Westbury Church of England Junior School

Inspection of Westbury Church of England Junior School Oldfield Park, Westbury, Wiltshire BA13 3LY

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 21 and 22 May 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Following a period of significant turbulence at Westbury Church of England Junior School, there is a tangible sense of stability and optimism.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils who attend the school experience kindness and compassion from experienced, caring staff. Consequently, pupils like and respect adults working at the school. They are confident that staff will help them should they need it. Pupils adhere to the ‘calm corridors’ expectation. The school is well organised. Pupils are safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is working with determination to improve how well pupils learn and remember the curriculum. Leaders at all levels are aware that more must be done to ensure that pupils achieve more. Much has been put in place over recent months. It is too soon to see the impact of many of these actions. Pupils’ achievement has been low and remains low.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Recent improvements to behaviour and attendance means that fewer pupils now have very weak attendance. New behaviour approaches based on being ‘calm, kind and polite’ are making a positive difference to expectations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is an inclusive school that seeks to provide support for pupils who need it. The school supports pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) who attend the complex needs resource base well.

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better?

Current leaders at all levels, including governors and middle leaders, are determined to work together to tackle the long-standing weaknesses that exist. There has been considerable upheaval and recent changes to how the school is led. Throughout this period, the local authority has provided support for the school. This has had a positive impact on helping the school to begin to make improvements needed. Some support is still needed, such as for governance.

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better?

The school is adamant that pupils develop an ethos of respect. Staff know their community well and a large part of their work is related to raising aspirations for all pupils. The school’s motto ‘respect, care, inspire’ is well understood by pupils.

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better?

The school’s work to ensure that pupils experience learning beyond the taught curriculum is successful. Residential trips and visits linked to their curriculum learning as well as involvement in music concerts and competitions help broaden pupils’ experiences.

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better?

Leaders actively promote equality of opportunity. Termly diversity themes enable pupils to develop a wider understanding of the range of differences within the world and how to accept and be respectful of them. 21 and 22 May 2024

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However, the school is well aware that too many pupils leave the school unprepared for learning at their next destination. Appropriate plans and actions are in place to make the improvements needed to the quality of education, but these improvements are recent.

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A whole-school priority on improving reading has included high-quality training for staff on how to deliver a new approach to teaching phonics. New extra interventions help pupils who need to catch up. This is already helping pupils to improve their early reading skills. However, the school is aware that some of the most vulnerable pupils do not consistently practise their reading often enough to become confident, fluent readers.

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In mathematics, recent improvements to the curriculum mean that pupils now receive well-sequenced lessons. In other core areas such as science and writing, there is more to be done to ensure that pupils learn and can do more over time. Some pupils’ handwriting is underdeveloped, and some workbooks are poorly presented. Subject monitoring is at an early stage in some subjects. There is not a systematic programme in place to check that all pupils, including pupils with SEND, learn and remember the intended curriculum across all subjects. Systems and practices for supporting pupils with SEND are inconsistent.

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Pupils’ learning does not consistently build knowledge based on what pupils have understood and remembered. This sometimes leads to weaknesses in how well pupils achieve over time.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils’ learning in some subjects, including in some core subjects, does not consistently build their knowledge over time. Leaders at all levels, including middle leaders and governors, must ensure that actions to make improvements to the curriculum help all pupils, including those with SEND, to achieve well.  Information about what pupils know and can do is not securely leading to adaptations in the curriculum. Leaders at all levels, including middle leaders and governors, must ensure that there are consistent systems for assessment across the school so that all pupils, including those with SEND, can successfully learn the curriculum.  Some vulnerable pupils do not consistently have opportunities to practise their reading. This slows their progress in becoming fluent readers. The school needs to ensure that the most vulnerable readers have the practice they need to catch up. 21 and 22 May 2024

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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.

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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). 21 and 22 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 26 June 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has experienced an extremely unsettled period. The deputy headteacher became the acting headteacher during 2022. The local authority provided substantial support to the school during this time. This support has now been reduced.  The school includes a specialist resource base, which offers a personalised curriculum for pupils with a wide range of complex needs. Some pupils spend a part of the school day learning in the main school. All pupils are included in school activities such as assemblies, playtimes and after-school clubs.  The school uses seven alternative providers. All of these are unregistered.

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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. 21 and 22 May 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, science and geography. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors had several meetings with the headteacher and assistant headteacher. Inspectors also met with other leaders across the school. An inspector met with some school governors and had a telephone call with the chair of governors.  An inspector visited one of the alternative providers that the school uses.  Inspectors met with the local authority school adviser who works with the school

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and other representatives from the local authority.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the 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.  Inspectors considered the views provided by staff and comments made on the online survey for parents, Ofsted Parent View.

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Inspection team

Tonwen Empson, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Heather Barraclough His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Lorna Buchanan Ofsted Inspector 21 and 22 May 2024

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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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