Dormers Wells Junior School

Dormers Wells Junior School Dormers Wells Lane, Southall, UB1 3HX

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Inspection dates 4–5 October and 13 December 2016

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leadership and management are inadequate because a succession of school leaders has not ensured a good standard of education. Insufficient impact has been made on improving pupil outcomes over several years.  Leaders and governors have an over-generous view of how well the school is doing. They are not able to demonstrate that pupil outcomes are improving sufficiently well.  Leaders and managers at all levels, including governors, have not made their expectations clear about how well pupils should achieve.  Teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate. Too often, teachers do not check how well pupils are learning.  Teaching and learning have not been monitored with sufficient rigour to ensure that remaining weaknesses are tackled immediately.  Time is lost when classroom activities do not have a clear purpose or when they do not move learning on quickly enough. On these occasions, pupils become inattentive.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Teachers do not ensure that pupils, especially the most able, consistently complete work that extends their learning across the curriculum.  Outcomes are inadequate. Pupils’ attainment in reading and mathematics is below average and they make slow progress in these subjects.  Pupils lack confidence and understanding when reading. Their understanding and skills in mathematical reasoning are also weak.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Good provision for pupils’ personal development and welfare has ensured that pupils behave well, feel safe and know how to stay safe.  Since her appointment, the current headteacher has made a number of positive changes to the school’s culture and ways of working. Members of staff enjoy working at the school and they are keen to improve their own  Pupils make better progress in writing than in reading and mathematics. Teachers provide good guidance in this subject and pupils are responding well to this advice.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is supported well. As a result, pupils are respectful and form good relationships with others. Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication practice. Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication

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Full report

In accordance with section 44(1) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that senior leaders provide a clear, strategic vision for the school based on expectations that all groups of pupils will achieve high standards and make good progress.  Improve the quality of teaching, by: – ensuring that the most able pupils are stretched and challenged – ensuring that teaching time is not wasted on tasks that lack purpose and cause pupils to lose attentiveness in class – checking pupils’ learning and adjusting the difficulty of tasks where necessary.  Raise attainment and improve pupils’ progress in reading and mathematics across the curriculum, by: – making sure that pupils understand what they are learning in mathematics and strengthening their skills in reasoning – improving pupils’ reading comprehension skills and developing their confidence.  Increase the impact of leadership and governance at all levels and the pace of improvement by: – checking teaching and learning with greater rigour so that remaining weaknesses

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

are tackled successfully and swiftly – making sure that all pupils receive a broad and balanced curriculum, including in Year 6 – ensuring that the school has an accurate understanding of its own performance, and the school improvement plan has quantifiable and timely targets for the school’s rapid improvement to good overall effectiveness.

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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. Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 This is the third consecutive inspection that the quality of education and pupil outcomes at Dormers Wells Junior School have been judged less than good. Changes made by current leaders and managers have not been enough to bring about significant and sustained improvements in teaching, learning and pupils’ progress.  Systems for recording and tracking pupils’ progress are disjointed and lack strategic oversight. Information is not collated or presented in a coherent way. Not enough consideration is given to the progress made by and expected of different ability groups. This is reflected in the lack of attention given to the needs of the most able and least able pupils in too many classes. As a result, pupils’ progress is not good enough.  Self-evaluation is over-generous and inaccurately judges all aspects of the school’s work as good. The school’s improvement plan lacks detail in key areas, including

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

insufficient identification of the standards and progress needed for pupils to achieve well.  Since her appointment in 2014, the current headteacher has made a number of important changes to the way that the school operates. New schemes of work have been introduced – albeit only recently in reading and mathematics – and performance management has successfully eliminated the poorest teaching. Leaders check on teaching and learning regularly, but not all weaknesses identified have been tackled swiftly enough. As with the school improvement plan, insufficient attention has been given to the link between teaching activity and the resultant pupil progress. Nevertheless, teachers are keen and willing to improve their work.  In theory, the curriculum covers all subjects. However, inspectors found that the amount of curriculum time allocated to different subjects varies greatly between year groups. In Year 6, inspectors saw very little evidence of work in modern foreign

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

languages, geography, art and religious education. Work seen in history was limited and Year 6 pupils said that they do not have music lessons. Senior leaders were not aware of this because their monitoring has focussed on English and mathematics.  Leadership and management for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has not had sufficient impact. Leaders understand what needs to be done to improve this provision. Nevertheless, while funding for these pupils is now being targeted more precisely, it is too soon to see any sustained improvements in these pupils’ progress.  The sports premium is being used well to provide specialist teaching, various resources, and access to a wide range of activities in class and after school. The school is successful in local competitions and pupils enjoy learning various skills such as how to play golf and tag-rugby.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a stronger feature of the school’s work. Pupils are aware of the ‘Dormers Values’ and these help prepare pupils for life in modern Britain. For example, in one assembly during the inspection, pupils discussed the importance of rights and democracy. They could talk about current events, Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication including this year’s European referendum.

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Governance of the school

 Governance over time has been insufficiently challenging. There has been a review of governance since the previous inspection and a number of changes to the governing body. The chair and vice chair have swapped roles. Governors have attended extensive training and attendance at governing body meetings has improved. Governors are now better placed to ask the right questions of senior leaders than in the past. Nevertheless, the governing body has not ensured that successive school leaders have acted quickly and strategically. As a result, the school is still not providing a good standard of education, four years after the school was first judged to require improvement.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Members of staff are checked for their suitability to work with pupils and are up-to-date in their training. Several members of staff are trained first aiders and effective use is made of external help to support vulnerable pupils and their families with safeguarding matters. Frequent workshops on topics such as e-safety are made available to parents and keep the pupils well-informed. Pupils are knowledgeable about the importance of keeping safe from extremism and radicalisation.  Parents are positive about the strong support they are given from the school in helping to keep their children safe. They typically say that members of staff are ‘prepared to give one-to-one time to parents’ when needed. The impact of the school’s work in safeguarding is evident in the calm atmosphere in the playground and building, enabling pupils to feel and stay safe.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Too often, teaching does not provide pupils with work that promotes new learning. Work frequently lacks challenge for the most able pupils. When this happens they finish too quickly, repeat work unnecessarily and do not learn how to apply what they have learned in new situations.  Too often, teaching and learning lacks urgency. Learning is restricted because teachers have not checked that all pupils have understood their tasks. In mathematics, for example, inspectors observed that pupils had completed work incorrectly but the teacher had not spotted or corrected it. In other mathematics books, teachers had told pupils that their answers were incorrect but had given no explanation given as to why; neither had the pupils gone back to master the problems.  Leaders accept that, for too long, weak teaching of reading and mathematics has led to pupils’ limited progress. New approaches to teaching in these subjects started this

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

term, but it is too soon to be able to see a positive effect on pupils’ learning over the long-term. In mathematics, the new scheme of work provides a common structure for Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication lessons, but teachers have not developed the skills and understanding necessary to use the resources effectively for pupils of different abilities.  Leaders are aware that too few skills have been taught in reading lessons. Typically, pupils struggle to understand the deeper meaning of the texts they are reading. Inspectors’ observations showed that when teachers and teaching assistants read with small groups of pupils, the rest of the class is not always engaged in worthwhile tasks.  Leaders have recently improved the way that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported. Their next steps for learning are now identified more clearly. For example, in one Year 4 mathematics lesson, the teaching assistant

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

helped the pupils to manipulate wooden blocks of a hundred squares. As a result, pupils understood why half of a thousand was five hundred.  Assessment has been developed well in literacy and is having a good impact on pupils’ writing. Guidance in other subjects such as science and humanities is not as strong.  Teachers take pride in their classrooms, which are well-organised. With few exceptions, the quality of display is good and promotes a positive learning environment.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils say that they enjoy school and that teachers listen to them. They are polite and know it is important to respect and help others. Pupils contribute well as ‘playground buddies’, ‘red caps’ and members of the school council.  The school provides good opportunities for pupils to keep active and remain healthy. There are many well-attended sports clubs and activities.  The school is inclusive; pupils and their families are supported well socially. Parents have faith in the school, and know that advice and help is available for them throughout the day in the family room.  Pupils feel safe and know how to stay safe. They are clear about the importance of e- safety and typically make comments such as, ‘be careful when you go online’ and ‘don’t go on social media’.  While pupils acknowledge that there is some bullying, they are happy with the way that

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Personal development and welfare

it is tackled by members of staff. One pupil spoke for others by saying, ‘We have lots of people to keep us safe’.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. Although there is no outright disruption in lessons, pupils become inattentive when they are not given work that is sufficiently challenging. This is too often the case.  Attendance is improving but remains below average. The school monitors attendance rigorously and is taking the right steps to support and challenge the few families that do not attend regularly. Consequently, the level of persistent absence is now lower Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication than the national average.  Members of staff, parents and pupils say that behaviour is good most of the time. Inspectors agree that pupils’ calm behaviour when they move around the school is a positive feature.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

 Attainment is below average in reading and mathematics. Pupils’ progress in these key subjects is too slow. Rates of progress have been below average for the last two years in mathematics and for the last three years in reading. The 2016 results in reading and mathematics were particularly poor in terms of both standards and progress.  In reading, pupils lack confidence because they do not always understand what they are reading. In mathematics, pupils struggle to explain how answers are reached and too often they continue to make mistakes without being corrected by teachers.  Test results for writing improved in 2016 and pupils made the progress expected of them in this area of the curriculum. Attainment in this subject has been rising, and is now in line with expectations. Pupils write for a range of purposes and their spelling is mostly accurate.  The wider curriculum provided in Year 6 does not provide pupils with adequate

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

preparation for the next stage of their education. Their progress in subjects such as modern foreign languages and music has stalled because they are not receiving an adequate education in these subjects.  The additional funding for disadvantaged pupils has not been spent well enough. In the past year, more focus has been given to supporting these pupils. However, while the school’s information suggests that these pupils are now making better progress than others at the school, they still do not do as well as other pupils nationally.  The progress of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is still too slow. Recent improvements have enabled them to learn more quickly this term, but some inconsistencies remain.  Pupils who are at the early stages of learning to speak English as an additional language do so quickly. They receive good support from members of staff and other pupils.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.dormerswells-jun.ealing.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10–11 September 2014

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Information about this school

 Dormers Wells Junior has been increasing in size and is larger than an average-sized junior school.  Pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds, with most being of Indian, African or Pakistani heritage. Most pupils speak English as an additional language, but only a few are at the early stages of learning to speak English.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well above average.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6.  The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication  There have been several changes in teaching staff since the previous inspection,

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Information about this school

including a newly appointed deputy headteacher. Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication

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Information about this inspection

 Ofsted inspectors observed teaching and learning in 25 lessons, four jointly with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with leaders, other members of staff, members of the local authority and members of the governing body.  Inspectors held informal discussions with a number of parents and scrutinised 11 responses from the Ofsted ‘Parent View’ questionnaire and 44 hand written questionnaires.  Questionnaires from 15 members of staff and 22 pupils were also scrutinised.  Pupils in Years 3, 5 and 6 were heard reading.  A range of information supplied by the school was checked, including the school’s own information about how well pupils are doing, planning documents and checks on the quality of teaching. The inspectors also looked at the school development plan and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding procedures.  Two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors visited the school on 13 December 2016 to complete

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Information about this inspection

the inspection. They visited 17 lessons and considered school documents relating to teaching and pupil outcomes.

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Inspection team

Alison Cartlidge, Lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Her Majesty’s Inspector Draft and confidential - Not for disclosure or publication 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

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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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.

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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.gov.uk/ofsted

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