Caister Junior School

Inspection of a good school: Caister Junior School Caister Junior School, Kingston Avenue, Caister-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR30 5ET

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Outcome

Caister Junior School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are confident and respectful citizens of Caister Junior school. Pupils are kind and polite. Leaders encourage pupils to see themselves as positive members of a diverse and multi-cultural society. Pupils become ‘agents of change’. They ensure everyone feels included and understand that derogatory language is not tolerated. Pupils play well together during break time activities. Pupils feel happy and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school appreciates that many pupils and their families face wider challenges in everyday life. It provides an extensive range of clubs, visits and trips that enrich pupils learning. Residential trips open pupils’ eyes to life beyond their immediate community. Abseiling and rock-climbing activities contribute to building pupils’ character and confidence.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) know staff are on hand to support them. Some pupils enjoy learning in a small group in ‘The Hive’. This provides a calm quiet space, where distractions are minimal.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school sets clear expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Pupils learn to be ‘ready, respectful and safe’. The school celebrates pupils’ efforts and conduct. Pupils are proud to receive points for their achievements. Consequently, pupils focus on learning and achieve well.

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

The school has a rich, broad curriculum that sets out what pupils will learn by when. Lessons are well structured with familiar routines for learning. Teachers present information clearly. They check pupils understand what they have learned before. This helps pupils move on in their learning with success. Pupils achieve well in mathematics. While last year was the second year that pupils did not achieve as well as others nationally in their multiplication checks, the school has taken action to improve the way this is taught. Pupils now practise times tables and arithmetic every day. This develops 9 and 10 July 2024

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confidence and fluency in pupils’ mathematical knowledge. In some subjects, pupils have not learned enough knowledge to help them get the best out of their lessons. This is because the order of the curriculum does not always enable pupils to make connections with their prior learning. This means there are times when pupils are not as well prepared as they could be to understand new learning.

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Pupils with SEND are well supported in lessons. Adaptations to learning mean they are successful in their work alongside their peers.

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Pupils in the early stages of reading receive lots of extra help to catch up. Well-trained staff help them become confident, fluent readers. Pupils like the books they read in class. They develop empathy with characters from different cultures and faiths. The books the school has chosen evoke pupil discussion about social and moral issues. This develops pupils’ passion for reading. There are instances where pupils spelling, and punctuation is not checked or corrected. This makes their writing difficult to read and hinders their efforts to record or share their learning.

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Staff and pupils have a shared understanding of the school’s behaviour and relationships policy. Pupils have a positive commitment to lessons and respectful behaviour at breaktimes. Most pupils attend well. The school monitors pupil attendance rates closely. It is quick to identify where absence is persistent. Effective support enables improvement in attendance.

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The school’s curriculum goes beyond the academic. Visits and trips enrich the curriculum. Beach days help pupils learn about their local environment and water safety. The school promotes equality of opportunity and diversity extremely well. This means that pupils understand, appreciate and respect difference in the world. Pupils can access a wide range of clubs, such as cooking, sewing and film club. These broaden their interests. Inter-school sports and mathematics competitions develop pupils’ resilience and social skills.

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Leaders engage well with staff. They have reduced workload without compromise to the quality of education. Governors have a clear view of their roles and responsibilities. They are well informed so that they make decisions in the best interests of all pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some instances, the sequence of the curriculum does not help pupils to make connections in their learning so that they gain a greater depth of understanding in some subjects. This means that pupils are not as well prepared as they could be to confidently integrate learning into new ideas as they progress through the curriculum. 9 and 10 July 2024

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Leaders should review the teaching in the curriculum so that this helps pupils to integrate new knowledge into wider learning as they progress through the curriculum.  There is variability in the standard of pupils’ written work. This is because some pupils grammar, spelling and punctuation is not consistently checked and corrected. This makes some writing difficult to read and means they cannot record their thinking in the depth they are capable of. Leaders should ensure that they establish shared expectations for pupils written work across the curriculum so that all pupils learn to apply high standards of English across the wider curriculum and develop the necessary skills to prepare them well for their future learning.

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Background

When we have judged 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 September 2018.

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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). 9 and 10 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Co-chairs of governing body David Wells Payal Patel Headteacher Gemma Watling

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School details

Website www.caisterprimaryfederation.org/junior/

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 26 September 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This school is part of Caister Primary Federation. It is federated with three other schools in the local area.  The school runs breakfast and after-school clubs.

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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 executive leaders, the headteacher, subject leaders, teachers, representatives from the local governing board and a local authority representative.  The inspector carried out deep dives into these subjects: early reading, mathematics, and music. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about 9 and 10 July 2024

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their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also spoke to leaders about the curriculum in some other subjects and looked a sample of pupils work across year groups and observed pupils reading.  The inspector reviewed information on the school’s website, including school policies and information about the curriculum.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The lead inspector reviewed the school’s behaviour and attendance records. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at breaktimes.

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Inspection team

Mireille MacRaild, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 9 and 10 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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