Little Green Junior School

Inspection of a good school: Little Green Junior School Lincoln Drive, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire WD3 3NJ

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Outcome

Little Green Junior School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Little Green is an exciting place to learn. Pupils look forward to coming to school. They enjoy their learning and the ‘hands-on’ approach that makes learning memorable. Pupils achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a solid understanding of how to manage their emotions and feelings. They have positive relationships with adults. They feel safe and trust adults to address worries or concerns they have. Pupils know adults will support them to be better learners.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are confident and behave well. They know how to behave and why it is important for their learning. Pupils show high levels of concentration and engagement when learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know what bullying is. They know that it can happen to anyone, but it rarely happens in their school. Adults deal with problems quickly when they occur. Pupils learn how to stay safe and recognise risks.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a wealth of clubs they can attend, including sports clubs and creative clubs. They also organise their own clubs and school-wide competitions. Pupils have a range of responsibilities. They contribute their ideas on improving their school. Leaders encourage pupils to make a difference in their school community.

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

Leaders have set out what they want pupils to learn across all subjects in the curriculum. They have broken down knowledge and skills into small steps. In many subjects, pupils build on previous learning effectively. Teachers have the knowledge they need to teach most subjects well. In these subjects, teachers explain new concepts clearly. They present information in interesting ways that help pupils remember important knowledge. Teachers ensure that the work they give to pupils is well matched to what they can do. They use questioning to adapt their teaching and target gaps in pupils’ understanding. Pupils 13 and 14 March 2023

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produce work of a good standard and achieve well in these subjects.

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Teaching is less effective in some subjects. In these subjects, teachers lack the subject knowledge needed to teach the curriculum as set out by leaders. Sometimes they do not emphasise important subject knowledge and skills that pupils need to remember. Teachers do not consistently check that pupils are secure in their previous learning and move on to new content too quickly. This means that some pupils do not develop as secure an understanding of important concepts in these subjects.

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Pupils who are learning to read are well supported. This begins in Year 3. Pupils who are developing their phonic knowledge get the help they need to become accurate readers. Pupils read books that are well matched to their reading stage. This helps them to become confident fluent readers. Pupils can choose from a wide variety of books that capture their interest.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. Leaders ensure that staff are highly skilled at adapting the curriculum. Pupils know what helps them to learn well. Staff help pupils with SEND to become independent learners. Leaders ensure that pupils get external support to meet their needs when required. Leaders adapt to pupils’ needs so that all pupils can learn effectively in an inclusive environment.

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Pupils have a positive attitude to learning. They are motivated and focused in lessons. Pupils get help to learn to manage their behaviour and emotions. Those who find managing emotions tricky make good use of the ‘ready to learn’ room to help regulate their emotions and stay safe. Pupils who find it difficult to manage their own behaviour get help to make the right behaviour choices.

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Pupils are proud to take on responsibility. They have a range of jobs, including school parliament, eco-warriors and peer mentors. Pupils actively lead whole-school activities such as a bee conservation art day. Pupils enjoy the range of school trips. They learn life skills such as staying safe on public transport and how to behave respectfully in wider society.

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Leaders ensure that staff are well supported. They use the latest research to inform their decision-making. Governors work in partnership with the school. They hold leaders to account and ensure that decisions focus on improving the quality of education and resources for pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that staff receive up-to-date training on child protection. Staff competently spot concerns. As a result, staff report concerns that build a growing picture for leaders to keep pupils safe. Staff know pupils and their families well and provide support to keep them safe. They know about local risks and ensure that pupils learn how to stay safe. 13 and 14 March 2023

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Leaders carry out the necessary checks on staff. They work with partner agencies to support pupils and families who are in need.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, teachers do not consistently check what pupils have remembered before moving on to teaching new content. This means that some pupils develop gaps in their knowledge because they are not ready to move on and do not achieve as well as they could. Leaders need to ensure that in all subjects, teachers consistently check pupils have a secure understanding before teaching new content.  Some staff do not have the subject knowledge needed to teach some of the curriculum content. They do not cover all the skills and knowledge needed for future learning. As a result, in some subjects, pupils do not develop a secure understanding of subject content. Leaders need to ensure that staff have the knowledge and expertise they need to teach all subjects effectively.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2013.

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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. 13 and 14 March 2023

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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 March 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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Date of previous inspection

9 November 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 A new headteacher has been appointed since the previous inspection.  The school does not use alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteachers, subject leaders and the special educational needs coordinator.  To evaluate aspects of the school’s and leaders’ work, the inspector met with seven governors, including the chair of the governing body.  The inspector met with a representative from the local authority.  The inspector spoke to staff to discuss workload, well-being and safeguarding.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with the subject leader, 13 and 14 March 2023

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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 inspector also looked at other curriculum plans, including physical education, computing, personal, social, health and economic education and science.  The inspector scrutinised a range of documentation relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.  The inspector took account of the 116 responses and free-text comments submitted to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View. The inspector took account of the 19 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and the 294 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey. The inspector also spoke to pupils about their learning, safety and behaviour.

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Inspection team

Nerrissa Bear, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 13 and 14 March 2023

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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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