Broomhill Junior School

Broomhill Junior School Broomhill Road, Hucknall, Nottingham, NG15 6AJ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders and governors have not maintained a strong enough focus on improving the quality of teaching and raising pupils’ achievement in mathematics since the previous inspection.  Pupils do not make good progress in mathematics and their achievement in the subject is not high enough.  The teaching of mathematics requires improvement. Teachers do not consistently make sure that the work is challenging for the range of pupils’ abilities.  Teachers’ marking in mathematics does not effectively help pupils to understand how to improve.  The achievement of the most-able pupils requires improvement because they do not always reach their full potential in writing and mathematics.  When leaders check the quality of teaching, they do not consider how well the most-able pupils are doing and how they could do better in every lesson.

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The school has the following strengths

 The school is a happy place. Key values and pupils’ personal development are promoted well and talents nurtured.  Behaviour is good and pupils are safe – and say so. Relationships are very good.  Improvements in the teaching of reading mean that all pupils achieve well. In writing, most pupils achieve well.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress.  The school is speeding up the progress made by disadvantaged pupils and many make very good progress.  Teaching assistants contribute very well to pupils’ learning and well-being.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 12 lessons and an assembly. Four observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher. Inspectors also observed the teaching of groups of pupils. In all, 11 members of staff were seen teaching.  The inspectors looked at samples of pupils’ work from all classes, spoke to pupils about their work during lessons and listened to pupils read.  The inspectors held meetings with groups of pupils, members of the governing body, leaders and staff, and spoke to a representative from the local authority.  There were too few responses from parents to the online questionnaire, Parent View, for inspectors to analyse the results. However, inspectors took account of information from a questionnaire for parents conducted by the school.  The inspectors analysed the response from 28 questionnaires completed by school staff.  The inspectors observed the school’s work, looked at progress and attendance information, improvement

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Information about this inspection

planning, evidence of the monitoring of teaching and documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Vivienne McTiffen, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is an average-sized junior school.  The majority of pupils are White British.  The pupil premium funding, which provides support for disadvantaged pupils, is well above the national average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is well-above average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  The Broomhill Farm occupies part of the school’s site. It houses a range of farm animals and is managed by the site manager and staff.  Since the previous inspection, the school has experienced significant governance changes. There is currently an acting Chair of the Governing Body.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and raise achievement in mathematics by making sure that teachers:  make work challenging for all abilities in the class so all pupils make the best possible progress  give pupils good guidance on how to improve their work when they mark pupils’ books.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the achievement of the most-able pupils by making sure they receive work that stretches their abilities in writing and mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by making sure:  systems used by leaders to check the quality of teaching take fully into account how well the most-able pupils are doing and how to raise their levels of attainment  plans to improve mathematics further, and involve governors more fully in setting priorities, have the impact intended.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders, including governors, have not paid sufficient attention to improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement in mathematics. Systems used to check the quality of teaching do not make sure that the most-able pupils achieve as well as they can. Consequently, these aspects of leadership and management require improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders demonstrate the capacity to ensure the school’s improvement. Its recent track record indicates positive impact from the action taken to improve the quality of teaching and learning in mathematics and for raising the achievement of the most-able pupils. Leaders are actively cultivating a keen sense of purpose across the school where behaviour is already good and teaching is improving. As a result, pupils’ progress is speeding up.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders’ concerted efforts in raising achievement in reading, writing, punctuation and spelling have led to marked improvements. However, planning to improve achievement in mathematics has had insufficient time to have the same impact.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The pupil premium is used effectively to support the progress of disadvantaged pupils. Consequently, these pupils are making good progress and any gaps in performance between them and their classmates are closing.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Central to the school’s work is the well-being of its pupils. The dedicated headteacher and his staff make pupils’ personal development a high priority. The caring nature of the headteacher is at the core of the positive ethos of the school. As a result, relationships are very positive and behaviour is good. The key values of respect, tolerance and responsibility permeate the school’s work, preparing pupils well for life in modern Britain. Discrimination of any kind is not tolerated.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Currently, subject leaders are doing their jobs well. They know how well pupils are achieving and what needs to improve in their subjects and are taking positive action to implement improvement, including in mathematics. These leaders are very active in ensuring good provision for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. Consequently, these pupils make good progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The use of the primary sports funding is effective and carefully evaluated. The spending is improving teachers’ skills and raising pupils’ attainment in physical education.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders check the work of staff regularly. They set targets to help staff improve their teaching and provide relevant training – with positive effect on improving the teaching of reading and writing. Expertise within the school is shared and less-experienced members of staff receive advice and guidance. A very positive response from the questionnaires submitted by staff indicates they feel well supported and their classroom practice is improving. As confirmation of staff views, inspectors were able to observe some good classroom practice.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Regular links with the local authority provide training opportunities for staff and valuable advice to leaders on key priorities. As a result, the local authority is having a positive impact on the school’s improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school is developing new systems to assess pupils’ progress as the new primary curriculum is adopted. Leaders are committed to giving every pupil equal opportunity to succeed. Careful consideration is given to class organisation and to the programme of extra support to aid those pupils who need more help than others in order to do well.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The curriculum is creatively planned to provide activities which pupils enjoy and which promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Extra facilities such as the ‘learning bus’ are used very well to support pupils’ learning and aid their positive emotional and social development. The on-site Broomhill Farm aids pupils’ understanding of animal welfare and food sources. Pupils’ talents in sport and art are recognised and developed through helpful external partnerships.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders ensure that safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements and are effective. They make sure that systems for vetting adults who work with children are thorough. The school’s systems are robustly monitored to ensure that pupils feel safe. The recording of any concerns that arise is carried out in a systematic way.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  During a time of personnel changes on the governing body, plans for governors to be fully involved in setting the school’s priorities have been hindered. Governors recognise that this is an area of their work that requires improvement and they are working on ways to be more fully involved. In all other aspects, governors are effective and carry out their roles rigorously. They know the school well and visit frequently. They check specific areas of the curriculum and the effectiveness of leaders, including the headteacher. Governors analyse information about pupils’ progress and attainment, including those supported by the pupil premium, and challenge leaders if pupils are not doing well enough. They recognise that the teaching of mathematics is an area for improvement but have not yet effected the improvement required. They understand what the quality of teaching is across the school. They link

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The leadership and management requires improvement

good teaching to pupils’ good achievement and make sure that this determines decisions about teachers’ pay. Governors know what the impact of performance management is on staff and how it contributes to better professional practice. They carry out the management of the headteacher’s performance and set realistic targets for improvement. They make sure that those who are new to the governing body understand their responsibilities. Governors make sure that British values, including respect and tolerance, are promoted by the school’s activities. They establish positive links with parents and gather their views regularly.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils have a strong sense of fairness and right and wrong because these values are well promoted through all aspects of the school’s work. They understand the school’s rules and show tolerance towards those who find it more difficult to behave well.

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Behaviour

 Pupils say that the school offers good guidance to promote good behaviour. The school’s records show that any incidents are fully recorded and followed up and there is improvement over time in the behaviour of individuals.

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Behaviour

 Pupils say they like their school and enjoy their learning. Their positive attitudes help them to concentrate well and persevere with tasks. Those who find settling to their work more difficult are ably supported by staff.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are willing to try new activities and value the interesting experiences the school offers. They are particularly keen to work towards incentives and rewards, especially for good attendance. This, together with leaders’ concerted efforts and work with parents, is helping to improve attendance.

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Behaviour

 Pupils develop a good understanding of key values. Their work on the school council and the ‘green team’ helps them to make decisions and understand the idea of democracy. They recognise and accept that people may have backgrounds, culture and faiths that are different to their own. One pupil said, ‘Everyone is different; why should we all be the same?’ Pupils accept responsibility and take on small jobs around the school.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Leaders make sure staff are well trained in how to keep pupils safe and maintain rigorous systems and policies that are consistently applied. They ensure that the appropriate checks on visitors and staff who work with pupils are carried out.

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Safety

 Regular checks are made to ensure the site is safe and secure.  Guidance about safety is addressed well by the curriculum. Good use is made of expert visitors to help pupils to understand how to keep themselves safe and what to do if they encounter a problem. Staff give pupils good guidance on safety, for example, when they visit the farm animals. Pupils are helped to understand the benefits and the risks associated with using the internet.

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Safety

 Pupils say they feel safe in school. They know that bullying is something unpleasant happening ‘several times on purpose’. They understand the different forms of bullying, including when using technology and the internet. Pupils know who to speak to if they have any concerns. The school’s records show that incidents are rare but are stringently dealt with. In response to views gathered from questionnaires to parents, leaders make sure that parents understand the school’s systems for dealing with bullying.

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Safety

 Leaders check all absence carefully and follow up reasons for it whenever pupils do not attend school. Leaders’ concerted efforts have led to sustained improvements in the school’s attendance and exclusions figures.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not teach mathematics effectively enough to ensure all pupils make consistently good progress. They do not always make sure that the work they give to pupils is challenging enough for all abilities in the class.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 When they mark pupils’ work, teachers do not give enough guidance on how pupils can improve it. In writing and mathematics, teachers do not consistently challenge the most-able pupils with work that stretches their thinking and ability. Consequently, the most able do not make consistently rapid progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers teach reading and writing well. As a result, most pupils make good progress in these skills. Teachers give pupils interesting topics to write about. They often use stories, such as Oliver Twist, as a starting point. They expect pupils to edit and improve their work and give good guidance when they mark work on how pupils could do better. Staff make sure pupils read regularly and use their reading skills widely. As a result, pupils say they like reading and value the extra help they get to improve.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Staff consistently promote very good relationships and expect good behaviour. They instil positive attitudes to learning and motivate pupils well through incentives and rewards for their efforts. They encourage pupils to rise to new challenges in literacy and reading. For example, during the inspection, the teacher encouraged Year 3 pupils’ enthusiastic response to the task of making their writing more interesting. He used his knowledge of what individual pupils could achieve well to prompt them to extend their sentences and use punctuation correctly.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Staff promote pupils’ speaking and listening skills well. They expect pupils to listen and to contribute. As a result, pupils have the opportunity to share their ideas and explain their reasoning. Teachers make learning interesting. Work helps pupils to understand their own locality and culture and those further afield. Staff place strong emphasis on developing pupils’ creativity, shown by art work of high quality on display in the school.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching assistants contribute to pupils’ learning and personal development very well. They work with all abilities but are particularly effective in helping the less-able pupils, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. Their work with individuals and small groups of pupils leads to the acquisition of basic skills and positive attitudes to learning. Teaching assistants are deployed effectively in the school’s bid to speed up pupils’ progress in mathematics.

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requires improvement

 Pupils’ achievement in mathematics requires improvement because not enough pupils make good progress in this subject. In 2013 and 2014, the end of Year 6 national test results show that pupils’ standards were below average. The school’s information on pupils’ progress and attainment shows that the decline in standards in mathematics seen in 2013 and 2014 has halted and progress is speeding up as a result of leaders’ successful focus on improvement.

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requires improvement

 The achievement of the most-able pupils in writing and mathematics requires improvement. The proportions of the most able who attain the higher National Curriculum levels at the end of Key Stage 2 are below average. Not enough of these pupils make the good progress required to help them to reach the higher levels in all subjects. The school’s drive to improve the attainment of the most able has resulted in a marked increase in the proportions of these pupils gaining the higher levels in reading.

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requires improvement

 Standards in reading have improved to be above average in 2014 because of good teaching. Pupils use their reading skills to gather information. They know how to tackle words they do not know and make sense of what they read. Most pupils generally achieve well in writing. They write for a range of purposes and, as they move through the school, develop more complex and well-structured writing.

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requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress. Staff make sure that tasks are suited to pupils’ abilities and enable them to make small steps towards their learning goals. Pupils become confident learners and work well with a range of staff. Those who are not making expected progress receive a programme of extra support to help them to do well. Good arrangements are applied for these pupils when they join from the infant school – and for their transition to secondary education.

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requires improvement

 The pupil premium funding is spent on additional teaching support and resources with positive effect on raising the academic and personal achievement of disadvantaged pupils. In 2014, the Year 6 national test results show that the attainment of disadvantaged pupils was slightly ahead of that of pupils nationally in reading and a little behind in writing. Although these pupils were more than a term behind their classmates in these subjects, in some cases they made better progress from their starting points.

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requires improvement

 In mathematics, the attainment of Year 6 disadvantaged pupils in 2014 was close to that of their classmates, although they and their classmates were two terms behind other pupils nationally in the subject. The school’s information shows that disadvantaged pupils are currently making accelerated progress because of the good support they receive.

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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 122585 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 456009

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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 216 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair (Acting) Heather Straw Headteacher Andrew Beckinsale-Yates Date of previous school inspection 12 September 2011 Telephone number 0115 9525694 Fax number 0115 9525698 Email address office@broomhill-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 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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