Deansbrook Junior School

School report Deansbrook Junior School Hale Drive, Mill Hill, London, NW7 3ED

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected as an academy 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

 Attainment improved in 2014 and was broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics.  All groups of pupils, including Black African, White British and those who speak English as an additional language, make good progress.  Pupils new to speaking English are well supported and make particularly rapid progress to catch up with others.  Progress for disadvantaged pupils has improved and gaps have narrowed between their attainment and that of other pupils nationally and their peers in the school.  Teaching is good. Pupils’ skills in reading, writing and mathematics are developed well. Classroom environments support learning with displays to help pupils’ understanding in English and mathematics.  Teaching assistants make an effective contribution to learning. They work well with teachers supporting individuals or groups.  Leaders, managers, governors and the academy trust have ensured that achievement and teaching

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

have improved and are good.  The academy trust took decisive action when results were not as expected at the end of their first term. The effective support and increased challenge from the interim executive board ensured leadership at all levels improved and more consistent practice was developed across the school.  Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. Pupils from a wide range of backgrounds work and play together harmoniously.  Pupils say that they feel safe in the school. Parents spoken to and the vast majority responding to Parent View agree.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 On occasions, pupils are not challenged with hard enough work in lessons.  Marking is not always clear enough about what will make the most difference for a pupil to improve their work in line with the school’s policy.  There are some policies not yet reviewed by the new governing body and shared with parents and staff.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team observed learning and pupils’ behaviour in 17 lessons. One of these observations was carried out with the headteacher.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work they had completed in lessons and over time in their books. Inspectors heard pupils read and attended an assembly.  Meetings were held with two groups of pupils to find out about their views of the school. Meetings were also held with senior leaders, staff, the executive principal, a national leader of education who has worked with the school, and two governors including the Chair of the Governing Body. A phone call was held with the Chair of the Academy Trust.  Inspectors took account of the 29 responses to the online Parent View questionnaire along with returns from the school’s own parent questionnaire. Inspectors also spoke with parents when they brought their children to school.  The inspection team looked at information on how well pupils are doing. They also scrutinised a range of

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Information about this inspection

documentation, including behaviour, attendance and safeguarding information and minutes of meetings of the interim executive board and the governing body.

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Inspection team

Susan Williams, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Deansbrook Junior School converted to become an academy school in April 2013. When its predecessor school, also called Deansbrook Junior School, was last inspected by Ofsted it was judged to be good overall.  The academy trust replaced the local governing body in September 2013 with an interim academy board. A new governing body was established in March 2015.  Deansbrook Junior School is larger than the average-sized primary school.  Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic groups with the two largest groups being White British and Black African. The majority of pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above the national average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium (those who are known to be eligible for free school meals or in the care of the local authority) is almost double the

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Information about this school

national average.  The school runs a daily breakfast club for its pupils.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6.  The school has been supported by a national leader of education and other staff from Bexley Business Academy.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that it is outstanding overall by ensuring that:  pupils are always challenged with hard enough work throughout lessons so progress is rapid  pupils have clear next steps to help them improve their work.  Improve leadership and management by ensuring that the local governing body completes the review and update of policies and these are shared with parents and staff.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, ably supported by his deputy headteacher and with challenge from the academy trust, has ensured that teaching and achievement have improved. The focus on improving teaching with high expectations, known as ‘non-negotiables’, for all teachers in their teaching and classrooms has led to improved consistency and faster progress for pupils.  Following the disappointing results in 2013, leadership has been developed at all levels within the school. The Trust commissioned the work of a national leader of education, who, along with his staff, supported the school on developing leadership and teaching. This was successful. Teaching is now consistently good and pupils’ progress has improved. In addition, an executive principal oversees the work of the school and has provided effective support and challenge for leaders.  Middle leaders have also benefited from this support and have been developed in their roles, ensuring

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The leadership and management are good

consistent practice in their subject areas or year group. The executive principal has trained a number of middle leaders in a nationally recognised qualification which has also helped them be effective in their roles. This ensures that pupils in all classes get a good quality of education.  Leaders have a good knowledge of the strengths and development areas within the school. Actions have demonstrated improvement and show the school has good capacity to continue to improve.  Accountability for pupils’ progress has increased. Leaders meet regularly with teams to check on the progress of pupils and ensure that any at risk of falling behind are identified and actions are taken quickly. This work has improved progress for pupils and groups of pupils where progress in the past was slower.  Disadvantaged pupils are well supported. All staff are aware in meetings how these pupils are doing and they are highlighted on the new tracking grids so they are a focus of discussions about pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management are good

Extra help is monitored to make sure it makes a difference and this has ensured effective use of this funding and faster progress for this group of pupils.  The curriculum has been adapted to improve achievement, particularly in English and mathematics. It is broad and balanced. The school employs a language specialist who teaches Spanish and English grammar. Music is a strength with whole-class instrumental tuition in brass, guitar and recorder. There is a high take-up of instrumental tuition with around one third of pupils learning to play a musical instrument. There is a wide range of extra-curricular clubs from sports to a school orchestra.  The primary physical education and sports funding is effectively increasing pupils’ participation in sport and giving pupils the opportunity to develop skills in different sports. For example, pupils get the opportunity to learn golf in Year 5 and to attend an extra-curricular club. Other clubs provided include

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The leadership and management are good

karate, netball, football and dance. The school has introduced clubs that give pupils the experience of developing their fitness through different activities as well as specialist sports tuition in Years 3 to 6. The impact of this work can be seen with increased proportions of pupils taking part in extra-curricular clubs and the school’s success in local tournaments.  The school ensures pupils learn about different religions and cultures and develop tolerance and understanding for others. The school’s golden rules develop pupils’ contribution and engagement and pupils valuing each other. In Year 6, pupils run whole-school circle groups where pupils take part in a democratic process and are able to share their views. The Year 6 leaders share these views with school leaders. These activities support and help prepare pupils for their lives in modern Britain.  Safeguarding arrangements are effective and meet statutory requirements. An updated policy recognises

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The leadership and management are good

recent changes. Staff undertake regular training and the school works closely with external agencies to support pupils where required.  Good relations are fostered across the school community. Pupils from a wide range of backgrounds learn to respect each other and support one another. Discrimination is not tolerated and equality of opportunity is a priority.  Parents are positive about the work of the school and how well their children are doing. A number of parents commented on how staff were helpful and dealt with any concerns. This is reflected in the online survey with the vast majority of parents reporting that their child feels happy and safe.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Following the disappointing results in 2013, the academy trust took the decisive action to replace the local governing body with an interim academy board. This focused on improving teaching and raising achievement with the executive principal overseeing other aspects of governance. This ensured much greater challenge as the chair of the Trust and the executive principal were part of this board. Together they challenged senior leaders rigorously and modelled effective practice for other governors without educational expertise. Through this work and with additional training, governors improved their knowledge of data and how well pupils in the school were performing against others nationally. They also received other information about how pupils were doing in the different years groups, which they challenged robustly.  Governance is effective. Governors know about the quality of teaching in the school from regular

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The leadership and management are good

reports from the headteacher and the executive principal. Pay awards link to strong performance and teachers meeting the targets set for them. Governors know of where underperformance has been challenged. The new governing body has begun the task of updating policies although there are some yet to be reviewed, updated and shared with staff and parents.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils behave well in classes across the school. Relationships between teachers and pupils as well as between pupils themselves are good. Routines are well established so little time is wasted and this supports learning. Pupils from a wide range of backgrounds get on well together during lessons and play.  Pupils walk around the site sensibly, play well together in the playground and are polite and courteous. Pupils are proud of their work and keep their books in good order. There is no graffiti. They look after the school site and keep classrooms tidy.  Pupils are usually engaged in their learning in lessons and this supports their good progress. There are a few occasions where some pupils lose a little interest when they are not challenged enough in their lessons and this is why behaviour is not outstanding.  Pupils themselves are positive about behaviour. They said that pupils usually behave well. They say there

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Behaviour

are very few incidents of poor behaviour and know of a number of adults or Year 6 prefects that they can go to for help. Pupils are confident adults will sort out problems. School records confirm this view as accurate as there are very few incidents and these are dealt with and do not recur.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils spoken to said that they feel safe in the school. They know about keeping safe and have visiting speakers to help them learn about this. These have included a representative from the regional transport company to help pupils learn about keeping safe on public transport and the police to teach pupils about drugs and substance abuse.  The school discusses current events and items in the news with pupils so they have an awareness of how to keep themselves safe at home or in the community.  Pupils know about bullying and that it is repeated, not a one-off or falling out. They say this happens rarely and is always dealt with. Pupils know about different types of bullying, including cyber bullying, and learn how to keep themselves safe on the internet.  Pupils say that they feel safe in school and the vast majority of parents agree that their children are happy

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching has improved and is now consistently good with some that is outstanding. This has led to improved progress. There has been a focus on clear expectations of how teachers teach lessons, keep classrooms tidy and use displays to support learning. These ‘non-negotiables’ are expected in every classroom and every lesson and have ensured increased consistency.  Each classroom environment supports learning well. All have dedicated displays to support the development of mathematics and literacy skills. There are examples of writing, including teachers’ own writing on the walls for pupils to refer to. There are also displays encouraging pupils to support each other and behave well. Resources to support learning are laid out in a tidy way so that they are readily available for pupils.  Reading is taught particularly well. There is a focus on pupils reading regularly both in school and at home. Pupils are encouraged to think about what they are reading and questioned to check their

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The quality of teaching is good

understanding. Pupils are enthusiastic about reading and like the new reading scheme which tests their understanding of books they have read.  The school has focused on developing writing with a consistent approach across the school this year. Pupils have the opportunity to redraft their work and to improve it. One pupil said that this ‘helps us to understand how to make our work better’. Pupils have the opportunity to write for a purpose and have their work displayed in corridors or in their exciting writing books. This consistent approach has led to faster progress this year.  The teaching of grammar has been developed with the skills of a language specialist. This has led to improved skills in this area for pupils.  Mathematics teaching has also developed and teachers are clear about what pupils are learning about in lessons.  Teaching assistants are particularly effective in lessons. They work well with teachers supporting pupils

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The quality of teaching is good

who need extra help or pupils who are disabled or have special educational needs. They effectively balance support and challenge and ensure pupils are able to participate fully in lessons.  Although all groups of pupils make good progress in lessons, sometimes there are occasions when pupils are not challenged enough with harder work when they are ready and this slows their progress.  Marking is regular and pupils have the opportunity to redraft work in English and set themselves targets in mathematics. However, although there are comments and suggestions for improvement, on occasions these are not clear enough so pupils can make the best use of the advice to improve their work.

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The achievement of pupils

 Following the disappointing results in 2013, a determined drive from leaders and the academy trust ensured that progress accelerated. Attainment improved in 2014 and was broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils’ progress improved, particularly in reading. School records and evidence from pupils’ work shows that this improvement has continued and pupils now make consistently good progress across the school.  All groups of pupils make good progress. The school focused on the achievement of White British and Black African pupils this academic year as they had done less well than others in the past. This increased focus on these groups has improved outcomes. This, alongside new ways of tracking pupils, with grids identifying how much progress pupils have made which are discussed with year teams, has meant that any pupils at risk of falling behind are identified early. This has ensured faster progress and all groups of

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The achievement of pupils

pupils achieving well.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language are supported to achieve well. Those new to speaking English catch up with others and make particularly rapid progress.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs receive extra help. This is effective in class in helping pupils understand the work. Teaching assistants are particularly good at working as part of a team with teachers to ensure these pupils progress well and the provision meets their needs. This has ensured that progress for these pupils has improved and they now achieve well.  Disadvantaged pupils made better progress in 2014 than previously and gaps in attainment narrowed between them and their peers and other pupils nationally: in mathematics, the gaps narrowed from 18 months behind other pupils nationally to eight months behind; in reading, this narrowed from 19 months behind to only two months behind; and in writing, the gap narrowed from 12 months to six months.

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The achievement of pupils

Compared with pupils in the school, the gap narrowed from approximately 14 months to seven months in reading, writing and mathematics. Progress was faster for disadvantaged pupils than others nationally in reading and slightly slower than other pupils nationally in writing and mathematics.  Disadvantaged pupils continue to be well supported in the school and they achieve at least as well as their peers.  A similar proportion of the most able pupils reached the higher level in national tests in 2014 as in all schools nationally. As with other groups, progress has improved for these pupils and they now make good progress. However, occasionally, as other pupils, they are not always challenged sufficiently in lessons to make sure they make the most rapid 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 139489 Local authority Barnet Inspection number 456088

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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 Academy converter Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 390 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Helen Burns Headteacher Simon Putman Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 020 8959 3423 Fax number 020 8201 0492 Email address head@deansbrookjnr.barnetmail.net 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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