Stamshaw Junior School

Inspection of Stamshaw Junior School Stamshaw Junior School, Tipner Road, Portsmouth PO2 8QH

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Inspection dates: 15 and 16 November 2023

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Rob Jones. This school is part the University of Chichester Multi-Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Jennese Alozie, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Jane Longmore. 15 and 16 November 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are flourishing both academically and pastorally because of the school’s high expectations. At the heart of the school is the vision of ‘Be kind. Do your best. Achieve together’. Pupils show kindness to each other and include everyone. Indeed, one staff member commented, ‘This is the most caring school I’ve worked in.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Everyone recognises the improvements in the education that the school provides. The curriculum is ambitious and sequenced carefully. This means pupils learn and remember key knowledge and skills which is leading to increasingly positive outcomes in pupils’ learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is strong. The school has clear expectations that both pupils and staff follow. Pupils reflect maturely and recognise their contribution to the school. They give back to the school in a range of leadership roles. For example, school councillors, prefects and librarians all help to improve their school. These pupil leaders are strong role models for younger pupils to look up to. Pupils make good use of the range of clubs available to them and appreciate the school trips staff organise to enhance their learning.

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better?

The school is ambitious. It expects its pupils to do their very best. An effective curriculum is in place with reading at the centre of it. Pupils show a genuine enthusiasm for reading. The school ensures all pupils have a book that they can read with fluency and understanding. Pupils consider and analyse texts that teachers have chosen with thought. However, some pupils struggle to learn their early reading phonics skills. While these pupils receive daily, dedicated support, it is not always delivered with the precision needed. This means that pupils do not always catch up as quickly as they could.

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better?

The curriculum includes the important knowledge, skills and vocabulary pupils will learn. Teachers teach the core subjects of English and mathematics effectively. Many of the other subjects are also taught well. For example, in geography pupils build specific fieldwork skills which get progressively harder. In physical education, pupils can describe how the skills they learn in one sport can transfer to another. Teachers adapt the provision for disadvantaged pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), effectively. This means all pupils can participate in lessons and other activities. However, teachers do not routinely check how well all pupils have learned the curriculum in all subjects. As a result, there are some gaps in pupils’ learning which teachers have not identified and addressed as fully as they could.

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better?

Most pupils work hard in class. While some younger pupils can be overexuberant in lessons, most pupils know how to behave and concentrate well. This is because the school teaches pupils how to behave effectively. Pupils play well together outside 15 and 16 November 2023

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and are confident that bullying does not happen. When pupils disagree, they know the staff will help if they cannot solve the problem.

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The school wants its pupils to be a key part of the community. Pupils learn to be part of a diverse community, to recognise and challenge inappropriate comments and to support those in need. This includes local, national and global charity work. They also learn how to keep themselves safe both in the real and online worlds. This all helps pupils to prepare for the next steps in their lives.

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Committed trust members and governors play their part to ensure the school is successful. They monitor diligently to ensure that staff deliver a good-quality education for the pupils and that they keep pupils safe. Parents overwhelmingly recognise what the school offers the children. For example, one parent commented, ‘I honestly wouldn’t want my children to go anywhere else. It’s not just a school. We are a community, one big family.’

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The support some pupils receive to address the gaps in their phonics knowledge is not as effective as it could be. This limits these pupils’ ability to decode texts accurately and fluently. The school should ensure that support for pupils who remain at the early stages of reading enables them to secure and apply their phonics knowledge so that they quickly become confident and fluent readers.  Although the curriculum is ordered sequentially, teachers are not consistently checking how well pupils are learning it in all subjects. This means teaching is not always as precisely targeted as it could be. Teachers should ensure that they check how well pupils are learning the subject-specific content both during and after it has been taught. This will enable pupils to demonstrate and utilise more of the knowledge they learn in all subjects.

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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. 15 and 16 November 2023

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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’ is used to mean pupils with SEND; pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 15 and 16 November 2023

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Stamshaw Junior School joined the University of Chichester Multi-Academy Trust in April 2019. When its predecessor school, also called Stamshaw Junior School, was last inspected by Ofsted in January 2018, it was judged to be requires improvement.  The headteacher started at the school in September 2019.  The school’s local governing board amalgamated with the local governing board at the link infant school in September 2020.  The school runs its own breakfast club.  The school currently uses one registered alternative provider.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 15 and 16 November 2023

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Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history and physical education. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy head and other leaders within the school and trust. The lead inspector also met with a trustee, three members of the local governing board, including the chair, and the chief executive officer of the trust.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and

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considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspectors reviewed a range of the school’s documentation, including self- evaluation reports, minutes of local governing body and trustee meetings and behaviour incident logs.  The inspectors considered the views of parents shared through Ofsted Parent View and inspectors also talked with parents on the first morning of the inspection.  The views of staff were gathered through interviews and discussions conducted throughout the inspection, as well as through the staff survey.  Inspectors gathered pupils’ views throughout the inspection, including through the online pupil survey, during classroom visits as well as at playtimes and lunchtime.

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Inspection team

Chris Parker, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Baljit Bhabra His Majesty’s Inspector 15 and 16 November 2023

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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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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