Jasper City School

Jasper City School 14–16 Coventry Road, Ilford IG1 4QR

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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 Requires improvement

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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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

 Leaders’ monitoring and evaluation of the quality of teaching is not sharp enough because insufficient emphasis is given to the progress that pupils make. Their plans for improvement lack the necessary detail.  The systems for assessing pupils’ progress and attainment are not yet reliable.  The curriculum is limited in some areas including science and ‘social studies’, and does not support the development of pupils’ deeper understanding. Therefore, outcomes for pupils require improvement.  The curriculum does not provide in sufficient depth for learning about other faiths and types of family life represented in Britain.  Teachers do not use assessment information consistently well to plan activities that deepen pupils’ learning.  Questioning is not used consistently well to probe pupils’ understanding and develop their skills.  There are too few opportunities for pupils to practise their writing skills in a range of

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher and proprietors have a clear vision for school improvement, which they are beginning to implement effectively. There is capacity to improve.  Proprietors and governors have ensured that all the independent school standards are met.  Pupils behave well. They respect staff and each other and are very proud of their school.  The school provides a safe environment, and all staff work effectively to safeguard the welfare of pupils.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted effectively. The school provides good opportunities for pupils to reflect on the deeper meaning and purpose of life.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school meets the requirements of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment to raise pupils’ achievement by ensuring that: – teachers’ questioning probes pupils’ deeper understanding and requires them to explain their ideas or give their reasoning – all teachers are effective in using assessment information accurately to plan activities that challenge and extend pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills – pupils are given opportunities to develop their literacy skills in a range of subjects across the curriculum.  Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by ensuring that: – the systems for assessing pupils’ progress and attainment are fully established – plans for improvement detail precisely how leaders and governors will measure the impact of their actions on improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes – the wider curriculum effectively develops subject-specific knowledge and skills, especially in science and ‘social studies’, so that pupils have the opportunity to gain

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

deeper understanding – the monitoring of the quality of teaching is sharpened by focusing on its impact on the progress pupils make – the curriculum provides for greater depth in pupils’ learning about other faiths and different types of family life represented in Britain.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 In the relatively short time since the school opened, the headteacher has established a positive climate for learning. Pupils, staff and parents are proud of their school. The policies and procedures that have been introduced provide a safe and calm place for adults and pupils to work. However, leaders have not ensured that the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes are consistently strong across the curriculum.  The systems and processes to check the quality of teaching and measure pupils’ progress have only just been introduced. There has been insufficient detailed monitoring to ensure that all teachers are consistently adhering to the school’s ‘minimum expectations for the quality of teaching’.  Leaders and governors know what needs to improve. However, plans for improvement lack the necessary detail to pinpoint precisely how and when this will be achieved and how the impact of their work, such as on outcomes for pupils, will be measured.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Leaders have given considerable thought to the development of a broad, coherent and purposeful curriculum. The school uses the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum as a starting point; leaders have begun to enhance the core subjects based on their careful consideration of the needs of individual pupils. Discussions with pupils confirmed high levels of engagement in a range of their ‘favourite’ subjects.  However, their knowledge and skills in some subjects, such as science and ‘social studies’ (which includes history; geography; personal, social, health and economic education; and citizenship), are less secure. So too, the curriculum provides insufficient depth in pupils’ learning about other faiths, and the different types of family life represented in Britain. Leaders acknowledge that aspects of the curriculum require further development to deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding.  The promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

reflects the school’s values and principles. For example, the daily affirmation in assembly instils pupils with self-confidence and the belief that they can succeed. Opportunities for pupils to reflect on the deeper meaning of life are well established across the curriculum.  Pupils are keenly aware of British values because leaders are effective in actively promoting them. For example, pupils demonstrate their understanding of tolerance and respect for rules in the way they behave, and know that taking a majority vote is a fair way of making decisions.  All staff work successfully to establish a caring and inclusive culture. A happy atmosphere permeates the school.

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Governance

 Proprietors and governors have not formulated clear plans of action based on analysis and evaluation of key aspects of the school’s work. Currently, they do not have the information they need to ask probing and challenging questions that effectively hold school leaders to account.  Proprietors and governors bring a useful range of skills and experience to their roles, for example in school management, the law and finance. Their work has been critical in improving the fabric of the building and ensuring that pupils have an appropriate environment for learning.  The chair of the governing body holds weekly conversations with the headteacher to provide ongoing support and identify potential issues at an early stage. This helps to ensure that the school runs smoothly on a day-to-day basis.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Policies and procedures to ensure pupils’ safety, including employment checks, are up to date and rigorously followed.  Leaders ensure that staff receive appropriate training in child protection and understand what to do if they suspect that a child may be at risk of harm. Staff are confident in their ability to put into practice the training they have received; this enhances the trust they have built with pupils.  The church building in which the school functions is well maintained and secure. It provides a safe and nurturing place for pupils.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Teaching does not consistently help pupils to deepen their knowledge and understanding. This means that pupils often work at a basic level and do not make the strong progress they should to achieve higher standards and greater depth across the curriculum.  Teachers’ assessments give an optimistic view of pupils’ progress which is not supported by inspection evidence. For instance, most pupils attain high marks in their end of unit assessments, but their work does not demonstrate convincingly that they have achieved a high standard.  Teachers often provide useful one-to-one support for pupils by checking on the progress they are making on tasks and providing timely advice. However, teachers are not consistently effective in using questioning skilfully to probe pupils’ understanding and deepen their learning. As a result, some pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable.  Teachers organise pupils’ learning systematically and check that they are on track to meet

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

their daily learning targets. This ensures that pupils stay focused on their work for a sustained period. In mathematics, for example, sustained practice in solving problems ensures that pupils consolidate important skills which they then apply in a different context. This was seen, for instance, when a younger pupil was working on two-step word problems and an older pupil was applying some rules of trigonometry to solve a practical problem.  The teaching of ‘word building’ is effective in ensuring that younger pupils have grasped the basic sounds that letters represent. Pupils are quickly moved on to learn more complex letter combinations and this means that most pupils make sound progress in early reading.  The school’s expectations for handwriting are adhered to well. Younger pupils sometimes form their letters incorrectly, but this is picked up and addressed effectively by teachers. The books of older pupils show that they develop their own legible style of handwriting.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.  Pupils are accepting and welcoming of people’s differences; however, their understanding of equalities and the protected characteristics is, as yet, limited.  A welcoming and caring ethos is at the heart of the school’s work. From the moment pupils enter each day, they are greeted by adults with a genuine sense of care.  Assembly themes to develop pupils’ personal skills are used well to promote the school’s vision and ethos and to create a strong sense of community. Pupils respectfully participate in the acts of collective worship, taking time for reflection and prayer.  Pupils state that they feel safe in school. They told the inspector what they had learned in school about safety. For example, older pupils understand how to manage risk when using the internet and social media.  Pupils learn about different forms that bullying can take and, for example, are taught to

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Personal development and welfare

respect the beliefs and views of others. During the inspection, pupils reflected on what respect means in practice as one of the themes covered in anti-bullying week. Pupils say that bullying does not happen in their school; this is supported by the school’s records which show no instances of any type of bullying.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils’ conduct around the school and in the playground is good. They play well together, making use of the school’s play area and equipment provided. Pupils move around in the school in an orderly and calm manner.  Pupils concentrate well in lessons and rarely disturb others. They know the routines of school life well, as, for example, in their use of a ‘library voice’ in lessons. They respond quickly to the instructions of adults around them.  Pupils value the rewards for and celebrations of good behaviour and achievement that are in place, in particular the ‘star chart’. Pupils are keen to earn their stars. Pupils are proud of their school and this is reflected in their good attendance. They are courteous and well mannered. They listen well to adults and their peers, and show respect for the views of others.

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 Few pupils are making good progress across a wide range of subjects. This is in large part because the curriculum is not consistently effective in deepening pupils’ knowledge and understanding, particularly in science and ‘social studies’. Sometimes tasks lack challenge and do not demand enough of pupils.  The school’s own assessment information on pupils’ attainment and progress is not fully reliable; the system is still in the process of being developed. Inspection evidence, including work seen in pupils’ books, indicates that leaders’ view of pupils’ progress and attainment is often optimistic.  However, pupils’ progress is improving in English and mathematics. This is because leaders have devoted considerable effort to identifying gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills in these subjects and have set in place sequences of learning to address them.  Younger pupils develop a sound grasp of basic skills as a result of good modelling and

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

daily practice. They develop a love for reading early on as teachers read to them often and talk about the setting and the feelings of characters in the story.  Older pupils talk with enthusiasm about the topics they learn and enjoy a range of different subjects, including drama, music and singing, physical education and dance. These subjects make a strong contribution to pupils’ personal development and well- being.  The standard of pupils’ writing is improving through the effective use of grammar and punctuation. However, pupils’ literacy skills are not well developed across the wider curriculum, in particular the use of extended writing.

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Early years provision

 There is no separate report on early years provision as there are very few children of this age range currently being educated in the school.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 109(1) and (2) of the Education and Skills Act 2008, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Email address Office@JasperCitySchool.org.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is registered as an independent day school for pupils aged three to 16 in the London borough of Redbridge. Registration was granted by the Department for Education in May 2018. This is therefore the school’s first full inspection.  The school provides a non-denominational Christian education in which pupils learn from a ‘biblical worldview’.  The school is led by the headteacher, who is also a member of the school’s proprietorial body. A governing body is in place.  The school functions in a church building that is rented out to the school from Monday to Friday until 5pm. The school is registered for up to 70 pupils aged three to 16. Currently there are nine pupils on roll.  The school does not currently have on roll any pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, who is also a proprietor, and the chair of the governing body.  The inspector observed teaching and learning in several lessons, and looked at pupils’ workbooks and notebooks.  Separate meetings were held with three teachers and a group of seven pupils.  The inspector carried out scrutiny of pupils’ work in a range of subjects, including some artefacts that pupils had produced.  There were insufficient responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire. Four responses were received from staff, which the inspector took into account.  The inspector looked at a number of documents, including: a wide range of policies on the school’s website; information relating to the attendance and behaviour of pupils; safeguarding and child protection records; and the school’s admissions register and risk assessment documentation.

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Inspection team

Nasim Butt, lead inspector Her Majesty’s 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

Parent View 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

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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