Cam Woodfield Junior School

Cam Woodfield Junior School Elstub Lane, Woodfield, Dursley, Gloucestershire GL11 6JJ

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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 Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe is inadequate. Systems and checks lack rigour and are ineffective.  Governance is inadequate. Governors have failed to hold leaders to account for the school’s performance. As a result, pupils’ academic standards and their behaviour have declined over time.  Leaders do not have an accurate understanding of the school’s performance in order to rectify its weaknesses.  Teaching over time is inadequate. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low. As a result, pupils are not making good progress in English and mathematics or across a wide range of subjects.  Leaders at all levels have not made sure that the assessments used to track pupils’ progress are based on reliable evidence of what pupils know, understand and can do.  Governors do not sufficiently monitor the use of the pupil premium to ensure that money is spent wisely. As a result, these pupils do not

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

achieve well.  Leaders’ actions to ensure that disadvantaged pupils attend school regularly are not effective enough. Too many pupils are persistently absent.  Pupils’ behaviour requires improvement. It is better during lessons than at other times. Some younger pupils find it hard to focus on their learning and regulate their behaviour.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The new headteacher has a good understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.  Leaders’ recent actions are now beginning to address a legacy of poor educational performance over time.  Very recent improvements to the quality of teaching and learning, especially in English and mathematics, are now evident.  The small number of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan are well supported to overcome any barriers to learning.

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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?

 Immediately improve the quality of safeguarding, and health and safety by making sure that: – all important information is easily accessible to those who need it – policies, procedures and risk assessments are fit for purpose by being up to date with the latest legislation and government guidance, known by all staff, and followed throughout the school – all records are complete, and fully demonstrate any actions taken by the school, with supportive evidence – staff safeguarding training is up to date and used to improve practice – governors check the monitoring of the school’s safeguarding procedures effectively to be sure that all pupils are safe.  Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that: – assessment of pupils’ progress is accurate and based on clear evidence of what pupils know, understand and can do – teachers use the information they keep on pupils’ learning and progress to plan

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

work that is appropriately challenging and enables pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and those receiving additional support, to make at least good progress.  Improve leadership and management by ensuring that: – judgements about the work of the school and pupils’ achievement are accurate, substantiated by reliable evidence and used to drive school improvement – middle leaders contribute effectively to the monitoring of pupils’ progress, in particular by different groups, and use this information to improve pupils’ outcomes – governors rigorously monitor the work of the school and robustly challenge information that they are given about the school’s evaluation of its work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance, and use of the pupil premium fund, should be undertaken in order to assess how these aspects of leadership and management may be improved.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Weaknesses in leadership and management over time have contributed to the decline in pupils’ standards and quality of education at the school. Senior leaders, and those responsible for governance, do not have a clear or accurate understanding of the progress and attainment of pupils throughout the school. Until recently, the quality of the work pupils produce and the impact that teaching has on learning have not been accurately assessed.  Planned actions, as set out in the school development plan, are not well founded or based on accurate information. In addition, leaders do not check that the actions they take are making a difference to the progress pupils make. External support has not ensured that the school’s leadership has sufficient capacity to bring about the necessary improvements.  Over time, leaders have not sufficiently checked that the quality of teaching and learning helps pupils to make good progress from their starting points. Leaders and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

those responsible for governance have focused too much on ensuring that pupils reach the standards expected of their age, even if they were capable of higher standards.  Systems to check pupils’ progress are ineffective. Leaders do not identify when pupils are not making the progress of which they are capable. This includes those who are disadvantaged, those whose previous attainment was broadly average, and/or pupils who were judged as requiring special educational needs support. Consequently, too many of these pupils drift in their learning.  The additional government funding to support disadvantaged pupils is not used effectively. The impact of the funding has not been evaluated to check whether the interventions provided by the school improve the outcomes for pupils. Consequently, this pupil group continues to make poor progress in the basic skills of reading, writing and mathematics. In some cases the difference between the progress they make and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

the progress of other pupils nationally is increasing. However, new and more effective systems are being put in place.  Teachers’ assessment of the standard pupils are working at and the progress they are making is weak. Previously, external checks of pupils’ performance against teachers’ assessments have also been inaccurate. Such guidance has not helped the school to identify their overgenerous judgements of the progress that pupils are making.  Not all middle leaders are playing a full part in effectively monitoring the progress of pupils, in particular the progress of different groups. Some middle leaders do not have a full understanding of previous pupils’ national test results at the end of Year 6. For example, they are unaware of the nationally published information that shows the progress and attainment of the different pupil groups. In addition, they do not have an accurate knowledge of the current achievement of pupils in the school.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Pockets of improvement are too dependent on individual teachers. The overall leadership of teaching, to ensure that past weaknesses in teaching are eradicated, is weak. For example, the poor performance by Year 6 in the national test results in 2015 was repeated again in 2016. Credible plans to arrest this situation are not yet secure.  The school provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities to promote pupils’ personal development and interests. The school ensures that pupils interact socially and activities expand their wider cultural awareness. British values and the sharing and promotion of the school’s values raise pupils’ awareness of perseverance, friendship, respect, hope, courage and thankfulness. People’s differences are respected and celebrated.  A number of middle leaders are very new in post. They are just beginning to help to improve the outcomes for pupils. For example, they are helping to train staff in new

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

ways of teaching, modelling and sharing best practice and working with pupils to help correct misconceptions. While these middle leaders are keen to make their mark they lack the external support, guidance and information about pupils’ performance required to maximise their influence.  Pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or who have an education, health and care plan (EHC plan) are supported well. Adults who work with these pupils understand their individual needs and help them to overcome the barriers to their learning.  Good use is made of the sport premium fund. Over the last term, the care and thought given to promoting staff and pupils’ mental and physical well-being through support and training is proving successful.

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Governance of the school

 Governance is inadequate. The governing body has not been effective in monitoring the quality of the school’s work to safeguard pupils. In addition, they do not ensure that the school is effective in following appropriate health and safety policies, systems and procedures.  The governing body has not been holding leaders to account for the school’s performance robustly enough. Governors are too reliant on receiving information from the school’s leaders and managers without checking its accuracy. Although governors are aware of how pupil premium funding has been spent they have not sufficiently explored the impact of the interventions on pupils’ progress and outcomes.  The governing body has not ensured that the school meets the required publication of specified information on its website.  The governing body understands the urgency for immediate improvements so that the school is better placed to move forward swiftly.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are inadequate. The out-of-date safeguarding policy, lack of knowledge by staff of the legal requirement for reporting the occurrence of female genital mutilation and the poor quality of risk assessments substantiate the lack of a sufficiently robust safeguarding culture in the school.  Children receive guidance on e-safety during personal, social, health and emotional education lessons. However, teachers’ understanding of e-safety and the latest risks to pupils when they are required to work online is weak.  The organisation of safeguarding records is haphazard and not well organised. Training logs are not completed and information is not readily available when required.  Although pupils feel safe, and staff work to keep them safe, systems, processes and procedures are not sufficiently robust or effective to ensure that pupils are kept safe. The improvements seen in the last term to the school grounds and buildings have

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Safeguarding

ensured that pupils are more secure. Pupils appreciate the physical changes made and report that they feel safer and more secure because of them.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Weak teaching over time has resulted in groups of pupils making inadequate progress. Teachers do not hold an accurate knowledge of pupils’ prior learning, their current rates of progress or their attainment. Assessment information is not being used effectively to aid teachers’ planning to help raise pupils’ achievements.  Teachers’ assessment of what pupils have achieved is inconsistent and often too generous. Not enough attention is paid to the pupils’ prior attainment and/or the progress they need to make to catch up with other pupils nationally from the same starting point or to overcome their disadvantages.  Staff turbulence and long periods of staff absence have both impacted negatively on the quality of teaching at the school. Recruitment to key posts has proved difficult.  Teachers’ expectations of what pupils should be learning and doing are too low. Work provided by teachers too often lacks sufficient challenge.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Teaching is not equipping pupils with the basic skills they need in order to be successful in the next stage of their education. For example, by the time they left school in 2016, Year 6 pupils did not have a firm grasp of the spelling and grammar conventions needed to reach the standards expected for their age.  The new changes to the ways in which subjects are taught and strong teamwork between teachers and teaching assistants are now helping some pupils to improve. For example, in Year 6 pupils are improving their mastery of calculation. However, across all year groups and in a range of different subjects, pupils are not making rapid enough progress because teaching is inconsistent and too often it is not good enough.  Staff have responded well to the recent actions to improve teaching that have been instigated by the new headteacher.  The strong teamwork and good understanding of the needs of the small number of

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

pupils with the greatest barriers to learning due to their special educational needs is helping pupils overcome barriers to their learning. The inclusive and caring environment supports their development well.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate. The poor safeguarding culture in the school means that not enough is being done to be sure that pupils are safe.  Records relating to safeguarding, health and safety are poorly kept. Senior leaders cannot easily locate important information in a timely fashion to ensure the safety and security of pupils and staff. Much information is several years out of date, of inadequate quality and/or incomplete.  Pupils feel safe and say they are very well cared for, particularly those with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan. The school works hard with other schools and external agencies to support pupils with the most complex needs who are vulnerable due to their circumstances.  Over the past term, school leaders have increased the number and range of opportunities for pupils to undertake specific roles and responsibilities. These include:

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Personal development and welfare

the library community, play leaders, outdoor environment, well-being and mathematics councils, and information technology (IT) digital leaders. Leaders ensure there is wide participation by different pupils. This is enabling pupils to show initiative, develop leadership and collaborative skills and feel an integral part of the school and local community.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. Behaviour is better in structured sessions, such as in lessons, than when pupils more around the school or at recreational times. However, younger pupils sometimes struggle to stay focused on their learning and are slow to listen and respond to adults.  Pupils are polite and generally well mannered towards adults. They are kind, respectful and helpful to visitors. They frequently show new and prospective parents around the school. The comments made in the visitor book illustrate that they also do this with aplomb.  Pupils told inspectors that bullying was rare and that staff would deal effectively with it. Not all parents who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire agreed. The school records incidents of bullying, unkindness and inappropriate behaviour. However, the system used does not allow senior leaders, or others, to effectively track and monitor pupils’

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Behaviour

behaviour to identify trends and causes.  Overall, staff work hard to develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils’ social development is not as strongly developed as the other three aspects, as demonstrated by their general behaviour at lunch and playtimes. Attendance is around average overall, but is below average for disadvantaged pupils.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

 The inaccurate assessment of pupils’ work and lack of focus on what pupils should achieve, based on their prior attainment, results in inadequate outcomes for a significant proportion of pupils. This is particularly the case in the key areas of reading, writing and mathematics.  Scrutiny of pupils’ work and learning over time indicates that too few current pupils are on track to make good progress and reach the standards expected for their age, including the most able pupils. The goals set for pupils have not been challenging enough to ensure that they catch up rapidly on a legacy of underachievement.  Middle-ability pupils are not making the progress needed in order to achieve well over time. For example in 2016 middle-ability girls made significantly less progress in reading than other pupils nationally. In writing, it is a similar picture, but for all pupils.  In 2015 and 2016, by the time they left school, disadvantaged pupils made significantly

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

less progress and reached lower standards than other pupils nationally from the same starting point in reading and writing. Pupils with additional educational needs but not with a statement for special educational needs or an EHC plan also achieved poorly.  Inspection evidence shows that although there have been some recent improvements, they have not been soon enough or fast enough to enable pupils to catch up to where they need to be. In the current Year 6, the differences between the progress made in mathematics by disadvantaged pupils compared with all pupils has continued to widen during their time in school.  Improvements to the teaching of mathematics and English, since September 2016, are beginning to help pupils understand what they need to do improve and make better progress.  The quality of pupils’ handwriting is too variable. Pupils do not routinely take enough pride or care with their written work. However, in Years 5 and 6 pupils are proud of

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

their writing and the progress that they are now making.  The current pupils in Year 6 are now making better progress in developing their calculation skills. This is enabling them to be more confident problem solvers in mathematics.  The new incentives to encourage reading are proving to be successful. Pupils who read to inspectors could apply appropriate phonic knowledge to help them with unusual or more complicated words. This work is underpinned by the phonics sessions being taught. Reading record books and discussion with pupils demonstrated that they increasingly read regularly at home and in school. The stronger focus on reading over the last term and incentives provided are beginning to produce an improvement. Pupils and their families are proud of the rewards that they receive.

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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

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Email address head@camwoodfield-jun.gloucs.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 4–5 December 2012

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Information about this school

 The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the use of the pupil premium fund, pupils’ achievement at the end of key stage 2, the current link to the Department for Education performance tables, the current behaviour policy, the name of the member of staff who deals with queries from parents and other members of the public, or the contact details for the special educational needs coordinator, on its website.  The school meets the current government floor standards.  The school has undergone considerable change since the previous inspection. The new headteacher took up her role in September 2016, as did the full-time deputy headteacher. New middle leaders for key aspects of the school curriculum have been appointed since then and the roles and responsibilities of staff have changed too.  There is a different chair of the governing body and changes to governance have also

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Information about this school

taken place.  The vast majority of pupils are White British. A lower than average proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils who have special education needs and/or disabilities is higher than average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is average.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited lessons, scrutinised pupils’ work and reviewed their school records.  The inspection team scrutinised a wide range of documents, including the school’s safeguarding, health and safety procedures. The school’s admissions and attendance registers were evaluated. Further evidence was gathered from the school’s information on pupils’ current progress, behaviour and attendance. The minutes of the meetings of governors and the academy authority were reviewed.  Inspectors observed the behaviour of pupils as they arrived at the school, during break and lunchtimes, and at the end of the day, as well as in lessons. Discussions were held informally with pupils during the course of the inspection and after an inspector listened to them read.  Meetings and discussions were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, other school leaders, teachers and support staff. Further discussions were held with

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Information about this inspection

members of the governing body including the chair of the governing body, and a representative from the local authority.  The views of the 28 responses to Parent View (Ofsted’s online questionnaire) were considered. The 22 responses to the Ofsted questionnaires from staff and the two from pupils were also taken into account.

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Inspection team

Steffi Penny, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Paula Marsh 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

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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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 .

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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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