Lound Junior School

Inspection of a good school: Lound Junior School Lound Side, Chapeltown, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S35 2UT

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Inspection dates: 13 and 14 September 2022

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Outcome

Lound 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 Lound Junior School. They enjoy coming to school and attend well. Pupils get on well with each other. They work well together in and out of lessons. Pupils take on leadership responsibilities in school willingly and well. For example, the pupil peer mediators help to create the friendly atmosphere at break and lunchtimes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say bullying happens infrequently. They know who to go to if things go wrong, and say they get help to put things right. Incidents of poor behaviour are rare. There is mutual respect between adults and pupils.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff are motivated and well led. They encourage pupils to do well in their lessons. Pupils are supported to read confidently and regularly. Leaders of individual subjects know their areas of responsibility well. Pupils study all subjects in the national curriculum. Although pupils cover the most important concepts in their lessons, they do not often have the chance to revisit these at a later date.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are supported to fulfil healthy lifestyles. At lunchtime, for example, there are opportunities to take part in a variety of sporting activities. Pupils are also well supported by a pastoral leader to help support their mental well-being. The annual overnight residential and other regular educational visits are particularly welcomed by pupils.

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

The school is well led and managed. Leaders, including those with responsibility for governance, are committed to the school and its pupils. They know the school’s strengths well and have sensibly prioritised school improvement initiatives. The school moved to a new multi-academy trust in September 2021. The transition to the new trust has been handled well. Staff are proud to work for the school. They say leaders are very mindful of their professional and personal well-being. 13 and 14 September 2022

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Subject leaders access subject network days, facilitated by the trust. These have supported them to develop their curriculum plans. Teachers have high levels of subject knowledge. Training provided by leaders of special educational needs and/or disabilities helps staff to meet the specific needs of pupils. The needs of disadvantaged pupils are also well known and understood.

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Subject leaders have created curriculum plans which set out the order in which new topics are taught. Within each unit of work, the key concepts have been identified and links made to previous learning. In history, for example, it is clear to see how the Victorian topic studied in Year 6 builds on prior learning to further develop pupils’ abilities to think like a historian.

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Although the key concepts of learning have been identified, pupils do not routinely get the opportunity to revisit these. As such, some pupils do not remember as much of the taught curriculum as they could. In addition, subject assessments do not precisely align with the identified key concepts.

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There is a well-entrenched culture of reading throughout school. Pupils read daily. Leaders carefully monitor pupils’ reading skills. Appropriate support is provided for pupils who need additional help to read fluently. Whereas the overall standard of pupils’ reading is high, the quality of their written work is more variable.

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Pupils are taught how to behave well. Staff model good behaviour. Pupils know about respect and why it is important. Their wider development is supported by an effective personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education programme. This is supplemented by regular school trips and extra-curricular opportunities. Although the work of the school council was paused during the disruption caused by the pandemic, it has since restarted. This opportunity supports pupils to develop their own leadership skills.

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Leaders have created a positive relationship between the school and its community. Staff and pupils have welcomed several new families to the school community over recent months. Almost all parents and carers who completed an inspection survey said they would recommend the school to others. Some parents commented on aspects of the school site which, if left unaddressed, could end up presenting hazards to pupils in the future. Support from the trust is in place to improve these aspects of the site.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff receive safeguarding training on a regular basis. There are clear processes in place for staff to log concerns. Leaders ensure any such concerns are addressed in a timely fashion, working closely with local services when appropriate. Staff are aware of the risks pupils face. They address road safety, for example, through the PSHE curriculum. This is important, as the school is situated on the brow of a hill on a busy main road. Leaders have also recently put additional staffing in place to ensure pupils’ exit from the school site is calm and well supervised. 13 and 14 September 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Subject leaders have identified the key concepts in each unit of work. However, pupils do not have opportunities to revisit these learning points, and assessments do not routinely align with these concepts. As such, there are missed opportunities for pupils to embed their learning and for teachers to check what pupils have remembered over time. Leaders should ensure the next step of their ongoing curriculum development addresses these points.  Pupils’ writing composition skills are not currently as well developed as other aspects of their academic development. As a result, the quality of pupils’ writing is not as advanced as leaders expect. Leaders should implement a strategy to support pupils to write fluently.

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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 an ungraded inspection and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 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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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. 13 and 14 September 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10240464 Type of school Junior

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School details

Principal Emma Bellamy Website www.loundacademy.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 4 and 5 July 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school joined the ‘Steel City Schools Partnership’ multi-academy trust in September 2021.  The headteacher is also headteacher of Lound Infants School.  The school runs an after-school club for pupils from this school, and from Lound Infants School.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector met with the headteacher and other senior leaders. The inspector spoke to many teachers and other support staff, in addition to two representatives from the board of trustees and one from the governing body. The inspector also met the chief executive officer from the trust.  To evaluate the quality of education, deep dives were carried out in reading, history and mathematics. These involved meeting subject leaders, reviewing curriculum plans, visiting lessons, speaking to teachers, talking to pupils about their learning, and looking at samples of their work. 13 and 14 September 2022

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 The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour in and out of lessons. He also spoke to pupils to gather their thoughts on behaviour. Behaviour, bullying and attendance records were reviewed.  As part of the evaluation of the effectiveness of safeguarding, the school’s safeguarding policies and procedures, and other records, were reviewed. The checks made when appointing new staff were scrutinised.  The views of 23 members of staff and 32 parents and carers who responded to Ofsted’s surveys were also considered. A number of parents were also spoken to on the school site.

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Inspection team

James Duncan, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 13 and 14 September 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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