Stoke Hill Junior School

Inspection of a good school: Stoke Hill Junior School Stoke Hill, Exeter, Devon EX4 7DP

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Inspection dates: 21 and 22 February 2023

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Outcome

Stoke Hill Junior School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say, ‘every day is fun at Stoke Hill’. They enthuse about the different languages and cultures that make up the school community. Pupils behave well and share the school’s values of ‘ready, respectful and safe’ in this harmonious school. Staff ensure that pupils feel safe and gain confidence so that they learn and achieve well. By the time pupils leave the school, they achieve highly in reading, mathematics, science and English, especially grammar, punctuation and spelling.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Mental health ambassadors help to make the school a calm place to be. Pupils learn strategies to maintain friendships. They say bullying is rare but, when it happens, staff deal with it quickly and effectively. Parents are overwhelming in their praise of the school’s support. They say that the school ‘makes such a difference to our lives’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents say their children relish coming to school. Pupils appreciate the chance to get involved with the life of the school. This includes many leadership opportunities, such as becoming sport ambassadors and school council leaders. These chances help pupils develop their leadership skills.

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

Leaders have designed a curriculum that reflects the ambition of the national curriculum. It focuses on securing pupils’ academic success in readiness for secondary school. The curriculum develops pupils’ knowledge, health, creativity and responsibility for the world in which they live.

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

In most subjects, leaders have crafted a well-structured curriculum. Teachers make regular checks on what pupils know and can do. This helps pupils enjoy learning and make progress in the curriculum. However, in a minority of subjects the curriculum lacks precision and detail. As leaders continue to develop the curriculum content in these subjects, learning sometimes slows. 21 and 22 February 2023

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Leaders have successfully prioritised reading for pleasure. Pupils benefit from a well- stocked library and an enticing reading bus. Pupils become avid readers by the time they leave the school. However, a minority of pupils who struggle to read when they first join the school do not get the precise support they need. This is because some staff have not been trained to teach the new phonics programme. In addition, books that these pupils read do not always match the sounds that they know. This hinders pupils’ development in becoming fluent and confident readers.

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Leaders have made many improvements to how staff support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff are well trained to understand pupils’ needs. Teachers adapt their teaching to ensure that pupils learn the same curriculum as their peers. This is working well. However, leaders are not complacent. They are refining how they communicate more closely with parents to set and check on goals for pupils with SEND.

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Pupils behave well in lessons. There is an exciting buzz in school, with pupils motivated and eager to learn.

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Pupils’ personal development is at the heart of the school’s work. A highly effective ‘green team’ has achieved bids to support the installation of solar panels in the school. In addition, pupils are very proud that their strong commitment to recycling has earned them the accolade of ‘the lowest carbon footprint of all schools in Exeter’.

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Leaders ensure that pupils are well prepared for life beyond school. Activities such as ‘classroom to 4k’ and daily fitness help pupils to see the benefits of regular exercise. Many sporting and creative clubs allow pupils to develop talents and interests. Last year, the school’s football team was proud to reach the finals of ‘Kidz games’ and play at Wembley. Activities, such as Junior Dukes, support pupils’ resilience and pride in their achievements. Pupils learn useful skills such as preparing healthy meals, repairing loose buttons and mending a bicycle puncture.

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Leaders and governors lead the school with integrity. Everyone shares the same high ambitions for pupils. Staff appreciate leaders’ efforts to support their well-being and manage their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that safeguarding has the highest priority in school. Staff receive the training they need to keep pupils safe. Staff are vigilant to changes in pupils’ behaviour and report concerns quickly. Leaders take swift and decisive action to involve external agencies to get timely support for pupils and their families.

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Safeguarding

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when online. Pupils know who to speak to if they have any worries. 21 and 22 February 2023

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The school has suitable policies in place to raise awareness among staff and parents about the dangers of sexual harassment and online sexual abuse.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have recently adopted a new phonics programme. However, a minority of pupils who do not read well when they first join the school do not get the precise support they need. This is because too few staff have received training to implement the programme consistently. Leaders should ensure that there is a consistent approach to teaching phonics so that these pupils receive more effective support to become confident readers.  The curriculum in a minority of subjects lacks precise subject-specific knowledge. This hinders pupils from remembering what they need to know in these subjects. In addition, teachers do not check how well pupils remember important content. Leaders should ensure that the important knowledge that pupils need to learn and remember is identified in the curriculums from Year 3 to Year 6 in every subject.

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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 June 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. 21 and 22 February 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. 21 and 22 February 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10256748 Type of school Junior

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 28 June 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, the leadership of the federation of two schools has restructured. There is one executive headteacher across both the infant and junior schools, with a head of school in each.

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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 executive headteacher, the head of school, the assistant headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, subject leaders, staff, pupils and four members of the governing body. She had a telephone call with a representative from the local authority.  The inspector listened to pupils from Years 3, 4 and 5 read to an adult.  The inspector carried out deep dives in reading, science and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils 21 and 22 February 2023

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about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector visited lessons and talked to staff and pupils about physical education. She spoke to leaders about physical education, design and technology and music.  The inspector observed pupils during social time and during an assembly. She spoke with groups of pupils about personal development and their leadership roles.  The inspector reviewed the school’s safeguarding documentation, including records of safeguarding checks carried out on staff working at the school. She spoke to pupils, staff and governors about safeguarding practices.  The inspector considered the 47 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and the 44 free-text responses. She gained the views of parents at the end of the second day of the inspection and she considered responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Tracy Hannon, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 21 and 22 February 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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