Michael Drayton Junior School

Michael Drayton Junior School The Woodlands, Hartshill, Nuneaton CV10 0SZ

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 This is an improving school. Strong leadership and governance have been focused on raising standards.  The headteacher leads by example, shares a clear vision and ensures that teachers are ambitious for the pupils.  School leaders have tackled underperformance and provided effective training for teachers. As a result, the quality of teaching is good.  Pupils are proud of their school, enjoy coming to school and say that they feel safe and happy at school.  Pupils’ personal development and welfare are outstanding. Pupils are valued for who they are, and they rise to the many opportunities to take up leadership roles in school.  Pupils are self-confident, behave well, and are respectful and polite.  Year 3 pupils get off to a flying start at the school as a result of the effective support they receive. Pupils build well on this good start and in all year groups, pupils make good progress overall in reading, writing and mathematics and achieve

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This is a good school

well.  Pupils who have special educational needs or disability flourish academically and socially as a result of effective, sensitive support.  The curriculum has many strengths. Pupils have access to a wide range of first-hand learning experiences. The use of the school grounds and wildlife areas enhances pupils’ learning.  Parents, pupils and staff are proud to be part of the school, and speak very highly of it.  The governing body is highly effective in its ambition for pupils. Governors monitor the work of the school closely and hold leaders to account for progress on the learning improvement plan.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Some teaching does not provide enough challenge to deepen learning for the most-able pupils.  Some inconsistencies in the teaching of mathematics remain. This means that the proportion of pupils making accelerated progress varies from one year group to another.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Continue to provide support for teachers so that teaching in mathematics matches the very best and pupils’ progress accelerates further by: developing pupils’ mathematical fluency increasing the opportunities pupils have to think and reason mathematically throughout lessons ensuring that all pupils deepen their knowledge and understanding through reasoning and problem solving at an appropriate level.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further accelerate the progress of the most able by: making sure that teachers provide work that is pitched at the right level of challenge for the most-able pupils making sure that the most-able pupils know how they can improve their work.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Since the previous inspection, the headteacher, leaders and governors have tackled weaknesses and have developed sharply focused learning improvement plans to move the school forward. The headteacher, together with the new senior leaders and middle managers, is ambitious, and her vision and commitment to continuous improvement are shared by governors and staff.  Teaching has improved significantly since the previous inspection as a result of well-planned training and effective support for staff. Teachers share good practice and learn from each other. Leaders frequently check the quality of teaching and provide staff with supportive advice on how to improve further.  Teachers with additional responsibilities have benefited from guidance and training from senior leaders and are suitably ambitious and keen to make a difference. They have a good understanding of the quality of teaching and progress of individual pupils and groups of pupils. As a result of their work, marking is

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

more consistent across the school, daily reading lessons are of a higher standard and the presentation in pupils’ books is of a consistently good standard.  The monitoring of teaching and pupils’ learning and progress is well planned and sharply focused on ensuring that no pupil falls behind in their learning. The school is swift in identifying pupils who need additional support. Staff who provide pupils with extra support and class teachers effectively support individuals and groups.  Leaders make good use of external support and expertise. The local authority provides effective support. Regular reviews by the local authority have resulted in improved teaching and leadership over time.  Morale is high in the school and there is strong support from the staff for the leadership team.  Pupil premium funding has been used to provide pupils who are disadvantaged with well-targeted support for individuals and small groups. This has been highly effective, and as a result, disadvantaged pupils in

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

Year 6 in 2015 made more progress than their peers. Disadvantaged pupils currently in school are making good progress in all year groups.  The sports funding has been spent well. This has resulted in increased participation in sports clubs and competitive sporting activities. Funding supports the employment of additional sports staff, who contribute to the teaching of physical education and extend the range of extra-curricular clubs. One parent commented that, ’the opportunities to participate in exercise and sport increase confidence by learning new skills and talents’.  A wide range of extra-curricular activities, including sailing club, sports clubs, craft and drama, enable pupils to discover and develop new skills and talents. At lunchtimes, house captains present a radio programme, playing requests and providing news and weather items. Pupils enthused about the wide range of opportunities offered beyond the school day. This was supported by parents. One parent spoke

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

for many when they said, ’the school provides a wide range of experiences outside of the curriculum which will be the making of happy childhood memories’.  The curriculum is broad and balanced. Leaders have worked with staff to design a curriculum that actively engages pupils in topics and promotes literacy across the curriculum. Pupils have good opportunities to write at length through cross-curricular topics. Pupils enjoy the performing arts and sing with enthusiasm. They learn two musical instruments in Year 3. Pupils learn both French and Spanish in school. International links with schools in Europe and Asia promote an understanding of other cultures.  In recent times, leaders’ overview of mathematics has not paid enough attention to ensuring that pupils experience depth in solving problems and reasoning mathematically. Leaders have now produced a ‘non- negotiables’ handbook for staff, which clearly promotes basic skills through numeracy passports in

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

addition to reasoning and problem solving in all areas of mathematics. Staff have been supported well with their professional development, and the impact is showing in the better progress that pupils are now making in mathematics. However, the new approach is not yet firmly embedded and the proportion making accelerated progress varies across year groups.  Pupils have a strong sense of being valued for who they are, and prejudice or discrimination based on difference is not tolerated. The residential visits to London, when the pupils sleep over at the Natural History Museum, along with residential experiences in all year groups, provide stimulating learning experiences for the pupils. This is contributing well to pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding and is effective in building respect for one another.  The information and communication technology curriculum equips pupils with skills of safety,

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

communication and programming. The school has done a great deal to ensure that pupils know how to keep themselves safe on the internet. A leaflet produced by the ‘e-safety cadets’ has been distributed to every family with a child in the school .  A particular strength of the school is the range of leadership opportunities provided to pupils, who show a maturity in their work with others. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. They are articulate and express values of tolerance towards others, including those from different faiths and backgrounds. This is supported by the effective teaching of learning behaviours such as cooperation and perseverance.  Communication with parents is effective, and the relationship between the school and parents is very positive.  The governance of the school The governing body is highly effective in carrying out its roles and responsibilities for strategically

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

monitoring standards in the school and for providing an ambitious vision. Governors know the strengths and weaknesses of the school. Challenging goals are set for improvement. Governors have ensured that there are clear links between the performance management of staff and teachers’ pay. Governors with key responsibilities provide excellent support for school leaders, asking probing questions about the effectiveness and impact of actions on the learning improvement plan. Governors are rightly proud of their school and the progress they have made since the previous inspection. Governors are well trained and this helps them carry out their roles effectively.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Pupil safety is treated as paramount; pupils trust staff to take action. Leaders keep detailed records of incidents or concerns for a pupil’s welfare. Swift action is taken by the school and communication with other agencies is appropriately recorded. All staff are well

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

trained to identify risks to pupils of radicalisation and extremism.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Leaders and governors have worked effectively to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment since the previous inspection. Teaching is good across the school. As a result of good teaching, pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics, as well as in other subjects.  Teachers make learning interesting. Through effective planning, the topics provide pupils with good opportunities to apply their writing and reading skills in their topic work. Classrooms are vibrant, and wall displays celebrate pupils’ achievements.  Pupils’ speaking and listening skills are well developed through engaging and stimulating topic work. In Year 6, the topic ‘superheroes’ is being used particularly well to extend pupils’ vocabulary. For example, when a child described their hero as ‘invulnerable’, they were able to explain what this means. Pupils share their ideas with confidence, and are encouraged to experiment with adventurous words when

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

speaking and in their written work.  Pupils are developing effective learning behaviours, including perseverance, cooperation, concentration, enjoyment and imagination. Staff support and guide groups of pupils who are ‘learning detectives’ to look for learning behaviours in lessons. Good relationships contribute to pupils making good progress and actively taking responsibility as learners.  The animals on site are an integral part of the curriculum. Pupils are motivated and enthusiastic about animal care and Forest School learning. Good use is made of technology to monitor the life-cycle of animals over the year. Pupils enjoy using the vegetables they grow in cookery. As a result, pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves healthy.  Standards of writing and presentation have improved since the previous inspection. Pupils write at length across different subjects, including history, geography and art, and in wildlife sessions. As a result, pupils

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

have improved their writing skills, including grammar, punctuation and spelling, and are able to write clearly and fluently for a variety of audiences and purposes. They are in the habit of checking spellings using dictionaries.  Pupils are making good progress in developing their reading skills as a result of a daily focus on reading comprehension skills. Pupils enjoy the class novels where they read out loud. Teachers and teaching assistants support pupils who need extra support, and this promotes their reading. As a result, these pupils make good progress.  A new system for teaching mathematics was introduced in September 2015 and staff are working to further develop fluency, reasoning and mastery in mathematics. Classroom displays provide helpful reminders on calculations. Pupils understand their targets in their ‘numeracy passports’ and are growing more confident in their use of number facts. Work in books and discussions with pupils show that they are

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

making better progress this year. Many pupils say that they enjoy mathematics and are confident when discussing the strategies they have used to solve problems.  Pupils who have special educational needs or disability are taught and supported well. They receive a good balance of support and challenge, and as a result are making good progress.  The quality of feedback to pupils through marking has improved since the previous inspection. Teachers mark pupils’ work in line with the school’s marking policy. The vast majority of pupils are given effective guidance on how to improve their work.  The vast majority of teachers and support staff use assessment information effectively to plan work for pupils. However, in some lessons, tasks are not being adequately adapted to extend the challenge for the most-able pupils, and these pupils sometimes are less clear about how to improve their work.  Pupils have regular homework. They particularly enjoy planning for new topics and computer-based

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

homework. As a result, pupils are motivated learners who take pride in their work.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  The school is a welcoming, inclusive place where each pupil is valued and encouraged to flourish socially, emotionally and academically.  Pupils are proud of their roles in school. The responsibilities that are given to them are outstanding. Pupil leadership roles include animal care mentors, e-cadets, house captains, learning detectives, school councillors, junior road safety officers and members of the eco committee, as well as roles planning fundraising and school events. In addition, pupils are given opportunities to shadow leadership roles, extending the capacity of pupil leadership and pupil voice in the school. For example, the animal care mentors talked about some members of the group being hesitant at the start of the year when handling chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs, and how much they have grown in confidence over the year. They

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Personal development and welfare

spoke with great maturity about working together as a team to help each other.  Staff encourage pupils to express their ideas and opinions. As a result, pupils are confident that their contributions are listened to and valued. Pupils’ ideas contribute to the improvement and development of the school’s learning improvement plan. Effective evaluation of the impact of actions and good role models place pupils’ personal development at the centre of the school.  Staff promote a culture of high expectations. The ‘Be the Best You Can Be Project’ encourages pupils to think about their aspirations for their future, while providing them with tools of resilience to overcome challenges.  The pastoral care of individual pupils is exemplary. Relationships are built on trust and confidence, with well-organised systems to support the needs of individual pupils. Leaders work effectively with external agencies to ensure the welfare of pupils is given the highest priority.

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Personal development and welfare

 Pupils have a clear understanding of what to do to keep themselves safe and what to do if they are anxious or worried about something at home or at school.  Pupils get on well with each other and report that bullying is rare. Pupils report that staff respond promptly to any incidents of bullying. This is confirmed by the records the school keeps on any incidents of bullying.  As a result of effective learning in personal, social and health education and physical education, pupils have an excellent understanding of the importance of making healthy choices about exercise and food.  Parents and pupils are clear that the school is a safe and happy place to be. Parental comments were overwhelming positive. One parent’s comments exemplified what was said by many parents when they said their child ’has made huge leaps forward both socially and educationally. He’s happy, he’s safe, he’s making progress’.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Almost all pupils behave well in lessons and are motivated learners. In some lessons, a small number of pupils lose concentration and lack focus on their work.  Pupils are respectful towards each other and show good manners. During the inspection, pupils were confident in initiating conversations. They are keen to share what they enjoy about school.  Pupils’ attendance is above the national average. Punctuality is generally good. However, a few pupils regularly arrive late for school. Leaders have well-developed systems to identify swiftly any attendance concerns, and communication with families is good. The school’s use of rewards encourages good attendance and has had a positive impact on improving attendance. Good attendance is contributing to good achievement.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Outcomes have improved since the previous inspection as a result of better teaching and higher expectations. In 2015, the proportion of pupils who attained the expected Level 4 at the end of Year 6 was broadly in line with the national average in reading and mathematics, while attainment in writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar was higher than the national average.  The proportion of pupils who reached the higher levels was in line with all pupils nationally in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation. The proportion of pupils who reached higher levels in mathematics at the end of Year 6 in 2015 was below average. This dip in standards was largely because a few of the most-able pupils did not make the progress expected from their starting points. Pupils made good progress in reading and writing.  By the end of Year 6 in 2015, disadvantaged pupils’ attainment was higher than that of their classmates

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Outcomes for pupils are good

in mathematics and writing and in line with all pupils nationally in reading, spelling and grammar. Since the previous inspection, the gap has narrowed for disadvantaged pupils in all subjects. Disadvantaged pupils continue to make good progress across the school; this is as a result of well-targeted support and careful monitoring of pupils’ progress by all staff.  Evidence gathered during the inspection, including lesson observations, work in books, the school’s performance information and talking to pupils, indicates that in all classes, pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. The purchase of new resources, a well-stocked library and topics such as ‘superheroes’ mean that boys are inspired to read. The focus on ‘mental maths’ strategies and opportunities to work at greater depth in mathematics are having a positive impact on progress across all year groups.  Pupils who have special educational needs or disability are making good progress in reading, writing and

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Outcomes for pupils are good

mathematics. Their progress is closely monitored. The pupils are encouraged to succeed through appropriate and effective support to help them to do well in their learning.

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School details

Unique reference number 125512 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 10009275

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School details

This inspection 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 505 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jeff Brown Headteacher Diane Compton Telephone number 024 763 92272 Website www.michaeldraytonjunior.co.uk Email address admin@mdja.co.uk Date of previous inspection 27–28 March 2014

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Information about this school

 Michael Drayton is much larger than the average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage and very few pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is average compared with similar schools nationally. The proportion supported with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is below average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support from pupil premium funding (additional money provided by the government for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those looked after by the local authority) is average.  The headteacher was in post as acting headteacher from September 2013 to January 2015. In February 2015, the acting headteacher was appointed as the substantive headteacher. New senior leaders were appointed for September 2015, the deputy headteacher was an internal promotion and a new assistant

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Information about this school

headteacher joined the school team.  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.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 16 teaching sessions, 15 of which were joint observations with the headteacher, deputy headteacher or assistant headteacher.  Inspectors heard pupils read aloud, and observed behaviour in lessons and around school at break- and lunchtime.  Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of pupils’ work, including evidence from their work in the outdoor area. In addition, a wide range of pupils’ books were seen in lessons and inspectors looked at examples of work in subjects other than English and mathematics.  The inspectors held meetings with the 11 members of the governing body, including the chair and vice- chair. A telephone conversation took place with the representative supporting the school on behalf of the local authority.  Meetings were held with pupils, senior leaders, middle leaders and teaching assistants.  Inspectors took account of 65 responses to the online survey, Parent View, 32 written responses to

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Information about this inspection

Parent View, discussions with parents at the start and end of the school day, and 44 staff questionnaire responses.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including the school’s safeguarding records, attendance information, behaviour records, minutes of the governing body and an evaluation of its work and plans for improvement. Inspectors reviewed the records made by the local authority following visits made to the school.

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Inspection team

Pamela Matty, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Michael Onyon Ofsted Inspector Michael Appleby Ofsted Inspector guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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