The Iver Village Junior School

Inspection of a good school: The Iver Village Junior School High Street, Iver, Buckinghamshire SL0 9QA

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Outcome

The Iver Village Junior School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The Iver Village Junior School is friendly, nurturing and supportive, meaning pupils thrive. Leaders have high expectations of pupils’ learning and behaviour. Pupils speak highly of the school and are proud to attend. Parents and carers are hugely supportive of the school. One parent said, ‘The staff are incredibly caring and our children enjoy attending school. They promote caring for the environment and helping other people.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in their lessons and around the school. Outside, pupils play enthusiastically together and enjoy using the well-developed playground. Pupils are very keen to learn because teachers make learning interesting and fun. Pupils say that staff will happily re-explain things if they do not understand something. Positive relationships with staff help pupils to develop their confidence and positive attitudes to learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy having Hugo and Ralph, the small therapy dogs, around the school. They help to promote pupils’ calmness and friendliness. Pupils said that they feel safe in school and they have no concerns about bullying. If they have any worries, they know that they can talk to their teacher and it will be dealt with quickly.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders, staff and governors have high aspirations for pupils. They ensure that pupils have access to a broad and enriching curriculum. Pupils are prepared well for their secondary education. This is because pupils achieve above national expectations in reading, writing and mathematics.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders and staff have taken care in refining the wider curriculum. They have mapped out the key knowledge and skills that they want pupils to learn through a topic-based approach. There are now stronger links between subjects so that pupils can deepen their knowledge. Pupils talk positively about their learning. However, some need more support to understand how their previous work can help them to understand their new learning. Further improvements to embed the planning across all year groups will ensure that the 28–29 January 2020

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quality of education is even stronger. Leaders are supporting staff to refine their expertise to teach the wider curriculum to the high standard evident in English and mathematics.

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Reading is a priority at this school and is taught well. There has been a wide range of projects to develop reading in school, including the ‘Harry Potter’ reading event. Pupils love reading and they talk about their favourite books with enthusiasm. Staff act as good role models by writing book reviews and these are displayed around the school for pupils to read. High-quality texts help support pupils’ understanding of a range of subjects. Year 3 pupils who have not met the expected standard in phonics receive extra support to enable them to catch up.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. Staff ensure that pupils are fully involved in all school activities. As a result, these pupils develop confidence and build their subject knowledge and skills across the curriculum.

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Pupils are well behaved in class and know what staff expect of them. They work hard because they want to achieve well and do their best. Pupils attend a wide variety of clubs, including those for cartoon drawing, computer coding and football. They take part in many sporting events with local schools. Pupils have performed at the Royal Albert Hall and the O2 in London. Adults visit the school to talk about their professional jobs so that pupils can think about the careers they may wish to have in the future. Pupils learn to care for others by raising money for different charities.

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The headteacher provides strong leadership, supported well by the deputy headteacher. School leaders take great care and are passionate about providing the very best for all pupils. Governors know the school well. They challenge and support the senior leadership team effectively. Staff recognise that leaders are respectful of their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding has the highest priority. There is a well-established safeguarding culture that permeates across the school. Staff are well trained and understand their safeguarding responsibilities. Governors check that the school keeps detailed records on the suitability of staff to work in the school.

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Safeguarding

Pupils feel safe. They understand the potential pitfalls of using social media and the internet. E-safety pupil ambassadors further support their peers to be safe online. Leaders work hard to help vulnerable pupils and their families to get the support they need.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders need to secure and embed learning across the wider curriculum, for example in geography and science. To do this, leaders should continue to deepen teachers’ 28–29 January 2020

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subject expertise and skills so they can plan more effectively and develop pupils’ vocabulary in the full range of subjects.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in June 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

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 are the school and you are 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. 28–29 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122291 Type of school Junior

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.ivervillage-jun.bucks.sch.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 14–15 June 2016

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Information about this school

 There have been no major changes since the last inspection.

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Information about this inspection

 During this inspection, I met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and the inclusion manager.  I met with subject leaders, class teachers and support staff. I spoke with a representative of the local authority on the telephone. I met with three members of the governing board, including the chair of governors.  I considered the 31 responses to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire and the 21 free- text comments. I also considered the 15 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for staff.  I examined a range of documents, included those relating to safeguarding, governance, curriculum, leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance and school improvement.  To check on the quality of education, I did deep dives in reading, geography and science. Meetings were held with subject leaders. I visited all classes, talked to pupils 28–29 January 2020

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about their work and discussed the school’s approach to teaching the curriculum with teaching staff. I heard pupils read and observed pupils reading to adults.

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Inspection team

Darren Aisthorpe, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 28–29 January 2020

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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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