Clarendon Junior School (Clarendon Federation)

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Karen Ward Headteacher Clarendon Junior School Ordnance Road Tidworth Wiltshire SP9 7QD

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Short inspection of Clarendon Junior School

Following my visit to the school on 20 February 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in November 2013.

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Short inspection of Clarendon Junior School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have acted on the previous areas for improvement. Good practice is now shared through mentoring and coaching programmes. In the lessons we visited, pupils were interested and concentrating very well.

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Short inspection of Clarendon Junior School

You lead the school with great commitment and are very well organised. You are quick to find evidence to demonstrate the way you identify what needs to be done and act on it. You face an unusual challenge in that there is very high mobility (a very high proportion of pupils join the school or leave it between the start of Year 3 and the end of Year 6). In most cases, this is because pupils’ parents are in the armed forces and postings change. About 83% of pupils have a parent in the forces.

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Short inspection of Clarendon Junior School

You recognise the importance of providing for pupils who have arrived in the school having previously covered different topics, for example in history. To avoid repeating very similar things you have planned the curriculum around a theme of ‘take one…’, for example ‘take one artist’. In this way you cover key skills in a context that pupils are unlikely to have met before. Pupils like the approach and spoke with enthusiasm of some of the work they had done in different subjects.

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Short inspection of Clarendon Junior School

You receive additional funding for pupils who have a parent in the armed forces. You use this effectively, for example to provide emotional support and make sure that pupils are ready to learn. A few parents were, nevertheless, concerned about behaviour. Behaviour was excellent in the classes we visited. Lunchtime was lively as pupils ran around, but it was well supervised. The pupils I spoke to were adamant that behaviour is very good. One said, ‘It is really well controlled.’ We went through the records the school keeps about behavioural incidents. There were few, and they were dealt with appropriately.

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Short inspection of Clarendon Junior School

The school is keen to have governors who reflect the local community. However, this also means that the governing body often changes personnel. The chair of governors is new to the position but has taken good steps to get to know the school. She is rightly aware that governors’ training is an important aspect of maintaining an effective governing body. She and the other governor I met spoke confidently and accurately about the school’s strengths and what you are working on. The records of governors’ meetings show examples of ways in which they have challenged you and other leaders.

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Short inspection of Clarendon Junior School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. The school’s records about the required checks on adults who work or volunteer in the school are well organised and clear. You note training and references, and monitor records to make sure that all is up to date. Staff I spoke to were able to tell me about training they had had and what they had learned. They knew exactly what to do if they had worries about a pupil. You listen to and act on any concerns, involving social services quickly where needed and taking the right steps to safeguard children.

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Short inspection of Clarendon Junior School

All the pupils I spoke to said that they felt safe in school. They told me whom they could go to if they had a problem. Pupils understand what bullying is and most of those I met said that there is none. A few younger ones said that it occasionally happens but they were confident that teachers would sort it out if it did. All stressed that the school was a friendly place in which to be. New pupils really appreciate being given a ‘buddy’ to look after them when they first arrive. Parents who gave their views feel their child is safe. One parent, who has a child with specific needs, said ‘I couldn’t wish for a better school.’

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Inspection findings

 During this inspection I evaluated: the impact of the high mobility of pupils; the improvements you are making to mathematics, particularly for the most able; and how well lower-ability pupils, particularly those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, are making progress in reading.  You have analysed 2016 and 2017 results for pupils who were in Year 6. Your analysis shows that pupils who had been in Clarendon Junior School for all of the four years made much better progress than those who had spent time in one or more other schools.  You have refined the way you assess and build on what pupils can do whenever they arrive. In particular, you hold frequent meetings to discuss pupils’ progress. At these you make sure that everyone concerned is aware of new pupils’ standards and you check on any pupil who is falling behind standards they had previously reached. Your data for pupils currently in the school shows that almost

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Inspection findings

all are making at least good progress compared with their arrival points.  The results for Year 6 pupils show that their progress in mathematics has been below average for the last three years and has been worse than their progress in English. Although some of this slow progress is down to pupils’ changes of school, you have taken good steps to improve it. Sensibly, you first focused on basic skills, and pupils’ performance in this area improved in the 2017 tests. The overall progress made by disadvantaged pupils in mathematics also improved in 2017.  You are now working to improve pupils’ ability to reason mathematically, and on ways of improving the progress of the most able. Pupils showed me how they are applying the acronym APE (answer, prove, explain) in their mathematics. In lessons we saw teachers asking ‘Why do you think?’ and not just ‘How do we do it?’ For example, in one Year 5 lesson, pupils were really challenged to explain

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Inspection findings

why 40% is the same as 4/10. In a Year 3 lesson, pupils were counting in 5s and 50s, and the teacher was pushing them to explain why it is different, using ideas of place value.  In many of the lessons we visited, the work teachers had planned was meeting pupils’ needs very effectively. Leaders have introduced a system where pupils can challenge themselves, very sensibly, first making sure they understand then moving to a ‘spicy’ task. Where we saw this in place, pupils of all abilities had challenges provided at their level. In most classes, books show that this is standard practice. Books also show that in a few classes this practice is not fully established, as you have already identified. In these few classes work is not consistently hard enough to challenge the most able pupils, so they are not making enough progress.  In 2016 and particularly 2017, Year 6 results showed that lower-ability pupils and

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Inspection findings

those who had SEN and/or disabilities had made slower progress than others in reading. The SEN coordinator (SENCo) has a wide knowledge of pupils’ needs and can explain why specific support methods have been chosen. She is checking the impact of support these pupils receive by looking at improvement in tests. For example, one group’s reading age accelerated by an average of nine months in a three-month period.  The SENCo tracks pupils’ termly progress by looking at teachers’ reviews of whether targets are met. These targets and reviews are variable in quality and form. The variation in ways of recording makes it harder to keep a check on them. At the moment the SENCo has no secure method of assessing longer-term progress in English and mathematics for the very few pupils working well below expectations for their age. The school does not have detailed information about key stage 1 assessments.  The SENCo provides teaching of phonics for pupils who need this. I listened to

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Inspection findings

some Year 3 pupils reading and found that they were able to use their phonics knowledge to work out unknown words. You have been working on developing comprehension skills, and the pupils were able to explain what the text was telling them and what made them think that.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 targets and reviews of targets for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are consistently precise enough to guide the work to be done  they find ways of tracking longer-term progress of pupils who are working well below expectations for their age, including liaison with the infant school to establish Year 2 starting points  they improve the progress of the most able pupils in mathematics, by embedding the systems that have been introduced and making sure that they are used consistently.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Wiltshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During this one-day inspection I met with leaders, staff and pupils, checked on learning and looked at documentation. I met with you to discuss the work of the school, the progress that pupils make and the steps that you take to safeguard pupils. I also discussed planning and provision with the SENCo.

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Information about the inspection

You and I visited classrooms together and studied work to see how well pupils are learning in mathematics. I listened to four Year 3 pupils read and talked to them about the books. I also met with a group of Year 6 pupils who brought work with them, and I talked to a range of other pupils in the playground.

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Information about the inspection

I held meetings with two governors and with the school’s local authority challenge partner. I talked to staff informally and took account of four responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Information about the inspection

I took account of 10 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, together with nine written comments and a telephone call from a parent. As responses were few for the size of the school, I also took account of the results of the school’s own questionnaires for gathering parents’ views.

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