Stoke Park Junior School

Stoke Park Junior School Underwood Road, Bishopstoke, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO50 6GR

p.1

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

p.1

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

p.1

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

p.1

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher, together with his skilled leadership team and governors, has maintained the good quality of education provided by the school since the previous inspection.  Despite changes to the staff team, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good. This is because school leaders provide effective support to teachers to help them to improve their skills.  Most pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because teachers plan work that is at the right level for most pupils.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress because they receive additional help from skilled teaching assistants.  Pupils are happy and they enjoy school. They have very positive attitudes towards learning and they behave well in school. They feel safe in school due to the high quality of care that staff provide.  The curriculum is very well planned and

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

provides pupils with extensive opportunities to use their literacy skills when learning other subjects.  School leaders promote values such as respect, tolerance and understanding through assemblies and through the wider curriculum. Consequently, pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well.  Leaders at all levels have an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their areas of expertise. They have well-founded plans in place for further improvements.  School leaders are outward looking and seek to build on partnerships with local schools as well as further afield. They also access support from the local authority to enable them to be even more effective in their roles.  Overall the quality of pupils’ writing is good. However, some pupils do not spell or punctuate their work as accurately as they should. Some pupils do not write neatly or present their work as well as they should.

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 There is not always a high enough level of challenge for the most able pupils. As a result, too few pupils are working at the higher levels across the school.  While pupils study a broad range of subjects to some depth, there is not always enough coverage of science in some year groups.

p.1

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that all pupils spell and punctuate their work accurately, their handwriting is neat and that their work is consistently presented to a good standard.  Ensure that teachers provide a high enough level of challenge for the most able pupils so that a higher proportion of pupils in all year groups reach the higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics.  Make sure that pupils in all classes study the full science curriculum for their year group.

p.2

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 School leaders have a very clear vision for the direction of the school. They have high expectations and have set aspiring targets for school improvement. Their aim of ‘preparing all children fully for life in the wider world’ underpins all aspects of their work. As a result, pupils have well-developed academic and personal skills.  Senior leaders have established a climate of trust and respect among the staff. They have created long-term plans in consultation with all staff so that everyone understands the school’s aims and the part they play in achieving those aims. As a result, there is a consistency in the way in which agreed policies and procedures are followed through.  Staff work closely as a team and staff morale is high. Staff are proud to work in the school. In response to the staff survey, one member of staff wrote, ‘Staff are always consulted on whole school issues and while there is a very clear leadership structure,

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

all staff work as a team to share their views and opinions.’  One of the strengths of leaders is that they know their school well. Their self- evaluation is honest and accurate. As a result, their plans for further development are tightly focused on what is most in need of improvement. Leaders’ long-term plans are imaginative and ambitious. They show a clear link between what is to be taught, how it is to be taught and the learning behaviours that pupils will develop to enable them to become lifelong learners.  Leaders at all levels monitor the work of teachers and provide constructive feedback so that teachers know what they have to do to become even better teachers. Leaders visit classrooms informally as well as formally. They encourage teachers to visit each other’s classrooms to share and develop best practice. As a result, teaching is consistently good across the school.  Staff are highly responsive to guidance that helps to improve their skills. Leaders for

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

English and mathematics made good use of support from advisers from the local authority. They worked together to plan and implement actions to raise standards. These have already led to improvements in both subjects in most year groups.  Leadership of inclusion is good. The leader has a good understanding of the needs of pupils with SEND. She helps teachers to identify the specific barriers to learning for these pupils. The leader makes sure that that these pupils receive the right support in class from skilled teaching assistants. Some pupils with SEND are provided with special interventions that help them to overcome their specific learning difficulties.  School leaders reviewed the way in which the pupil premium grant was spent. They have created a new plan to support disadvantaged pupils, building on the strong practice seen in the SEND provision. As a result, they have raised the profile of disadvantaged pupils within the whole school community. Consequently, disadvantaged

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

pupils make good progress across the school.  The curriculum is very well planned so that pupils have a broad range of activities which allow them to learn subjects in interesting ways. Pupils use rich texts and stories to help them to learn about life in the past. Subjects are often linked together under an overall theme or topic and so pupils gain a wider view of the world. While there is evidence to show good curriculum coverage, some aspects of science are not covered in enough detail in some classes and this slows pupils’ progress in this subject.  Pupils enjoy a wide variety of cultural experiences that enable them to reflect on their own place in the world. This promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively. Pupils learn about different religious beliefs and values as well as how people from different parts of the world live. In this way they are learning what

p.3

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

it means to be British and so are well prepared for life in modern Britain.  The additional primary sport funding is used to good effect. Some of the funding has been used to employ specialist sports coaches to improve teachers’ skills. Some is also set aside to purchase additional sporting equipment as well as to help to transport pupils to local competitions and events. School leaders are proud of the success pupils have in local sports competitions. The school has been awarded the School Games Mark gold award in recognition of its achievements.  Parents are highly positive about the leadership and management of the school. One parent reflected the views of many through the comment: ‘This school provides a nurturing, positive environment for my daughter to flourish.’

p.4

Governance of the school

 Governors know the school well. They visit informally as well as formally and check for themselves that what leaders tell them is accurate. Minutes from their meetings show that they are well organised and that they provide a high level of professional challenge to school leaders. They ask probing questions of leaders, indicating that they do not readily accept what they are told. For example, in response to disappointing results in 2018, governors asked for explanations as well as asking what was going to be done to raise standards in 2019.  Governors work in close partnership with school leaders. They have a good understanding of what the school does well and where future improvements are needed. Governors check the school’s progress against targets in the school development plan and so they know where provision and outcomes for pupils are strongest. They play a key role in setting the strategic direction of the school and

p.4

Governance of the school

ensure that all plans are fit for purpose.  Governors carry out all of their statutory responsibilities diligently. They have ensured that funding for disadvantaged pupils is spent wisely and they ensure that the school’s arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Governors manage finances well and ensure that spending decisions secure good value for money.

p.4

Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding pupils are effective. School leaders and governors have created a culture in which the safety and well-being of all pupils comes first. Procedures for checking on the suitability of staff to work with children are robust and meet all requirements. Staff and governors have been well trained and know how to act should they have a concern that a child may be at risk of harm. The designated safeguarding leader works in close cooperation with external agencies to ensure that pupils and their families receive the right support in a timely way. All concerns are recorded clearly and records are held securely.  Pupils feel safe in school and all parents who responded to the online survey, Parent View, agreed that their children were safe in school. Pupils are taught to stay safe from dangers outside school through the curriculum and through school assemblies, some of which are led by outside speakers. Pupils have a good awareness of the need to stay

p.4

Safeguarding

safe when online and know that it is unwise to give out personal information when using the internet.

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is consistently good. There are good relationships between adults and pupils and this creates a highly positive climate for learning. Pupils behave well because they want to learn and because teachers go out of their way to make lessons interesting.  Teachers manage pupils well. They know their pupils well and plan work that is matched to the different abilities of pupils in their classes. They ensure that those pupils with SEND are provided with good support so that they can understand what they have to do.  Most teachers have high expectations and they expect pupils to work hard. In most lessons, pupils are provided with work that is interesting so the majority of pupils make good progress. However, work in pupils’ books shows that work is not always hard enough for the most able pupils. This means that in some year groups too few pupils reach the higher standards.

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 In most classes, teachers have good subject knowledge and use this to pose questions that challenge pupils and so deepen their understanding. Teachers know precisely what it is they want pupils to learn and so plan tasks that meet pupils’ learning needs. One of the strengths of teaching is that teachers look for imaginative methods to capture pupils’ interest. Pupils speak enthusiastically about learning and say that, ‘teachers always try and make it fun so that we learn more.’  Teaching of mathematics has been strengthened since the previous inspection. Work in most pupils’ books shows that they have plenty of opportunities to apply their knowledge of number to solve problems and to reason and explain their answers. This is leading to an improvement in the outcomes in mathematics for pupils currently in school. However, while most pupils make good progress, there are times when the most able pupils are not provided with sufficient challenge. This slows progress for this

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

group of pupils and prevents them from reaching the higher standard.  Pupils are provided with plenty of opportunities to use their literacy skills when learning other subjects and this helps to strengthen their skills in both reading and writing. For example, when they learn about history, they often use a text set in that particular period of time. This helps them to gain a wider understanding of particular events in preparation for their own writing. Pupils are often asked to reflect on what they have read and this makes an effective contribution to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  There are good relationships between teachers and teaching assistants and so teaching assistants make a valuable contribution in classrooms. In some classes, there is a seamless transition as both teachers and teaching assistants check on pupils and so promote good-quality learning. Where teaching assistants are deployed to work with

p.5

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

individual pupils, or groups of pupils, they are well informed. As a result, they provide good-quality support to pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged or those with SEND.  The large majority of parents who responded to the online survey agreed that teaching is good. One parent wrote: ‘The teachers are excellent and provide a variety of lessons and topics that are engaging for pupils.’

p.6

Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils feel safe in school because staff provide high-quality care and guidance for them. Staff know pupils and their families well and have a good understanding of their individual needs.  Pupils enjoy school and they say that there is very little they would like to change. They appreciate the wide range of activities that teachers provide for them and they have a good understanding of how to stay safe outside of school. They are very aware of the need to stay safe when using modern technology.  Pupils are taught to keep safe and give examples of this. There have been visits from the Fire and Rescue Service, fire drills and rules for keeping safe online. They know that they can report any online content they are concerned about via the school website link. They feel safe as a result of this.  In classrooms and around the school, pupils are polite, friendly and helpful to each

p.6

Personal development and welfare

other and to adults. The school promotes values including equality and diversity in which every pupil is valued. Pupils in turn show respect and understanding of those with beliefs and values that differ to their own. They say that all staff treat pupils equally and that discrimination on any grounds is not tolerated.  Pupils have very positive attitudes to school. They show determination and perseverance when completing their work. They work hard in class, cooperating with each other and listening carefully to adults and to each other.  Pupils enjoy a range of jobs and responsibilities that contribute towards their understanding of being a responsible member of the community. They take great pride in their roles as prefects, school council members and playground buddies.  Although pupils talk about their school with great pride, this high quality is not always reflected in their books. Work in some pupils’ books is untidy and there are basic

p.6

Personal development and welfare

errors, which does not reflect a high degree of care.

p.6

Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. In some classrooms, where teachers provide a high level of challenge, it is exemplary. Staff have high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. They implement the school’s behaviour policy consistently and so all pupils understand the guidelines. Pupils themselves said that most pupils behave well and that breaktimes are happy occasions.  Pupils know about different forms of bullying but say that it is rare. They are confident that all adults will address any concerns or problems that very occasionally arise. School records show few reported incidents of poor behaviour.  During the inspection, pupils behaved well in classrooms and in and around the school, including at lunchtimes. They get on well together and readily help each other in class. However, there are odd occasions when teaching does not engage pupils, they demonstrate minor ‘off task’ behaviour and chat among themselves.

p.6

Good

 School leaders and governors were disappointed in pupils’ outcomes in writing and mathematics in the national tests in 2018. They took immediate action by reviewing the way in which both subjects are taught. They implemented actions to bring about improvements. As a result, most pupils currently in school make good progress and are on track to meet their targets. Pupils are very well prepared for their next steps of education.  Pupils with SEND are well supported in class by skilled teaching assistants. Through their effective questioning, pupils understand what they are expected to do and so they make good progress. They sometimes work in small groups or individually and so they gain confidence and stamina to complete their work.  Based on the good provision for pupils with SEND, leaders have raised the profile of disadvantaged pupils with teachers. Teachers are now more precise in their understanding of the needs of disadvantaged pupils and target resources and provision

p.7

Good

more effectively. As a result, the progress of disadvantaged pupils in almost all classes and subjects is similar to their classmates.  Work in pupils’ books shows that there are extensive opportunities for pupils to write in all subjects and so practise their writing skills routinely. One of the actions leaders took to improve writing was to introduce more inspiring texts. These sparked pupils’ imaginations and gave them a purpose to write. There has been an improved focus on developing pupils’ vocabulary so that they now have a wider range of words at their disposal.  Pupils write fluently and confidently with obvious enjoyment. They write with imagination and flair. They take great delight in using sophisticated vocabulary to express their thoughts and ideas. However, there are times when they do not spell and punctuate their work as accurately as they should and this slows their progress. A few

p.7

Good

pupils do not write neatly or present their work as well as they should.  By the end of Year 6 pupils enjoy reading and have very positive attitudes. The leader for reading worked closely with local authority advisers to introduce a more formalised approach to teaching reading comprehension. This has helped to build pupils’ stamina for reading and has expanded their skills of inference and deduction. This has helped them to read and understand texts at a more difficult level.

p.7

School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

p.8

School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

p.8

School details

Email address adminoffice@stokepark-jun.hants.sch.uk

p.8

School details

Date of previous inspection 23 April 2015

p.8

Information about this school

 The school is larger than most junior schools. There are three forms of entry and pupils are taught in single age classes.  There have been significant changes to the staff team since the previous inspection. A new deputy headteacher joined the school in January 2018.  Most pupils are of White British heritage and few speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils with SEND or who have an education, health and care plan has risen incrementally over recent years and is now above the national average.

p.8

Information about this inspection

 The inspection team observed teaching and learning in 20 lessons or part of lessons. All of these were carried out jointly with school leaders. Inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books and they listened to pupils from Year 3 and Year 6 reading.  Inspectors spoke to pupils formally as well as informally to elicit their views about school. They observed pupils’ behaviour in class and as they moved around the school. They attended one assembly.  Inspectors met with school leaders, four governors, including the chair of governors, and a representative from the local authority.  Among the documents scrutinised were school development plans, information regarding pupils’ learning and progress and minutes from governors’ meetings. Inspectors also took due regard of the documentation showing how the school keeps pupils safe.  The views of parents were taken into account by analysing the 82 responses to the

p.9

Information about this inspection

online survey, Parent View, and the large number of comments made by parents on free-text. The views of staff were taken into account by analysing 14 responses to the staff survey.

p.9

Inspection team

Joy Considine, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

p.9

Inspection team

Christine Bulmer Ofsted 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 .

p.9

Inspection team

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

p.10

Inspection team

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.

p.10

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 .

p.10

Inspection team

achieve 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.

p.10

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 .

p.10

Inspection team

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10