Wyke Regis Church of England Junior School

Wyke Regis Church of England Junior School High Street, Wyke Regis, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 9NU

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Over the past two years, too few pupils have achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. Pupils’ progress has not been rapid enough and results dipped in 2016.  Leaders, including governors, have been overly generous in their evaluations of the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes. As a result, there are still inconsistencies in teaching and learning which are inhibiting pupils’ progress.  Leaders’ plans and actions for improvement are not precise enough to ensure that specific targets for improvement are met.  Governors do not hold school leaders to account for making improvements when they have identified possible weaknesses. Governors are not evaluating the school’s progress towards its goals robustly enough.  The quality of teaching varies considerably across the school. Weaker teaching does not challenge or support pupils effectively. As a result, pupils lose interest or become distracted

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

and their work and progress suffer as a result.  The most able pupils do not have consistent opportunities to consolidate, extend and deepen their understanding.  In weaker teaching, pupils’ errors and misconceptions are not identified and addressed frequently or systematically enough.  Leaders, including middle leaders, have not made effective use of monitoring information to give teachers precise guidance on how to help all groups, particularly the most able and lower-attaining pupils, make better progress.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders have created a positive school culture where behaviour is good, pupils enjoy learning and take pride in their work.  Pupils’ progress has improved over the last 18 months and is continuing to improve in all subject areas.  Where pupils need additional support, or are falling behind in their learning, targeted interventions are helping them to make better progress.  School leaders ensure that pupils’ safety and well-being take a high priority. Safeguarding processes are effective.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Continue to improve pupils’ progress so that more of the pupils meet the national expectations at the end of key stage 2 by: – ensuring that the specific needs of pupils with lower and higher prior attainment are met effectively.  Improve the quality of leadership and management by ensuring that: – leaders evaluate the school’s progress against key priorities precisely so that future actions can be well focused – leaders at all levels monitor and evaluate the consistency of teaching and learning across year groups, providing challenge, support and guidance within defined timescales – leaders develop the skills of middle leaders so that they can check on and influence improvements in teaching – the governing body challenges leaders more rigorously to improve outcomes for pupils, particularly most able and lower-attaining pupils, consistently across all classes.  Improve the quality of teaching by ensuring that:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– teachers raise their expectations of what pupils can achieve, particularly the most able – teachers check pupils’ understanding effectively in lessons and make better use of information about what pupils know, understand and can do in order to provide learning activities that are well suited to their needs. An external review of governance should be undertaken to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Since the significant dip in the school’s results in 2016, school leaders have reviewed the curriculum and approaches to teaching and learning. Leadership has been restructured and leaders have worked closely with other schools, both in the federation and more widely, to improve rates of progress. However, leadership roles are not yet well developed. For example, middle leaders are not able to evaluate the quality of teaching, challenge weak practice and contribute fully to the drive to improve teaching and learning.  Leaders have developed the school’s assessment processes and their system to track pupils’ progress. While the system provides a useful and important structure, leaders’ monitoring of pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching has been too generous, which means that they have not made an accurate evaluation of progress for each year group.  The improvements in tracking and analysing individual pupils’ progress have supported

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

leaders to identify those pupils who are falling behind in their learning so that additional support can be provided promptly.  Leaders, including governors, regularly undertake a range of monitoring activities that provide them with information about the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes. However, monitoring has focused largely on teachers’ subject knowledge and subject- specific strategies and has not identified precise aspects of teaching that require improvement. Leaders have not analysed and evaluated monitoring information with sufficient rigour to enable them to identify precise priorities to bring about rapid improvement for all groups of pupils. Consequently, some of the actions taken by leaders have not been well targeted and have had limited impact.  The school’s plans for improvement contain many actions, which have not been prioritised according to which actions will make the most difference for pupils. The

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

plans also lack clarity about how the impact of the actions will be measured and evaluated. This means that governors have not been able to hold leaders to account for improving pupils’ outcomes.  As a result of the weaknesses in evaluation, leaders and governors have assessed the school’s current provision and outcomes too generously. This has diminished their sense of urgency to improve.  School leaders have given teachers guidance and support to develop new approaches to the curriculum. Additionally, they have arranged a variety of professional development activities to increase staff’s skills. For example, the impact of training for teaching assistants to develop their questioning skills can be seen in the quality of the support they provide for pupils. However, the targets that leaders set for teachers to improve their teaching are not having enough impact on the overall quality of teaching and learning.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Leaders evaluate systematically how well the pupil premium funding is used to support disadvantaged pupils and check that it is having the intended impact. Leaders ensure that funds are sharply focused on raising achievement for this group of pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils. However, this information is not published on the website for parents and carers to see.  Pupils benefit from a range of physical activities and skill development provided by the additional sports funding allocation. However, the impact of this funding has not been fully monitored and evaluated.  The systems to support pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities have been refined recently. This has improved leaders’ capacity to track and analyse pupils’ progress from their different starting points. However, it is too early to see clear impact from these developments.  The curriculum is broad and balanced, supported by a range of extra-curricular

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

opportunities that are appreciated by the pupils and the parents. The curriculum is strong in promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. It also supports pupils in learning about maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  Pupils learn about faiths and cultures that are different to their own. The Christian values and inclusive ethos of the school result in pupils working and playing together well and consistently showing good levels of respect for each other. They understand and can talk about both Christian and fundamental British values.  Parents are positive about the work of school leaders. Many parents who participated in the Parent View online questionnaire and spoke to inspectors were strongly supportive of the school and its leadership.

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Governance of the school

 Although governors take their monitoring role seriously and have a comprehensive range of monitoring information, their evaluations have been too generous. This has reduced the sense of urgency to improve and has resulted in inconsistencies in both leadership and teaching.  Governors are committed to visiting the school to gather first-hand information. Although these visits are helpful in increasing governors’ understanding of the school’s work, the areas reviewed are not checked with sufficient rigour or followed up thoroughly enough. This hinders the potential impact of the governors’ work in monitoring and evaluating developments.  A review of governors’ documentation shows that governors are asking appropriate questions about different groups of pupils, including those that are disadvantaged or who have SEN and/or disabilities. However, the issues raised in committees and full governing body meetings are not pursued sufficiently to hold leaders fully to account

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Governance of the school

and to check the impact of the leaders’ actions on pupils’ outcomes.  Governors are committed to increasing their knowledge and skills. They have undertaken a good range of training to support them in their role.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  The school has fully trained designated lead officers who are available at all times across the school day. Systems for staff to report any concerns are secure. Any referrals are collated, analysed and used well to assess potential risks to pupils.  Leaders ensure that all staff have regular training to keep them informed about how to protect pupils, be alert for signs of harm and how to report and record any concerns.  The school has good links with a range of agencies to ensure that any emerging issues can be managed effectively and promptly. As a result, pupils at risk of harm outside the school environment have appropriate interventions and support.  Mandatory employment checks and safer recruitment practices are in place and the related record-keeping procedures are comprehensive and secure.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The quality of teaching varies considerably across the school and is not good enough overall, although it is generally stronger in upper key stage 2. Where teaching is most effective teachers have a secure understanding of the next steps for each group of pupils and plan effectively to meet their different needs. Where this happens, pupils make good progress.  Teachers do not consistently have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve in individual lessons and over time. The most able pupils are often not given sufficient challenge to develop and extend their understanding. In the online pupil survey, more than 20% of the pupils did not feel that they were challenged enough.  Teachers do not regularly check pupils’ understanding to build on their prior learning. This results in some pupils repeating skills that they have already acquired and some pupils are unable to understand the learning task. This has a negative impact on the

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

progress made by the most able and the lower-attaining pupils.  The purpose of lessons and what is expected of them is not always clear to pupils. Consequently, pupils are often unproductive during a lesson; their progress slows and their work is not of a high enough quality.  The teaching of reading is not consistently addressing pupils’ individual needs. For example, some pupils’ comprehension is impeded by a lack of vocabulary, some are affected by a lack of support with reading at home and some by reading material that is not at an appropriate level for them.  Changes in the teaching of mathematics have resulted in a clearer focus on mental mathematics and problem-solving. The impact of this work can be seen in upper key stage 2, where pupils are able to recall key number facts and strategies which they apply well when solving problems.  Pupils generally use written feedback from teachers well and understand what they

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

need to do to improve their work.  The ethos of the school, classroom routines and expectations of pupils’ behaviour ensure that pupils work with positive attitudes. They are keen to talk about their work and are articulate about what helps them to improve.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Teachers, teaching assistants and leaders provide strong pastoral care so pupils feel safe and secure in school.  Teachers and leaders share a clear focus on pupils’ well-being and mental, social and emotional health. Pupils who have challenging personal circumstances have been helped to stay in school and make progress.  Staff work well with different agencies and professionals to ensure that vulnerable pupils are well supported both in school and at home.  Pupils are polite, considerate of each other and friendly. They work and play well together.  Pupils say that they feel safe at school. They are confident when talking about their own thoughts and ideas and know whom to go to should they have any concerns or worries. They can explain how what they learn at school helps to keep them safe, including online safety.  A small proportion of responses to the online questionnaire raised a concern about

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Personal development and welfare

bullying in the school. However, discussions with pupils in a range of different contexts during the inspection did not substantiate such concerns. Pupils said that bullying did happen occasionally, but that they knew what to do and that it was dealt with well by teachers.  The breakfast club provides pupils with a calm and orderly start to the day.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Conduct around the school, during lessons and at breaktimes is typically calm and happy.  Good behaviour management processes allow teachers and leaders to manage any challenging behaviour effectively, resulting in an orderly and purposeful environment.  Pupils generally take pride in their work and have positive attitudes to learning.  The online pupil questionnaire is predominantly positive and over 90% of the pupils would recommend the school to a friend.  Overall, attendance is in line with national expectations. School leaders and teachers actively and effectively promote the importance of good attendance.  A small number of pupils are persistently absent with attendance below 90%. Figures have improved over the last three years and are currently above the national average. Some of this absence is the result of families taking holidays during term-time.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Over the last two years, too few pupils have achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. Although progress measures at the end of key stage 2 in 2017 indicate an improvement on the 2016 figures, they remain in the bottom 20% of schools.  School assessment information and pupils’ work show that progress and attainment are continuing to improve in all subject areas. However, too many pupils are not yet working at the standards expected for their age.  The percentage of pupils achieving the higher standard at the end of key stage 2 over the last two years was below the national average and this remains a concern for the school. Too few of the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are currently producing high-quality work and reaching the higher standards. However, this is variable across the school and outcomes for the most able are generally stronger

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

in upper key stage 2. Nevertheless, standards for the most able pupils overall are not high enough.  While pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are making good progress in relation to their starting points, they are not as a group closing the gap with their peers in the school or with the national average.  Disadvantaged pupils who do not have SEN are making at least expected progress and often good progress. The most able disadvantaged pupils are making good progress.  Disadvantaged pupils who also have SEN are not yet making consistently good progress.  Achievement across the wider curriculum indicates that pupils generally have a secure understanding of the knowledge and skills they have learned in English and mathematics.

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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

Headteacher Jacqueline Sonner (acting head of the federation) Telephone number 01305 786041

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School details

Email address junoffice@wykeregisfed.dorset.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10–11 January 2013

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the Wyke Regis Primary Federation.  Most of the pupils are White British. Few speak English as an additional language and the proportion from ethnic minority backgrounds is low.  The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is higher than in most schools.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding is above the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school provides a breakfast and after-school club for pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors visited all classes and were accompanied by either the deputy head of federation or the assistant head of federation.  Meetings and inspection activities were undertaken with the deputy head of federation, the assistant head of federation, the sports premium leader, the mathematics and English subject leaders, the special educational needs coordinator, a year group leader and representatives of the school’s governing body. An inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority.  The 46 responses to Parent View, the online questionnaire, were taken into account, as were the 30 responses to the staff questionnaire and the 28 responses to the pupil questionnaire. Inspectors also spoke to parents directly at the school.  Inspectors observed behaviour before school, in the breakfast club, in lessons, at breaktimes and at lunchtime.  The inspectors spoke with pupils in lessons, individually and in small groups. They also

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Information about this inspection

listened to pupils reading.  Inspectors undertook a joint scrutiny of pupils’ work with the mathematics and English subject leaders to evaluate the quality of work, assess progress and check the accuracy of assessment information held by the school in writing and mathematics.  Inspectors reviewed a range of school documents including the federation’s development plan, the summary of self-evaluation, governors’ minutes and monitoring information, senior leaders’ monitoring information, school assessment information, the pupil premium strategy, sport premium strategy and evidence relating to safeguarding and child protection processes.

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Inspection team

Janet Ross, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Mark Lees 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

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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