Cordwalles Junior School

Inspection of a good school: Cordwalles Junior School Berkshire Road, Old Dean Estate, Camberley, Surrey GU15 4DR

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Outcome

Cordwalles Junior School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders ensure that the school’s values of ‘respect, endeavour and succeed’ are at the heart of everything they do. Staff are ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils work hard, enjoy learning and take pride in their achievements. They learn how to show resilience, dealing with life’s ups and downs in a mature way.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. As a result, pupils conduct themselves well and rise to this challenge. As they grow in this safe and nurturing environment, pupils develop confidence and self-esteem. Pupils trust staff to sort out any disagreements and, if bullying occurs, staff deal with it effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils relish the opportunity to enrich their learning outdoors in the school’s grounds which they have helped to develop. They benefit from a broad range of clubs that help to foster their interests and talents, including sustainability, science, music, sporting and computing.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn about the importance of treating everyone fairly. They have the opportunity to learn from visitors and take part in activities to celebrate different cultures, faiths, professions and abilities. For example, pupils raised considerable funds for charity while circuit training with a Paralympian.

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

Leaders are determined to provide the best learning experiences for all pupils. They have ensured that the curriculum is ambitious for all pupils including those with SEND. Leaders have identified the important knowledge and skills that pupils should learn in each subject. Learning is well sequenced so that pupils build up their knowledge and understanding of the essential ideas as they move through the year groups. As a result, pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education. 12 and 13 July 2022

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Lessons are purposeful, interesting and effective. Teachers are well trained. They adapt the curriculum to take into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic effectively. Teachers check what pupils know and what they need reminding of, before moving on to new learning. Staff ensure that pupils use technical vocabulary accurately to explain their ideas and to make links to what they have learned previously. Leaders work alongside school staff to identify any additional needs pupils may have. Staff skilfully adapt resources to support pupils with SEND. As a result, pupils with SEND achieve well.

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Leaders promote pupils’ love of reading successfully. They place a high priority on developing pupils’ comprehension skills. Teachers check pupils’ reading skills carefully and so are clear about their needs. They successfully encourage pupils to read regularly and read with the weakest readers daily. Consequently, pupils become keen and enthusiastic readers. The phonics programme provides staff with a secure framework for teaching early reading. However, some staff do not yet have the knowledge and skills to help the weakest readers catch up quickly. As a result, some pupils do not quickly learn to read fluently and confidently. Leaders have already made a positive start to address this.

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Pupils are polite and courteous. In lessons, staff are quick to re-engage any pupil who is less focused. Pupils follow well-established school routines. This means that learning is rarely disrupted. Staff skilfully support any pupils who may require extra help with their mental and physical well-being. There is a harmonious ethos around classrooms and corridors.

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Leaders have carefully considered the development of the wider curriculum to ensure that pupils benefit from a rich and broad range of experiences. In their personal, social and health education, pupils learn about life in modern Britain. These opportunities help pupils to become more confident and encourage them to take pride in themselves and their school.

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Governors and trustees share leaders’ ambitions and commitment for all pupils and staff to succeed. They challenge leaders for the impact of their actions. Staff say that leaders provide extensive professional development opportunities. Staff enjoy working at the school and know that leaders do what they can to ease workload. Parents and carers are equally appreciative of the school’s caring and welcoming ethos.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have established an extremely strong culture of keeping pupils safe. Staff are well trained and alert for any sign that a pupil might be at risk. They know what to do if they have a concern, and leaders act on these quickly. Leaders are tenacious in securing the right help for pupils at risk. Leaders work well with external agencies and follow safer recruitment procedures diligently. They ensure that appropriate adults work with pupils.

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Safeguarding

Pupils know how to keep safe, including when online. They learn how to form positive and healthy relationships. 12 and 13 July 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some staff who teach phonics are still refining their knowledge and skills. Therefore, some of the weakest readers do not learn to read as quickly and confidently as they could. Leaders need to make sure that all staff who teach phonics are well trained and understand the need to ensure that the books pupils read match the sounds that they know.

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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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 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.

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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. 12 and 13 July 2022

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School details

Headteacher Claire-Louise West (Executive Headteacher)

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School details

Website www.cordwalles.org Date of previous inspection 12 November 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Cordwalles Junior School joined GLF Schools, a multi-academy trust, in December 2013.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school had received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and computing. For each deep dive, he discussed the curriculum with leaders, staff and pupils, visited a sample of lessons, looked at pupils’ work and heard pupils read.  The inspector met with trust leaders, the executive headteacher, the heads of school, senior leaders, staff and pupils. He also met with three governors, including the chair of governors and chair of trustees. The lead inspector spoke on the telephone to an officer from the local authority. 12 and 13 July 2022

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 The inspector scrutinised the school’s self-evaluation, school improvement plan and records of monitoring visits carried out by the trust and those responsible for governance.  The inspector met with the school’s inclusion leader to discuss the provision for pupils with SEND. The inspector considered the responses to the confidential staff and pupil questionnaires. He took account of the responses to the Ofsted Parent View questionnaire and comments made by those who responded. He spoke to parents at the beginning of the school day.  To inspect safeguarding, the inspector checked the single central record of recruitment checks and talked to leaders responsible for safeguarding. He also talked to a range of staff and pupils informally.

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Inspection team

Alan Derry, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 12 and 13 July 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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