Whitehorse Manor Junior School

Inspection of a good school: Whitehorse Manor Junior School Whitehorse Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8SB

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Outcome

Whitehorse Manor Junior School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to attend this school and are keen to share their learning with visitors. Pupils show respect and courtesy towards adults and their peers. They behave well in lessons and in the playground. Pupils are kept safe in school. They know they can talk to adults if they are worried or anxious and are confident that any concerns would be quickly resolved.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from attending a range of after-school activities including sports, choir, drama, arts and crafts, journalism, magic and gardening. They enjoy representing their school in the local community. For example, pupils regularly play in sporting competitions or sing at the local shops to raise money for charity. Older pupils eagerly take on additional responsibilities as members of the school council, junior road safety officers or house captains. Younger pupils aspire to these roles as they are seen as important to school life.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The curriculum in all subjects is ambitious and has been well-designed to help pupils learn and remember important ideas. As a result, pupils produce good-quality work in different subjects. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) access the same curriculum as their peers. However, staff are more confident in some subjects than others in making appropriate adaptations for these pupils.

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

Ensuring pupils develop into accurate and motivated readers is a key priority for leaders. Pupils’ reading is assessed as soon as they start at the junior school. This allows those who need additional help to be identified quickly. Pupils are given time to practise reading books that are well-matched to the sounds they have learned. As a result, weaker readers develop the confidence to tackle unfamiliar words and read with increasing fluency and confidence. 26 and 27 April 2022

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Leaders have provided phonics training for all staff. While most staff model sounds precisely, identifying and correcting any errors that pupils make, this is not always consistent. Pupils enjoy reading and being read to. They understand increasingly complex books, and make connections between what they read with learning in other subjects and current affairs.

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The curriculum matches the scope and content of what is expected nationally. Leaders have thought carefully about the important concepts and vocabulary they want pupils to learn. The curriculum is well organised, allowing pupils to revisit key ideas and apply what they have learned to more complex ideas. For example, in science, younger pupils learn about different electrical components. This allows them to design their own working circuits. Older pupils use this knowledge to follow complex diagrams in order to understand which elements of a broken circuit need to be fixed. Similarly, in geography, younger pupils learn about human and physical features in the local area. Older pupils compare these features in more diverse landscapes such as in the polar regions or tropics.

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Pupils with SEND follow the full curriculum. Leaders have provided helpful guidance in some subjects to assist teachers in making appropriate adaptations to learning activities. In these subjects, pupils with SEND learn and remember the important knowledge they need. However, this guidance has not been provided in all areas of the curriculum. This means, in some subjects, teachers are less confident in making appropriate modifications. As a result, some pupils with SEND do not learn or remember the key ideas they need. Leaders have plans in place to address this.

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Pupils behave well. They work hard in lessons, concentrating when working alone and showing maturity when working with others. Pupils understand the concept of bullying. They know how to report any concerns they have and are confident that staff resolve these swiftly.

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Pupils’ personal development is well considered. The curriculum helps pupils understand the importance of physical and mental health as well as ways of being a responsible citizen. Pupils talk confidently about the importance of democracy and are developing their understanding of valuing diversity and challenging discrimination.

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Staff are proud to work at the school. They value the training, guidance and support they gain from working with different schools. Staff have mixed views about the extent to which their workload is managed effectively by leaders.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders take seriously their role in keeping pupils safe. They understand the challenges faced by some families and have ensured that staff know how to raise concerns. Records show that disclosures are reported quickly and that leaders regularly seek advice from outside agencies. This ensures families receive the support they need. 26 and 27 April 2022

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The curriculum has been designed to help pupils understand how to stay safe. For example, ‘Citizenship Day’ includes work with local police officers focusing on staying safe in the local community. Pupils are knowledgeable about staying safe, including when online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils with SEND follow the full curriculum. Leaders have provided helpful guidance in some subjects to assist teachers in making appropriate adaptations for these pupils. However, some staff lack confidence in making these modifications in other subjects. As a result, pupils with SEND do not always learn or remember important knowledge. Leaders should ensure that staff understand how to make the curriculum and learning activities accessible in all subjects. This will help pupils with SEND to secure important knowledge and ideas.  Pupils develop into confident and fluent readers. Leaders prioritise extra help for pupils who need it. Leaders have provided training for all staff in this area. The majority of staff model sounds precisely and identify and correct errors that pupils make. However, this is not always the case. Leaders must ensure that all staff have understood and apply their training. This will strengthen leaders’ already successful work to make sure

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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 or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in February 2017.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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. 26 and 27 April 2022

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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. 26 and 27 April 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10211397 Type of school Junior

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School details

Appropriate authority The board of trustees

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School details

Headteacher Nina Achenbach (Head of School)

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School details

Date of previous inspection 8 February 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Whitehorse Manor Junior School is much larger than the average-sized junior school.  Four classes are housed on an additional site at 129–133 Brigstock Road, Thornton Heath CR7 7JN.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation.  The inspection team completed deep dives in these subjects: reading, science and history. To do this, they met with subject leaders, had discussions with staff and pupils, visited lessons and looked at pupils’ work. Inspectors also considered leaders’ plans and pupils’ work in other subjects.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the school and priorities for improvement. 26 and 27 April 2022

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 Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, head of school, senior leaders, a selection of subject leaders, teachers and the family support worker.  Inspectors held discussions with members of the board of trustees, including the chair of the academy trust, as well as members of the local academy board.  The inspection team reviewed the arrangements for safeguarding by scrutinising records and through discussions with staff and pupils.  The views of pupils, parents and staff, as gathered through discussions and Ofsted’s surveys, were considered.

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Inspection team

Nick Turvey, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Vicky Matthews Ofsted Inspector 26 and 27 April 2022

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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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