Greasby Junior School

Inspection of Greasby Junior School Mill Lane, Greasby, Wirral, Merseyside CH49 3AR

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

The previous ‘outstanding’ judgement reflected the school’s overall effectiveness in October 2008 under the relevant inspection framework at that time.

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Overall effectiveness Good

The new judgement of ‘good’ reflects the current inspection framework as well as any changes at the school since the last inspection.

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Overall effectiveness Good

The school has not been inspected for 11 years, which is longer than the five-year maximum interval between inspections. Changes in school effectiveness may have happened at any point in that period. The long time between inspections is because the law changed in 2011; it made outstanding schools exempt from routine inspection. 4–5 February 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Greasby Junior School are part of a welcoming and nurturing community. Pupils are happy and clearly enjoy school life. Their actions are well informed by ‘the three Cs’ of courtesy, care and consideration. Pupils make friends easily and are kind to one another.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The pupils that we spoke to were resounding in their praise for adults at the school. They feel safe because of the level of care and support that staff provide.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils achieve well. They enjoy an engaging curriculum. There are high expectations in place for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs are well supported to make sure that they are ready to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ conduct is exemplary. Pupils told us that bullying is rare because staff tackle any incidents decisively. Pupils understand the effects of bullying well. They are respectful of others’ feelings.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a range of responsibilities. These include running activities at lunchtimes to add to the wide range of clubs that are on offer at the school.

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better?

Senior leaders and governors have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. Governors question leaders well so that they have an accurate view of provision. Teachers are positive about the steps taken by leaders to reduce their workload.

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better?

In 2019, the progress and attainment of all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, at the end of key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics were similar to those of other pupils nationally. Leaders quickly identify pupils’ individual needs. They provide advice for staff on how to support pupils to achieve well.

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better?

In reading, leaders have improved the quality and range of the books that pupils read. Pupils are positive about reading because these books match their interests and abilities well. Staff are effective at extending the range of pupils’ vocabulary. They consistently build on what pupils already know. This helps pupils to become increasingly expressive readers as they move through the school. Staff provide targeted support to help pupils to catch up if they have gaps in their knowledge of the sounds that letters make. Pupils use their phonics knowledge automatically to read fluently.

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better?

The strong focus on developing pupils’ vocabulary has also helped improve pupils’ writing. Leaders have mapped out clearly the punctuation and grammar skills that 4–5 February 2020

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they want pupils to know. This ensures that pupils build on their prior learning well. Pupils use a range of vocabulary and punctuation to enrich the quality and complexity of their written work.

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Leaders have taken effective action to improve pupils’ progress in mathematics. There is now a highly structured approach to teaching mathematics. This builds well on pupils’ prior learning. Pupils have opportunities to revisit their knowledge of different methods of calculation and apply these well to solve problems.

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Senior leaders have ensured that the school’s curriculum matches the national curriculum well. They have started to develop the role of subject leaders to improve the planning of the curriculum even further. Pupils achieve well in some subjects, such as science, physical education (PE) and computing. The leaders for these subjects have made good use of published materials to devise strong plans for pupils’ learning. However, they have not had enough opportunities to check on the quality of education in their subjects.

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In subjects such as history, geography and French, leaders have not provided staff with enough guidance on how to link learning between topics to build on pupils’ prior knowledge. Leaders have not checked closely enough on how well pupils have remembered their learning. Pupils’ recall of their learning varies between subjects because it is not reinforced often enough. This is also true of some aspects of pupils’ personal development.

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Pupils have a clear understanding of the school’s values. They also have a wide range of opportunities to learn about their own culture and that of others. They do this through taking part in trips to museums, studying a range of different artists and learning about different faiths. However, pupils’ recall of their work on British values and equalities is patchy. They remember some of their work well but find it difficult to recall other aspects in enough detail.

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Parents, carers and pupils alike value the work of staff at the school. Attendance at the school is well above the national average. Pupils actively contribute to maintaining the strong positive ethos of the school. As peer mentors, they support other pupils to resolve any minor disputes at breaktimes. Pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes and in lessons is excellent.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have put in place appropriate safeguarding training for staff to ensure that all adults are vigilant. The processes and procedures to follow are known well by staff if they have any concerns about a pupil’s well-being. The special educational needs coordinator and the pastoral leader ensure that there is early help for pupils who have SEMH needs. They work well with other professionals to support pupils and their families. 4–5 February 2020

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Pupils have a strong awareness of how to keep themselves safe, including when online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Although the quality of education in the school is good, the curriculum planning for some subjects is stronger than for others. In subjects such as history, geography and French, the curriculum plans do not provide enough detail about how learning builds on what has come before. This means that pupils’ recall of their learning is not consistently strong across subjects. Leaders should ensure that teachers plan more carefully to build on pupils’ prior knowledge and to link learning across subjects so that pupils’ learning is even more meaningful.  Subject leadership is at an early stage of development. Curriculum leaders have not had the opportunity to check on how well staff are implementing curriculum plans so that pupils know and remember more. Subject leaders should check regularly on the quality of education in their subjects to ensure that pupils have remembered the essential learning that has been defined for each topic.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Although pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain, they forget some aspects of their learning in relation to equalities and British values. Leaders should ensure that pupils have opportunities to revisit and consolidate their learning in these areas so that they remember the main teaching points in more detail.

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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 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. 4–5 February 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122148 Type of school Junior

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Mr Nick Birtwistle

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School details

Website www.greasby-junior.wirral.sch.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 9 October 2008

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Information about this school

 The headteacher who was in post at the last inspection left the school in August 2019. There was an interim headteacher in post from September 2019, with a new headteacher being appointed with effect from January 2020.

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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 met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and subject leaders throughout the inspection. We also spoke to governors, teachers and other school staff.  We met with groups of pupils from across the school to ask them about safeguarding. We reviewed documentation, which included the school’s safeguarding policy, the register of the checks carried out on new employees and safeguarding records.  We also met with pupils to ask them about their learning in a range of subjects and looked at the schemes of work for subjects across the curriculum. 4–5 February 2020

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 We observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktime and lunchtime and discussed behaviour and bullying with pupils, teachers and senior leaders.  We took account of documentation, including the school development plan, the school’s evaluation of its own effectiveness and documentation about the effectiveness of governors.  We looked at information about pupils’ attendance and the information about pupils who had been taken off the school’s roll.  We did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and PE. For these subjects, we spoke with the headteacher, met with curriculum leaders, teachers and pupils, undertook an analysis of pupils’ work and visited lessons. We heard pupils read. We also looked at pupils’ work in subjects across the curriculum and met with other subject leaders.

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Inspection team

Steve Bentham, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

David Deane Ofsted Inspector 4–5 February 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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