Denmead Junior School

Bere Road, Waterlooville, Hampshire, PO7 6PH

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires special measures.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Weak senior leadership and management have resulted in a significant decline in the school’s overall effectiveness since the previous inspection.  Senior leaders, managers and governors have not raised levels of achievement across the school. Middle leaders have been ineffective, in spite of support, and their action plans are not specific enough to ensure rapid improvement.  Staff targets for improvement are not focused on the right thingand staff are not robustly challenged by leadership.  Pupils’ achievement in writing and mathematics is inadequate. Achievement in reading requires improvement.  Teaching is inadequate. Teachers do not have a clear view of pupils’ abilities and so often set work that is too easy or too hard.  Teachers have not been given enough guidance on how to improve their practice and so pupils do not do as well as they should.  Teachers’ questioning does not probe pupils’ knowledge and understanding enough and teachers

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

are too slow to act when pupils are unclear about their work.  Teachers’ feedback to pupils about their work does not set clear next steps for their learning. There is not a consistent expectation that pupils will correct or improve their work.  Pupils’ behaviour in lessons requires improvement. When lessons are ineffective, pupils find it difficult to maintain interest and become restless, chatty and fidgety.  Pupils’ safety in school requires improvement because the behaviour of some pupils at playtimes is aggressive.

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The school has the following strengths

 The local authority, governing body, interim headteacher and new headteacher have recently put much in place to enable the school to move forward quickly.  Support for pupils who benefit from additional government funding has improved and they are now making faster progress.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 24 lessons or part lessons, one of which was observed jointly with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with two groups of pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and four other governors, the headteacher, two local authority officers and other senior staff.  Inspectors took account of the 46 responses to the online Parent View survey and the responses to nine staff questionnaires. An inspector also spoke to several parents when they brought their children to school.  Inspectors looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own information on pupils’ current progress, the school’s self-evaluation, teachers’ planning for what pupils will learn, and checks on the quality of teaching. They reviewed records relating to behaviour and attendance, the sports premium action plan and documents relating to safeguarding.  The inspectors listened to pupils read in Year 4 and Year 6.

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Inspection team

Janet Sinclair, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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Information about this school

 Denmead Junior is an above-average-sized primary school.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported at school action is average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also average.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding for looked after pupils or those known to be eligible for free school meals) is below average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school entered into a hard federation with the infant school in September 2011. The infant school headteacher was executive headteacher of both schools until April 2014. In May 2014, an interim headteacher was appointed to the junior school. The substantive headteacher took up her post in September. A new deputy headteacher has been appointed and takes up her post in January 2015. The

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Information about this school

two schools are now in a soft federation.  There have been significant staff changes since the previous inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good or better by:  improving teachers’ knowledge and understanding of pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics  ensuring all pupils are fully challenged through work that is set at the right level for them  ensuring that pupils are clear about what they are expected to learn and teachers check their learning during lessons  making sure that probing questioning deepens pupils’ thinking and, where necessary, tasks are re- shaped quickly to ensure effective learning  ensuring that all teachers give pupils clear guidance about how to improve their work and check that pupils follow this.  Raise pupils’ achievement, particularly in writing and mathematics, by:  establishing clear, unequivocal expectations for spelling, punctuation and grammar for each year group, that are robustly reinforced  setting much higher expectations for pupils’ achievement in writing so that more pupils attain a higher

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

level  ensuring writing assessments are used to set pupils clear targets for improvement  providing purposeful opportunities for pupils to write extensively across subjects  improving guided reading sessions by ensuring tasks help pupils develop their key reading skills so that they can then apply these to their independent reading  encouraging regular reading at home through effective home–school links that help to foster a love of books  making sure that work is pitched at the right level for pupils in mathematics  ensuring pupils have regular, purposeful opportunities to to develop problem solving and investigative skills in mathematics.  Build the capacity of leadership and management to drive improvement by:  developing the role of middle leaders through training and coaching so that they have greater accountability for accelerating pupils’ progress  ensuring middle leaders’ action plans are clearly linked to measurable improvements in pupils’ learning

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

so they know how successful they have been in raising achievement  ensuring that individual and whole-school targets for all staff, appropriate to their level of responsibility, are closely related to improvements in pupils’ achievement and robustly implemented.  Improve behaviour and safety by developing pupils’ social skills so that they understand the importance of good behaviour at playtimes.  An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Leadership and management are inadequate and this has been the case over time. The school’s effectiveness has declined, pupils’ progress is inadequate and still slipping, and weaknesses in teaching have not been addressed. While there has been very significant support from the local authority and new leaders have been brought in recently, there is as yet very limited impact. This shows inadequate capacity for improvement.  The roles and responsibilities of middle leaders have not been developed. They have not received sufficient training to enable them to support and challenge staff in order to bring about rapid improvement.  The monitoring of teaching has not been accurate. Teachers have been given unrealistic advice about the quality of their teaching and have, therefore, made limited improvements. Recently introduced coaching, from the interim headteacher, an advanced skills teacher and the new headteacher is giving teachers a

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The leadership and management are inadequate

clearer understanding of how to improve.  The school’s curriculum is inadequate. It does not meet pupils’ needs or prepare them for the next stage of their learning. There is not enough evidence in books of pupils studying a wide range of subjects.  Checks on pupils’ progress, although in place, have not been thorough enough and until very recently have not focused on making sure pupils make faster progress.  Recent improvements in tracking pupils’ progress have enabled staff to identify pupils who are not making enough progress and those who are stuck. However, although the school now knows the extent of its underperformance, little has been done to address this. The school has not dealt with the gaps in the performance of mostdifferent groups of pupils and does not, therefore, promote equality of opportunity or tackle discrimination.  The school’s process for setting individual and whole-school targets for all staff is in place but this is not

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The leadership and management are inadequate

rigorously followed up to ensure targets are met. Consequently, it has had little impact on improving teaching, raising standards or developing staff skills.  Parents have not been fully aware of the extent of the school’s underperformance. They are, however, pleased with the positive improvements already made by the new headteacher.  Senior leaders are working hard to create a strong learning community with good relationships at all levels.  The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements.  The school has made good use of the extra sports funding. It has been used to purchase resources, improve planning, provide regular sporting competitions and employ a specialist teacher to provide professional development for staff. All of these ensure that the sports provision can be sustained.  The local authority has provided a great deal of support to the school in order to halt its decline. Its

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The leadership and management are inadequate

impact has been limited because, until very recently, leadership did not follow suggested actions in a thorough or systematic way.  The school should not appoint newly qualified teachers.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The governance of the school:  Governance over time has been ineffective. However, governors have recently worked hard to put systems in place to redress the decline. When standards continued to fall they, in conjunction with the local authority, acted to restructure the leadership of the school. Governors are now developing their expertise in a systematic manner to ensure they take an active role in securing improvement. Through their committees, they are starting to review the curriculum, check pupils’ progress carefully, talk to teachers and subject leaders and visit classes. They are involved in setting targets for the management of the headteacher’s performance.They are aware that the performance targets set for all staff are not sufficiently focused on the right thing . Governors attend training, recently carried out a mini- safeguarding audit, and make sure that all policies and procedures are in place to keep pupils and staff

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The leadership and management are inadequate

safe. Governors carefully check the school’s finances, including the pupil premium funding. They know that pupils are not doing well enough in comparison with other schools. Governors are well informed about local and national initiatives. They know that they will need to continue to develop in order to contribute effectively to rapid school improvement.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  In some lessons when there is not enough work or it is not pitched at the right level, some pupils lose interest, chat among themselves or become fidgety.  There have been issues with behaviour in the past. However, pupils say that ‘behaviour has got much better – not many children call out or don’t listen in lessons now’.  Pupils are clear about the expectations of their behaviour and the rewards and sanctions that apply. For example, they know they will lose their play if they misbehave in lessons. Most pupils who spoke to inspectors felt that the system was fair. As a result, they mainly listen well in class, even when the lessons do not engage them.  Behaviour at playtimes and around the school is mainly good. Pupils get on well together and appreciate the fact that there are ‘buddies’ to look after them if they need it at playtimes. However, they say there is

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Behaviour

a small group of boys who tend to play-fight and this sometimes gets out of hand.  Pupils enjoy coming to school and most attend regularly. There are no recorded exclusions.  Pupils say that there is very little bullying of any description, but any that occurs is dealt with swiftly by staff. They find anti-bullying week helpful as it reinforces rules and codes of conduct.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development requires improvement. Planning is not good enough to support pupils’ learning effectively. Although pupils mainly work well together and enjoy each other’s company, this is not always the case. Sometimes, a minority of pupils forget and are rude and unkind.  Pupils appreciate the opportunities they get to find out about different religions. They have appropriate opportunities to explore the values associated with life in modern Britain.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement.  Although the school provides an overall safe environment, pupils sometimes do not feel safe at playtimes when the behaviour of a small group of boys gets out of hand. The school has not dealt with this rigorously enough.  Pupils now feel safer in school as a result of new rules and are happy to go to any member of staff should they need help. They learn about staying safe through, for example, cycling proficiency, talks from the police about keeping safe and regular fire drills.  The school council has recently introduced clear playground rules and ‘helping hands’ when needed at break. This is helping pupils to feel safe and supported.  Pupils have a sound knowledge about safe use of the internet and cyber bullying and know that they are protected from inappropriate information.  The small proportion of parents who responded to the online Parent View survey were not entirely happy

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Safety

with behaviour and bullying, but felt that apart from this, the school kept their children safe.

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

 Teaching is inadequate. There has been too much weak teaching over time. As a result, almost all groups of pupils are not achieving as well as they could.  Teachers do not know where pupils are in their learning or what pupils need to do next to ensure they make progress. This means that work set and the expected outcomes of learning are not at the right level, and this slows pupils’ progress.  Feedback to pupils on their work, although regular, is not specific enough. Additionally, teachers do not ensure pupils correct errors or improve their work.  Although regular reading sessions take place, teachers do not focus sufficiently on building specific skills that will promote enjoyment and help pupils in their wider reading. As a result, these sessions are uninspiring and pupils make limited progress.  Teachers do not place enough emphasis on spelling, grammar and punctuation in lessons or when

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

marking pupils’ work. As a result, pupils’ skills in these areas are weak. Occasionally, an active and interesting approach to teaching these skills engages pupils and supports effective learning.  In most mathematics lessons, the pitch is not right – work is too easy for the most able pupils and too hard for less able pupils. Pupils hardly have any opportunities for problem solving to develop their mathematical understanding or to use their own initiative when doing so. This means pupils’ learning is inadequate.  Teachers do not always challenge pupils enough through the tasks they set for them. Their questions do not extend pupils’ ideas or encourage them to think more deeply.  Teaching assistants mainly give sound support to the groups they are assigned to, as was seen in a phonics session that engaged and challenged pupils and in a mathematics session involving a group of older pupils.  Teachers work hard and are keen to improve but have been given a great deal of conflicting information

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The quality of teaching is inadequate

which, coupled with a lack of clear direction, has not helped them to improve their teaching.  Occasionally, teachers’ good subject knowledge, use of specific vocabulary and effective questioning enable successful learning.  There is little evidence of regular homework over time. Reading at home, in particular, has not been encouraged or used to foster pupils’ enjoyment of books. Consequently, pupils’ reading skills do not support their learning well enough. There is now regular reading, spelling and times-tables homework.  Pupils say they mainly enjoy lessons and there are fewer behaviour issues now.

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is inadequate

 Attainment on entry to Year 3 is above average. In 2013, attainment was average at the end of Year 6 in reading and writing, and below average in mathematics. Pupils’ progress was significantly slower than that found nationally in reading, writing, and mathematics. The school’s unpublished assessment information for 2014 shows a continuing downward trend in achievement over time.  The progress of almost all groups of pupils currently in the school is inadequate in writing and mathematics and in reading their progress requires improvement.  The progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is not good enough. This is due to weaknesses in leadership and management and a lack of information about pupils’ progress.  The school has a small proportion of pupils who are supported by additional government funding. The 2014 unpublished data show that these pupils did better than other pupils in the school and their

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is inadequate

attainment was close to the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. The attainment and progress of these pupils currently in the school is improving and slightly better than that of other pupils who do not attract this additional funding. The funding is now used specifically for them and there are checks on their progress to show how effectively interventions have worked.  The most able pupils make inadequate progress across the school. Work is not challenging enough for them, expectations for what they can achieve are not high enough and there are too few opportunities for them to show what they can do.  The school is not closing the gap in the attainment of disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and the most able pupils. Therefore, the school does not provide equality of opportunity for these pupils or avoid discrimination.  Pupils have daily group reading sessions, but tasks do not focus enough on a love of books or developing

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is inadequate

key skills progressively in order to accelerate progress or support independent reading.  Pupils’ achievement in writing is inadequate. This is because there are no clear expectations for spelling, punctuation and grammar for each year group that can be built on systematically. Although there are regular writing assessments, they do not focus enough on the progressive development of key skills. Additionally, there is not enough emphasis on writing in other subjects to stimulate interest or help develop extended writing skills.  Pupils do not achieve well enough in mathematics as, until very recently, the subject was not taught in a sequential way to build on previous learning. Additionally, there is insufficient emphasis on pupils’ using mathematical knowledge and skills for problem solving. This results in inadequate progress.

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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 failing

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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.

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School details

Unique reference number 116043 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 448946

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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 313 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tina Lowe Headteacher Elaine Viner Date of previous school inspection 10−11 October 2012 Telephone number 02392 252735 Fax number 02392 230824 Email address head@denmead-jun.hants.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 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

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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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