The Breakspear School

Breakspear Junior School Inspection report

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102369 Unique Reference Number Hillingdon Local Authority 286352 Inspection number 18 May 2007 Inspection date Nicola Davies Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Junior Type of school Community School category 7 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 345 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs B Glen Chair Dr P Rutter Headteacher 18 June 2001 Date of previous school inspection Bushey Road School address Ickenham Uxbridge UB10 8JA

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01895 671971 Telephone number 01895 622749 Fax number

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7 °11 Age group 18 May 2007 Inspection date 286352 Inspection number .

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This is a larger-than-average junior school in an advantaged area of Uxbridge. Very few pupils are eligible for free school meals. Three quarters of pupils are of White British heritage and a quarter from a range of other ethnic backgrounds. Around one in ten of pupils are learning English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is higher than the rate found nationally. Most pupils transfer to the school from the infant school which shares the school site. Standards on entry are above average.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 10 Inspection Report: Breakspear Junior School, 18 May 2007

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Grade: 1

This is an excellent school. Conscious of its proud 70 year history, one parent commented, 'The school has always been good and never better than now'. Since the time of its last inspection, the school has successfully maintained and improved its high academic standards as well as continuing to expand the opportunities it offers to pupils. Just one successful example of this is that the school now offers pupils the chance to learn German, French and Greek. Staff have approached this project with vigour, enthusiasm and a sense of fun. Pupils have developed a 'can do' attitude to language learning and a vivid appreciation of the advantages of multilingualism. This is typical of the creative approaches to teaching and learning which the school has championed over the years. This creativity, along with a clear desire to do even better, is due to the excellent leadership and management of the reflective headteacher.

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Grade: 1

Together with his team, he has developed an extremely thorough system of self evaluation followed by very effective action. The result is the school's sustained improvement and its excellent capacity to continue to improve. An area that the school has identified is to further involve pupils in this process. Across the school, pupils' excellent attitudes to learning combined with the high quality teaching they receive mean that they make outstanding progress. By the time pupils leave for secondary school, standards are exceptionally high. Pupils' achievement overall is outstanding. Staff pay very careful attention to pupils' individual needs, whether these are academic, personal or social and provide them with very good care, guidance and support. As one parent commented, one of the strengths of the school is its 'well rounded approach towards each child which is consistently maintained throughout their junior school years'.

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Grade: 1

Pupils enthuse about the outstanding curriculum which contributes to their excellent academic and personal skills. One example is the school's long-standing and highly successful promotion of healthy lifestyles through sport and diet. Another is the commitment to developing pupils' cultural and artistic endeavours. In the words of one parent 'attending the excellent music productions you can see the confidence of the young people grow'. A third is the attention paid to issues in the wider world, for example, exploring sources of sustainable energy. Such a varied diet makes an excellent contribution to pupils' growing maturity and prepares them very well for their next steps in the world.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Provide pupils with further opportunities to evaluate the work of the school.

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Grade: 1

Standards are exceptionally and consistently high. Results in national tests at the end of Year 6 have been exceptionally high in English, mathematics and science for the past 5 years. For example, over half of pupils consistently reach higher levels in all subjects. Overall pupils make excellent progress throughout the school. The school's thorough tracking ensures that individual pupils and groups of pupils make at least good progress and many make excellent progress. Where the progress made by pupils or groups of pupils appears to be slowing, the school intervenes very effectively to remedy this. For example, staff have adapted their arrangements for the teaching of mathematics to ensure that they meet the needs of all their 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Breakspear Junior School, 18 May 2007 younger pupils equally well. Girls and boys or pupils from different ethnic groups do equally well because the school has very good procedures to monitor the impact of its policies and

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Grade: 1

Pupils' personal development and well being, including their social, moral, spiritual and cultural development, are outstanding. They thoroughly enjoy school and attendance is well above the national average. Pupils develop excellent relationships with each other and with the adults at the school. As a result, incidences of poorer behaviour are rare and pupils appreciate that they are safe and very well cared for. As one pupil wrote 'I will remember this school as my safety blanket'. This feeling of security and a focus on co-operation enhances pupils' excellent personal and academic development. During their time at the school, pupils develop an excellent awareness of healthy living. They make a good contribution to the community in many different ways. Examples include helping younger pupils with their reading or running a 'Games Shop' at lunch time independently of staff. Pupils are justifiably proud of the ways that they enhance the environment. The school's

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Grade: 1

'eco group' has been closely involved with installing solar panels at the school and 'energy monitors' in each class take a lively interest in how much energy the school is saving and producing. The school has rightly identified that there is further scope to engage pupils in the process of improving the school. Pupils develop high levels of maturity through involvement in their varied activities, which together with their high academic standards, prepares them well for their futures.

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Grade: 1

Consistently high quality teaching makes a significant contribution to the outstanding progress which pupils make. Pupils comment positively on their 'friendly and helpful' teachers who skilfully adapt activities and tasks to give individual pupils the right blend of support and challenge. As a result, pupils' attitudes to learning are excellent and lessons provide just the right amount of challenge or support. Teachers jointly plan a wide range of stimulating topics and activities. Their confidence and good subject knowledge means they are happy to experiment and adapt their teaching to ensure this is very well matched to pupils' interests and needs. Teachers' marking is effective in helping pupils to improve. Pupils benefit from increasingly good opportunities to get involved in assessing their own progress, although this is not yet fully consistent across the school. Support for pupils who are experiencing more difficulties is very good. Specialist teachers and

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Grade: 1

additional adults working within the classroom ensure that the needs of such pupils are well met.

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Grade: 1

The outstandingly broad curriculum is one of the strengths of this school. Pupils make swift progress in developing their basic skills through well planned and often exciting English, 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Breakspear Junior School, 18 May 2007 mathematics, and information and communication technology lessons. At the same time, the school has maintained a focus on other aspects of the curriculum. This can be seen in its very good provision for religious education, music, history and modern foreign languages and through the wide opportunities it provides for pupils to create and perform. This includes opportunities to perform with the school choir and orchestra or the regular year group performances presented to the whole school and to parents. The school also provides a good range of sporting activities, many of which are organized by the school's supportive parents. Pupils benefit greatly from

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Grade: 1

an extensive range of outside visits and visitors. The impact of this broad curriculum can be seen in pupils' academic work, in their progress and enthusiasm for creative work and in their confidence in tackling new activities.

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Grade: 1

Care, guidance and support is excellent overall. The school is extremely careful to provide a safe and secure environment for its pupils. Pupils are very well prepared for changes, such as moving from their infant schools or to their secondary schools. Pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities make very good progress and they receive very good support from teachers and teaching assistants. Very good links with outside agencies ensure that pupils with particular difficulties, including those who are vulnerable, can receive specialist support. Academic guidance includes helpful marking and regularly sharing targets with pupils and their parents. Moral and personal guidance is similarly strong. For example, during the inspection, older pupils enjoyed exploring the effect that anger can have on their bodies, whilst younger pupils thought carefully about the importance of clean water in people's lives.

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Grade: 1

The quality of the school's outstanding leadership and management can be seen in its lack of complacency and capacity for thoughtful reflection. Those involved in the leadership and management of the school have an excellent understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses. This is because the school has extremely robust procedures for evaluating and improving its work which involve staff, governors and parents very well. Staff at all levels make a very good contribution and the school continually reviews its arrangements for involving parents in this. For example, its informative website not only contains day-to-day information on the school and its activities but also the school development plan and the full minutes of its governing body. As a result, staff and parents share a very clear idea of what the school is doing well and what they hope to improve further. The highly professional and experienced governing body is an asset to the school. Governors

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Grade: 1

are knowledgeable and challenge the school to consistently maintain its high standards of care and achievement. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Breakspear Junior School, 18 May 2007 .

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Grade: 1

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Breakspear Junior School, 18 May 2007

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 1 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Breakspear Junior School, 18 May 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 9 of 10 Inspection Report: Breakspear Junior School, 18 May 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

4 June 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Breakspear Junior School,Uxbridge,UB10 8JA please see attached document 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Breakspear Junior School, 18 May 2007

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Inspection of Breakspear Junior School, Ickenham, UB10 8JA

It was lovely to meet some of you when I visited your school recently. There was so much happening at the school, I was only able to sample some of your activities and talk to a few of you. However, all of you made me very welcome so thank you for your help and please pass on my thanks to your teachers.

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Inspection of Breakspear Junior School, Ickenham, UB10 8JA

I was only with you for a day, but I was delighted to be able to share in some of your exciting activities, even if only briefly. I could see that your very interesting lessons and activities are one of the reasons why you enjoy school so much and do exceptionally well. Another is that the school takes very good care of you and that you all take very good care of yourselves and of each other. You told me that your headteacher and all the staff try to find different ways to make sure that you all do your best. This includes giving you all sorts of interesting experiences like the chance to learn Greek or your class and school productions and competitions. This helps you grow into very mature and confident young people and is one of the reasons that I have judged that the school is outstanding.

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Inspection of Breakspear Junior School, Ickenham, UB10 8JA

Your headteacher and all the staff and governors spend a great deal of time deciding exactly how they can continue to ensure that all of you do as well as you can. They have been considering how they can involve you well in this. One of the ways they already do this is by asking you to think about your successes and challenges in lessons. I have asked them to continue with this work by identifying how you can contribute to evaluating and improving the school. I am sure you and the school will find this interesting and useful.

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Inspection of Breakspear Junior School, Ickenham, UB10 8JA

Thank you again for welcoming me and congratulations on your success

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