Marnel Junior School

Inspection of Marnel Junior School Shetland Road, Popley Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG24 9PT

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Inadequate Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 25–26 February 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils want to do well and enjoy their learning. Too many have not reached their potential, however. Leaders’ expectations of what pupils can achieve across the curriculum and of pupils’ behaviour have been too low. The newly appointed acting headteacher and other leaders are determined to change this.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils told us that they feel safer now that behaviour has started to get better in the school. They like the new house system and enjoy working together, as a team, to get rewards. Around the school, we saw polite and friendly pupils who were mostly engaged in their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand about how to keep themselves safe, including online. They feel that they have a trusted adult they can talk to if they are worried about something. They particularly appreciate the support given by the school’s emotional literacy support assistant. However, not all pupils feel that all staff deal with bullying incidents effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the opportunity to take on responsibilities. They take their roles, such as being a member of the school council or being a reading buddy, very seriously. They are also proud of the charity work that they do in support of good causes.

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better?

Pupils have not been getting the education that they deserve as the quality seen at the last inspection was not sustained. This is now beginning to change, but there is still much to do. The acting headteacher and his leadership team have identified the right key areas for improvement. Important steps to improve weaknesses in, for example, the curriculum and behaviour have started to be implemented recently.

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better?

Many pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not achieve as well as they should across the curriculum. They are not sufficiently prepared for the next stage in their learning. This is because they do not gain the knowledge they need across a range of subjects. This leads to significant gaps in their understanding and knowledge. Curriculum plans, particularly in the foundation subjects, have not been well thought through and have lacked ambition. They have not clearly set out what pupils must know, remember and be able to do. Leaders have recognised the need to make changes to the curriculum. They have started this process. Some subjects, such as mathematics and writing, are further ahead than others.

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better?

Pupils who struggle most with reading, including many with SEND, do not receive the support that they need to catch up with their peers. This affects their ability to access the wider curriculum and hinders their learning. Too many staff lack the skills and training they need to teach phonics well. 25–26 February 2020

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Provision for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND is far too variable. Staff do not fully understand the needs of these pupils. Leaders have not ensured that these pupils receive the appropriate help that they need to achieve as well as they should.

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Leaders have taken effective steps to improve behaviour but rightly recognise that there is still more to do. Adults are now more consistent in using the systems for rewards and consequences. We observed many positive interactions between staff and pupils throughout the school. Pupils feel that behaviour in the school is getting better. However, a minority of pupils still disrupt other pupils’ learning.

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Overall attendance rates are in line with national averages. However, a significant minority of pupils, many of whom are those with SEND, are persistently absent from school. Recent efforts by leaders to address this have not proved effective enough. The attendance of pupils with SEND is, overall, far below that of their peers. This leads to gaps in these pupils’ learning.

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The new personal, social and health education curriculum is supporting pupils’ personal development in many ways. Pupils told us that they enjoy learning about themes such as ‘celebrating differences’ in class and assembly. However, pupils learn too little about fundamental British values and do not know enough about aspects such as democracy and the rule of law.

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Like many staff, governors are committed to the school. However, they do not have an accurate view of important elements of the school’s work. Their monitoring of the school and challenge for leaders are not effective enough.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Over the last few months, leaders and those responsible for governance have made positive changes to improve and strengthen safeguarding arrangements in the school.

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Safeguarding

Staff are well trained to spot potential welfare and safeguarding concerns. They make effective use of the school’s online system to report concerns, which are acted upon quickly. The designated safeguarding leader is very knowledgeable and committed to keeping all pupils safe. She knows pupils and their families extremely well. Referrals to external agencies are made in a timely manner.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils, including those with SEND, do not develop a sufficiently comprehensive knowledge and understanding of key concepts and content across the foundation subjects. Leaders have started to address this by introducing new curriculum plans very recently. Leaders need to ensure that curriculum plans set out clear 25–26 February 2020

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and ambitious expectations of what teachers must ensure that pupils know, remember and are able to do, and how this will be implemented.  Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND do not always receive the necessary support to help them learn and achieve well across the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that the needs of these pupils are monitored and evaluated effectively, and take the necessary steps to help these pupils to make the best possible progress in their learning.  Pupils who struggle most with their reading, many of whom are pupils with SEND or disadvantaged pupils, are not receiving the tailored support they need to catch up with their peers. This has a negative impact on their learning across the curriculum and limits their chances of future success. Leaders must continue with their plans to make sure that all staff have the skills and knowledge to teach phonics and reading effectively so that the right provision is in place to help these

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pupils catch up.  Attendance for pupils with SEND is far lower than that of their peers. A significant minority of pupils, many of whom are those with SEND, are also persistently absent. This leads to gaps in these pupils’ learning. Leaders need to reduce the number of pupils who are persistently absent and ensure that this group of pupils attends school each day.  Pupils have not acquired a deep enough understanding of life in modern Britain. Leaders need to continue to develop this aspect of pupils’ personal development to improve pupils’ understanding of fundamental British values.  Governors do not have an accurate understanding of how effective the school is. This limits their ability to hold leaders to account. Governors need to ensure that they monitor the school more effectively and take robust action to challenge leaders about the impact of strategic decisions and actions to improve the quality

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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 . 25–26 February 2020

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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. 25–26 February 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122234 Type of school Junior

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Tijhs Jordan (Acting headteacher)

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School details

Date of previous inspection 6–7 July 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The current acting headteacher took up his post from 1 January 2020. Prior to this, two interim headteachers had overseen the leadership of the school from June 2019 until December 2019.

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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

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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Information about this inspection

 We did deep dives in the following subjects: reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. In each subject, we met with curriculum leaders, visited lessons, talked to pupils, spoke to teachers and looked at pupils’ work. 25–26 February 2020

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 We met with the acting headteacher, senior leaders and members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. We also met with a range of staff, including non-teaching staff.  We made a telephone call to a representative from the Harewood Centre.  We visited the breakfast club.  We met with a representative from the local authority who has been supporting the school.  We reviewed safeguarding records, including the central record of recruitment checks on staff. We also reviewed a range of other documentation, including records of governors’ meetings and the school’s attendance and behaviour records.  We spoke to parents during the inspection and considered the views of 99 parents who responded to Ofsted’s parental questionnaire, Parent View.  We considered the views of staff from conversations and took account of the 18 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.  We spoke with pupils formally and informally about their day-to-day experiences

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at the school. We also considered the 92 responses from pupils who completed Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Michael Green, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Chris Donovan Ofsted Inspector 25–26 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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