Gorse Ride Junior School

Gorse Ride South, Finchampstead, Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 4JJ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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This is a school that requires improvement

 Disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs or disability do not make enough progress. There are wide gaps between the attainment of these two groups of pupils and all other pupils.  School leaders and governors do not have an accurate understanding of the quality of education the school provides. They have not carried out a thorough evaluation of the work of the school.  Actions taken to improve the school have not been wholly effective. The school improvement plan and action plans are not sharply focused on improving outcomes for pupils.  Leaders and managers have not analysed the information on pupils’ attainment and progress well enough. They have not taken effective action to accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs or disability.  Teachers are not using the assessment information they gather about disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational

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This is a school that requires improvement

needs or disability well enough. They do not pinpoint precisely the next steps for their learning, or identify the barriers that prevent them from making better progress.  Governors do not focus enough on checking the progress of all groups of pupils across the school. They are not providing sufficient challenge to school leaders to address the weaknesses in the progress of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and disability.  School leaders have not used pupil premium funding well enough to close the gaps in the achievement of disadvantaged pupils.  Disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs or disability do not always attend school regularly enough. This holds back their progress.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils’ personal development and behaviour support their learning well. Pupils have positive attitudes to learning, and are polite, courteous and supportive of one another.  Relationships are good. Pupils feel safe. They are confident that adults support them well.  School leaders have conveyed the school vision effectively. The caring, supportive ethos pervades the school.  The school provides effective nurture and support for pupils and families who face challenging circumstances. School report

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the teaching of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability and increase their rates of progress and their attendance in order to close the gaps in achievement, particularly in writing, for these groups of pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management, including governance by: – rigorously and accurately evaluating the work of the school in order to devise an improvement plan that sharply focuses on improving outcome for pupils – improving the school action plans to include effective milestones linked to the expected gains in pupils’ progress across the school, ensuring that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and ways of measuring the success of the plan are set out against each action – analysing, with greater rigour, the information about pupils’ achievement to judge the impact of planned actions – ensuring that governors check on the progress of all groups of pupils regularly and challenge school leaders to take immediate and effective action to close the gaps in pupils’ achievement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 School leaders and governors have not gathered enough evidence to make accurate judgements about the school. As a result, although they know that disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs or disability do not make enough progress, they have not identified effective strategies to address these issues.  The school improvement plan does not place enough emphasis on improving outcomes for pupils. It does not include information on pupils’ attainment, neither does it include information about the expected gains in pupils’ progress. As a result, school leaders and governors are unable to measure the success of the plan. Currently the plan is based too much on tasks to be done. It does not define clear strategies and objectives to improve the school. Governor committees are identified to monitor particular aspects of the plan, but it is unclear which school leader, teacher or member of staff is responsible for ensuring that

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

planned actions are achieved.  School leaders gather a range of information about pupils’ learning and progress, but they are not using this information well enough to analyse the progress of different groups of pupils. They do not identify and address underachievement well enough.  School leaders regularly meet with teachers to discuss pupils’ progress. But strategies to address underachievement are not clearly defined. There is not enough specific analysis of what prevents individual pupils’ from making progress. School leaders have not used the information they gather to identify what pupils have not learned or what skills they have not achieved. As a result, they do not plan effective actions to help underachieving pupils to make better progress and catch up.  Pupil premium funding is used to employ staff and provide additional support for disadvantaged pupils. However, the impact of the funding is limited. This is because school leaders do not check precisely which

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

strategies are having the greatest effect on closing the gaps in the attainment of these pupils.  The new inclusion leader has analysed the information on pupils identified with special educational needs or disability. Many of the identified pupils did not meet thresholds for this group of pupils. As a result, the number of pupils identified with special educational needs or disability has significantly reduced. School leaders and teacher know that many of these pupils have fallen behind in their learning, but do not have learning difficulties.  The school’s ethos supports pupils’ development and well-being effectively. There is a strong, nurturing and supportive culture. The school places a high priority on mutual respect, helping pupils to make a positive contribution to the community and wider world. The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 School leaders have developed an effective curriculum, combining subjects together, when appropriate, to increase pupils’ enjoyment of learning. Trips and visits enhance pupils’ understanding. For example, Year 4 pupils visited the Haslemere Museum during their topic about the Egyptians to gain a greater understanding of mummification. A good range of additional activities enhance pupils’ learning. Themed weeks, such as the ‘Dare to dream’ week successfully involved parents in sharing their experiences of work with pupils to help pupils to set high aspirations for their future career.  The school uses the additional physical education and sports funding appropriately. The money is used to train teachers to develop their skills in teaching a range of aspects of the subject such as gymnastics and to offer pupils a wider range of sporting activities. However, there is limited information about the impact

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

of this funding on improved outcomes for pupils or the increased participation of pupils in sport to enhance their health and well-being.  The local authority has provided limited support for the school. A review of pupil premium funding was carried out in January 2015, but the impact of this review has not had a positive impact on increasing the progress of disadvantaged pupils.  The governance of the school – Governors do not know enough about the progress of different groups of pupils across the school. They do not challenge school leaders well enough about the underperformance of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs or disability. – Performance management systems are in place, but objectives linked to pupils’ progress are not precise enough to measure whether the headteacher and staff have achieved the intended target. – Governors are involved in setting the school’s strategic priorities, but their monitoring to check

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

whether planned actions have been achieved is limited because the identified success factors are not measurable.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The single central register is in place. All the required suitability checks are carried out on staff, volunteers and governors. Recruitment arrangements meet requirements and staff are suitably trained to know how to safeguard pupils. Those responsible for leading child protection have received up-to-date training at the required level. All staff receive regular training to enable them to know what to do if they are concerned about a child. The school works well with parents and outside agencies to make sure pupils are supported effectively and are kept safe.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Teachers know pupils well and plan interesting and stimulating activities to help most of them to learn well. However, they are not paying enough attention to ensure that disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability are actively engaged and make good progress in lessons and over time.  Teachers have good subject knowledge and use this to good effect to help pupils to develop a good understanding of the subject being taught. Year 6 pupils were working on improving a formal letter to a member of staff following their enjoyable trip to Wokingham Waterside Centre. Their teacher used effective questioning which engaged pupils well in discussion and debate. Their knowledge of technical language was conveyed well and pupils were able to demonstrate improvements in their writing. This trip was also planned to enable disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

disability to write with greater meaning because of this real-life experience.  Teachers plan lessons well to meet the needs of most groups of pupils in the class, but not enough is always being done to engage disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability in discussions, to help them to develop their understanding and use of language.  Teachers are aware of those pupils who have fallen behind in their learning. Many are beginning to catch up in their reading and mathematics, but fewer are catching up to reach the expected standard in writing.  Most teachers follow the school’s agreed marking policy to provide pupils with important information about how they can improve their work. Time is set aside for pupils to read the teacher’s comments and discuss them with a partner and sometimes with an adult, but not all pupils show improvements in their work following these discussions.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 Relationships between pupils, teachers and other adults are strong. They support pupils’ learning well. The most able pupils are challenged to think more deeply. Teacher use a range of strategies to actively include pupils in conversations about their learning. Additional adults provide support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability, but sometimes this results in pupils being too passive and reluctant to share their ideas with their peers.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupil’s personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils have positive attitudes to school. This is reflected in the way they enjoy learning, work with sustained attention and take pride in their work.  Relationships are supportive and encouraging. Pupils take responsibility for offering constructive feedback to their peers about their work, showing a depth of understanding and an empathy with their classmates.  The school’s work to support hard-to-reach families is mainly effective. Additional support is provided for pupils to attend breakfast club, the after-school club and holiday clubs. This supports pupils’ personal development well.  Pupils understand about different types of bullying, including homophobic bullying and cyber bullying. They say bullying is rare, but know that if pupils behave inappropriately, adults take effective action to sort it out.  Pupils feel safe in school and parents and staff agree. The school helps pupils to understand how to keep

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Personal development and welfare

themselves safe in a range of situations. All pupils visit the Life Bus annually to help them to know how to respond to potential dangers at home, in school and in the community.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils take responsibility for their actions and respect one another’s thoughts and feelings. The school is a calm and orderly environment, pupils conduct themselves well in lessons and around the school. They are courteous, polite and helpful.  Pupils enjoy taking on additional responsibilities such as a member of the school council, the eco committee and in looking after the school’s pet rabbits.  Pupils know that if their behaviour falls below the expected standard they complete reflection sheets which provide time for them to think about their actions and help them to modify their behaviour in the future. Pupils are positive about this strategy and say it is helpful for them to think about the consequences of their actions.  Overall attendance is above average, but the attendance of some disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability is not high enough. This means that they are not in school to

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Behaviour

learn, which adversely affects their progress. School leaders know which pupils do not attend often enough, but the impact of their actions is limited because they do not focus rigorously enough on analysing attendance.

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

 Many pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. But disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability to not make enough progress, particularly in writing.  There are wide gaps between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability and all other pupils. Gaps are not closing fast enough, especially in writing. Although, in some year groups the gaps in reading and mathematics are beginning to close, this is not the case in writing. In Year 3 and 5 particularly, the attainment gap in writing for these pupils is far too wide. They are not being prepared well enough for the next stage of the education.  Pupils’ attainment overall in mathematics has improved since 2013. A higher proportion of pupils are on track to reach the expected standard by the end of the year in mathematics, but there is still a wide gap

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

in the achievement between disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability and all other pupils in mathematics.  Pupils enjoy reading and are enthusiastic about the range of books on offer to them in the school. They understand what they need to do to improve their reading and use the skills they have learnt to tackle unfamiliar words effectively. Outcomes in reading have fluctuated over the last three years, but there are more pupils in the current Year 4 and 6 classes on track to achieve the expected standard. In these classes the gaps between disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability is much narrower. However, it is still too wide in Year 3 and Year 5.  Progress for most disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs or disability is stubbornly slow, they are not catching up with their peers. Not enough is being done to accelerate their

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Outcomes for pupils require improvement

progress. The most able pupils make better progress.

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School details

Unique reference number 109877 Local authority Wokingham Inspection number 100000502

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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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 235 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Louise Connelly Executive Headteacher Eileen Rogers Telephone number 0118 9732666 Website www.thelifecloud.net/schools/gorserideschools Email address admin@gorseride-jun.wokingham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 11–12 July 2012

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Information about this school

 Gorse Ride Junior is larger than the average-sized primary school.  The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged and supported by the pupil premium and the service premium is well below the national average. The pupil premium provides additional funding for children who are looked after by the local authority and pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs or disability is above the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  The school entered into a hard federation with the Gorse Ride Infant School in September 2012, just after the previous inspection. The headteacher was appointed as the executive headteacher of both

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Information about this school

schools.  The school runs a breakfast club and an after-school club.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was conducted in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for inspecting good schools under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. It was converted to a section 5 inspection on the afternoon of day one.  Inspectors observed learning in a number of lessons on both days of the inspection. Six observations were undertaken jointly with the headteacher and one with the deputy headteacher.  Inspectors held meetings with members of the governing body, the local authority, senior and middle leaders, staff and pupils.  Inspectors listened to pupils talk about their work and heard pupils read in Year 3 and Year 5.  Informal discussions were held with pupils during lunchtimes and playtimes. Inspectors spoke with parents at the start of the school day.  The inspection team observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents, including pupils’ work in books, achievement and progress information, documents relating to safeguarding and school

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Information about this inspection

policies and procedures.  Inspectors scrutinised the school improvement plan and external reports on the school.  The inspection team also considered the 83 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, 23 responses from staff gathered through the staff survey and 65 responses from pupils in the pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Ann Henderson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Lynn Martin Ofsted Inspector Bruce Waeland 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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