Light Oaks Junior School

Inspection of Light Oaks Junior School Lancaster Road, Salford, Greater Manchester M6 8LU

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Inspection dates: 19 and 20 November 2024

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Good 19 and 20 November 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and well cared for in this school. Their emotional well-being is a high priority for the school. Relationships are strong and pupils feel safe. Pupils demonstrate high levels of respect for adults and each other. They embrace the school values. Pupils thrive in the calm and loving environment. They move around school with confidence and independence. Pupils behave well in lessons and during unstructured times.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s expectations for pupils are high. This includes for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils participate fully in their lessons. They are motivated to learn. Many achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a wide range of extra-curricular clubs available to develop their talents and interests outside the classroom. Pupils enjoy and value the many responsibilities that they have, such as well-being warriors, school librarians, school councillors and members of the sports crew.

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

The school has prioritised the teaching of reading. It offers many opportunities for pupils to develop a love of reading by exposing them to a wide range of text types. The majority of pupils speak with pleasure about the books that they have read and their favourite authors. However, the support for those pupils who find reading difficult is not as effective as it could be. These pupils do not catch up quickly enough. At times, this hinders their access to the wider curriculum as they move through key stage 2.

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

The school has successfully developed its curriculum to ensure that it is well organised and carefully considered for its pupils. In the majority of subjects, the curriculum sets out what pupils will learn and when this will happen. Teachers are clear about what they should be teaching. They provide pupils with opportunities to remember key information. This helps pupils to link new learning to what they already know. Most pupils achieve well.

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

The curriculum aims to develop pupils’ language and vocabulary. The newly developed writing curriculum offers pupils wider experiences to develop talk and learn new words to support their writing. Pupils are motivated to write and they use vocabulary well. However, pupils are less secure in forming letters and spelling accurately. The errors that they make are not consistently identified and corrected by teachers. This means that many pupils continue with misconceptions. This limits their writing fluency. The school has a strong approach to identifying the individual needs of pupils with SEND. Staff support pupils with SEND well within lessons. Every pupil is included and accesses their learning through a range of support techniques that build independence. This ensures that pupils with SEND achieve well.

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

Pupils are positive about their learning. They sustain focus in lessons. However, in the past, many pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils, did not attend school regularly 19 and 20 November 2024

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enough. The school has devised suitable strategies to reduce absence levels. This is beginning to make a difference, as more pupils are in school more regularly. Even so, the impact of poor attendance means that these pupils have gaps in their learning. Although these gaps have been identified, they are not being remedied quickly enough to help these pupils to catch up.

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The school has a sharp focus on promoting pupils’ personal development. Pupils learn how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy. They know about healthy relationships and staying safe online. Pupils demonstrate strong knowledge of fundamental British values and the differences that exist between themselves and others.

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Governors are knowledgeable. They have a clear understanding of the strengths of the school. They are supportive, but equally able to hold the school to account. Staff are positive about the support that they receive for their well-being. They value the high- quality training that they have received to improve their practice.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Until recently, many pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils, did not attend school as regularly as they should. They have developed gaps in their learning which hinder their progress through the curriculum. These gaps, including in reading, are not being tackled effectively enough to ensure that these pupils catch up. The school should ensure that the gaps in pupils’ learning are addressed swiftly so that they can benefit fully from the curriculum offer.  Staff do not routinely address errors in pupils’ writing, such as spelling and letter formation. This means that pupils do not develop accuracy in writing. The school should ensure that all staff consistently address errors and misconceptions in pupils’ writing so that they become fluent writers.

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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. 19 and 20 November 2024

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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). 19 and 20 November 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 8 and 9 January 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any provider of 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). 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 educational provision.  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. 19 and 20 November 2024

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 Inspectors spoke with leaders and with members of staff. The lead inspector held discussions with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. They also spoke with representatives of the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: English, including early reading, mathematics, computing, history and design and technology. For each deep dive, they held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The lead inspector observed pupils from Year 3 and 4 read to a familiar adult.  Inspectors discussed the curriculum in some other curriculum subjects. They spoke with leaders and reviewed samples of pupils’ work in these curriculum areas.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and around school.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single

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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 reviewed a range of documents, including records of governing body meetings; leaders’ evaluation of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement and documents relating to pupils’ behaviour and attendance.  Inspectors spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school. They considered the views of pupils shared through Ofsted’s online survey for pupils.  Inspectors spoke with staff about their workload and well-being. They also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. They also spoke with some parents and carers during the inspection.

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Inspection team

Emily Morris, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Michelle Joyce Ofsted Inspector 19 and 20 November 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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