St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School

Inspection of St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School Church Avenue, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7AP

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Inspection dates: 27 and 28 September 2022

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 27 and 28 September 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s vision, ‘Living life in all its fullness’, is the heartbeat of this welcoming and happy school. Staff know pupils and their families well. Pupils enjoy coming to school and they feel safe. Leaders have created a nurturing and caring environment that is valued by parents. Leaders expect pupils to do their very best. All pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), rise to this challenge by engaging fully in lessons and working hard. As a result, pupils achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well around the school because leaders have set clear expectations of them. Consequently, pupils are calm and engaged in lessons and play well together at breaktimes. There are strong and positive relationships between adults and pupils. Bullying is very rare and adults resolve it quickly if it happens.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides a wealth of opportunities for pupils to develop their leadership skills, including as science ambassadors, sports leaders and eco-warriors. This creates a positive atmosphere around the school. ‘Pupil Play Leaders’ organise fun games and activities at breaktimes for others to enjoy. Pupils are proud to represent their school in this way.

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better?

Leaders have developed an ambitious curriculum that clearly reflects the school’s vision. They have set out clearly the essential knowledge and skills that all pupils need to learn. Consequently, all pupils, including those with SEND, learn new knowledge over time and are able to make links with what they already know.

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better?

In most subjects, especially art and design and mathematics, teachers’ subject knowledge is secure. Teachers routinely set challenging tasks for pupils and regularly check how well they understand their learning. Teachers skilfully adapt their teaching to ensure that all pupils, including those with SEND, achieve well. This helps pupils build and consolidate their learning over time so that they achieve well.

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better?

However, in some subjects, the curriculum is not always taught consistently well. Teachers do not always design tasks which ensure that pupils remember their learning securely. Leaders are rightly taking steps to improve this and ensure that pupils achieve well in all subjects.

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better?

Leaders rightly prioritise reading. Pupils across the school have many opportunities to practise reading. Increasingly, they are reading well, with fluency and comprehension. However, there is not a consistent approach to supporting pupils in the earliest stages of reading. This means that some pupils do not catch up to become fluent readers as quickly as they should. Leaders have already made this a priority to address. 27 and 28 September 2022

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The school’s work to support pupils’ personal development is a strength. Leaders ensure that pupils develop as responsible, caring citizens. Activities include pupils delivering hand-made gift parcels in their locality, and the choir has enjoyed entertaining residents in local care homes. Pupils are particularly proud of singing in the Young Voices event at the London O2 Arena. Pupils enjoy a broad range of extra-curricular activities to enhance their learning. This includes school trips to London Zoo, the Sea City Museum in Southampton and Butser Ancient Farm, as well as opportunities to experience staying away from home on residential visits.

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Leaders and governors have worked tirelessly to improve the school. They have fully established a positive culture whereby all staff feel recognised and valued. Staff are very happy working at this school and describe the headteacher as ‘inspirational’. They appreciate the ample opportunities to gain new skills and develop their careers. Leaders make sure staff maintain a healthy work-life balance. Staff work together well to build a successful and caring school community. Parents recognise this and are full of praise for the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have established a strong culture of safeguarding. They make sure that every child is known and understood well. Detailed and meticulous record-keeping ensures leaders can identify those pupils at risk of harm. Leaders work well with external agencies to ensure that children and their families get the help and support they need. Staff are well trained and know what they must do to keep children safe. Safeguarding leaders ensure that appropriate checks are made on all adults who work with the children in the school.

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Safeguarding

All pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, including online and when out in the community.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 There is an inconsistent approach to the support provided for pupils at the earliest stages of learning to read. Sometimes, this support is not effective. This means that some pupils do not learn to read quickly enough. Leaders must ensure that a consistent approach to reading is implemented so support for reading is effective for all pupils in the school.  In some subjects, teachers do not always design tasks that help pupils to build on content they have been taught when learning new information. As a result, pupils struggle to remember new knowledge securely. Leaders must improve teachers’ subject and pedagogical content knowledge so that teachers can help pupils to remember long term the content they have been taught. 27 and 28 September 2022

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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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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. 27 and 28 September 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10241522 Type of school Junior

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.stpeterscofejuniorschool.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 9 June 2021, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 St Peter’s Church of England Aided Junior School is an average-sized junior school.  This is a Church of England junior school.  The last section 48 statutory inspection of Anglican and Methodist schools took place in June 2017.  The school currently uses no alternative provision. 27 and 28 September 2022

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Information about this inspection

The inspector(s) carried out this graded 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.  During the inspection, the inspectors met with the headteacher and senior leaders. The lead inspector also met with four members of the governing body, including the chair of governors, and officers from the local authority and the Diocese of Guildford.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, art and design, and science. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspectors reviewed the arrangements for safeguarding by scrutinising safeguarding records and interviewing staff, and through discussions with pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 The views of parents and carers were considered through their responses to Ofsted Parent View. Further views of pupils and staff were gathered through surveys, interviews and discussions conducted throughout the inspection.  The inspectors reviewed a range of the school’s documentation, including self- evaluation reports, minutes of governing body meetings and behaviour incident logs.

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Inspection team

Paul McKeown, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Judith O'Hare Ofsted Inspector 27 and 28 September 2022

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