Charlton Kings Junior School

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

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Mr Lee Pajak Headteacher Charlton Kings Junior School East End Road Charlton Kings Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 8QE

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Short inspection of Charlton Kings Junior School

Following my visit to the school on 25 April 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 September 2014.

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Short inspection of Charlton Kings Junior School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You, your deputy headteacher and governors are passionately committed to raising the aspirations of all the pupils in your care. This culture is exemplified in the school’s motto, ‘Believe in yourself’, and is clearly apparent in the way pupils talk with enthusiasm about their learning and want to challenge themselves. You are successfully transmitting this culture to your staff. They are committed to improving their practice, and pupils say their teachers make learning interesting and challenging. Staff members greatly value the professional support and development that school leaders offer them. Parents and carers are strongly in agreement that their children are well taught and make good progress at your school. Almost every parent would recommend the school to someone else.

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Short inspection of Charlton Kings Junior School

Governors are rigorous in their challenge to you and other school leaders about the standards pupils achieve. The monitoring activities they carry out provide them with accurate first-hand knowledge of pupils’ experiences of school.

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Short inspection of Charlton Kings Junior School

Your school curriculum is wide ranging and interesting. Pupils enjoy many extra- curricular clubs, sporting opportunities, musical events and residential trips, including abroad. These experiences help pupils to broaden their horizons and strongly promote their well-being, and social and cultural development.

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Short inspection of Charlton Kings Junior School

At the last inspection, the school was asked to increase pupils’ use of literacy and numeracy skills when learning in other subjects. This inspection found that pupils extend their high standards of presentation and handwriting into their wider curriculum work. For example, in science books, and in notes as part of their art work, pupils’ spelling, punctuation and handwriting reflect the standard of their literacy work. Pupils write in a range of genres in their curriculum work. For example, in a topic about the Tudors, pupils have written diary entries, letters and reports. Pupils use their numeracy and mathematical skills effectively in other subjects, particularly in science.

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Short inspection of Charlton Kings Junior School

The last inspection also asked the school to improve pupils’ achievement in mathematics. Over time, pupils’ attainment in mathematics at the end of Year 6 is above that of pupils nationally. However, it does not match the high results pupils attain in reading, particularly at the higher standard. As leaders, you have ensured that this is a key priority for the school’s development. The changes you have introduced to the teaching of mathematics mean that both current pupils generally and specific groups of pupils, such as disadvantaged pupils, the most able and girls, are making better progress in mathematics. However, you agree that the full impact of this work is yet to be reflected in pupils’ attainment and progress at the end of Year 6.

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Short inspection of Charlton Kings Junior School

The school places safeguarding at the heart of its work, exemplified by the statement on the school’s website that it is of the ‘utmost importance’. The school’s policies and procedures are up to date and comprehensive in detail and scope. The school’s record-keeping is of a high standard. Leaders have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Staff and governors receive regular training and useful resource materials to support them. They are very clear what procedures to follow if they have a concern about a child. Governors monitor the school’s safeguarding work regularly, conducting formal audits and also spot checks of procedures, such as the signing-in procedure, to ensure that school expectations are being met. On the school website, leaders have included detailed information tabs about safeguarding for parents, and also for children on their own ‘staying safe and well’ tab.

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Short inspection of Charlton Kings Junior School

My findings from my meetings with pupils, and their replies to the online pupil survey, show very clearly that pupils feel very safe, happy and well looked after at school. As a pupil said, ‘I have no doubt that I am safe in school.’ Parents overwhelmingly agree. Pupils value the independence and responsibility the school gives them and, in turn, they are polite and respectful to adults and to each other. Pupils appreciate opportunities to share their thoughts and opinions with adults at school and all know to whom they would turn if they had a concern. They say bullying is uncommon and that adults would deal with it swiftly. Pupils’ enjoyment of school means they attend at a very high rate.

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Inspection findings

 During the inspection, I investigated how well pupils learn in mathematics. While above national levels, pupils’ mathematics standards are yet to match their standards in reading. For some pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged and middle-ability pupils, fewer reach a higher standard in mathematics than do so nationally. Girls’ progress in mathematics is lower than their progress in other subjects.  In the past two years, you have fundamentally reviewed mathematics teaching. The changes implemented have increased the progress current pupils are making. For example, you saw that some pupils lacked confidence in their mathematics abilities. As part of your response, you changed the teaching groups for mathematics. As a result, middle-ability and the most able pupils are receiving learning which is challenging them more. This is leading to an increase in positive attitudes to mathematics. Consequently, more pupils are working at a deeper

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Inspection findings

level. Professional development for your staff is helping them to implement the changes and is giving them the confidence to innovate practice in their classrooms.  Discussions with pupils and scrutiny of their work indicate that changes in mathematics teaching are leading to stronger progress for current pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, middle-ability pupils, the most able and girls. However, you agree that the full impact of this work on pupils’ mathematics achievement is yet to be seen. Indeed, as leaders, you were disappointed that the 2017 mathematics results, while above national figures, did not match pupils’ attainment and progress in reading.  You have identified barriers to learning for girls in mathematics by gathering their views and then adapting teachers’ planning as result. Although recent, this work is helping to change girls’ experience of mathematics. For example, girls reported

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Inspection findings

an increase in opportunities to work collaboratively in mathematics lessons.  As leaders, you agree that developments in mathematics are not yet embedded fully across the school. For example, together, we saw that, at times, pupils do not have the opportunity to reach the activities planned for them that deepen their mathematical understanding. Pupils’ work showed us that opportunities for them to articulate their reasoning in their mathematical work are sometimes limited. We also saw that, on occasion, pupils focus on the consolidation aspect of the lesson rather than moving on to the next stage in their learning.  As part of the inspection, I investigated boys’ progress in reading and writing. This is because boys’ progress is slightly less than girls’ progress in these subjects. As leaders, you make sure that the curriculum is encouraging boys to write. Your teachers plan interesting starting points for writing which are relevant

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Inspection findings

for boys. An example is the current Year 4 topic on ‘Trees’, which has captured the interest of all pupils. Teachers’ expectations of handwriting and presentation are high and both boys and girls respond to these. In Year 3, pupils who entered the school without a joined handwriting script are now doing so competently.  Boys spoke to me about their enjoyment of reading. Both boys and girls were calmly focused on their work in the guided reading sessions we visited. However, you could see that there is some inconsistency in the way teachers approach the school’s procedures for guided reading between year groups, particularly in lower key stage 2.

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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

 they secure improvements to the teaching of mathematics across the school and, in particular, make sure that teachers challenge pupils of all abilities to extend and clarify their understanding in mathematics so more of them can reach the higher standards for their age  teachers in all year groups follow the school’s procedures for guided reading consistently.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you and your deputy headteacher, senior leaders and members of the governing body. I spoke with the school’s external adviser for school improvement. Together with your deputy headteacher, we visited a range of lessons across the school. We talked with pupils about their learning and looked at their work with them. I asked pupils to read to me from their work and from the texts they were using. To gather pupils’ views about life at school, I spoke with pupils outside at breaktime, met with a group of pupils at lunchtime and considered the 186 responses to the online questionnaire for pupils. I met with a group of school staff and considered the 23 responses to the online staff questionnaire. I spoke with parents informally at the start of the day, considered the 122 Parent View questionnaire comments and received a letter from a parent. I talked with staff and governors about their understanding of safeguarding. I scrutinised

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Information about the inspection

documents relating to the safer recruitment of staff and other safeguarding documentation with school leaders.

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