaders and the visits to school when the can see first-hand the work that the school is doing.  The governing body gives good support in meeting safeguarding responsibilities, particularly regarding the safety of pupils and the appointment of staff, and the school’s arrangements for safeguarding meet legal 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 116005 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 441021

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Junior School category Maintained Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 256 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Brian Dixon Headteacher John Martin Date of previous school inspection 30 November 2010 – 1 December 2010 Telephone number 01256 473777 Fax number 01256 330332 Email address admin@chjs.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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