Clanfield Junior School

Clanfield Junior School Little Hyden Lane, Clanfield, Waterlooville, Hampshire PO8 ORE

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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

 The strong leadership of the headteacher, ably supported by his senior team, has brought about significant improvements since the last inspection.  Leaders have significantly improved the quality of teaching to be consistently good.  Teachers provide well-planned and interesting lessons. They make clear links across subjects where appropriate.  As a result of good teaching, pupils across the school are making the progress expected of them. By the end of Year 6, pupils’ achievement is in line with national expectations.  Disadvantaged pupils are making similar progress to others, in line with national expectations.  Strong leadership of provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is ensuring that these pupils are making good progress.  Pupils are polite, articulate and extremely proud of their school. They are considerate and show respect for adults and each other. They move

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This is a good school

around the school well and feel safe in school.  Pupils are provided with a well-planned curriculum that ensures that all have an equal chance to succeed.  Senior and middle leaders know the school well and use data effectively to provide strong support for teachers and pupils.  The vast majority of parents and carers are extremely positive about the headteacher and improvements within the school.  Governance is very strong. Governors are rigorous in their strategic role of challenging the leaders to run the school effectively to provide the best opportunities for pupils to succeed.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Too few pupils make more than expected progress.  Teaching does not encourage enough pupils to deepen learning, including the most able and least able.  Social, moral, spiritual and cultural understanding, as well as British values, are insufficiently woven throughout the wider curriculum.

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What does the school need to do to improve further ?

 Improve the quality of teaching to outstanding and raise achievement further by ensuring that the most able pupils are challenged appropriately and the least able have clear frameworks to support their learning.  Widen opportunities in the curriculum to develop pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural understanding, including British values.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher is extremely knowledgeable about his school. He has spurred on the staff to work together to secure rapid development. The assistant heads and middle leaders have brought about significant improvements since the last inspection. Leaders know their school extremely well and they have developed a robust culture of learning and improvement. Support for the teachers has ensured rapid and sustained improvements in both teaching and standards. Leaders’ vision for the school is clearly evidenced on the school’s website and around the school.  Leaders are ambitious and have high expectations of staff and pupils. Clear and effective plans are in place to continue to drive the school forward. Leaders want to provide the best education possible and this is clearly reflected in their mission statement, ‘To be the best that we can be’. This was a view endorsed by a group of parents and summed up by one: ‘The head is doing everything with his heart

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

to make this school the best, he genuinely cares. All the staff do, they are brilliant’.  Leaders have strong and effective plans for improving the quality of teaching. They visit classrooms regularly to observe teachers and provide support and challenge. This has led to a very accurate view of the quality of teaching. Leaders take robust action to address any weaker teaching to help improve teachers’ skills. This has led to the quality of teaching being consistently good or better.  Subject leaders plan the curriculum in their subject areas and provide challenge and support for teachers. They work closely with senior leaders and are developing their ability to monitor the quality of provision.  Strong leadership from the special educational needs coordinator has ensured that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are catered for effectively. The progress of this group of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

pupils is therefore improving towards national expectations for all pupils.  The strategic improvement plan is detailed, with clear and relevant priorities. There is a focus upon rigorous monitoring and evaluation within the school. This approach has enabled the leaders to have a robust and accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their school. The strategic plan pushes forward the work of the school. The actions prompted by self-evaluation lead to effective staff training that is linked clearly to the priorities of the school. This ensures that the focus remains on continuous progress. Leaders make frequent and rigorous checks on teaching and pupils’ work. They take account of a wide range of evidence. This includes: pupils’ assessment information; regular meetings with teachers to look at pupils’ progress; observations of pupils’ work in books; and frequent, informal walks around the school, as well as formal lesson observations.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 There is a broad range of subject-based and topic-based learning. Clear links between subjects are provided to help pupils improve their learning. There are good examples of curriculum planning and curriculum newsletters on the school’s website. Teaching in subjects other than English and mathematics is secure; however, there are not enough opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of British values or social, moral, spiritual and cultural education.  A variety of extra-curricular clubs, activities and educational visits enrich the curriculum. The Year 6 pupils particularly enjoyed their recent visit to a local theme park to study how fairground rides function. They returned to school to plan, design and make their own working fairground attractions. The pupils are proud of their swimming pool and relish the opportunity to use it in the summer months. A strong link with a school in Uganda enables pupils to enjoy learning about a different way of life

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

through photographs, emails and news from the Ugandan pupils.  The school values fairness and fosters good relationships. Themes for assemblies focus upon current events. Opportunities to develop cultural and spiritual understanding are provided through carefully planned assemblies rather than the curriculum.  Systems for tracking pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics are checked regularly. Where pupils require extra help, this is provided and the support is then checked to see that progress is being made. This support, as well as a rigorous focus upon the quality of teaching, has led to most groups of pupils making good progress.  A clear and effective system of managing the performance and training of staff is closely linked to the strategic school improvement plan and the drive towards enabling everyone to excel. Teachers are very clear that they are responsible for pupils’ progress. Assessment information is used efficiently to ensure

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

that planning and teaching allow the pupils to attain expected standards.  Good use is made of the pupil premium funding to close the gaps in learning for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Effective support is in place and there is additional provision in the classrooms from learning assistants, as well as funding to support visits for these pupils to enhance the curriculum.  The physical education and sports premium is used to fund a sports specialist. This money is well spent and is beginning to have an impact upon the pupils’ sporting abilities. The sports coach is experienced and knowledgeable and provides pupils with very good learning experiences. A targeted professional development programme has led to teachers feeling enthusiastic and secure in teaching physical education. Further evidence needs to be gathered on the levels of participation in after-school activities in order to show further impact of pupil engagement in sporting activities.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The local authority correctly deems the school to be a low to medium priority of need and recognises the significant journey that the school has undertaken. School leaders value the support they have received from the local authority, and purchase specialist advisers to improve the curriculum, assessment and teaching further. The advice received is of good quality and has supported the priorities of the school.  The school works well with other local schools. This includes working together to agree judgements about pupils’ work. This helps support leaders’ judgements.  The governance of the school  Governors know the school well. They visit the school often and provide useful challenge and support to both teachers and leaders. They are sharply aware of assessment information, the quality of teaching and pupils’ views gleaned through meeting regularly with staff and pupils. They are able to use this information to ask probing questions of leaders. This helps to sharpen the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

focus of school improvement and provide the school with continuous challenge and support regarding pupils’ outcomes.  Governors are very aware of the priorities of the school and recognise that there is still work to be done on engaging and communicating effectively with all parents.  Governors have an accurate view of the quality of teaching. They monitor the management of teachers’ performance and ensure that good teaching is recognised. They challenge underachievement and poor performance.  Governors ensure that the school’s finances are used effectively to drive forward standards for pupils. Governors monitor the impact of special funding, including the impact on pupils’ progress from both the pupil premium funding and physical education and sports funding.  Governors keep up to date with regular training and are thorough in their approach to ensure that all statutory duties are fulfilled.  Arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Statutory requirements are fulfilled by leaders and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

arrangements for the safeguarding of pupils are robust and secure. Safeguarding training for all staff and governors takes place regularly and strong procedures and strategies are in place to keep children safe. Training for recognising extremism and radicalisation is also carried out regularly and pupils have regular assemblies to support the work on safety. Designated staff work effectively and appropriately with outside agencies and parents to ensure that support is swift and timely. Leaders work well with parents and other stakeholders to develop pupils’ understanding of safety. They ensure that a culture of safety permeates the school. The vast majority of parents who completed Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, responded that their children were kept safe at school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Under the strong leadership of the headteacher, the quality of teaching has improved significantly.  There is a consistency of planning across the school and teachers continually check pupils’ learning. This helps teachers plan appropriate lessons for the majority of pupils.  The teaching of writing has a clear focus on English grammar, punctuation and spelling. This has led to good outcomes and understanding. For example, in a Year 6 writing lesson, the teacher provided focused questions and instructions that enabled the pupils to move rapidly to work with very effective rhetorical questions to hook the reader in, such as, ‘Do you want to know secrets about our Queen?’  A significant amount of work has been undertaken with the local authority adviser on ensuring that the quality of marking is appropriate for what the pupil needs to learn next. This approach, combined with pupils’ involvement, has led to a clear trail of improvement evidenced in their writing. Pupils’ spoken

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

language is fluent and articulate and they are beginning to use this within their written work.  Sometimes there was not a clear expectation on recorded work and this led to high-quality spoken outcomes but limited written outcomes. For example, when writing about the Queen, a lack of high expectations slowed down the speed of writing and led to limited outcomes.  Mathematics teaching is leading to good progress and more pupils working at the levels expected for their age. There is clear evidence of pupils developing reasoning skills as well as learning to apply their knowledge effectively to problem solving. Effective support from the mathematics leader has enabled teachers to develop their subject knowledge and skills. This is evident in the clear, well-planned and structured mathematics lessons. Mathematics planning is pitched at age-related expectations. This has led to good progress which can be seen in pupils’ work.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Assessment is used effectively to plan lessons that build on prior knowledge and skills. Teachers’ incisive and timely intervention in lessons helps pupils to understand what they are learning. Where questioning is used skilfully, it draws upon pupils’ understanding as well as deepening their learning. Work in books is robust and accurately reflects the school’s marking policy. The local authority has used the school’s marking and feedback as an example of best practice for other schools.  The teaching of reading ensures that pupils are reading at age-related expectations. There is a well- stocked and comfortable library with a wide variety of books. A number of pupils said that they did not read widely at home and yet teachers actively promote reading for pleasure. Pupils have a variety of reading skills at their fingertips and read with fluency and accuracy.  Teaching assistants support the pupils’ learning in a variety of ways and are utilised effectively

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

according to pupils’ needs. They provide clear challenge and feedback and strong support for the classroom.  A small minority of teaching does not provide a sufficient variety of challenge or support to match the wide range of abilities in classes. This results in the most able pupils finding the work too easy and the least able finding the work too difficult.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  The pupils are confident and self-assured learners. They are encouraged to be independent and resilient learners and they certainly rise to this challenge.  Leaders and teachers work hard to maintain and develop the caring environment in the school as well as nurture pupils’ personal development and welfare. Pupils’ views are listened to and respected. Pupils are proud of their school and are able to talk about everything that they enjoy within the school.  Pupils show respect to one another as well as to staff. They are polite and courteous and play well together during breaktimes. Pupils understand the need to look after each other and relish the opportunity to be ‘buddies’ in Year 6, caring for the Year 3 pupils and any new children.  The pupils are able to talk with confidence about how safe they feel at school. They are aware of all

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Personal development and welfare

aspects of keeping safe, for example online safety, fire-safety awareness and sea safety, to name just a few. They are clear about whom to go to if they have any concerns and know that any issues they have will be dealt with.  The environment is orderly and structured, which allows everyone to move sensibly throughout the school day. The pupils know that the school has high expectations of them and they really want to be their best at all times. They were articulate and knowledgeable when showing the inspectors around the school and their passion for the school was evident.  Pupils recognise that there are different forms of bullying. They are adamant that there are no such incidents in school, although they are aware that it has happened outside school. They are convinced that it would be dealt with effectively if it were to occur in school.  Some parental responses on Parent View indicated that they were not clear how bullying would be

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Personal development and welfare

dealt with, while a minority felt that it was not dealt with appropriately. The inspectors saw no evidence of unkindness or bullying during the inspection. Through scrutiny of behaviour logs, inspectors were satisfied that bullying is extremely rare. On the rare occasions that it had occurred, it was reported as having been dealt with effectively to everyone’s satisfaction. Parents spoken to during the inspection felt that the school dealt with all issues very well and provided parents with plenty of information. The majority of parents who completed Parent View were in strong support of the school and all it did for their children. Some of the parents on Parent View stated that they would not recommend the school to others, and nor did they believe that the school was well led and managed. The evidence gathered during the inspection, which included the views from many parents and staff, found that leadership and management were good. The parents who spoke to inspectors during the

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Personal development and welfare

inspection were overwhelmingly positive in their praise for the school, for example: ‘We have always been happy with communication between school and parents about our child’s progress and anything else that we need to know’.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils are thoughtful, courteous and polite. They are keen to talk with adults about their learning.  Behaviour in lessons is generally good and the pupils exhibit good attitudes towards learning. A small minority of pupils occasionally go off task and start to lose concentration; however, this is generally because they are not being challenged enough in their learning. Teachers are skilful in getting these pupils swiftly back on task.  Pupils feel that behaviour is good in the school. They recognise that staff are there to support them and that if there are any behavioural issues, then they are dealt with promptly and fairly.  Staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. The school records show that behavioural incidents are rare and are dealt with swiftly and effectively. The inspectors saw plenty of good behaviour during the inspection, including small acts of kindness such as checking up on younger pupils at breaktimes

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Behaviour

and ensuring that someone sitting at a table was not on her own.  The overwhelming majority of parents are delighted with their choice of school and have no concerns about behaviour.  Attendance has a three-year record of improvement and the school has worked effectively to ensure that pupils attend school.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 A relentless focus upon tackling underachievement has led to pupils’ attainment being raised to national expectations. Progress from their starting points is improving for all groups and this means that they are well prepared for the next stage in their education. In 2015, pupils in Year 6 were in line with national expectations and reliable indications are that they will be above national expectations this year.  A clear programme of rigorous, continuous monitoring and accurate evaluation leads to clear actions, which has successfully eliminated the legacy of underachievement.  Assessment of pupils’ work is thorough and teachers check standards with each other as well as with other schools. Teachers and leaders regularly look at the work in pupils’ books. Such an approach leads to clear, targeted support for English and mathematics. This, combined with a strong focus upon teaching and learning, has led to raised standards and clear evidence of the gap closing for

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Outcomes for pupils are good

disadvantaged pupils. Disadvantaged pupils are making good progress from their starting points and achieving in line with others nationally.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making better progress from their different starting points. This is due to the strong leadership of the special educational needs coordinator who provides appropriate support and targeted programmes. The special educational needs coordinator works effectively with classroom teachers and teaching assistants, making sure that resources and support are appropriate for these pupils. However, some of the least able pupils without special educational needs sometimes lack additional support and a simpler framework to develop their learning.  Pupils’ reading and comprehension are appropriate for their age. Books are mostly matched well to their ability and a wide variety of books is available for the pupils to choose from. A large number of

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Outcomes for pupils are good

pupils choose not to read at home. The school is aware of this and currently looking for ways to encourage further reading outside school.  Some of the most able pupils are not moved on swiftly enough to more challenging work to deepen their learning rapidly. They achieve the outcomes expected of all pupils; however, there are not enough opportunities provided to extend their learning so that they exceed these expectations.  Leaders ensure that pupils are prepared well for the start of secondary school.

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School details

Unique reference number 115876 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 10009193

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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 271 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Suzanne Ahern Headteacher Mark Pickering Telephone number 0239 2593209 Website www.clanfield.hants.sch.uk Email address headteacher@clanfield.hants.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 25–26 February 2014

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Information about this school

 This school is similar in size to other primary schools.  There has been a new assistant headteacher appointed to the leadership team since the last inspection.  Pupils are taught in single-year age classes.  There is a before- and after-school club run by an Ofsted-registered provider, which did not form part of this inspection.  The proportion of pupils eligible for support through the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils who are eligible for free school meals or children looked after by the local authority) is well below the national average.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well below the national average. The proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is well below the national average.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is well below the national average.

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Information about this school

 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.  The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 28 lessons. Several of these observations were carried out jointly with senior leaders.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other leaders within the school, governors and parents, and held a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors gathered pupils’ views through talking to pupils around the school and in lessons. Pupils’ views were also gleaned from some pupils who escorted inspectors around the school to look at the curriculum, behaviour and safety.  Pupils’ behaviour was observed in lessons and around the school at the beginning of the day and at lunchtime.  Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work across the school in a range of subjects to look at current achievement. Inspectors listened to a sample of pupils read in Year 3 and Year 6.  Inspectors looked at a wide range of documentation, including that relating to safety, safeguarding,

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Information about this inspection

equality, behaviour, anti-bullying, attendance, school self-evaluation, school action planning, reports on the quality of teaching, curriculum information, pupil premium, sports funding and assessment information.  Displays around the school and the work in outdoor areas were looked at.  The views of a number of parents met with during the inspection and 31 responses to Parent View were taken into account.  The 25 responses to the staff questionnaire were taken into account.

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Inspection team

Llyn Codling, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Alan Jenner Ofsted Inspector Penelope Orme 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

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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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