a school not in a category of concern of Exhall Junior School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Robert Mann Headteacher Exhall Junior School Hayes Lane Exhall Warwickshire West Midlands CV7 9NS

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School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 12 February 2025, on behalf of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and took place because the school meets the monitoring threshold as set out in the Monitoring Inspection Handbook .

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School

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school’s key and (where applicable) provision judgements, but to identify and report on the school’s progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school’s previous graded inspection.

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School

During the inspection, I discussed with you and other senior leaders, governors and the local authority the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. I also met with staff, spoke to pupils, met with some curriculum subject leaders, visited lessons and scrutinised school improvement documents and minutes of governor meetings. I heard some pupils read to a familiar adult. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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School

Leaders have made insufficient progress to improve the school.

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Main findings

Since the last inspection, there have been some changes to the senior leadership team and subject leadership. There have been some very recent appointments of new

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OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

governors. The number of pupils attending the school has fallen and classes are now organised into single-year groups rather than mixed-age classes.

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OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

The school has developed action plans and key priorities. However, these do not align closely enough to the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection. This means that the school has not been focused sharply enough on the most urgent areas for improvement.

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OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

You have rightly identified that improving reading is a priority. You, along with your staff, have made some improvements to the reading curriculum. The structure of reading lessons now means that pupils are taught specific reading skills, such as inference. This is proving to be successful. However, the provision for pupils who fall behind in reading is not effective at ensuring that any gaps in phonic knowledge are identified and systematically addressed. The school does not ensure that pupils practise their reading using books matched to the sounds that they know.

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OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

The school has done some work to address previously identified weaknesses in the curriculum. However, you and your wider team have rightly identified that the curriculum remains under-developed in some subjects. The curriculum is organised in a way to suit mixed-age classes, but pupils are taught in single-year groups. The school has not identified how pupils will make progress in their knowledge and skills in some subjects, over time. In some subjects, pupils are taught incorrect facts.

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OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

Following the previous inspection, the school has put in place strategies to check that pupils remember the intended learning. This work is in its infancy. Sometimes, pupils are asked to recall information they have not previously been taught. On some occasions, the ‘sticky knowledge’ that you want pupils to remember is factually incorrect.

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OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

Governors have started to address the weaknesses identified at the previous inspection. New governors have been recruited and they are receiving training aimed at helping them to understand their roles. Governors have a growing understanding of the work of their school. However, governors are aware that there is further work to do to ensure that they can fully support and challenge the school and hold it to account for improvements.

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OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

The school has very recently benefited from the support provided by an external multi- academy trust, for example through recent changes to the reading curriculum.

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OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

Staff feel that the school is considerate of their well-being. They are all proud to work at the school.

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OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of governors, the Department for Education’s regional director and the director of children’s services for Warwickshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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