Colebrook Junior School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Colebrook Junior School Towcester Road, Stratton St Margaret, Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 4AS

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Outcome

Colebrook Junior School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at this inclusive school. Warm and caring relationships with adults help pupils to feel safe. Staff get to know pupils well. They put effective support in place so that pupils thrive.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that staff will help them with any worries they have. The ‘golden rules’ for good manners and conduct guide pupils to behave well. Pupils act in a considerate way towards adults and their peers.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s values, including teamwork and ambition, are central to school life. Pupils learn to collaborate and value everyone’s ideas. At breaktimes, pupils of all ages play happily together. The school has high academic aspirations for pupils. Pupils live up to these and most achieve well. In lessons, they approach their tasks diligently. They see difficulties as opportunities to learn more.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils make valued contributions to their school and local community. They enjoy taking responsibilities through roles such as ‘helping hands’ at lunchtime, and as school councillors and librarians. Older pupils love to read with younger pupils at their local infant school. This work prepares pupils to become active citizens. Pupils benefit from many extra-curricular activities, which develop their wider interests. These include fencing, boccia and singing in the school choir.

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

The school has improved the curriculum since the previous inspection. In most subjects, the curriculum is well structured. In English and mathematics, pupils build on secure foundations as they move through the school. Pupils with special educational needs 20 and 21 May 2025

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and/or disabilities (SEND) receive the help they need to learn the curriculum successfully. The school is refining the curriculum in a few subjects. The knowledge the school expects pupils to learn, and when, has not been fully identified. This means that some pupils do not learn and remember all that they should in these subjects.

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Typically, teachers have good subject knowledge. They explain new learning clearly. Teachers ask probing questions that help pupils to explain their thinking. They check pupils’ understanding and adjust the curriculum as needed. In mathematics for example, pupils revisit important number knowledge. As a result, they practise working with concepts that they were previously unsure about. However, in a few subjects, this is not as secure. Where this is the case, teaching does not always build on what pupils know and can do.

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Provision for pupils with SEND is a strength of this school. Pupils’ individual needs are clearly identified, along with what pupils need to learn next. Staff make effective adaptations to the curriculum. These strategies help pupils with SEND to integrate fully into school life.

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Reading is a priority. The school has recently developed its reading curriculum further. Well-trained staff teach early reading well. Pupils who need extra help with phonics receive the support they need. This helps them to catch up quickly. Older pupils take part in discussions that help them to understand how authors create effects in their writing. Pupils enjoy reading for pleasure. They like to visit the school library, where there is a wide range of literature to interest everyone.

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Well-established rules and routines make the school a calm place to learn. Disruption to lessons is rare. Where pupils struggle to manage their emotions, staff intervene swiftly. This helps these pupils to focus on their learning. Pupils enjoy coming to school and attend well. The school offers support for families if attendance becomes a concern.

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Pupils are well prepared for life beyond school. They learn how to keep themselves safe and healthy. The school provides well-considered pastoral support to promote pupils’ mental health. Pupils learn to value diversity through the curriculum and assemblies. They understand the importance of equality and are respectful of differences. School trips spark pupils’ interests. Visits to a planetarium and local railway museum are among the many opportunities.

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Governors understand their roles and the school’s priorities. They support and challenge leaders to improve the school further. Staff feel part of a team. They appreciate how leaders support their well-being. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school. They value the school’s welcoming atmosphere and the nurturing relationships between pupils and staff.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 20 and 21 May 2025

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some curriculum subjects, what the school expects pupils to learn is not precisely identified. This means that pupils do not always learn the most important curriculum content. The school should continue to review the curriculum so that pupils are able to learn and remember the most important knowledge securely.  Assessment processes in a few subjects in the wider curriculum are still being developed. In these subjects, the school does not have a clear enough picture of how well pupils are learning the intended curriculum. This leads to gaps in some pupils’ knowledge and understanding. The school should ensure that the assessment approach in each subject provides information about pupils’ learning so that the curriculum can be adapted to meet their needs more effectively.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 for overall effectiveness in December 2015.

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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. 20 and 21 May 2025

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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). 20 and 21 May 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.colebrook-jun.swindon.sch.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 11 and 12 March 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The acting headteacher and acting deputy headteacher took up their posts in September 2024.  The school makes use of one unregistered alternative provision.  There is a school-run breakfast and after-school club for its pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 held discussions with the acting headteacher, acting deputy headteacher, groups of staff and pupils. The inspector met with the chair and a member of the local 20 and 21 May 2025

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governing body. She met with a representative of the local authority and with the school’s independent improvement adviser.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to curriculum leaders, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ 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.  The inspector considered responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. The inspector also considered responses to Ofsted’s online staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Claire Mirams, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 20 and 21 May 2025

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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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