Walsh CofE Junior School

Inspection of Walsh CofE Junior School Ash Street, Ash, Surrey GU12 6LT

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 14 and 15 June 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Walsh CofE Junior School provides a calm and safe place to learn. Pupils attend regularly and enjoy coming to school. Pupils behave well at social times and generally get on well together. They are polite and courteous. Pupils say that recently there has been a greater focus on the school rules, ‘Ready - Safe - Respectful’ and behaviour is getting better. Pupils trust most adults to help them if they have a worry or concern. Fewer incidents of bullying are taking place because they are now dealt with quickly by leaders.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are aspirational for pupils and support them to develop personally, during their time in school. Pupils enjoy the trips and visits that enrich the curriculum. They learn about faiths and cultures different to their own. Older pupils spoke about the need to value differences in faith and opinion.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils participate regularly in a variety of events to support local and national charities. They are proud to represent the school in community events. A number of pupils take on a range of additional responsibilities, including becoming a school councillor and a reading ambassador.

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better?

Leaders are committed to working with external partners to improve the school. The lack of professional development for curriculum leaders since the last inspection has contributed to a weak curriculum. Recently, leaders have effectively supported subject leaders to consider the important, ‘sticky’ knowledge that they want pupils to learn in each subject. Also, leaders have prioritised work on improving systems to ensure that pupils improve their behaviour within lessons and around the school.

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better?

Despite these improvements, pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not achieve as well as they should across the whole curriculum. This is because, in some subjects, teachers do not routinely plan learning that helps pupils to gain the key knowledge that they need to be successful.

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better?

In subjects such as science and mathematics, teachers use assessment information well to plan lessons that build on what pupils already know. For example, in mathematics, teachers help pupils use their knowledge of arithmetic accurately when reasoning and solving problems.

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better?

Leaders have been less successful in ensuring that teachers use assessment information as well in some other subjects, including geography and reading. As a result, there are times when teachers do not check that pupils’ earlier learning is secure. This hinders pupils from gaining firm foundations on which to build. As a result, some pupils lose interest in their work and become distracted.

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better?

All staff have had training so that they are well equipped to support those pupils who find it difficult to read, including those attending Nightingale Class. Many of these 14 and 15 June 2022

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pupils read accurately. Teachers ensure that pupils have books that match the sounds they know. However, there are times when staff, who support pupils with reading, do not follow leaders’ agreed approach to teaching phonics. This hampers some pupils from catching up quickly and becoming confident and fluent readers.

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Leaders provide enrichment activities in order to give pupils wider experiences of the world. For example, pupils have made visits to places of interest to enhance topic work. These activities are not fully sequenced into the curriculum, so that pupils can build on these experiences over time.

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Pupils talk about the things they should do to help them learn, such as listen carefully to adults and each other. Until recently, activities have not been explicitly planned to help pupils reinforce important skills that will help them consistently demonstrate good behaviour. In some lessons, pupils’ behaviour is not as good as leaders expect it to be. This happens when work is not matched closely enough to pupils’ ability.

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New members of the governing body have introduced precise systems for checking on leaders’ work. Now, governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. They know that leaders are developing the curriculum to ensure that pupils succeed in all subjects.

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Staff feel that leaders support them well. They appreciate the actions that leaders have taken to reduce their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have enhanced systems to keep children safe in and out of school. Recruitment processes are robust. The designated safeguarding leads ensure that staff are well trained in identifying pupils who may be at risk of harm. Regular checks on staff’s safeguarding knowledge ensure that they remain vigilant. Everyone understands their roles and responsibilities. Staff know what to do if they have a concern about a child. Leaders work with a range of agencies to ensure that pupils and their families receive appropriate support to keep them safe.

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Safeguarding

Through the curriculum, pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations. They learn about the potential dangers that they may face online. Pupils can talk confidently about the different ways to stay safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, leaders do not provide sufficient support for teachers to help them deliver the curriculum plans well. In addition, some teachers struggle to use assessment strategies effectively so that they can consolidate previous learning, 14 and 15 June 2022

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revisit lost learning and help pupils to overcome misconceptions. As a result, in some subjects, including reading, pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Leaders should ensure that teachers have professional development and are supported effectively to implement the intended curriculum and use assessment strategies well. Leaders need to enable teachers to plan learning that builds on what pupils know and allows them to remember what they have learned.  The changes made to the reading curriculum have not been embedded. This means that pupils do not yet benefit from a systematic approach to developing their phonic knowledge and broader reading skills. This has limited some pupils from becoming confident and fluent readers as quickly as they should. Leaders should ensure that all staff fully understand the expectations of the school’s reading strategy to help pupils catch up swiftly and further develop fluency.

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 The system for checking how well pupils demonstrate good behaviour and appropriate conduct during learning and around the school has recently been reviewed and refined. As yet, some pupils still lose interest in learning and become distracted. Leaders should continue to embed the agreed protocols and ensure that all teachers have high expectations of pupils and apply these consistently and fairly.

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How can I feed back my views?

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. 14 and 15 June 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10227466 Type of school Junior

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website http://www.walsh-junior.surrey.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 18 and 19 September 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher has been absent since December 2021.  The school runs a breakfast and an after-school club.  The school has a specialist resourced provision for pupils who have an education, health and care plan for learning and additional needs. This provision is known as Nightingale Class.  The school is not currently using any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held meetings with the acting headteacher, acting deputy headteacher, school business manager, the special educational needs coordinator, curriculum leaders, and teaching and support staff. 14 and 15 June 2022

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 The lead inspector met with the chair and vice-chair of the governing body and another governor.  The lead inspector spoke on the telephone with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, geography and science. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning, looked at samples of pupils’ work and listened to pupils reading aloud.  Inspectors examined a range of documentation provided by the school, including leaders’ self-evaluation, improvement plans and documentation relating to attendance and behaviour.  Inspectors scrutinised safeguarding records, tested staff’s safeguarding knowledge and spoke with pupils. The lead inspector also met with designated safeguarding leads.  Inspectors considered the 58 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent

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View. They also took into consideration the 26 responses to the survey for staff.

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Inspection team

Jo Lakey, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Katherine Russell Ofsted Inspector 14 and 15 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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