Portway Junior School

Upper Drove, Andover, Hampshire, SP10 3NA

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils’ standards are high. Their results in mathematics and reading show very high attainment.  Pupils make good progress in all subjects.  The school caters for disadvantaged pupils extremely well. These pupils outperform other pupils nationally in all subjects.  Teaching is consistently good across the school. Pupils benefit from a high level of challenge and well-deployed staff.  Pupils take responsibility for their own behaviour and behave well towards each other. The school has high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and manages it well.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is highly effective.  The school curriculum is good. The school offers pupils a wide range of subjects and prepares them well for life in modern Britain.  The headteacher and governors have ensured that all staff shares their high expectations and work together well. As a result, teaching and pupils’ achievement have steadily improved over time.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Too few pupils have attained results at the higher levels and made better than expected progress in writing over time.  Teachers’ expectations of pupils’ writing are not always high enough in subjects other than English.  Teachers do not always give pupils sufficient advice about how to improve their spelling, punctuation and grammar.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed one assembly, 14 lessons across the school and pupils’ behaviour in the playground and at lunchtime. They observed three of the lessons jointly with senior leaders.  Inspectors held discussions with pupils, six members of the governing body, the headteacher and other members of staff. A discussion was also held with a representative from the local authority.  The inspectors observed many aspects of the school’s work, including support for pupils who need extra help. They heard pupils read and examined pupils’ work in their exercise books and on classroom and corridor wall displays.  The inspectors looked at a number of documents, including plans for what pupils should learn in each subject and plans for the school’s future development. They scrutinised the school’s arrangements for keeping pupils safe, pupils’ attendance records and minutes of governing body meetings. The inspectors

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Information about this inspection

also looked at records of how pupils’ learning and the quality of teaching are checked.  Inspectors took the views of parents into account through discussions with several parents. The inspectors also took note of 87 responses to the online Parent View survey and two letters that were received.  Inspectors took staff views into consideration by looking at questionnaires completed by 35 staff members and through discussions with several members of staff.

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Inspection team

Steven Popper, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is a larger-than-average-sized primary school.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  The proportion of pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium (additional government funding for children known to be eligible for free school meals or in the care of the local authority) is lower than the national average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is lower than in most other schools.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The school provides a nurture room which is used to meet individual pupils’ social and emotional needs as they arise.  The special educational needs coordinator also works as the special educational needs coordinator at the adjacent infant school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that more pupils achieve results at the higher levels and make better than expected progress in writing by:  ensuring that teachers’ expectations of pupils’ writing are as high in other subjects as they are in English  making sure that teachers consistently give pupils advice about how to improve their spelling, grammar and punctuation.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, governors and other leaders have high aspirations for their pupils. Their high expectations and reflective approach are shared by other staff, with the result that the school continues to improve.  Senior leaders check the quality of teaching carefully and regularly. They have high expectations of staff performance, which they communicate clearly. Senior leaders give other staff good advice and support to enable them to develop their practice. Teaching is consistently good as a result, and pupils’ results in reading and mathematics are very high. However, leaders have not ensured that pupils’ results and progress in writing have been as strong as those in reading and mathematics over time.  Leaders ensure that the school caters effectively for pupils’ well-being. The school uses its nurture room well to meet pupils’ social and emotional needs as these are identified.  The leadership’s evaluation of the school’s performance is accurate, thorough and detailed. The

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The leadership and management are good

headteacher and other leaders make good use of information about pupils’ progress to ensure that teaching is effective.  Leaders at all levels contribute well to school improvement planning. They take well-judged and successful actions to improve the school.  Middle leaders work together as an effective team. They have helped the school prepare itself properly for the new National Curriculum. Middle leaders support other staff well and help to develop their practice.  The school curriculum is good. Pupils learn a wide range of subjects, which are linked together well. Teachers give pupils many stimulating and imaginative experiences. For example, some pupils recently worked on the play Macbeth, whilst another group went on a residential visit based around the theme of a Victorian Christmas.  The school has thought carefully about how to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain and educate them

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The leadership and management are good

about British values. As a result, its work in this area is strongly developed and of high quality. Pupils learn about democracy, the rule of law and the importance of tolerance. The school’s work in this area shows its deep-seated commitment to equal opportunities and how it helps guard against discrimination.  The school uses additional funding to meet the needs of disadvantaged pupils extremely well. The achievement of these pupils is stronger than that of other pupils nationally. The school has been successful in the national Pupil Premium Awards, in recognition of its outstanding work in this area.  The school spends its sport premium fundingeffectively. The school has successfully engaged pupils in a wide variety of sports and competitive events with other schools. Teachers have developed their skills in teaching physical education and sports as a result of valuable training.  The school’s safeguarding work meets all statutory requirements and is effective and of high quality. The

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The leadership and management are good

school works well with other agencies to help keep pupils safe.  The local authority has provided this good school with light touch support. It has given governors and staff useful training that has helped develop their practice and professional knowledge successfully.  Leaders work well with the adjacent infant school. Some staff, including the special educational needs coordinator, work across both schools. This helps the school to identify and meet particular pupils’ needs successfully.  The school has developed very good relationships with parents. Parents who spoke or wrote to the inspectors praised the school for the quality of its support and communication. All parents who offered an opinion said the school was led and managed well.  The governance of the school:  The governing body checks the effectiveness of school provision regularly and systematically. Governors have a good understanding of information about pupils’ achievement and know where the school needs

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The leadership and management are good

to improve. Governors often visit the school to see the quality of teaching and provision for themselves. Governors question and challenge leaders well. They check that performance management is effectively used to ensure that teaching is consistently good. They make sure that staff receive enough support to further improve their teaching. Governors ensure that school finances are spent well and that pay relates properly to teachers’ and leaders’ levels of performance. They carefully monitor the effectiveness of actions taken to improve the school. They have had a good impact on school improvement.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils concentrate well on their lessons and are eager to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding. Their enjoyment of learning contributes to their good progress. Until recently, however, teachers have not made enough use of pupils’ positive attitudes to ensure sufficiently fast progress in writing. This is why behaviour is not outstanding.  The school has high expectations of pupils' behaviour, as do pupils themselves. Pupils follow the school code of conduct willingly and spontaneously. They treat staff and each other with high levels of respect and consideration.  The school manages pupils’ behaviour consistently well. School records show very few incidents of poor behaviour or bullying over time. School records also show how the school has successfully helped particular individuals pupils’ behaviour to improve.  Pupils who talked to the inspectors all agreed that behaviour in the school is good. They also said that the

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Behaviour

school would not tolerate any discrimination or other forms of disrespectful behaviour.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding.  Staff supervise pupils very well and keep them safe at all times. They check the safety of school grounds and other resources very carefully.  Staff use the nurture room effectively to ensure the emotional safety and security of individual pupils.  The school teaches pupils how to avoid risk and keep safe very well, notably when pupils are using the internet. Pupils demonstrated very good knowledge of helpful strategies they could use to keep themselves safe.  Teachers make sure that pupils have a very good understanding of different types of bullying, and how to avoid them. Teachers have also given the older pupils a good understanding of the possible dangers of peer pressure.  Pupils who spoke to the inspectors said that they felt safe whilst at school.  All parents who responded to the online Parent View survey thought that their children were safe, happy

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching across the school has strengthened over time and is now consistently good. Because of this, pupils make good progress and achieve well.  Teachers offer pupils, including the most able, high levels of challenge. They use questioning effectively to encourage pupils to expand their ideas and think more deeply.  The school teaches reading very well. Teachers engage pupils with challenging texts, whilst at the same time developing key reading skills well. As a result, pupils demonstrate a substantial love of reading and reach very high standards by the time they leave school.  Mathematics teaching is also strong. Teachers give pupils clear advice that helps them develop confidence in using different methods of calculation. Pupils’ work books demonstrate the good progress that pupils make in the subject.  The teaching of writing has been less effective over time. However, it has improved, so that pupils’

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The quality of teaching is good

progress and results have strengthened year by year. Teachers now teach writing well, and pupils currently in the school make good progress as a result. However, teachers’ expectations of pupils’ writing are not always as high in other subjects as they are in English. In addition, teachers do not consistently give pupils good advice about how they can improve their spelling, punctuation and grammar. This affects the quality of some of the writing.  Teachers and leaders make good use of other staff. Teaching assistants give small groups and individual pupils effective and well-pitched support that helps them learn successfullyl. Teachers meet the needs of disadvantaged pupils and disabled pupils and those with special educational needs well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ progress and their results at the end of Key Stage 2 have improved over time. Pupils’ results in all subjects are higher than average.  Pupils currently in the school make good progress in all subjects, and their progress in reading and mathematics has been strong over time. However, pupils have only recently begun to make securely good progress in writing.  In 2014, the most able pupils’ results at the higher levels at the end of Key Stage 2 were very high in mathematics and extremely high in reading. However, their results in writing at the higher levels were lower than average. The most able pupils make good progress across the school.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress overall, although their progress in writing tends to be slower than that of other pupils in the school. Their attainment is lower than that of other pupils nationally, but is improving in relation to them. The school caters for the well-

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The achievement of pupils is good

being of this group of pupils carefully, sensitively and effectively.  The school promotes the achievement of disadvantaged pupils extremely well. These pupils progress faster than other pupils in the school and outperform other pupils overall in reaching higher levels of attainment. In 2014, disadvantaged pupils were approximately half a term behind other pupils in the school in reading and mathematics. However, they were about one term ahead in writing. Disadvantaged pupils outperformed other pupils nationally by about half a term in reading and one term in writing and mathematics.  All parents who offered an opinion thought that their children made good progress in the school, and the inspectors agreed.

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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 115853 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 448789

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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 Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 7−11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 380 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Esnay Burns Headteacher Tim Deery Date of previous school inspection 23–24 June 2010 Telephone number 01264 352060 Fax number 01264 363894 Email address adminoffice@portway-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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