Pound Hill Junior School, Crawley

Inspection of a good school: Pound Hill Junior School, Crawley Crawley Lane, Pound Hill, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 7EB

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Outcome

Pound Hill Junior School, Crawley continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning are exceptional. Strong relationships and the school’s approach to managing behaviour helps pupils to feel responsible for themselves and each other. Clear boundaries and effective communication from staff help pupils to know what is expected of them throughout the school day. The behaviour policy is applied fairly and consistently. Pupils feel very safe at school. The playground is calm, orderly and full of joy. If bullying or unkindness happens, it is dealt with quickly and sensitively. Pupils’ good attendance and punctuality is supported effectively. Older pupils thrive when taking on responsibilities such as running the school stationery shop or helping younger pupils in the local infant school. Pupils are role models for each other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The curriculum is ambitious for all pupils. Staff have high expectations for pupils’ achievement. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive effective support. Most pupils achieve consistently high outcomes in reading, mathematics and particularly writing by the end of key stage 2. Pupils know the school’s values of independence, achievement, creativity, fairness and resilience. Describing these, one pupil summed up the thoughts of many, saying, ‘They help us to carry on and make our learning successful, even if things get tough.’ Pupils are prepared for their next stage of education well.

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

Pupils are rightly proud of their work and achievements in the curriculum. Core subjects are designed and sequenced effectively. In mathematics, pupils enjoy solving problems and applying efficient strategies that they have learned in lessons. In English, pupils respond well to key texts that help them to connect the curriculum and learn in memorable ways. Books are at the heart of the school’s approach. In wider curriculum subjects like geography, pupils build their knowledge and understanding well over time. For example, they learn about natural disasters in Year 3, biomes in Year 5 and then debate topics related to climate change in Year 6. However, in some foundation subjects, 6 and 7 February 2024

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staff do not always highlight or revisit key learning effectively. This means that some pupils do not build on prior knowledge and achieve as well as they could.

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Most pupils learn to read well. Staff use a range of strategies to help any pupils who fall behind to catch up to their peers. For those pupils at early stages of reading, books are closely matched to the sounds that they have learned. While some staff have very secure phonics knowledge, practice could be strengthened by further developing phonics expertise across the whole staff team to make sure all pupils learn to read as well as they could. Pupils with SEND mostly get the help that they need quickly. Where necessary, staff work with outside agencies such as speech and language specialists. This supports pupils’ learning well overall. However, a small number of pupils who need additional support, their specific targets and how these are put into place in classrooms need further review by the school. This will help to ensure that all pupils learn consistently well.

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Staff and pupils have joyful, caring relationships across the school. Pupils enjoy taking part in activities such as football, choir and art clubs. Pupils learn about democracy and how they can make a positive contribution to their school. They debate thoughtful questions set by their teachers in a balanced way, such as ‘is it better to run on a treadmill or a road?’ Pupils are very proud to take on roles such as school councillors and ‘buddies’. Pupils learn about protected characteristics and how to respect all people in their community. They value trips such as the residential visits to the Isle of Wight and France which build their confidence and readiness for Year 7.

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Governors know the strengths and areas to develop for the school. They support and challenge the school to make strong and sustained improvements that maintain an appropriate focus on disadvantaged pupils. The school creates opportunities to engage with parents and carers in positive ways. Staff feel supported with their workload and governors prioritise this with leaders to help manage workload effectively so staff can focus their efforts on teaching.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Subject expertise in teaching phonics and early reading is not yet consistently strong across the whole staff team. As a result, a small number of pupils do not learn to read as effectively as they could. The school should ensure that staff training supports all staff in developing the subject knowledge they need and that this is implemented to teach phonics and early reading consistently well.  In some wider curriculum subjects, the school does not yet provide enough opportunities for pupils to revisit essential knowledge and vocabulary. This prevents some pupils from having sufficiently secure foundations on which to build and connect 6 and 7 February 2024

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their learning. The school should support staff to deliver the curriculum in these subjects so that pupils are consistently well prepared for their next steps.  Some of the individual targets set out for pupils who need additional support are not always implemented consistently well. This means a small number of pupils are not always learning as well as they could. Although some adaptations to learning and the curriculum are successful for some pupils, the school should ensure that precise adaptations and targets for pupils, where these are necessary, are planned for and implemented effectively in classroom practice .

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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 May 2018.

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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' is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (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). 6 and 7 February 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date(s) of previous inspection 24 and 25 May 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school currently does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school's education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, staff and members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. The inspector also met with a representative from the local authority, a representative from the diocese, and other leaders within the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, and geography. For each deep dive, the inspector 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. 6 and 7 February 2024

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 The inspector reviewed the arrangements for safeguarding by scrutinising safeguarding records, by interviewing staff and through discussions with pupils.  The inspector considered the views of parents shared through Ofsted Parent View. He gathered the views of pupils and staff through surveys, interviews and discussions conducted throughout the inspection.  The inspector 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

Carl McCarthy, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 6 and 7 February 2024

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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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