Mount Pleasant Juniors

Inspection of Mount Pleasant Junior School Mount Pleasant Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO14 0WZ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement 18–19 September 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at Mount Pleasant Junior. They enjoy coming to school and get along well together. Pupils learn and play in harmony and enjoy finding out about each other’s many cultures. They are proud of who they are. They live and breathe the school’s values, which help them learn to be ‘cooperative, creative, curious, eager, proud and resilient’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have put in place a new behaviour system that everyone follows. This means that pupils behave well. Pupils say that bullying is rare. If it does happen, they know how to work things out together or with the support of an adult.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy learning, with many telling us that mathematics is their favourite subject. When elected to the school council, pupils value the opportunity to make decisions about their school. They are also proud to represent their school in sporting events or singing in the choir.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Adults here have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. However, teaching is not consistently effective across all subject areas.

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better?

At the end of key stage 2, pupils do not achieve as well as other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. Governors have not checked the work of leaders closely enough to make sure pupils receive a good quality of education. Leaders know that the education provided in this school needs to be better. They have started to improve it, but this work is at a very early stage.

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better?

The teaching of reading, for most pupils, is improving. Leaders have focused on building pupils’ understanding of the words they read. However, some pupils, including those who join the school mid-year as pupils new to English, do not recognise words quickly enough to read fluently. This is because they are not taught well enough how to sound out words.

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better?

In mathematics and science, pupils’ learning is stronger. Teachers have started to sequence learning more carefully than in the past. In other subjects, pupils’ understanding is patchy. This is because teachers’ knowledge of some of the subjects they teach is not strong enough to help them plan out how they will teach what pupils need to learn.

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better?

Leaders have a plan to develop pupils’ knowledge and skills in geography, history, art and design and technology. They have not yet looked to make sure pupils are learning what they need to know in other subjects, such as PE and music. 18–19 September 2019

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not have their needs identified precisely enough. This means that, for some pupils, the work they receive is not always focused on the things that will help them to learn successfully.

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Pupils’ personal development is a strength of the school. Leaders are sensitive to the needs of the local community. They work with parents to make sure pupils are taught about relevant topics, such as puberty and keeping themselves safe. School trips, such as to the gurdwara or Winchester Cathedral, help pupils to understand other cultures. Pupils enjoy these experiences, describing them as ‘a launchpad for learning’.

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Pupils understand the value of democracy. When talking about how this worked in their school, they used elections to the school council as an example. Pupils work together to form committees, each leading on an important theme for their school, for example charity work or anti-bullying.

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The head teacher and other leaders are ambitious for this school. They know what they need to do to make this school successful. Parents are very supportive of the recent changes that leaders have made. Leaders are mindful of the workload these changes could create for teachers and other adults, and they work to reduce this. Adults in school appreciate this and the support they receive from leaders.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff are vigilant in looking out for the well-being of pupils to ensure that they are safe. They are trained to recognise the signs and symptoms of abuse, including those which may be specific risks for this community. They know who to refer their concerns to and when. Leaders follow up concerns quickly, taking appropriate action to support pupils and families.

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Safeguarding

Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe from harm through their regular ‘staying safe’ assemblies. They recently learned about road and railway safety, which is vital for this school due to its proximity to the busy road and level-crossing.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 This school does not currently offer a good quality of education. This is because what pupils learn across a range of subjects is not sufficiently broad or thorough. Leaders need to make sure that what teachers plan for pupils to learn at least meets the requirements of the national curriculum.  Teachers’ subject knowledge of the subjects they teach is not always well established. This impedes how consistently well they plan learning that builds successfully on pupils’ knowledge over time. More work is needed to ensure that 18–19 September 2019

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curriculum plans for all subjects identify what pupils need to know and when, and that they inform future teaching consistently well.  Historical weaknesses in the teaching of reading and mathematics have left gaps in some pupils’ mathematical understanding and their ability to read fluently. As a result, pupils do not attain as well in these subjects as other pupils nationally by the end of Year 6. Leaders should ensure that recently started work to tackle these gaps leads to pupils catching up in these subjects so that they are ready for their next stage in education.  Pupils who join the school mid-year, as pupils new to English, do not receive the help needed to improve their reading quickly enough. This slows their learning in other subjects. The school needs to make sure that these children are quickly and systematically taught the required skills to decode text, so that they don’t fall further behind. Leaders need to improve the expertise of those tasked with

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teaching pupils to read, so that pupils quickly learn the skills they need and can access the whole curriculum successfully.  Some pupils with SEND do not learn as well as they could. This is because their needs are not always identified correctly or quickly enough. Leaders should ensure that staff are trained sufficiently well to understand the needs of the pupils they are working with and how to meet them.  Governors have not held leaders well enough to account for the quality of education in the school. More work is needed to ensure that they understand what needs to be improved, and that they look closely at the impact of leaders’ actions on pupils’ learning.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 18–19 September 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10088124 Type of school Junior

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 21–22 March 2017

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Information about this school

 Since the last inspection, the school’s leadership has changed significantly. A new headteacher took up post part-time in April 2018 and full-time from September 2018.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors met with a range of leaders, including members of the governing body, the headteacher, assistant headteachers and year leaders.  Inspectors met with a representative from the local authority and the Aspire Community Trust.  Reading, mathematics, music and science were considered as part of this inspection. Inspectors visited lessons, met with leaders and teachers, spoke to pupils and looked at pupils’ work.  The inspection of safeguarding included: scrutinising the school’s documentation and discussions with leaders, staff and pupils. 18–19 September 2019

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 In addition to discussions with parents, 8 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, were considered, including 3 free-text comments.  A range of the school’s documentation was scrutinised, including: the school’s information on how well pupils are learning; pupils’ attendance records; leaders’ self-evaluation of the school’s effectiveness; records of local authority monitoring visits; and minutes of governing body meetings.  Inspectors scrutinised the school’s website to evaluate the quality of information for parents.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour and spoke to pupils to gather their views about the school.

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Inspection team

Clare Haines, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Marcia Headon Ofsted Inspector 18–19 September 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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.

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