Fordingbridge Junior School

Fordingbridge Junior School Pennys Lane, Fordingbridge, Hampshire SP6 1HJ

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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 Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 The headteacher provides good leadership. She is driving improvements in all aspects of the school’s work strongly. Her vision is very firmly and clearly based on high-quality teaching and learning and strong support for all pupils’ welfare.  Other staff with leadership responsibilities support improvements smartly and effectively.  Systems to check on the achievements of pupils are frequent, very thorough and effective. They enable rapid interventions to support better outcomes for groups and individuals when necessary.  Governors are very well informed about the work of the school. They offer well-judged and incisive challenge to senior staff.  Consistently good teaching in all four year groups supports all groups of pupils to make secure and reliably good progress. Pupils enjoy learning and are justifiably very proud of their achievements.  Gaps in outcomes between disadvantaged pupils and others are closing as a result of the tight

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This is a good school

focus the school maintains on every pupil’s progress and the individual support given.  Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. There is a very positive spirit of respect and cooperation around the school and in lessons. Many pupils make good contributions to their school.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The quality of teaching and learning are not yet outstanding.  Some strategy documents do not highlight the needs of disadvantaged pupils clearly enough to enable governors to check on the impact of the school’s actions easily. Analyses of the achievements of this group do not always show trends in outcomes clearly.  Improvements in boys’ reading and writing need to become more secure in some classes.  Pupils with exceptional ability are not always offered the very high levels of challenge they require in order to make excellent progress.  There are limited opportunities for pupils to obtain an outstanding grasp of some aspects of diversity and equalities.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Eliminate the achievement gaps between pupils eligible for the pupil premium and others, by: ensuring that the needs of this group and the actions being taken are explicit in school improvement planning and in other strategy documents so that monitoring and evaluation can be sharper refining the analyses of pupils’ achievements to highlight existing gaps within a class or year group more clearly so that the success of strategies adopted across the school can be monitored more quickly and reliably.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve outcomes for all pupils to become outstanding, particularly: boys’ achievements in reading and writing the progress made by the most-able pupils by ensuring that they are doing work that enables them to achieve the very highest standards.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Broaden and deepen pupils’ awareness of different cultures, faiths and family structures and evaluate the impact of such work rigorously.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher has a clear vision for the school based on consistently high-quality learning and excellent care for pupils’ welfare. She has established a leadership structure and systems within the school that have supported improvements strongly and effectively since the previous inspection.  The quality of pupils’ learning is checked frequently and rigorously by direct observations of their work in lessons and in their books and by gauging their achievements at key points in the year. This information is brought together and reviewed frequently by leaders. It is used to identify what is working well and what needs to be done to address any shortfalls. There is a range of ways in place to ensure that the momentum of this work is maintained between reviews. As a direct result, outcomes for pupils have improved markedly and continue to do so.  Leaders check the quality of teaching regularly through frequent visits to classrooms and analyses of the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

achievements of pupils. Interventions to support the development of teachers’ skills are rapid, well planned and very effective. As a result, the quality of teaching has improved to become reliably good across all year groups and there is some emerging outstanding practice.  Considerable emphasis has been placed on ensuring that the new assessment practices and new systems in place to monitor achievement are providing accurate and reliable information to leaders and teachers. Leaders have organised frequent meetings with several other local schools to test their judgements of the quality of pupils’ work. This has generated a well-founded confidence in the reliability of assessment information.  The pupil premium (government funding directed at the needs of disadvantaged pupils) is spent wisely and effectively. Good quality specialist materials and resources are bought to enable pupils who are not working

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

at the expected level to catch up. A home-school worker is jointly funded with the local infant and secondary schools to remove barriers to learning. A nurture group has been established that helps some pupils to catch up on social and learning skills.  Key strategy documents do not always flag-up leaders’ responses to the needs of all groups of pupils vulnerable to underachievement such as those eligible for the pupil premium and those with special educational needs or disability. This, and a similar lack of headlining of the progress of such groups in analyses of outcomes, diminishes the capacity of school leaders to gauge the overall impact of their actions throughout the year.  Actions taken to secure the welfare and safety of pupils are highly effective. Several parents made a point of telling inspectors that the school, as one put it, ‘…goes the extra mile and more’ to show care and support

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

for pupils and their families, some of whom go through challenging times. As a result, the school is a happy and positive place to learn and staff morale is very high. Parents, staff and pupils hold the school in high regard. A very high proportion of parents who responded to Parent View say they would recommend the school to others. One pupil said to inspectors, ‘This is an amazing school’; others around him agreed enthusiastically.  Very good use is made of the physical education and sport premium. Pupils speak very highly of the range of extra-curricular sports clubs they can be involved in and the great majority enjoy doing so. Participation rates have increased significantly over the last year and continue to rise. New sports introduced include fencing, orienteering, tennis and tag rugby. The participation of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is monitored closely. A ‘fitness for life’ club targets provision for pupils that need to be active but require more

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

encouragement.  Leaders have successfully balanced prioritising improvements in pupils’ skills in reading, writing and mathematics in order to address historical shortcomings with the need for a broad and balanced curriculum. However, some classes’ learning in music is slowed by a lack of frequent exposure to all relevant aspects of this subject. Singing in assembly is hearty, however.  Pupils have a very good understanding of democracy, the rule of law and individual liberty. This, together with a well-organised programme of religious education, contributes usefully to their cultural, social, moral and spiritual development. However, there are relatively few opportunities for them to gain an appreciation of ethnic diversity. Relatively few older pupils feel that the school has helped them to understand that there are a variety of loving relationships and family structures.  Despite some gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding, equality of opportunity is promoted very

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

strongly and successfully in the school. Discrimination is not tolerated. Pupils are interested in differences and diversity and are open to learning about them. Leaders are very well aware of the particular social, emotional and learning needs of every child and take steps to ensure that everyone makes good progress and is happy by taking these differences into account. Pupils and their parents rightly perceive the school to be fair and supportive of every individual.  The local authority provides good support for the school. Regular visits are made to test the accuracy of leaders’ views of the quality of its work and to gauge the rate of improvements. A range of good subject- specific and more general support is provided when necessary, for example in mathematics and intervention and support strategies over the last two years. Despite the school being judged as requiring improvement at its last inspection the local authority accurately deemed it a low priority for support and intervention this

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

year.  The governance of the school – Governors know the school very well by having particular aspects of its work for which each is responsible, and carrying out frequent visits. They use this good knowledge to offer useful and relevant challenge to senior staff. Meetings are used well to probe and check on the progress of the school against its targets. – Governors maintain close oversight of the quality of teaching using a wide range of information about pupils’ historical and current achievements. Decisions about the pay progression of eligible staff are subject to appropriately high levels of scrutiny and challenge. The progress of all pupils, including those with special educational needs or disability and those eligible for the pupil premium, is scrutinised despite these groups’ needs not being given clear and obvious status in the school improvement plan. – Governors oversee the school’s finances with care and skill and plan well, as far into the future as they

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

are able.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. All aspects of the school’s work to ensure the welfare of pupils are secure. Appropriate checks are made on anyone who has contact with pupils. Training for all staff is appropriately frequent and rigorous. Governors and senior staff are well aware of their responsibilities with regard to the prevention of extremism and radicalisation. There is a nominated safeguarding governor who is well qualified for this role and who audits the quality of systems frequently and thoroughly.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teaching is consistently good in all year groups. It supports all groups of pupils to learn well and to make good progress.  Teachers use assessment information very effectively. They gauge the quality of pupils’ understanding and the extent of their knowledge accurately because of the regular opportunities to agree standards between themselves and with other local schools. The information is usually used well to steer next steps and to provide extra support or challenge for individuals.  Pupils like the way that teachers comment on their work in their books. It gives them a clear sense of what is right, and why, and what needs more attention. This is done in an agreed manner across the school and is understood by all. Pupils make very good use of the time given in the morning to read these comments and to respond.  Teachers have good subject knowledge and use it to plan lessons that pupils find interesting and enjoy.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

Feedback from leaders about the quality of planning is appreciated by staff and is used well.  Teachers’ questioning often supports pupils’ learning well. At its best, it probes and checks understanding and makes pupils think for themselves. Sometimes, it doesn’t quite go far enough to test pupils’ grasp of an idea thoroughly or to develop new thinking.  Appropriate work is provided for pupils of different levels of ability and those at different stages of their learning. Usually, pupils have a say in which level of difficulty to choose in the work they do. Because the skill of choosing appropriately challenging work is instilled in pupils from Year 3, they do this confidently and successfully from quite an early stage.  Learning support assistants support the learning of pupils very effectively because there is good communication between them and teachers to enable continuity of approach. Many offer support in a

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

constructive manner by questioning and reinforcing learning by requiring its application in slightly different contexts. This supports pupils’ good progress over time.  Mathematics is now taught well. Pupils’ capacity to use mathematical reasoning is developed successfully through whole-class and small group discussions. Teachers want to know ‘why’ and ‘how’ all the time, and so encourage pupils to justify their thinking clearly and usefully. Problem-solving approaches have been developed as the basis for many activities but this has not yet become the day-to-day strategy that leaders want it to be.  The teaching of reading and writing has improved significantly since the previous inspection. Writing is now based on rich and interesting personal experiences such as a recent visit to a local disused railway line and an exploration of local history. Boys’ progress in reading and writing is now much better than at the time of

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

the previous inspection but some improvement strategies are not yet embedded in every classroom. Commercially produced packages have been chosen and implemented well to suit the needs of younger readers and those in Years 5 and 6 who have struggled to develop these skills. Some training in phonics (the sounds that letters make) has begun and this is starting to make a difference.  Opportunities for pupils’ cultural development are well matched to their needs at each stage. There is a wide variety of opportunities of trips and visits linked closely to their studies. Year 4 pupils recently explored the world of samba in their topic work on Brazil and made elegant carnival headdresses based on the Rio Carnival. Year 3 enjoyed a visit from a theatre company that enabled them to travel back through time to learn about ancient Egypt. ‘Golden time’ also offers a wide range of choices to extend learning including

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

pond dipping, sewing, film and extreme colouring.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.  There are many opportunities for pupils to develop a profound understanding of their responsibilities to others. For example, pupils from each class are represented on the school council, some are digital leaders and sports or learning ambassadors and many in Year 6 are prefects. There was great interest recently in the junior police community support officer scheme supported by the local neighbourhood policing team. This well-coordinated approach to ensuring that pupils feel involved in, and responsible for, aspects of the work of their school makes a significant contribution to their social and moral development.  Assemblies and displays throughout the school are used very effectively to remind pupils of important messages around conduct and behaviour.  Attendance has improved over recent years and is now above the national average. This is due to a

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Personal development and welfare

significant emphasis on the benefits of attending reliably and being punctual to school every morning.  The school places an appropriately high premium on ensuring that all pupils are safe, well prepared to manage a range of situations in their lives and to manage risks. Pupils are confident about how to stay safe online because key messages have been explained and then reinforced. Training for staff in child protection and safeguarding is frequent and high profile and there is a very strong culture in the school of spotting possible concerns and reporting them.  Links with local agencies to support some pupils’ more complex needs are very effective. A family link worker is employed jointly with several other schools to provide support for pupils and families. Some useful counselling support is offered through ‘We Listen’ therapy in school. There are good links with the local pupil referral unit.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.  Pupils say that bullying is a very rare event. They explained to inspectors that a small number of pupils may be unkind sometimes but staff respond very quickly and effectively to ensure that problems do not develop. The majority of parents are very positive about the success of the stance taken by the school to maintain happy and positive relationships.  The school’s nine learning dimensions are a useful vehicle to develop children’s understanding of how to become better learners. They also provide a useful common language between teachers and parents to reinforce good attitudes in lessons, beyond the school day and at home.  There are occasional instances of poor behaviour. They are usually associated with some pupils’ more complex needs and circumstances. They are handled well by staff so as to minimise their impact on learning and on the atmosphere in the school. Very few pupils receive fixed-term exclusions; this sanction is used

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Pupils learn well and make good progress in all aspects of their work in every year group.  The school has recently changed its assessment scheme and, as a result, the ways in which teaching and learning are organised. These changes have been managed well. They promote higher expectations and ensure that all pupils gradually develop a secure grasp of key ideas as they move forward through each topic. Any pupil who is still ‘working towards’ success in any work covered is offered timely support; no one is left behind in any work.  Outcomes in mathematics have improved since the previous inspection because pupils’ progress in this subject is now good. This is a consequence of teachers’ confident grasp of the demands of the new national curriculum and close agreement on its implementation. Pupils enjoy the challenge of learning mathematics. Year 6 pupils were observed enjoying grappling with some demanding work on sequences; some managed

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Outcomes for pupils are good

to express the rules they had spotted algebraically. Younger pupils were seen working successfully with basic fractions, others were carrying out short division quickly and reliably but on the basis of understanding the underlying mathematics involved.  Standards in reading by the end of Year 6 in previous years matched national averages but this did not represent good progress given those pupils’ starting points. Pupils’ learning in reading is now much better; it is now seen as a fun and exciting activity by many, including boys. Reading books are prevalent in classrooms and reflect a wide range of interests and tastes. Writing skills have also improved over recent years due to pupils’ better appreciation of the purpose and pleasure of writing, having experienced a range of opportunities to stimulate their responses. Outcomes in English grammar, punctuation and spelling by the end of key stage 2 were low in 2015; standards are now much better because of the close attention given to

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Outcomes for pupils are good

their development and good quality feedback on written work.  A relatively large proportion of pupils arrive in Year 3 having achieved very well by the end of key stage 1. Along with others, they are offered appropriate levels of challenge to ensure that they continue to make good progress. Sometimes, very able pupils are not given work of a sufficiently different and demanding nature to stretch them sufficiently so that their learning is rapid.  Disadvantaged pupils have previously achieved standards in writing by the end of key stage 2 in line with others nationally, and have made similar progress to others nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. However, gaps have existed between their performance and others in the school. These in-school gaps are now reducing in all year groups. This is a result of leaders’ relentless focus on ensuring that every child makes good progress by adapting provision to suit their needs.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Pupils with special educational needs or disability are well supported and now achieve at least as well as others in the school. Some receive well-targeted support in lessons when appropriate and all have their progress closely monitored and their work tailored to meet their needs. Communication within the school around individual pupils’ needs has always been a strength.

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School details

Unique reference number 116068 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 10012285

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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 237 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Richard Wagland Headteacher Kim Robertson Telephone number 01425 652285 Website www.fordingbridgejunsch.co.uk Email address adminoffice@fjs.hants.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 7−8 May 2014

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Information about this school

 Fordingbridge Junior School is an average-size primary school.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional government funding) is below average.  The school serves a community with relatively little ethnic or cultural diversity.  The school meets the government’s current floor standard that sets minimum expectations for attainment and progress.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors undertook 15 lesson observations involving visits to every class and the work of all teachers. Seven of these observations were undertaken jointly with senior staff.  Inspectors met with senior staff, representatives of the governing body, other staff, groups of pupils and a representative of the local authority.  The school’s development planning and self-evaluation documents, policies and safeguarding procedures were scrutinised.  The 72 responses to Parent View (Ofsted’s online questionnaire) were taken into account along with 46 written comments. Inspectors spoke with parents at the gate at the start of morning school.  Inspectors took into account the views of the 29 staff and 62 pupils who returned questionnaires. They scrutinised the school’s own surveys of parents’, staff and pupils’ views.

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Inspection team

Alan Taylor-Bennett, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Christopher Crouch 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

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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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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