Eastwick Junior School

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

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Tim Smith Head of School Eastwick Junior School Eastwick Drive Great Bookham Leatherhead Surrey KT23 3PP

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

Following my visit to the school on 20 March 2019, 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 predecessor school was judged to be good in May 2014.

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since then, the school has undergone some significant changes. The school joined The Howard Partnership Trust (THPT) in 2016. A new head of school was appointed in 2017. Staffing is secure and leadership capacity to drive further improvements is strong.

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

This is a calm and happy school. School leaders’ vision to provide pupils with opportunities and experiences to build their resilience and instil in them a sense of responsibility for their actions lies at the heart of the school’s culture and ethos. The school’s motto to ‘develop the whole child’ ensures that pupils’ academic and pastoral needs are fully met. Pupils told me, ‘Everyone is valued at our school because we want to know you as a person. It doesn’t matter to us what you look like or where you come from.’

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

Parents appreciate the ‘warm and caring environment’ and how staff listen and ‘do all that is possible’ to help pupils overcome their problems. Provision for pupils who have special educational needs and /or disabilities (SEND) is highly effective. Additionally, pupils with SEND who have complex SEND needs receive expert teaching through the specialist centre, The Ark. It provides specialised bespoke support to enable these pupils to enjoy school and access appropriate learning.

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

Pupils get on very well together. They told me that bullying is rare at the school and said that if they have disagreements with peers, staff assist in how to resolve them. They told me, ‘Our teachers help us think about how our behaviour affects others so that we change our behaviour without feeling bad about ourselves. This helps us become a stronger person.’

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

Pupils say that they enjoy lessons because teachers plan activities which help them show what they have learned. They use feedback from their teachers and peers to edit their work and improve their knowledge and understanding. Pupils told me, ‘When we explain what we know, we learn better.’

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

The vast majority of parents wholeheartedly praise the school’s work to support them and their children. Parents told me that they are pleased with the recent improvements in communication between school and home. They appreciate the wide choice of clubs offered and describe it as an ‘excellent’ opportunity to help their children develop interests and individual talents.

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

Leaders closely monitor teaching, learning and assessment. They have put in place an assessment system to ensure that teachers identify and plan activities to address specific learning gaps. Staff use this well to provide pupils with support in lessons.

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

School progress records show that pupils are on track to achieve well at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. However, only some of the most able pupils achieve at the higher standard in writing, due to the lack of consistent challenge in some classes. The progress of disadvantaged pupils, although improving, needs to improve further to ensure that gaps in reading, writing and mathematics are closed.

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

Pupils’ reading is a strength. Leaders have worked hard to ensure that pupils read widely and often. Parents and pupils were overwhelmingly positive about the strong reading culture that now exists at the school. Staff share quality texts to inspire pupils’ writing and make sure that activities have a specific purpose. During the inspection, I observed Year 6 pupils confidently use ideas from their debate research to express their views on whether zoos should be banned.

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

Senior leaders and governors have ensured that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Child protection records are detailed and of high quality. The designated safeguarding lead ensures that policies to prevent risks are implemented well. All staff receive appropriate child protection training and the focus on safeguarding is maintained through regular updates and briefings. As a result, staff are vigilant and intervene if pupils are at risk or there is a concern.

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

Where intervention is required, leaders act promptly to ensure that relevant outside agencies are involved to work with pupils and their families to address their specific needs. Leaders are tenacious in following up issues, in collaboration with outside agencies, to secure positive outcomes. Leaders have ensured that robust systems are in place and stringent checks are carried out before adults are employed in the school. Safeguarding records are meticulous, and they are regularly scrutinised by the head of school and the governing body to ensure that legal requirements are met.

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Short inspection of Eastwick Junior School

Pupils have many opportunities to learn how to keep themselves safe. Themed lessons, workshops and assemblies focus on pupils’ personal safety and online safety. Pupils were quick to tell me that it is important not to share personal information when online.

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Inspection findings

 During the inspection, I considered how well pupils are supported to help them achieve in writing. Leaders have introduced structured strategies to ensure that pupils develop their key knowledge and understanding of grammar and punctuation. Pupils are well supported in lessons to check and improve the quality of their writing.  Teachers provide pupils with well-matched resources to help them develop their writing skills. Pupils write purposefully across different subjects and use subject- specific vocabulary to explain their ideas. Pupils told me that they have many opportunities to discuss their ideas and plan carefully before they undertake writing activities. One pupil explained, ‘It helps to share my ideas and improve them before I start to write.’ However, the most able pupils, who are capable of writing with greater independence, do not always receive the right challenge to help them extend and develop their creative ideas.

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Inspection findings

 Mathematics teaching is effective. Teachers know curriculum expectations well, they use skilful questioning to check pupils’ understanding and intervene promptly to address misconceptions. As a result, pupils’ mathematical knowledge is strong. Pupils told me that they enjoy their mathematics lessons because they have opportunities to use and apply their mathematical knowledge in lessons. I observed Year 3 pupils use mental calculations effectively to find the perimeter of shapes and then apply this successfully to reasoning activities.  Leaders are ambitious. With governors, they commissioned a recent review of the use of pupil premium funding. Further training and knowledge of methods that work well for the pupils have equipped staff with the right skills to identify and teach to close gaps in learning. Leaders meet with teachers regularly to review the impact of that support on closing progress gaps in the basic skills of reading,

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Inspection findings

writing and mathematics. While teachers make increasingly effective use of assessments to monitor and plan for pupils’ needs, the progress of disadvantaged pupils needs to improve further in these subjects.  Leaders have introduced new feedback procedures, which have enthused pupils and reduced teachers’ workload. Pupils edit and evaluate their work more closely in lessons and use their understanding to help them confidently move on to the next area of work. During the inspection, I observed pupils in Year 4 refer to their writing work to check previous learning and use it to help them create cohesion between paragraphs.  Leaders and governors know the school’s strengths and have identified key aspects in need of improvement. Self-evaluation is accurate and based on careful monitoring. Leaders thoughtfully consider how to improve teaching, learning and assessment to benefit all groups of pupils.  Governors are knowledgeable and skilled. They challenge leaders and offer

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Inspection findings

support to ensure that actions result in long-term improvements. They receive regular information from leaders on the performance of different groups of pupils and attend training to further enhance their skills and expertise in their areas of responsibility.

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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

 the most able pupils are consistently challenged so that they achieve at the higher standard in writing.  disadvantaged pupils make rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics and achieve as well as their peers.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, 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 Surrey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I met with you and the executive headteacher and we planned the key lines of enquiry for the inspection. Together, we visited classes to observe pupils’ learning, speak with pupils and look at their work. I also met with other members of the school staff, including the English and mathematics leaders and teachers. I met with four members of the governing body and the trust, including the chair. I also met formally with a group of pupils. I considered 117 responses to the online pupil survey. I met parents and carers at the end of the school day and took into account 95 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including two written contributions. I spoke with staff during the day and took account of 38 responses to the online staff questionnaire. I examined a sample of pupils’ work with senior leaders. I looked at a range of documentation, including information about the work of governors and safeguarding, and curriculum plans. Additionally, I scrutinised and

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Information about the inspection

discussed pupils’ progress and attainment and the school’s self-evaluation and development plans.

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