Jervoise School

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

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Mrs Hilary Wheeldon Executive Headteacher Jervoise School Jervoise Road Weoley Castle Birmingham West Midlands B29 5QU

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

Following my visit to the school on 11 September 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 your predecessor school was judged to be good in February 2014.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. There have been many changes since the school was previously inspected, with some significant changes to the leadership and governance of the school. As executive headteacher, you are supported well by the head of school and deputy headteacher. The leadership team has a determined and positive approach to school improvement, which is reflected in the improving trend in the outcomes at the end of Year 6.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

The leadership team is highly reflective and has recently reviewed the impact of the previous years’ actions. Leaders have planned how they can further improve the school in the coming year. They have accurately evaluated every aspect of the school’s provision and outcomes, and have created a comprehensive school improvement plan from this evaluation. Last year, teaching and learning improved as a result of focused coaching support for individual teachers. In addition, leaders made changes to pupil-progress meetings to ensure that everyone involved in pupils’ learning took part of these discussions. This has led to greater shared responsibility for the progress that pupils make.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

The school regularly works alongside its partner school as well as other schools within the multi-academy trust. Through this collaboration, leaders provide opportunities for staff to learn from high-quality practice as well as to share their own best practice. In addition, pupils participate in joint activities such as the outdoor learning opportunity at Chasewater to enrich their learning. Pupils benefit from the experience of working alongside and meeting pupils from different backgrounds and this helps prepare them for the future.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

Parents speak positively about the school and echo the pride that you have in the ‘open door policy’. They value the time that school takes to listen to any of their concerns and say that their children are happy and enjoy school. The great majority of parents would recommend the school to others.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

Pupils are enthusiastic about their school and they appreciate the work that teachers do to make learning interesting. They are eager to talk about their residential trips, including visits to Shugborough Hall, which appears to be a firm favourite. They enjoy their after-school clubs such as dance and football. They explained how their ‘Passport for Learning’ helps them to record and remember special learning experiences, such as a recent trip to the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

You have addressed many of the areas for improvement identified at your previous inspection. It is evident from pupils’ books and observations in lessons that pupils are given plenty of opportunities to practise their mathematical skills and, as a result, outcomes have improved. Pupils are given successful strategies to enable them to write well and now most pupils achieve at the expected standard by the end of Year 6. However, sometimes teachers don’t respond quickly enough to pupils who have acquired the skill being taught and who need a different or greater challenge. Pupils also say that some lessons could be more challenging.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

Safeguarding is given high priority by the school. The leadership of safeguarding is effective. Senior leaders work collaboratively with a wider team of appropriately trained staff, to provide an effective safeguarding team. Leaders are committed to ensuring that pupils and families receive any support they need and records show that several families have received high-quality support over long periods of time. Safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of a good quality.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

Pupils feel safe when they are at school. They trust their teachers to sort out any problems and they say that bullying is not a problem within school. Pupils are given helpful advice about staying safe online through internet safety days and they are clear about the risks of online gaming.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

Leaders provide opportunities for children to become involved in safeguarding activities within school. Pupils in Year 6, who are members of the children’s safeguarding council, talk proudly of their contribution to safeguarding. They have provided fire safety assemblies as well as supporting pupils who need someone to talk to. Pupils respond to this role with maturity and value the responsibility given to them.

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Short inspection of Jervoise School

Training for staff is detailed and comprehensive. Leaders provide appropriate training in order that staff are able to identify any possible concerns and respond accordingly. Staff and governors are aware of the issues facing the school’s local community as well as wider national concerns and respond to these well.

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Inspection findings

 As a result of leaders’ commitment to ensuring that pupils work at or above the standard expected for their age, outcomes at the end of Year 6 have risen in both reading and mathematics. Leaders ensure that the majority of pupils achieve age-related standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2 and Year 6. As a consequence of the focus on improving teaching and learning, most pupils make good progress. There remains a lack of challenge for some pupils, and as a result there are still too few pupils who achieve at the higher standard.  Pupils’ workbooks from the last school year show that across the school, teaching provided many opportunities for effective learning, especially in Year 2 and Year 6. Pupils completed calculations regularly and they practised the mathematical skills they had learned in lessons. An improving picture was seen in topic books, where there were some creative opportunities to present work and provide more

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Inspection findings

open-ended writing tasks. Books also showed that the curriculum effectively supported pupils to achieve age-related standards, but there was less evidence of greater challenge or opportunities to work at the higher standard.  Inspection evidence shows that teachers have made a prompt start to the current school year. They have wasted no time in getting pupils engaged in their learning. Evidence gathered during the inspection shows that there is no difference between the progress made by disadvantaged pupils and others. Leaders are clear that their focus is to remove barriers to learning and phase leaders are focused on checking the impact of interventions, including those to support the most able.  Records of children’s learning from the early years show that they make good progress from their starting points. ’Learning journeys’ show a good coverage of the early years foundation stage and evidence of a well-rounded curriculum.

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Inspection findings

During the inspection, a group of Reception children enthusiastically baked cakes, using the pears from the tree outside the classroom. The children were very clearly enjoying this practical activity, which encompassed early mathematical language as well as the skills of weighing and measuring.  Handwriting and letter formation are not developed well enough over the course of the Reception Year. This means that pupils enter Year 1 with handwriting skills that are below those expected by the end of the Reception Year. Pupils’ workbooks from the previous Year 1 also reflect poor handwriting and letter formation. However, this is largely addressed by the end of Year 2. Books from this year show that pupils in Year 2 are already practising cursive script in order to improve their handwriting skills.  You have been effective in addressing the high levels of persistent absence by engaging well with the families of pupils who do not attend school frequently

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Inspection findings

enough. You reward those pupils who demonstrate good or improved attendance. As a result, persistent absence has halved in the last year and is now in line with the national average.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  teaching at both key stages 1 and 2 provides even greater challenge to ensure that a greater proportion of pupils attain at the higher standard  the teaching of early handwriting skills and letter formation in the early years improves pupils’ handwriting and presentation skills more effectively.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees and the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Birmingham. 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 senior leadership team. I visited classes across the school, including in the early years. I observed teaching and learning, spoke to pupils and looked at work in books. I observed lessons jointly with you or another senior leader.

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Information about the inspection

I talked to parents informally at the start of the day and spoke to a group of pupils from key stage 2. I listened to some pupils read. I scrutinised key written information, including documents relating to safeguarding, self-evaluation and the school improvement plan.

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Information about the inspection

I met with members of the multi-academy trust and the school’s improvement adviser. I took account of 17 responses to Parent View, including five free-text comments, and 23 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey. I also considered 24 responses by pupils to Ofsted’s pupil questionnaire.

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