Alton Park Junior School

Inspection of Alton Park Junior School Alton Park Road, Clacton-on-Sea CO15 1DL

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The headteacher of this school is Michelle Garnham. This school is part of Sigma 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, Lyn Wright, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Sue Hammond. 13 and 14 March 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to Alton Park Junior School. They are confident to be themselves. The school has implemented strategies to support the pupils who need extra help to behave well. Pupils know how to behave when they are learning in the classroom. Staff are quick to reinforce expectations. However, pupils do not always follow expectations when moving around the school or during playtimes and lunchtimes. Pupils know that if their peers are unkind, the staff will address this quickly. Pupils learn that bullying is not acceptable. Staff deal with any bullying effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Too many pupils progress through the school without securing essential knowledge. While there have been changes to what pupils learn, these are very recent. There are still gaps in pupils’ knowledge that need to be addressed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides a range of pastoral support for pupils and their families. Pupils enjoy the various visits, residential experiences and extra-curricular clubs on offer.

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better?

The school is beginning to develop the quality of education so that it better reflects leaders’ vision for pupils. The English and mathematics curriculums have been prioritised. This now ensures that pupils have the foundations they need to access the wider curriculum. Subject leaders are passionate and knowledgeable about the subjects they lead. They have set expectations for how their subjects should be taught. However, teachers are not implementing these consistently well. In subjects other than English and mathematics, staff do not always check what pupils know before moving on to new learning. This means that pupils develop gaps in their knowledge and struggle to recall what they have learned.

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better?

The school has prioritised reading to ensure that pupils can access the wider curriculum. Pupils get off to a prompt start in learning to read as they enter the school. Staff are quick to identify gaps and target learning to ensure that pupils catch up and keep up with their reading. Books that match pupils’ phonics knowledge support their ability to read. Pupils who find reading tricky get extra help to support them.

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better?

Leaders are equally ambitious for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to achieve well. Staff follow clear processes to identify pupils with SEND. However, there is variability in how well staff adapt learning for all pupils, including those with SEND. This limits pupils’ independence and their chance to fully access, and be successful in, their learning.

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better?

The school has emphasised the importance of attending school regularly. Initiatives, such as the school minibus, ensure that pupils arrive at school on time each day. This is helping to improve attendance, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. 13 and 14 March 2024

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Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Pupils know that they can talk to staff if they have worries. The school has set high expectations for behaviour, but these are not always realised. A small minority of pupils, on occasion, are rude to one another. Staff do not always remind pupils to behave appropriately. Pupils’ behaviours can sometimes disrupt the learning of others. Most pupils listen to the teacher and engage in discussions with peers well. School leaders have implemented new strategies for managing pupils’ behaviour, including training for staff, and these are beginning to have a positive impact.

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Pupils enjoy the clubs that the school offers. They make good use of them. Pupils benefit from trips to further enhance the curriculum. Pupils also benefit from partnerships that help to raise aspirations for life after they leave school, such as ‘into university’.

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Trust leaders have worked relentlessly to improve the school. Trustees hold leaders to account and check that the quality of education is improving.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s curriculum, in some subjects, is not clearly sequenced or implemented effectively. As a result, pupils do not build secure knowledge over time. The school needs to develop the wider curriculum to ensure that all subjects have a clear progression of knowledge so that pupils know more and remember more. The school needs to ensure that the curriculum is taught well.  Some staff do not adapt learning effectively for pupils, including for some pupils with SEND. This means that pupils do not achieve as well as they could. The school should ensure that all staff have the skills they need to adapt learning effectively so that all pupils can achieve consistently well.  Some staff do not set clear behaviour expectations. As a result, pupils do not consistently behave in line with school expectations. This means that some pupils disrupt the school environment and learning for other pupils. The school should

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

ensure that all staff consistently follow the school’s behaviour policy.

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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. 13 and 14 March 2024

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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). 13 and 14 March 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Alton Park Junior School converted to become an academy school on 1 April 2016. The predecessor school was inspected in February 2019 and judged inadequate overall. The school became a member of Sigma Learning Trust on 1 October 2019.  The headteacher took up her substantive post in September 2023.  The school makes use of two unregistered alternative providers.  The school has a breakfast club that is managed by the school.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision. 13 and 14 March 2024

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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, geography, physical education and science. 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 also looked at curriculum information in some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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 Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher and other leaders, including leaders who work within the trust, the local governing committee and representatives from the board of trustees. Inspectors also met with leaders with responsibility for SEND, behaviour and attendance and pupils’ personal development.  Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for parents, staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Nerrissa Bear, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Laura Hewer Ofsted Inspector 13 and 14 March 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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