Blackmoor Park Junior School

Blackmoor Park Junior School

Address: Leyfield Road, Liverpool, Merseyside, L12 9HB Unique reference number (URN): 104521

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The school’s personal development programme is well structured, responsive and reviewed regularly. Leaders carefully track pupils' participation in the various elements of the programme to ensure there is equal access for all, including for disadvantaged pupils. Pastoral care is high quality. Staff build warm and positive relationships with pupils. They know pupils well and provide effective pastoral support.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Through the curriculum, assemblies and other opportunities, pupils develop secure knowledge of a range of issues. These include learning about healthy lifestyles and relationships, and the importance of staying safe, including when working online. Staff adapt the curriculum as appropriate. For example, they adjust the timing of teaching about puberty to meet the emerging needs of different cohorts.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders enrich the school's programme through effective partnerships with outside agencies, such as the police, health professionals and local businesses. Pupils enjoy taking part in a careers week, where they learn about different career paths through visits from a journalist, an animator and a footballer.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Pupils understand the importance of treating everyone with respect, regardless of their background or culture. They have a developing understanding of fundamental British values and learn about what these look like in action. For example, through their work with the Liverpool schools’ parliament, pupils learn about democracy and the rule of law.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Pupils learn to cooperate and build confidence through a range of activities. These include participating in residential visits. They take on different roles in school, including reading ambassadors, sports leaders and school councillors. Pupils have numerous opportunities to debate and discuss issues that are important to them.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

A range of trips and cultural experiences broadens pupils’ horizons and nurtures their talents. Pupils enjoy attending sporting clubs and chess club. Pupils are introduced to diverse sports, such as rugby and golf through the physical education curriculum. They value the opportunities they have to play different musical instruments.

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Achievement Needs attention

Over time, pupils’ attainment in the end of key stage 2 tests has been much lower than national averages. This includes the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. Recently, leaders have begun to tackle weaknesses in early reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders’ sustained work to improve mathematics is beginning to bear fruit. Pupils' results in the Year 4 multiplication tables check have been broadly in line with national averages over the last 3 years. Some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and some disadvantaged pupils do not achieve as well as they should. These pupils do not make suitable progress from their starting points because support for them is not consistently effective.

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Achievement Needs attention

Pupils’ knowledge across the curriculum varies. Some pupils produce quality work and can recall their learning in a range of subjects. However, this is not consistently the case. Overall, pupils are not as well prepared for their move to secondary school as they should be.

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Attendance and behaviour Needs attention

Leaders face considerable challenges around attendance, including overcoming some entrenched low attendance rates. Despite leaders' concerted efforts, many pupils continue to miss a lot of school. This includes some pupils who are absent for extended periods. Leaders have made well-considered and effective improvements to their systems to raise pupils’ rates of attendance. They carefully analyse attendance patterns and use this information to inform their approach. Leaders have begun to see some impact of their actions, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. However, too many pupils do not attend school regularly enough.

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Attendance and behaviour Needs attention

Pupils generally behave well in lessons and across the school, contributing to a calm, orderly environment. Most engage positively with their learning. However, up until recently, pupils have not been sufficiently challenged to produce their best work. Overall, staff apply the behaviour policy consistently. Pupils’ welfare is a high priority for staff across the school. Leaders provide particularly effective support for pupils who struggle to regulate their emotions. This results in few serious incidents. Typically, leaders deal effectively with any incidents of bullying or discriminatory behaviour.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Until recently, leaders’ attention has not been focused sufficiently on ensuring that pupils secure the basic knowledge they need in reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders' checks on the quality of curriculum and teaching have not resulted in improvements happening quickly enough. Inconsistent teaching has led to some pupils having gaps in their knowledge, particularly of the basics in writing and mathematics. For example, teachers' modelling of tasks sometimes lacks clarity. They do not consistently identify errors and misconceptions. Leaders are making improvements in this area by providing training to develop staff expertise. This has improved how quickly and effectively staff address errors in pupils’ written work. However, these improvements are relatively new.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The curriculum is broad and appropriately sequenced. Typically, teachers check pupils’ current learning effectively. However, they do not always enable pupils to make links between prior learning and new curriculum content. This hampers pupils from deepening their knowledge over time. Furthermore, the delivery of some subjects is variable. At times, teachers do not design the most effective learning activities. For example, pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are sometimes asked to complete tasks that are not adapted to their needs. This slows pupils' progress and hinders their achievement.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and pupils who are disadvantaged is variable. Many pupils begin Year 3 with significant needs, including gaps in their learning. While staff are adept at supporting pupils' social and emotional needs, they are less skilled in meeting their learning needs. More recently, pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, increasingly benefit from targeted, in-class support. This is more closely aligned to their individual support plans than previously. This work is making a positive difference towards closing pupils’ learning gaps. However, it is at an early stage of development.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders have a clear ambition for inclusion, with pupils at the heart of their decision-making. This is underpinned by effective systems, including multi-agency work with professionals, parents and carers to typically identify pupils' needs well. Staff receive training to develop their inclusive practice, although this has focused more on social and emotional needs than on removing other barriers to learning.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders evaluate the impact of their work, including the use of additional funding for disadvantaged pupils. However, while these pupils thrive emotionally, until recently, there has not been sufficient attention paid by leaders and governors to ensuring the support they receive enables them to achieve as well as they can.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The school's context has changed over time. It admits increasing numbers of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Many pupils join with low starting points. Leaders have a broad understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. However, until recently, leaders’ actions have not focused sufficiently well on removing barriers to learning and supporting pupils to rapidly gain essential knowledge and skills across the curriculum.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Governors understand their role and fulfil their statutory duties, holding leaders to account on important issues, such as safeguarding and attendance. In other areas, however, governors have not challenged leaders sufficiently, for example on pupils' achievement.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Recently, leaders have taken appropriate steps to bring about improvements. For example, they have begun to address gaps in pupils’ learning in reading, writing and mathematics. Attendance rates are slowly rising. However, it is too soon to see the full impact of this work over a sustained period of time.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders and governors put the interests of pupils at the centre of much of their work, particularly with regard to supporting pupils emotionally. For example, they have invested in additional support for pupils with poor attendance and those who have emotional difficulties. Improved staff training is developing teaching expertise across the curriculum. However, some of this work is new and, therefore, provision remains variable. Leaders and governors consider staff wellbeing and workload overall. Most staff, pupils, parents and carers who shared their views with inspectors spoke positively about the school and the way it engages with the community.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils enjoy nurturing and caring relationships with staff and with each other. They appreciate the warm welcome they receive each day. This helps pupils to settle quickly into lessons and have a positive start to the morning. Pupils feel safe in school. They know that staff listen carefully when they have concerns and help them sort any problems out. Bullying is rare and quickly addressed.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils generally enjoy coming to school, and many are eager to learn. However, many pupils do not attend school regularly, with some being away from school for extended periods. This hampers pupils' sense of belonging and their achievement. More recently, there have been some improvements in pupils’ attendance rates. This is helping to begin to close gaps in pupils’ learning.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Up until recently, leaders have not focused their attentions sufficiently enough on ensuring that pupils learn as well as they should. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged. Since this has become more of a priority for the school, pupils have started to make greater progress, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics. However, much of this work is in the early stages, which means that there are still gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Around school, pupils behave calmly because staff remind them gently of their expectations and provide effective support where needed. Kindness to others is a highly valued quality in school. Pupils enjoy trying to earn the weekly ‘kindness cup’ by helping others.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Provision for pupils' personal development is effective in preparing pupils for life in modern Britain. For example, they learn about staying safe, including when using the internet. This helps them to make sensible choices when online. Pupils are proud of their roles and responsibilities, such as becoming reading ambassadors, helping younger pupils discover new books and talk about stories they enjoy.

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Next steps

Leaders should continue to strengthen the improvements to the curriculum and teaching, so that pupils benefit from consistently effective practice, which builds on recent gains in reading, writing and mathematics and supports them to achieve well across the curriculum over time. Leaders should develop staff expertise to adapt their teaching, so that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and other barriers to learning benefit from high- quality, inclusive provision, which precisely meets their learning needs and supports them to progress well.

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Team inspectors:

Kathryn Nichol, Ofsted Inspector John Tomlinson, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

Leaders should ensure that staff use assessment information effectively to rapidly address gaps in pupils' knowledge, and to enable pupils to make connections that deepen their learning across the curriculum. Building on recently improved rates of attendance, leaders should ensure that pupils’ attendance levels rapidly move closer to national averages. Governors should ensure that they robustly hold leaders to account for pupils' academic outcomes, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those with other barriers to their learning.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Keith Rennie.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the headteacher and other leaders and staff during the inspection. The lead inspector met with members of the governing body. She spoke with a representative of the local authority and the school's improvement partner.

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About this inspection

Inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school uses no alternative provision.

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About this inspection

The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including pupils with education, health and care plans is 33.5%.

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About this inspection

Headteacher : Sonja Harrison The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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average

2022/23 (final) 60% 60% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2022/23 (final) 71% 73% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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average

2022/23 (final) 69% 71% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2022/23 (final) 70% 73% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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national average

2023/24 (final) 52% 62% Close to average

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national average

2022/23 (final) 61% 60% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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average

2022/23 (final) 68% 58% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2022/23 (final) 61% 59% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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