Fryern Junior School

Inspection of a good school: Fryern Junior School Oakmount Road, Chandler’s Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO53 2LN

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Outcome

Fryern Junior School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In the words of one parent, ‘Staff at Fryern genuinely care and want every child to succeed.’ The school is rightly proud of its ‘hidden curriculum’. The easily remembered ‘4Bs’ and the school’s values of curiosity, respect, ambition, reflection and resilience combine to create the underpinning nurturing ethos. Being ‘kind, safe, honest and proud’ is second nature to pupils.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The well-designed curriculum ignites pupils’ interest in learning, in the world immediately around them and further afield. Teaching encourages them to ‘have a go’, that it is okay to make mistakes and is important to keep trying. Pupils’ attitudes to their learning are impressive and help maintain the momentum of learning in class. Their knowledge and skills build across the full range of subjects over their time at Fryern.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Strong support for pupils’ personal and social development cultivates their understanding of how to look after themselves and build positive relationships with others, whatever their background. Pupils value activities beyond the classroom that give them the chance to try new things and, in the words of one, ‘embrace their fears’ in a safe environment. The popular enterprise week teaches them important life skills. Leadership opportunities develop pupils’ sense of responsibility and give them an influential say in school life.

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

The school ensures that the conditions are just right for pupils to be ‘growing together, learning for life’. Governors and school leaders have their finger on the pulse. They know exactly what is working well and what could be even better. Planning for further improvements and professional development for staff are centred on what will make most difference to pupils. Identification of, and provision for, pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) has been enhanced this school year. Parents appreciate the new SEND workshops and, more widely, improved communications so that they can 2 and 3 July 2024

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be involved in and support their child’s learning.

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The school’s unwavering focus on reading pays off. The vast majority of pupils become competent, confident and expressive readers. They love the texts teachers introduce them to through class reading. Older pupils avidly devour books, making informed choices based on their interests, favourite authors or genres. Extra teaching for pupils who are still early readers when they join the school boosts their skills. Pupils who are still learning phonics are picked up straight away and start where they left off in key stage 1. Staff working with them are well trained. Carefully matched reading books help these pupils to practise and consolidate their learning. Targeted small group and individual work benefit those who continue to need a bit more time to reinforce and embed their reading skills.

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The rest of the curriculum is equally well thought through, making judicious use of external resources and support. The wider curriculum provides a rich range of experiences for pupils, from performing on stage to participating in local cultural and sporting events and supporting charities. Guidance for staff makes it clear how pupils’ knowledge and skills in each subject should develop over time. In subjects beyond English and mathematics, however, the school has not identified precisely enough what pupils need to remember from unit to unit or year to year. While pupils can remember what they learned about previously, they cannot always easily recall key information.

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Teaching is mainly engaging and knowledgeable, moving systematically from modelling and explaining through having a go together and on to pupils working independently or in groups to consolidate their learning. Staff are well supported to adapt activities as needed or provide extra support for pupils with SEND so that they can follow the same curriculum as their classmates. Most teachers are adept at keeping a careful check on pupils’ learning as they go along and adapting activities accordingly. Mathematics interventions have improved learning this year. While there is some strong practice in mathematics teaching, it is not consistently high quality across the school. The importance of weaving opportunities for all pupils to explain their thinking and apply their learning throughout mathematics teaching is not universally understood.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Beginning and end-of-unit checks in the foundation subjects are not focused precisely enough on what pupils need to recall and remember for what comes next. They cannot always readily recollect important information. The school should identify the key learning in each subject and ensure that teaching supports pupils to embed it in and retrieve it from their long-term memory.  The approach to teaching reasoning and problem-solving in mathematics varies. Some pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to explain their mathematical thinking and 2 and 3 July 2024

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apply their knowledge. The school should make sure that the teaching of mathematics is consistently at the level of the best seen so that all pupils deepen their mathematical understanding.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2014.

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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). 2 and 3 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Jeremy Payne (Executive Headteacher) Sarah Roberts (Head of School) Website www.fryernfederation.co.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 6 December 2018 under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is federated with the infant school of the same name. The schools are co- located on the same site.  The executive headteacher joined the school in January 2024 but was absent at the time of the inspection. The head of school was acting headteacher, as she had been during autumn 2023 following the retirement of the previous executive headteacher.  The special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) was appointed internally and took up post in September 2023.  The federation runs its own before- and after-school provision for pupils in both schools. Some clubs are run by the school and some by external providers.  The school does not currently 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 2 and 3 July 2024

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began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Meetings were held with the acting headteacher, the SENDCo, members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and art and design. For each deep dive, she held discussions about the curriculum, visited lessons, spoke to teachers, talked to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also listened to some pupils read to a familiar adult. She considered the school’s curriculum in some other subjects by looking at curriculum guidance with leaders and talking to pupils.  Staff and parent views were gathered using Ofsted’s surveys. There were no responses to the pupil survey, but the inspector met with pupils, as well as staff, during the

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inspection. She also talked to pupils around school and outside at breaktimes and with staff as they went about their work.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector 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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Inspection team

Alison Bradley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 2 and 3 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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