Ibstock Junior School

Ibstock Junior School Melbourne Road, Ibstock, LE67 6NP

p.1

Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 This inspection: Inadequate 4 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Inadequate 4

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that has serious weaknesses.

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Achievement is inadequate because groups of pupils, including the most-able, disadvantaged pupils, and disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, have not made the progress of which they are capable.  Standards are not high enough at the end of Key Stage 2. Too many pupils leave the school without having acquired the basic skills in mathematics, writing and particularly, reading. Teaching is not good enough to allow pupils to make the rapid and sustained progress they need to make to reach the levels of attainment of which they are capable.  Teachers do not consistently use the information that is available to them to plan work at the right level for different groups of pupils. Marking does not always help pupils to improve their work.  The impact of the work of teaching assistants on pupils’ learning is too variable to enable pupils to make good progress.  Subject leaders do not monitor their areas of

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

responsibility closely enough. Consequently, they have little impact on the quality of teaching and learning.  The governing body does not have the skills or experience to support and challenge the headteacher in order to secure the rapid improvement that the school requires.

p.1

The school has the following strengths

 The recently appointed headteacher has already begun to have a positive impact on the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement. He is building well on the improvement started by the interim headteacher.  The results of national tests and assessments improved in 2014, especially in writing. More pupils reached the higher levels of attainment than in 2013.  Pupils enjoy school and feel safe. Attendance has improved and is now above average. Punctuality has also improved.  The school is making good use of the support it receives from the Forest Way Teaching School Alliance to improve leadership and management and the quality of teaching.

p.1

Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 20 parts of lessons, six of which were observed jointly with the headteacher or the deputy headteacher.  A performance for parents by Year 5 pupils with the 'Mighty Zulu Nation' was also observed.  Inspectors listened to pupils read, looked at their work and observed behaviour at the start of the day, during break time and at lunchtime.  Discussions were held with: the headteacher; the deputy headteacher; the special educational needs coordinator and other members of staff; two governors, including the Chair of the Governing Body; a representative of the local authority; three representatives of the Forest Trust Teaching School Alliance; pupils and parents.  Inspectors looked at: policies; self-evaluation and development planning documents; monitoring records related to behaviour, attendance and safety; information about pupils' progress and minutes of meetings of the governing body.

p.2

Information about this inspection

 Responses from 25 parents to Parent View, Ofsted's online questionnaire, and 17 returned staff questionnaires, were taken into account.

p.2

Inspection team

Simon Mosley, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

p.2

Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

p.3

Information about this school

 This is an average-sized junior school.  The vast majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds and, of the small number from minority ethnic heritage, very few speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is broadly average. This is additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils, including those in the care of the local authority and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  An average proportion of disabled students and those who have special educational needs are supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs. The proportion supported through school action is above average.  The school does not meet the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress.  Since the last inspection, the school has undergone a period of instability in its teaching staff and leadership.

p.3

Information about this school

The current headteacher joined the school in August 2014. This followed two terms without a permanent headteacher. A new Chair of the Governing Body was elected in September 2014.  The school is supported by, and is working in partnership with the Forest Way Teaching School Alliance. The Alliance provided an interim executive headteacher for two terms last year and an experienced former headteacher is now supporting the current headteacher.

p.3

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching by:  making sure that teachers use all assessment information effectively to provide high-quality, learning activities for all groups of pupils that build on previous learning and encourage pupils to work things out for themselves  giving teaching assistants the skills and training they need to promote good progress and checking the impact of their work  ensuring that marking is always helpful and that teachers check that pupils act on advice given to improve their work.

p.3

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement in reading, writing and mathematics by:  giving pupils the skills to be able to read unfamiliar words and to understand what they read  providing opportunities for pupils to apply their reading skills in their writing and in their work in mathematics, and to use and extend all of these basic skills in other subjects.

p.3

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the impact of leadership and management by:  extending the role and influence of subject leaders, ensuring that they have the skills and the opportunities to improve the quality of teaching and raise achievement in their subjects  making better use of the pupil premium grant to improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils  ensuring that governors undertake appropriate training and receive support in order to be able to challenge the school and drive the improvement that the school requires. An external review of governance and an external review of the school’s use of pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how these aspects of leadership and management may be improved.

p.3

The leadership and management requires improvement

 Since the last inspection, systems and staffing have not been securely in place to ensure that teaching brought about good progress for all groups of pupils. Over time, therefore, pupils did not make the progress needed to enable them to reach the expected levels in the national tests and assessments.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 Actions taken by the interim executive headteacher allowed Year 6 pupils to catch up with some of the learning they had missed previously, in their final two terms in the school. This contributed to the higher attainment seen in 2014, especially in writing.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 The recently appointed headteacher has started to build upon the initial improvements well. He has a clear understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development and has already taken action to improve the quality of teaching.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 Most leaders with responsibilities for different subjects are relatively inexperienced. They do not routinely use school data, the work in pupils' books and observations to improve the quality of teaching and pupils' progress. With the exception of the literacy subject leader, who has had a significant impact upon improving pupils’ writing skills, they are not using all the information available to them to help drive improvement.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupil progress targets and ways to improve teaching now inform the process of managing teachers’ performance, and staff have access to well-targeted training. These practices are relatively new to the school and, although some improvement is already evident, it is too early to measure their full impact on pupils’ progress.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupil premium funding was not used effectively until January 2014 and so its impact has been limited. However, changes introduced, including the involvement of senior managers, mean that it is now being used better to provide additional support for the pupils who qualify for it. Although more remains to be done, the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils is starting to improve.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has used primary sports funding well in order to increase participation in physical education and sport, promote healthy lifestyles and physical well-being, and to provide opportunities for pupils to reach the performance level of which they are capable. Staff have received regular training, sports coaches lead sessions that teachers will later team teach and then teach themselves, and school teams have performed well in a number of competitions. In addition, individuals have taken part in a range of sports and activities at a local and regional level.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 The curriculum is appropriately planned to provide pupils with a number of interesting and engaging learning experiences. It also promotes pupils’ safety and well-being, encourages positive behaviour, tolerance and respect, and gives due attention to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. It does not provide enough opportunities for pupils to work things out for themselves or to achieve well in mathematics and English. Therefore, it does not prepare pupils well enough for the next stage of their education.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school tackles discrimination and fosters good relationships but has some way to go to promote equality of opportunity for all groups of pupils so that they can all achieve well. The school’s partnership work with the Forest Way Teaching School Alliance is being used well to develop the new curriculum and assessment arrangements. In addition, relationships with the neighbouring infant and secondary schools have improved and transition arrangements have been strengthened.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 Almost all parents who responded to Parent View would recommend the school. Parents spoken to recognise the improvements and support the school well and appreciate opportunities to help them help their children learn. For example, a significant number attended an evening session on mathematics and there was a very high turnout at the 'Mighty Zulu Nation' performance during the inspection. Parents who spoke to the inspectors praised the positive impact of the new headteacher.  The school's safeguarding arrangements meet current requirements. Staff and governors have received the appropriate training and, as the school works closely with families and other agencies, pupils who are at risk are protected well.

p.4

The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority is working closely with the local teaching school alliance to support further improvement.

p.5

The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The governing body does not provide senior leaders in the school with the level of challenge and support needed to secure rapid improvement in pupils’ progress. Governors have limited knowledge of the curriculum and the impact of primary sports funding. Also, until recently, they have not ensured that the Pupil Premium Grant was used properly to support the progress of disadvantaged pupils. Governors now have systems to hold staff to account and to check that pay rises are linked to improvements in teaching and in pupils’ progress. They know what is done to reward good teaching and tackle underperformance, and they have a developing understanding of data. A small number of governors visit the school regularly and a few are attending a range of training sessions to gain the skills they need to operate effectively.

p.5

Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement as, at times, pupils do not attempt more challenging tasks without additional support from teachers and teaching assistants. On occasions, they are slow to start work or they chat too much and waste valuable learning time. All of this limits their progress.

p.5

Behaviour

 Pupils form positive relationships with staff and with each other. They are polite, welcoming and friendly, and display good manners. They show respect for the school building and equipment, and usually behave well at break and lunchtime. Occasionally, however, some boisterous play goes unchecked.

p.5

Behaviour

 There have been no permanent exclusions since before the last inspection, and no fixed-term exclusions since December 2013. In addition to this, behaviour logs indicate that poor behaviour is rare and is dealt with effectively. Pupils agree, as did the parents who responded to Parent View.

p.5

Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Consequently, all pupils feel safe and almost all parents who expressed a view agree that this is the case. Pupils are taught to stay safe through the curriculum, including staying safe when using the internet, and they behave in a way that they all remain safe. The school site is secure and visitors to the school are appropriately checked and monitored.

p.5

Safety

 Bullying and name-calling are rare. Pupils understand what it means to be unkind to someone else and they are aware of different types of bullying. They are also confident that staff will deal quickly and effectively with any unkindness if it happens.

p.5

Safety

 The headteacher has worked successfully with parents and staff at the school to improve attendance and punctuality. As a result, attendance is now above average and almost all pupils arrive to school on time.

p.5

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching declined after the last inspection and was not good enough to ensure that pupils made at least the expected progress in their learning. All groups of pupils underachieved and progress in reading, writing and mathematics was too slow.

p.5

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Actions taken during the period of interim leadership, and built upon by the current headteacher, have improved teaching. It requires further improvement because it is not yet consistently good. The improvement so far was brought about by managing teachers’ performance better and supporting it with well-targeted training.

p.5

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although it is too soon to assess the full impact of the relatively recent improvements, they enabled pupils in Year 6 to reach higher standards overall in 2014, and especially in writing. It also enabled more of the most-able pupils to reach the higher levels of which they are capable. Work in the pupils’ books for their final two terms showed that their rates of progress increased in line with improvement in the quality of teaching.

p.6

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Expectations of what pupils should achieve have increased but they are not yet high enough to ensure that pupils make good progress. Tasks are not always appropriate to the abilities of the pupils. At times, the work given to the most-able pupils is too easy, or the work given to less able pupils is not broken down into the smaller steps needed for these pupils, and disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, to make progress.

p.6

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Better teaching of basic skills is yet to secure marked improvements in pupils’ ability to read unfamiliar words, or for some to fully understand what they read. Additionally, there is little evidence of pupils being encouraged to work things out for themselves or to use what they learn in one subject to help them learn more in another.

p.6

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 As teaching assistants are not all highly-enough skilled or well-enough deployed, their impact on pupils’ progress is inconsistent. They mostly work with small groups of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs on activities that take place outside the classroom. Their work is not always carefully enough planned or sufficiently well monitored by the class teacher. Consequently, the progress of the pupils with whom they work is not as rapid as it needs to be.

p.6

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Marking usually shows pupils what they need to do to improve. However, teachers do not check that the pupils respond to the advice given by improving subsequent pieces of work. This leads to marking comments being repeated with little or no evidence of their impact on pupils’ learning.

p.6

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Assessment is now regular and its accuracy is checked but the information gained is not always used well enough to inform what pupils need to do next. In addition, information about how well disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are learning is not systematically used to help increase their progress.

p.6

The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching contributes effectively to pupils' spiritual, moral and social development. Pupils work well with each other, study a range of faiths, and consider what is right and wrong. They take part in musical, sporting and technological activities, both in lessons and outside of the classroom.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 Achievement over time is inadequate. This is because, despite recent improvements in teaching, and in pupils’ attitudes to learning, not enough pupils are making the rapid and sustained progress that they need in order to compensate for underachievement since the last inspection.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 When pupils start school in Year 3, their attainment is usually broadly in line with the national average. For those who left in 2013, the last year for which published data are available, it was above the national average when they started but well below when they left.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 The proportions of pupils making and/or exceeding expected progress were well below those found nationally in 2013. The progress of pupils who left Year 6 in 2014 improved in the final two terms of their time in the school, because of improvement in the quality of teaching. Nevertheless, they did not make enough progress given their average starting points in Year 3.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 In 2014, overall attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 remained well below the national average for 2013. There was a further very slight decline in attainment in reading and mathematics in 2014, but improvement was evident in spelling, grammar and punctuation, and most of all in writing.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 Disadvantaged pupils were three terms behind other pupils in the school in mathematics and writing, and two terms behind in reading in 2013. They were more than four terms behind pupils nationally in mathematics and reading and more than five terms behind in writing. Their progress, too, was inadequate. Additional support, such as one-to-one sessions with the deputy headteacher, is beginning to have a positive impact on the attainment and progress of disadvantaged pupils currently at the school.

p.7

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 In 2013, the most-able pupils attained at a lower level than pupils of similar ability nationally. More of these pupils reached the higher Level 5 in the national tests in 2014, but overall, did not achieve well enough over time.

p.7

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs also underachieved in 2013 and 2014. Their needs are now being catered for more effectively. Therefore, in line with other groups, they too are beginning to make better progress.

p.7

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 Some pupils enjoy reading but others, particularly in Years 5 and 6, do not have the skills to read at the appropriate level or work out words that they are not familiar with. This also impedes their progress in different subjects, including mathematics.

p.7

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 As a result of improved teaching and more positive attitudes towards learning, pupils currently in the school are beginning to make better progress than previously in a range of subjects, including English and mathematics. However, this progress is not yet rapid enough to ensure that all groups of pupils achieve well.

p.7

The achievement of pupils is inadequate

 More pupils are participating in sports and exercise activities as they enjoy the increased range available to them through the primary school sports funding grant. They are proud of the school’s successes in competitive sport and understand the importance of taking regular exercise to keep themselves fit and healthy.

p.7

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 failing

p.8

Grade Judgement Description

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.

p.8

School details

Unique reference number 119931 Local authority Leicestershire Inspection number 444932

p.9

School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

p.9

School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 212 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Michelle Veneziale Headteacher Phil Lewin Date of previous inspection 20 February 2013 Telephone number 01530 260481 Fax number 01530 26492 Email address administration@ibstock.leics.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 .

p.9

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.

p.10

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

p.10

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 and 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

p.10

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’.

p.10

School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.10