Stafford Junior School

Inspection of Stafford Junior School Ringwood Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN22 8UA

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected

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Overall effectiveness Good

The executive headteacher of this school is Kyra Siddall-Ward. The executive headteacher is responsible for this school and two others. The head of school is Corrine Crawford. This school is part of the Cavendish Education Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Peter Marchant, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Peter Midwinter. 10 and 11 July 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their vibrant and inclusive school. Pupils work hard to live up to the school’s motto of, ‘be the best we can be’, in all areas of school life. They embrace the school’s ‘four pillars of learning’ - challenge, engagement, feedback and independent learning. They recognise that they can always improve. Pupils are attentive to feedback and persevere in the face of challenge.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides pupils with a strong quality of education. Teachers are well trained to understand pupils’ needs. They confidently insist upon the highest standards of behaviour in classrooms and around the school, so that pupils can focus on their learning. The school has ensured that teachers have good subject knowledge across the subjects they teach. They explain things clearly and pupils are keen to learn. As a result, pupils at the school achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the ‘Stafford Offer’, a wide range of enrichment available throughout the school day. At lunchtime, for example, pupils enjoy a range of clubs, such as ‘cheerleading club’, and some of which are pupil led. Despite the engaging education and enriching activities provided, some pupils do not attend as well as they should. The school works to support pupils with low attendance back to school, but this work has not yet been impactful for all pupils.

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better?

The school has gone from strength to strength in recent years. The educational offer has been fully redesigned and there are clear and well-sequenced curriculums in place. The school has carefully considered the needs of pupils with SEND. In the strongest subjects, the curriculum is carefully broken down into small steps of learning. This helps teachers to focus on the important knowledge that pupils need to learn to successfully progress through the planned curriculum.

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better?

Teachers have good subject knowledge across most subjects, and this enables them to explain learning clearly to pupils. However, this is not yet consistent across year groups and subjects. In some subjects, including English, the curriculum is not consistently well-adapted to meet the needs of all pupils. As a result, pupils with SEND, do not consistently learn as well as they might. The school has a clear programme of professional development and support for teachers, and their work to develop teacher subject knowledge and expertise is ongoing.

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better?

The school prioritises reading. Pupils are carefully assessed when they arrive, and those who continue to need support to learn to read are identified. The school ensures that staff are well trained to support these pupils to learn to read. The school is working to ensure that all staff deliver early reading support in a highly effective way so that all pupils catch up as quickly as possible. The wider reading curriculum has been very carefully developed to support pupils to read a wide range of genres, and over time, to be able to tackle increasingly complex books, stories 10 and 11 July 2024

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and poems with confidence. Most older pupils read widely and talk with enthusiasm about their reading preferences.

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The school have developed an exceptionally strong programme to support pupils’ personal, social and health education (PHSE). Leaders have thought very carefully about exactly what pupils at Stafford Junior School need to know and understand to thrive now and in the future. Pupils talk very positively about how the school’s PSHE programme has helped them, for example, to learn to manage their anxiety and to build positive friendships. The programme has also supported the school in transforming behaviour within the school, as pupils learn to self-regulate and develop their working memory, flexible thinking and self-control. Alongside, the school have developed a very clear primary careers programme. This teaches pupils about a wide range of careers and pathways and helps pupils to understand the connections between what they learn at school, their own interests and possible further education and career options.

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The school ensures that pupils have opportunities to take on a wide range of leadership roles within the school. To support all pupils to take on these roles with confidence, and to engage more fully with the whole curriculum, pupils are supported carefully to develop their oracy skills. Pupils’ confidence in public speaking is highly evident. For example, pupil career ambassadors regularly lead whole school assemblies.

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To support pupils with particular needs in relation to their behaviour and well-being, the school has developed the ‘LEAP’. This provision is on the school site and is led by a suitably experienced teacher. Pupils who attend the ‘LEAP’ receive highly effective support that enables them to successfully reintegrate into the main school.

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Leaders, including those responsible for governance, are ambitious and committed to the school. They are determined that pupils at Stafford Junior School receive a highly effective education. They have a strong understanding of what is going well, and the areas of the school that need further refinement to enable them to fully realise their vision for the school. Teachers feel very well supported in their roles by senior leaders.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum in some subjects, including English, is not consistently well adapted in response to the needs and starting points of pupils with SEND. As a result, not all pupils are building their knowledge and understanding as well as they might. The school should continue their work to refine the curriculum in 10 and 11 July 2024

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these subjects and ensure that teachers are supported to develop their understanding of how to meet pupils’ needs effectively in all subjects.  Some pupils, particularly those with SEND, are too frequently absent from school. These pupils do not benefit fully from the school’s strong educational offer. The school should continue its work to improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils.

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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 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). 10 and 11 July 2024

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School details

Dates of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The Cavendish Education Trust had been supporting the school since the autumn of 2020. Initially, this support was commissioned by the local authority. The school subsequently joined the trust and opened as an academy in September 2021.  The school does not use any external alternative provision. The school has a provision called the ‘LEAP’. This is located in a separate building on the school’s main site. At the time of the inspection, all pupils attending the ‘LEAP’ were on the roll of the school. However, the school offers places to other schools within the multi-academy trust to support pupils’ behaviour.

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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. 10 and 11 July 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 met with the executive headteacher and the head of school. The lead inspector met with the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust. The lead inspector met with representatives of the board of trustees, including the chair of the board and with representatives of the school’s local governing board.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history 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. For the reading deep dive, the lead inspector listened to pupils reading. Inspectors discussed the

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curriculum for some other subjects with leaders and looked at samples of pupils’ work in these subjects.  Inspectors considered pupils’ behaviour and attitudes throughout the inspection and discussed the school’s analysis of pupils’ behaviour and attendance with leaders.  Inspectors considered personal development through all deep dives. They met with leaders to discuss the school’s personal development programme, including the curriculum for PSHE and relationships education. Inspectors talked to pupils about PSHE and other aspects of the school’s personal development programme.  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 spoke to parents on the gate and considered the views of 57 parents

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who responded to Ofsted’s parent view questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Alice Roberts, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Martin Hacker Ofsted Inspector 10 and 11 July 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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