Hollybrook Junior School

Inspection of a good school: Hollybrook Junior School Seagarth Lane, Southampton, Hampshire SO16 6RL

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Outcome

Hollybrook Junior School continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The executive headteacher of this school is Marcella Dobson. This school is part of the Hamwic Educational Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Robert Farmer, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Gary Plummer.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take great pride in being part of the Hollybrook community. They are happy and secure and learn well, in a tolerant and inclusive school, where every pupil is important. Pupils work with their teachers to reach the high expectations set in the school. They are very well supported emotionally and academically. They strive, with considerable success, to reflect the school’s embedded vision of ‘be respectful, be responsible be caring’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are high levels of mutual respect between pupils and staff. Pupils feel cared for and safe because they trust the adults who look after them. Parents describe staff as caring and supportive. Pupils know that there is always someone to talk to if they have a concern or worry.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils of all abilities have excellent attitudes to their learning. They behave well and work collaboratively, enjoying learning with their friends. They try hard to meet the challenges set by their teachers and do so with stamina and perseverance. Pupils achieve high standards in reading, reflecting the important priority this is given in the school.

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

The school has developed an ambitious curriculum that puts pupils at the centre of all that it does. The curriculum is designed to make sure that it is accessible to all pupils. As a result, the learning for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities is very well designed. Following some effective work to improve progress, these pupils achieve in line with all pupils in the school. Some subjects in the 18 and 19 June 2024

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curriculum are very effective and well embedded. In music, for example, the curriculum helps pupils to learn really well and to develop key skills such as collaboration, stamina and perseverance. Music lessons are a joy to take part in, illustrated by one pupil’s comment that ‘music is just the best part of the week!’. This is something parents agree with, with one parent commenting, ‘Music in the school is just wonderful.’ However, the school is aware that the curriculum is not as effective in all subjects yet. In a few subjects, the knowledge that pupils need to know has not been precisely identified with sufficient depth.

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Reading is the top priority for the school and parents. The school is tenacious in making sure that all pupils achieve well in reading. Any pupil that falls behind is quickly identified and given additional support. This intense focus is reflected in the very high outcomes achieved by pupils in Year 6. Pupils of all abilities have a love of reading. It is the aim of all pupils to read the 100 books the school has identified by the time they complete Year 6.

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In mathematics, teachers focus on basic skills so that pupils have a good understanding of calculations. Lessons are well structured and consistently delivered by well-trained staff. Pupils have many opportunities to practise their skills and develop their knowledge, so they can build future learning. The school is rightly making further improvements by providing pupils with more opportunities to apply what they have learned to reasoning and problem-solving so that pupils achieve even more.

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Pupils behave very well in lessons. Low-level disruption is rare. The school provides good quality, sustained emotional support for those pupils who need it. Pupils are taught how to stay safe online and are aware of the potential dangers when using social media. Pupils are particularly proud of the fact that they act as ‘peer mediators’ and as ‘reading advocates’ for younger pupils. Pupils’ ambition and the pinnacle of achievement is to be nominated by their friends to be a ‘VIP’. They get to wear a special sweatshirt and have tea and biscuits with the executive headteacher.

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Staff appreciate the training that they receive and the support that they get from the school. This includes how leaders, including governors and other officers in the trust, manage workload so that staff can focus their efforts most on supporting pupils in lessons.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, the curriculum does not define precisely enough the knowledge that the school wants pupils to learn. Some pupils are unable to build on what they already know really effectively and make the best possible progress through the curriculum. 18 and 19 June 2024

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The school should ensure that the sequence of required knowledge is clearly identified in enough depth in all curriculum areas.  Opportunities for pupils to apply their mathematical knowledge in reasoning and problem-solving are currently relatively limited. As a result, some pupils are not getting the opportunity to deepen their understanding as much as they could. The school should clearly identify these opportunities throughout the mathematics curriculum.

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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 January 2019.

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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). 18 and 19 June 2024

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School details

Headteacher Marcella Dobson (Executive Headteacher)

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 January 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The executive headteacher was appointed in January 2020.  The school does not currently have any pupils attending alternative provision.  The school runs its own on-site, before- and after-school provision, the Sunshine Club.  The school is part of the Jeffreys Education Partnership which contains seven schools.  The school has been part of the Hamwic Educational Trust since 2014.

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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 senior leaders, staff, pupils and representatives of the local governing body, including the chair of governors. In addition, he spoke to a 18 and 19 June 2024

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representative of the trust by telephone and met the trust’s chief executive officer.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and music. He discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, teachers and pupils, visited lessons and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector considered responses to the Ofsted Parent View questionnaire. He also took account of the responses to the confidential staff questionnaire, as well as the views of pupils gathered throughout the inspection.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector reviewed the single central record; took into account 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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Inspection team

Bill James, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 18 and 19 June 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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