Granby Junior School

Inspection of Granby Junior School Heanor Road, Ilkeston, Derbyshire DE7 8DX

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Inspection dates: 15 and 16 October 2024

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Good 15 and 16 October 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils enjoy attending the school. They speak of the care and kindness of the staff who look after them. There are strong relationships between staff and pupils. Staff know all pupils well. They understand and address the various barriers and challenges pupils face when they are learning. This leads to a strong, child-centred environment where pupils feel safe and ready to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of all pupils’ behaviour and learning. All staff implement the school’s behaviour policy consistently and effectively. This provides pupils with clear boundaries that they stick to. Pupils behave well and work hard in lessons.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Although the school wants the best for its pupils, these ambitions are not fully coming to fruition. Changes made to the curriculum are not having the impact the school desires. Aspects of the curriculum are not consistently implemented. Some subjects do not identify exactly what pupils should learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s values of ‘care to achieve your best’ are understood by all. They are lived out by pupils who care for each other, their school and the local community. Some pupils who are part of the eco-committee help to improve the school environment. Others have developed enterprise skills by running a market stall.

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

The school is in the process of designing an ambitious curriculum. It is working with the governing body and local authority to accept support and respond to challenge. Everyone is united in making sure that their actions have impact, especially for the curriculum.

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

Staff work in teams to continue to develop the curriculum so that it meets the needs of all pupils. In some subjects, what pupils should learn and when is clearly and logically planned. However, in other subjects, it is unclear exactly what teachers intend pupils to know and remember. In several subjects, the curriculum is not implemented consistently. Some of the learning activities and work given to pupils do not always support them to learn the intended curriculum. As a result, pupils struggle to recall the important knowledge they need.

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

Teachers use different ways to check pupils’ understanding during lessons. They use the information gathered to address any misconceptions or gaps in pupils’ knowledge. However, in the subjects where it is less clear what pupils should be learning, teachers cannot make accurate judgements about how well pupils have learned key knowledge.

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

The school promotes a love of reading. However, some pupils are not confident readers. This has an impact on their ability to access the curriculum fully. The school has very recently expanded the range of its reading interventions. This means pupils are now better supported with more precise help to improve their reading and comprehension. It is too soon to see the impact of these interventions. At present, the school’s published outcomes remain low. 15 and 16 October 2024

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Staff support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. This ensures that they are helped to access the curriculum. Staff use a consistent approach that helps all pupils to manage their emotions. They provide effective techniques and safe spaces to help pupils who need support to calm themselves and be ready to learn.

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The school is working closely with families to highlight the importance of being at school. The school has recruited staff to support families whose children struggle to meet the schools’ high expectations regarding attendance. As a result, most pupils’ attendance is good.

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Staff consistently apply the simple school rules. Pupils appreciate the boundaries and routines that staff provide and behave well.

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Pupils engage well with after-school sports events and activities, such as the choir, which build teamwork and develop in them a sense of pride and achievement. There is effective support for good mental health. Pupils are taught about respecting those who are different from them. They have a good understanding of fundamental British values and the school is equipping them well to be responsible citizens.

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Staff say that they are well cared for. Their well-being and workload are carefully considered. They are proud to work at the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In less well-developed subjects, it is not clear what the important knowledge and skills are that pupils are expected to know and remember. In these subjects, pupils do not develop a secure understanding of what they are learning. The school should ensure that the curriculum clearly defines the key content that pupils will learn over time in all subjects.  There are occasions when the learning activities and work given to pupils do not always support them to know and remember key knowledge. When this is the case, pupils struggle to recall the important knowledge they need. The school needs to ensure that staff are fully equipped to plan precise and purposeful activities that will help all pupils to build knowledge consistently well.  In some subjects, teachers lack the right information to allow them to assess accurately. This hinders them in identifying, and then addressing, any gaps in knowledge that pupils may have. The school should ensure that assessment systems

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provide teachers with a precise understanding of whether pupils have learned the key knowledge that they need to succeed.  Reading support is not precise enough to ensure that all pupils become confident readers. There are some inconsistencies in the delivery of the phonics programme. Pupils who find reading difficult are not yet getting the right help at the right time to enable them to become confident readers. The school needs to ensure consistency and accuracy in the implementation of reading interventions so that those pupils who receive such support become confident readers who can use their reading skills across the curriculum.

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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). 15 and 16 October 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 28 and 29 June 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The number of pupils with SEND who attend the school has risen to being above the national average.  The school operates a breakfast club that provides childcare before the start of the school day.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 15 and 16 October 2024

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 Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held various meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, who is the special educational needs coordinator, and curriculum leaders. The lead inspector also met with two governors, including the vice-chair, and local authority representatives.  Inspectors carried out deep dives into English, mathematics, art, geography and history. Inspectors discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at a sample of pupils’ work.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ education, health and care plans and other pupils’ support plans and ‘provision maps’, as well as visiting lessons and discussing the provision for pupils with SEND.  Inspectors considered a wide variety of school documents, including the school’s self-

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evaluation document and development plans.  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 took note of the responses received via Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and considered the results of Ofsted’s online staff and pupil surveys. Inspectors met with pupils to gather their views.

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Inspection team

Dave Gilkerson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Peter Johnston Ofsted Inspector 15 and 16 October 2024

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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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