Newquay Junior Academy

Inspection of Newquay Junior Academy Edgcumbe Avenue, Newquay, Cornwall TR7 2NL

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding 6–7 November 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff take every opportunity to make school interesting. Teachers plan exciting and enjoyable lessons. Pupils also benefit enormously from the various clubs and other activities on offer, such as beading and residential visits. Leaders have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. As a result, pupils behave well throughout the day, including breaktimes. Pupils treat everybody with the same respect and courtesy to make this a happy and safe school. Pupils are proud of their school. They enjoy having responsibilities, for example being a ‘fab four’ or ‘super six’ helper to care for other pupils.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say bullying is rare. If it happens, staff deal with it quickly. Bullying is not tolerated in any form at Newquay Junior Academy. Pupils understand the importance of the school’s rules. Their behaviour reflects the school’s values of ‘kindness, equality, independence and resilience’. Pupils are proud to earn badges and rewards when they have successfully shown these qualities. Pupils want to be here and are well prepared for the next stage of their education when they leave.

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better?

Since the previous inspection, the school has been through many changes. These led to a decline in the school’s performance. However, the work of the headteacher and deputy headteacher, following their appointments during the past 26 months, has been impressive. They understood what was needed to improve the school and wasted no time in getting on with it. They have raised teachers’ expectations of pupils so that all pupils do well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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better?

Senior leaders, including subject leaders in mathematics and English, are particularly effective. They have revised what they want pupils to know and the order in which they expect pupils to build knowledge. These well-sequenced steps are suitably challenging so that all pupils benefit. Pupils, including those with SEND, are challenged to achieve well. The very best examples of this exist in mathematics and physical education (PE). However, a few subjects are not as well developed, most notably religious education (RE). Leaders are not clear about what they want pupils to know. This leads to pupils sometimes being confused, for example in their knowledge of world faiths.

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better?

Leaders and teachers have worked diligently to improve pupils’ reading. Pupils enjoy books. They also enjoy using the library and taking quizzes when they finish reading their books. Reading is celebrated at every opportunity. Teachers also make sure that any pupils who start school without knowing their letters and sounds are quickly identified. These pupils are given work which helps them to catch up. However, teachers do not check closely enough what these pupils know. This is also true for some older pupils who struggle with reading. Consequently, a few pupils do not move as quickly as possible towards being confident, fluent readers. 6–7 November 2019

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Pupils’ good behaviour helps them to learn well. For example, in PE, Year 5 pupils are adept in coaching each other. They take turns, listen and advise each other on how to improve their performance. Pupils lead warm-ups and take responsibility for parts of the lesson. This helps pupils to be confident in expressing their thoughts and ideas.

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The curriculum also gives pupils opportunities for strong personal development, such as through performing in the choir at Wembley or representing the school in sports. Furthermore, as school councillors or ‘eco-avengers’, pupils are being well prepared to be good citizens.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Senior leaders and governors maintain high expectations of safeguarding in the school. This includes training and checking staff and volunteers to ensure that they are suitable to work with pupils. Staff know what to do to look after pupils. This includes robust systems for working with external agencies to keep children safe.

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Safeguarding

Pupils say they feel safe. They know how to stay safe in different ways, including applying the ‘SMART’ strategy when working online. Pupils trust staff, who act quickly when pupils need their help.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The reading strategy is effective and supports most pupils well. However, teachers’ assessments of pupils who still need phonics teaching (as well as some other weaker readers in the school) lack precision and rigour. This holds a few pupils back from becoming confident, fluent readers. Leaders need to ensure that teachers plan precise and meaningful next steps to help pupils to catch up.  Senior leaders ensure that most subjects are well sequenced, with clear intentions which enable pupils to achieve well. However, there are a few subjects, particularly RE, which are not planned as well. Leaders need to ensure that their high ambitions and expectations are consistent in all subjects.

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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. 6–7 November 2019

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

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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. 6–7 November 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10024938 Type of school Junior

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Newquay Junior Academy converted to become an academy school on 31 December 2010. When its predecessor school, Newquay Junior School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be outstanding.  Since the previous inspection, there have been many changes in staffing, including three headteachers in that time.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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Information about this inspection

 We worked with many leaders during the course of the inspection. These included the headteacher, the deputy headteacher (and English lead), curriculum leaders (for mathematics, science, RE and PE) and the special educational needs coordinator.  We also met with the pastoral support adviser, the attendance officer and governors of the school. We met with trustees, including the chief executive officer and the chair of the local governing body. 6–7 November 2019

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 We scrutinised the school’s safeguarding records, including the single central record, and evaluated the effectiveness of the school’s safeguarding procedures. This involved talking to staff and pupils about their understanding of safeguarding, bullying and health and safety.  We undertook deep dives in these subjects: reading, writing, mathematics and science. This involved visiting lessons, talking to pupils, looking at pupils’ work and talking to teachers. On the second day, we also looked at RE, art, PE and personal, social and health education.  We also checked Parent View (Ofsted’s online survey) and met with a group of parents and carers to gather their views.

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Inspection team

Stewart Gale, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Paula Marsh Ofsted Inspector 6–7 November 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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