Killamarsh Junior School

Killamarsh Junior School 38 Sheffield Road, Killamarsh, Sheffield, S21 2EA

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 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

 The school is improving rapidly because, since the previous inspection, leaders and governors have significantly improved pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching. They manage teachers’ performance well.  Pupils achieve well in all subjects, including reading, writing and mathematics, because they are taught well.  Pupils thoroughly enjoy school. They are very proud of what they do and develop personally and academically.  Behaviour is good in lessons and around the school. Pupils are eager to learn and do well. They are articulate, friendly and polite.  Staff ensure that pupils acquire the skills they need for later life. The focus on enterprise skills is particularly effective in preparing pupils for life beyond school.  Provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral social and cultural development is integral to all parts of school life. It includes a strong focus on promoting British values and preparing pupils for life in

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

modern Britain.  Parents are very satisfied with the school. They say the school keeps their children safe and helps them to make good progress. Attendance is above average.  Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. Staff teach them how to manage the different sorts of risks they might encounter in and out of school, including when using the internet.  Governors support the school well. They challenge school leaders robustly and are very clear about their role in helping the school to improve.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 There is not enough outstanding teaching to make sure pupils’ achievement is outstanding.  Teachers do not mark writing skills well enough when pupils write in different subjects.  Teachers sometimes labour learning points too much, thereby limiting the time some pupils have to show or extend learning themselves.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed learning in parts of 13 sessions. The headteacher joined inspectors for four of these observations.  Inspectors analysed the work in pupils’ books and talked to pupils formally and informally about their work and about the school. They also observed pupils’ behaviour at play and lunchtime.  Inspectors considered the views of the 13 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They also gained the views of parents directly as they brought their children to school, and took account of the outcomes of the school’s own survey of parents in March.  Inspectors considered the 23 responses to the questionnaire for staff.  Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documentation, including the school’s data on current pupils’ progress, its self-evaluation document and the school improvement plan. They evaluated other planning and monitoring documents, including those relating to teaching, safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors held discussions with senior and other leaders, three governors, various members of staff and a representative of the local authority.

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Inspection team

Doris Bell, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils for whom the school receives pupil premium funding is above average. This funding is for pupils who are in local authority care and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average.  Almost all pupils are from White British backgrounds.  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.  There is a small breakfast club for pupils who the school feels will benefit from such provision in school.  The local authority uses the headteacher to lead training for other schools on how to approach the curriculum differently to help pupils learn better.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make more teaching outstanding by ensuring that:  when pupils write in different subjects, they receive good quality feedback that helps them progress faster towards their writing targets  in lessons, teachers move pupils who have understood what they have to do onto their learning tasks sooner so that they have maximum time to show and, where relevant, extend their learning by themselves.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders and managers are ambitious for all pupils. They have high expectations of staff and are driving improvement strongly. This is evident in the rapid improvement in attainment between 2012 and 2014 as pupils’ progress increased and standards rose from below to above average.

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The leadership and management are good

 Throughout the school, there is a strong focus on securing the best academic and personal development possible for all pupils. Both aspects are flourishing, not least because of strong teamwork and a shared understanding among the staff of what the school needs to do to become outstanding. Leaders do much to encourage good behaviour and attendance so that pupils can learn well at all times.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders thoroughly analyse information about pupils’ progress to make decisions about the steps needed to secure further improvement. The school’s self-evaluation is accurate. It informs the school’s over-arching priorities and, ultimately, the challenging targets set for staff and pupils. Leaders and governors regularly check that the steps the school takes towards its priorities are helping to drive improvement for all groups of pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The leadership of teaching is strong and the management of teachers’ performance is good. Checks that senior leaders make on teaching are precise and accurate. They lead to clearly identified areas for improvement and, where necessary, well-targeted training to tackle any aspect of underperformance.

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The leadership and management are good

 Subject leaders fulfil their roles well. Working with senior leaders, they have ensured that the school meets the requirements of the new National Curriculum without losing the enterprise skills that are key features of the successful learning taking place throughout the school. Pupils’ experiences are rich and varied; their learning is interesting and motivating. It prepares them well for the future. Much enrichment is evident in the wide range of visits, visitors and well-attended extra-curricular clubs and activities.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s new assessment procedures for reading, writing and mathematics are successfully enabling staff to measure pupils’ progress from term to term. Assessment systems are not in place for other subjects, although subject leaders have started to consider the skills required for each age group and how best to assess progress in them.

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The leadership and management are good

 The leadership and management of the provision for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are good. The leader supports staff well in making sure that staff working with the pupils do their job well and that the targets set for pupils lead to good progress. Similarly, good leadership of the provision for the most-able pupils is ensuring that more of these pupils reach the higher standards of which they are capable.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders ensure equality of opportunity in everything the school does. They do a great deal to eliminate discrimination of any kind. Staff consciously discuss sensitive issues with pupils to help them learn about factors that might affect their own and others’ lives, as well as to respect those who might be different. They teach pupils about different societies, belief systems and cultures, the dangers of extremism, and why it is important to live together peacefully.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s work to promote British values, develop pupils’ understanding of democracy and of the richness and diversity of culture that makes British society what it is today is a high priority. Leaders see these values as basic human values and ensure they are promoted in everything the school does. Staff encourage pupils to reflect on different aspects of life, to study contemporary news and to look back as well as forward to begin to understand society as it is today and their place in it.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority, recognising how much the school has improved, provides an appropriately low level of support for it, which, nevertheless, the school has used well. The local authority uses the headteacher to lead training for other schools on a different approach to the curriculum.  The effective use of pupil premium funding means that gaps between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils in school and nationally are closing rapidly. As a result of the good use of the primary schools sports funding, more pupils are participating regularly in sport and physical education activities, because they are learning the skills that enable them to do so. The school tracks the impact of both sets of funding meticulously in relation to the progress of individual pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 Safeguarding procedures, including those for child protection, meet current government guidelines and statutory requirements. The good levels of support given to pupils and their families have had a marked impact on pupils’ learning and personal development, including their attendance and punctuality.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governance is effective. Governors have a good understanding of data about pupils’ performance. They analyse and question published and in-school data at governors’ meetings. They carry out their own, first-hand checks by visiting their link classes regularly, taking part in the analyses of pupils’ work, and meeting with staff, pupils and parents to check that what the school is doing, is working.  Governors know about the quality of teaching and how leaders tackle any underperformance. They support the headteacher well in making decisions about pay based on staff performance.  Governors make good use of training to hone their skills. They make sure that finances are managed effectively and use their individual and collective expertise astutely to check on the school’s work and hold senior leaders to account for how well pupils are doing.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils enjoy school. They come ready to learn and eager to do well. They understand how their good behaviour and good attitudes to learning help them to make good progress. They meet the high expectations the staff have of their learning and behaviour. Parents, pupils and staff all say that behaviour is always good.

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Behaviour

 Pupils take pride in their work and they present it well. They look after the school and the wide range of equipment that helps them learn in class, and play harmoniously together in the playground. They understand and accept the need for rules and the part they play in helping the school and society to function effectively.

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Behaviour

 Pupils relish the opportunities they have to take responsibility, for example, as peer mentors, play leaders and school councillors, or school guides, environmental monitors and lunchtime receptionists. They understand that by doing so, they make a valuable contribution to school life and acquire skills that will stand them in good stead as adults. Pupils help each other in lessons. They collaborate well, share ideas and readily share and assess each other’s work.

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Behaviour

 Pupils appreciate how staff help them to learn. They say, for example, ‘Teachers help you with your work, encourage you to do your best and always know how you can do better.’ The mutual trust and respect between pupils and staff are evident in the excellent relationships throughout the school.

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Behaviour

 Occasionally, peer assessment is less helpful because pupils do not fully understand what they are looking for. Additionally, pupils do not all have the skills they need to seek out further knowledge to deepen and extend their own learning.

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Behaviour

 The breakfast club gives pupils who attend it a good start to their day.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils say they are very happy and safe at school, and very comfortable about talking to staff should they have any problems. They are reflective and caring, and describe the school as a good community where everyone looks out for everyone else.

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Safety

 Staff teach pupils how to keep themselves safe and how to manage risks, for example, when using the internet and classroom resources, or playing on the playground equipment, as well as when they are out and about on their own. Risk assessments are thorough. They are carried out for all activities to ensure that pupils are as safe as they can be at all times.

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Safety

 Pupils understand what bullying is, including cyber-bullying, the different forms it can take, and they know what to do about it. The school’s records show that bullying incidents are very rare and dealt with effectively. Pupils to whom inspectors spoke did not know of any bullying.

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Safety

 Pupils report that any untoward behaviour is swiftly sorted out. They know that it is wrong to discriminate against anyone, including, for example, teasing or calling each other names. They are alert to the dangers associated with extremism and know that it is important to treat everyone equally and with respect.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching engages pupils well because it often arises from or is rooted in real-life experiences. As such, it has meaning and makes pupils want to succeed. For example, when pupils in Year 6 were solving complex mathematical problems, they did so in the context of costing a school visit to a theme park. The work deepened their mathematical understanding and increased their ability to reason out their answers.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Open-ended questions, modified for individuals and groups, probe and deepen pupils’ thinking and extend their knowledge and understanding. Teachers build pupils’ learning up, step by step, so that it becomes increasingly secure. They readily adjust work in lessons, in response to how well pupils are doing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers use support staff well to help groups and individuals clarify and extend particular aspects of learning. As a result, pupils, especially those who find learning difficult, make good progress. Teaching also reaches the needs of the most-able pupils with work that is harder and expects more of them.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The strong focus the school places on teaching pupils enterprise skills alongside basic skills prepares pupils well for the future. It ensures that pupils understand why it is important to read and write, and to understand and use different mathematical skills well. For example, in order to raise funds for their projects, pupils in one class wrote persuasive letters to businesses to encourage them to take and pay for advertising space in the class magazine; pupils in another drew up a set of criteria to ensure their art work was attractive to buyers so that they could sponsor an endangered animal.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Reading, writing and mathematics are all taught well. Pupils receive regular oral and written feedback on their work and all marking is up to date. However, feedback on writing in different subjects is very limited. Therefore, teachers miss valuable opportunities to help pupils reach their writing targets faster.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Occasionally in lessons, teachers labour a learning point for too long and some pupils become restless because they understand what they have to do and want to get on with their work. This limits progress because pupils do not then have enough time to demonstrate their learning or take it further.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ attainment is average at the start of Year 3. Evidence from pupils’ books and the school’s tracking data shows that the improvements up to 2014 are continuing, and standards remain above average. That evidence also shows that progress is good throughout the school. Overall, pupils achieve well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils thoroughly enjoy reading. They respond exceptionally well to the reading challenges set and are keen to reap the rewards from them. All pupils, from the least to the most able, demonstrate a clear passion for reading. They read widely, report that they always have a book ‘on the go’ in addition to their reading book and can talk about how their improved reading skills are helping them with writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The wide range of good quality writing in pupils’ books demonstrates that actions taken by the school last year are beginning to bear fruit. Pupils’ writing is engaging because it includes a wide range of vocabulary, gives good information, for example, in reports and recounts, and shows good awareness of audience and purpose. Handwriting is mostly neat and legible and pupils present their work well.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils use subject-specific vocabulary well when they write in different subjects, for example, science, history and geography. Here, however, they sometimes forget to use what they have learned in literacy, and careless errors creep in, especially in relation to spelling, grammar and punctuation. The guidance they receive through marking does not help them to overcome such errors and make faster progress towards their targets.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts as they learn to solve written mathematical problems, often related to daily life, and they are keen to explain how they arrive at their answers. Nevertheless, because, occasionally, they do not set their calculations out precisely enough, or recall number facts quickly enough, they make easily avoidable mistakes.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disadvantaged pupils make good progress. The gaps between their attainment and that of other pupils in the school and nationally are closing rapidly. In 2014, their attainment was about a term behind other pupils in the school in mathematics, reading and writing. When compared with other pupils nationally, they were half-a-term ahead in mathematics, just over half-a-term behind in reading, and just under a term behind in writing.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs also make good progress. Staff involve pupils and their parents in setting up well-focused targets that are constantly checked to make sure they are at the right level for each pupil. Teaching and support staff help the pupils to reach their targets by breaking their learning down into the smaller steps they need to take to show progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils also make good progress. More are working at the higher levels than in the past because they receive focused support to help them make the faster progress of which they are capable. Their work is celebrated in anthologies of writing that are put on display to give other pupils examples of what they might aim to achieve.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils are thoroughly enjoying the many sporting activities made available through the primary schools sports funding. The good use of this funding to raise expertise in the school helps talented pupils to go even further, while supporting more reluctant participants to take a full part in all activities. Several of these pupils have now represented their school in competitive sport.

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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 112578 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 462014

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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 166 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tony Laycock Headteacher Stuart Turner Date of previous school inspection 10 July 2013 Telephone number 0114 248 6277 Fax number 0114 251 3564 Email address info@killamarsh-jun.derbsyhire.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . 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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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