Sholing Junior School

Inspection of Sholing Junior School Middle Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO19 8PT

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 28 and 29 June 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and governors have high ambitions for all staff and pupils. The school’s vision of ‘Achieving Together’ is central to life at Sholing Junior School. Pupils are happy and enjoy coming to school. They describe the school as ‘caring’, ‘fun’ and ‘wonderful’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well and are polite and welcoming. Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Pupils know that if they are worried about anything they can speak to their ‘trusted adults’ or put a concern in the ‘worry jars’. They say that bullying can sometimes happen. However, staff listen and sort things out quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the wide range of opportunities that are available. They enjoy clubs such as football, arts and crafts and basketball. They particularly enjoy the trips and experiences that teachers arrange to enhance learning. For example, the residential trips and the trip to the Houses of Parliament.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers are positive about their children’s education. They appreciate the care and support staff give to their children to help them learn. One parent said, ‘my child is thriving not only academically but emotionally’.

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better?

Leaders have made improvements to the quality of education since the last inspection. They share a commitment to ensure that all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do as well as they can.

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better?

The curriculum is broad, well sequenced and ambitious for pupils. Leaders have ensured that teachers are skilled and knowledgeable. Staff are adept at identifying and providing for the needs of pupils with SEND.

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better?

The core subjects are of high quality. For example, in mathematics, teachers are clear about how to teach concepts so that pupils remember them. The activities build on their prior learning so that they consolidate what they already know. For example, in Year 6 pupils were able to recall their knowledge of shapes and number when calculating different problems involving angles.

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better?

In some other subjects, such as history, tasks do not help pupils to build detailed understanding over time. Teachers do not use assessment well enough to improve learning. Leaders accept that assessment is not used consistently to check pupils’ understanding and build upon what they have learned.

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better?

Reading is at the heart of the curriculum. Leaders have chosen high-quality books that help to develop strong comprehension skills. Teachers keep a close eye on pupils’ progress in reading. Pupils who have not learned how to read well enough receive extra support to help them catch up quickly. Pupils told me they enjoy 28 and 29 June 2022

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reading and love to visit the school library. One pupil said, ‘reading is so important, it gives us knowledge’.

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The quality of pupils’ handwriting is variable across different subjects. Leaders are aware of this and have plans to address this with a new handwriting programme. In addition, teachers do not consistently set high expectations for pupils’ presentation.

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Pupils’ personal development is a strength of the school. They behave well, in and around the school. Pupils enjoy taking on positions of responsibilities, such as school councillors and travel ambassadors. Visitors and trips help pupils learn about different cultures and religions. Pupils are encouraged to contribute to the wider community, for example, raising money for charities and writing letters to the local council to get a memorial plaque for a local military hero.

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Leaders make good use of the high-quality support, resources and important training offered by the trust. Trustees and local governors also offer essential challenge and support to help the school achieve its ambitious goals. The headteacher and staff value the training they receive. Staff say leaders make every effort to look after their well-being. All staff say they are proud to work at the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding. Staff receive regular training, which makes them confident to report concerns. Records are detailed and well managed. These show how leaders work with external agencies to provide additional support for families when required. Governors monitor and challenge the school’s safeguarding work.

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Safeguarding

Pupils, parents and staff agree that the school is a safe place to be. Staff teach pupils about the risks they might face in their everyday lives, including road safety and water safety. Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Assessment in some foundation subjects, for example history, is not in place. Pupils do not routinely build upon what they have learned and teachers are not completely clear about how to build up pupils’ knowledge. Leaders should continue their work in this area, ensuring that they identify the most important knowledge pupils should acquire in each subject. Leaders must monitor the effectiveness of assessments to ensure that pupils securely grasp the knowledge they are taught. 28 and 29 June 2022

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 Teachers’ expectations for handwriting and presentation are not high enough. Leaders need to introduce a consistent approach to how pupils are taught handwriting and present their work.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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.

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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 and 29 June 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10227669 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

 Sholing Junior School is a larger than average-sized junior school with three classes in each year group. The school has increased in size since the last inspection.  Sholing Junior School converted to become an academy in February 2018, joining the Hamwic Education Trust. When its predecessor school, also called Sholing Junior School, was last inspected by Ofsted in May 2017, it was judged to be requires improvement overall.  There have been leadership changes since the last inspection with the appointment of a new headteacher and a new special educational needs coordinator (SENCo).  The school currently uses one alternative provider.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 28 and 29 June 2022

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation.  During the inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher and three members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. The lead inspector also spoke to three representatives from the trust.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, science, history and computing. For each deep dive, the inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspectors also looked at curriculum plans and spoke to leaders about other subjects in the curriculum.  The views of parents, staff and pupils were considered through Ofsted’s online

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surveys, and one letter from a parent.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors looked at the school’s training records, spoke with pupils and checked staff’s safeguarding knowledge to ensure that pupils are safe. Meetings were held with the designated safeguarding lead and the school’s SENCo.

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Inspection team

David Harris, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Justin Bartlett Ofsted Inspector 28 and 29 June 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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