Victoria Junior School

Inspection Report Victoria Junior School

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102486 Unique Reference Number Hounslow Local Authority 286393 Inspection number 18 °19 October 2006 Inspection dates 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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Victoria Road School address Junior Type of school Feltham Community School category TW13 4AQ 7 °11 Age range of pupils 020 8890 9624 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 020 8844 2897 Fax number 250 Number on roll (school) Mrs Jan Burton Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Miss Wendy Young Headteacher 3 December 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 286393 18 °19 October 2006 7°11 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This is a large junior school in Feltham, which is a relatively disadvantaged area. A third of pupils are entitled to free school meals, which is much higher than average. The majority of pupils are of White British heritage and the remainder are from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. A quarter of pupils are bilingual, including a few who are at early stages of learning English. More than a third of pupils have learning difficulties which is much higher than the proportion found nationally. Attainment on entry is variable but overall is broadly average. There has been a high turnover in staff since the previous inspection five years ago.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Victoria Junior School, 18 °19 October 2006

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Grade: 4

Victoria Junior is an inclusive school which welcomes pupils from a wide variety of backgrounds. The school provides adequate care and support and has useful partnerships with other schools and specialist agencies to help meet the different needs of its pupils. Although most parents support the school, a small minority are concerned, particularly about behaviour. However, both behaviour and attendance have improved and are satisfactory overall. This means pupils generally enjoy the opportunities they have to learn and play together and make a good contribution to the life of the school. Similarly, the trend in pupils' attainment in mathematics and science is upwards. Despite these improvements, the school's overall effectiveness is unsatisfactory, because the progress that pupils make over time, and therefore their achievement overall is inadequate. This represents unsatisfactory improvement since the last inspection. Standards by the end of Year 6 are slightly below average in

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Grade: 4

mathematics and science and exceptionally low in English, particularly writing. Since the last inspection, the school has struggled to maintain consistent staffing and this has been at the root of its difficulties. This instability has led to the decline in pupils' standards and achievement as the school struggled to systematically address weaknesses in teaching. The impact of this can be seen in pupils' inconsistent and sometimes inadequate progress. However, the staffing at the school has now stabilised. Teaching is satisfactory overall and there are examples of good and even outstanding teaching. However, it is too soon to see the full impact of this on standards at the end of Year 6. Whilst current pupils are making better progress, they have not progressed well enough to fully overcome previous underachievement. The headteacher and senior staff have accurately identified the school's weaknesses

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Grade: 4

and have taken effective steps to address these which confirm its satisfactory capacity to improve. They have effectively improved attendance and behaviour and raised the quality of teaching to satisfactory overall. Senior staff have been effective in sharing good practice although there is still a little unsatisfactory teaching. This occurs when tasks do not provide appropriate challenge and motivation and result in pupils' inattentive behaviour or limited progress. Overall, teaching is not yet monitored and evaluated sufficiently regularly or robustly enough to ensure that teachers consistently match activities to their pupils' abilities and interests. In accordance with section 13 (3) of the Education Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than in all the circumstances it could reasonably be expected to perform. The

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Grade: 4

school is therefore given a notice to improve. Significant improvement is required in relation to standards and achievement.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise achievement and standards, particularly in English • Ensure that teaching is of uniformly good quality by more regular and effective monitoring and evaluation 2 Inspection Report: Victoria Junior School, 18 °19 October 2006 • Ensure that activities planned for groups of pupils consistently match what they need to learn next.

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Grade: 4

Across the school, standards have, in recent years, been well below average. Improvements in behaviour and attendance, an effective focus on mathematics and the impact of good teaching in some classes have made a difference. As a result, the most recent test results at the end of Year 6 show a marked improvement, although standards are below average overall. Pupils reached levels which were only slightly below average in mathematics and science. Their progress in writing has improved although not by enough to make a significant difference to their levels of attainment. Consequently, standards in English are still well below average. However, pupils are now making satisfactory or better progress in most year groups and classes. Their overall progress is still unsatisfactory because there is not yet enough consistently good teaching to fully overcome underachievement in previous years. This is why the

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Grade: 4

school did not meet the targets which it had set for itself and represents unsatisfactory achievement overall.

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Grade: 3

Pupils' personal development and well being, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, is satisfactory. Considerable effort has gone into providing a safe and secure environment in which pupils feel valued and develop their self esteem. There are effective systems in place for acknowledging good behaviour and work. As a result, pupils have good relationships with adults, are polite and generally show concern for others through their behaviour, although some find this more difficult. Although incidents of bullying occur, pupils know how to deal with these and generally feel these are followed up appropriately. Pupils know how to keep safe and healthy, and take care of themselves and others. They enjoy their playtimes, friends, most lessons, clubs and opportunities to take on responsibility, for example, as prefects. Attendance has improved steadily and is now almost in line with the national averages.

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Grade: 3

Pupils work together in harmony, know how to speak up for what is right and make a good contribution to their community. They air their views through the school council and there are good systems in place to encourage pupils to contribute to the school. One successful example is the 'meaningful work' scheme through which pupils apply for 'jobs' such as playground buddies or lunchtime activity helpers, which they carry out well. Such opportunities are a good preparation for future life and go some way to offset their inconsistent progress in basic skills. 3 Inspection Report: Victoria Junior School, 18 °19 October 2006

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Grade: 3

Teaching and learning are now satisfactory overall, even though a small amount of unsatisfactory teaching remains. Experienced and highly skilled teachers have shared their successful strategies and techniques well with less experienced or less confident colleagues. As a result, teachers use interactive whiteboards and other technology well to motivate and inform pupils. Teachers organise activities to meet the different needs of pupils in their class. They remind pupils of what they need to achieve and demonstrate how it can be done, involving them effectively in assessing their own progress. Pupils' behaviour in lessons and attitudes to learning are satisfactory because behaviour is generally well managed and teachers ensure that work is suitably challenging and stimulating. In weaker lessons, tasks are not matched well enough to pupils' abilities to provide appropriate challenge and, as a result, the time spent on

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Grade: 3

disciplining pupils affects the pace of learning.

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Grade: 3

The satisfactory curriculum is balanced and covers all subjects. There are some good features within the curriculum. For example, lessons to help pupils manage their emotions have contributed to improvements in their behaviour. A drive to improve writing has helped pupils to become very aware of the importance of using lively vocabulary and accurate punctuation. Similarly, an innovative project to provide the oldest pupils with personal digital assistants has had a very good impact on their engagement and learning, particularly in mathematics. As pupils say 'It makes you more interested in maths because you can tell straight away if you've got it right'. Although the school adapts the curriculum to meet the needs and interests of learners, there are inconsistencies in how well this is put into practice in lessons. The school provides a wide range of additional activities such as trips, visits and lunchtime and

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Grade: 3

after school clubs. These broaden pupils' personal experiences and learning and are enjoyed by pupils.

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Grade: 3

There are sound procedures in place to ensure that pupils are safe and well cared for. Effective health and safety arrangements are regularly reviewed and staff are fully aware of their responsibilities in regard to child protection issues. Although some parents are concerned about bullying, staff have worked hard to deal with poor behaviour through discussions in class, a programme to support pupils' emotional development and a recent anti-bullying campaign. Vulnerable pupils are given good support and the school works effectively with outside agencies to help those in difficult situations. Pupils' progress is meticulously tracked which helps the school accurately 4 Inspection Report: Victoria Junior School, 18 °19 October 2006 identify those who need extra help. This support is provided in class and through additional programmes of work but its effectiveness is not yet rigorously monitored. The practice of setting learning targets is inconsistent across the school. In a few

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Grade: 3

classes, pupils are not aware of their personal targets or how they can improve.

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory. The headteacher and senior teachers have an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school and have made satisfactory progress in addressing weaker areas. Effective steps have been taken to improve behaviour and attendance, which is reflected in pupils' better attitudes to learning. Progress is carefully tracked and staff have clear responsibilities for subject areas which they have evaluated to see what they need to do to make improvements. Weaknesses in teaching mathematics have been addressed and can be seen in the improved standards. However, these improvements are not yet consistent because there are weaknesses in the way that aspects of the school's performance are monitored and improved. For example, although governors are supportive and carry out their statutory duties, they have not involved themselves strategically in monitoring and

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Grade: 3

evaluating work of the school. Similarly, although senior staff are focused on raising standards and have done much to share their good practice with colleagues, their monitoring of teaching is not yet sufficiently regular or robust. 5 Inspection Report: Victoria Junior School, 18 °19 October 2006 .

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Grade: 3

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Victoria Junior School, 18 °19 October 2006

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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? 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 3 The capacity to make any necessary improvements No Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

4 How well do learners achieve? 3 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 4 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

3 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 3 The behaviour of learners 3 The attendance of learners 3 How well learners enjoy their education 3 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 3 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?

3 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. 7 Inspection Report: Victoria Junior School, 18 °19 October 2006

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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? Yes Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Victoria Junior School, 18 °19 October 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for welcoming us to your school. We enjoyed watching your lessons and talking to you about your school. This helps us to find out the good things about your school and the things that should be better. We were pleased to see that you get along together well. We were particularly pleased to see all the ways you help the school by the jobs that you do, like being school councillors, prefects, playground buddies and lunchtime helpers. It was good to hear that pupils listen to what you say when you help them or make suggestions. We were also happy to hear from you that you think any bullying is dealt with well, as this is one of the things that concerns your parents. Teachers and the other adults in school look after you and things like your lessons in emotional literacy and music while you concentrate on story writing help to make the school a calm place. It can also be exciting, like when you work with PDAs or when your work is really challenging.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

As some of you know, the school has had a lot of different teachers in the past few years and this has made it difficult to make sure that all of your lessons are good. This means that not all of you have made as much progress in English, mathematics and science as most pupils in other schools. This is improving because your teachers have been sharing their ideas and successful strategies but it needs to be even better to help some of you to catch up. So we have asked your teachers to keep visiting lessons, just like we did, so they can see what works and what is not so good. We have also asked them to make sure that the activities that they plan for you to do in lessons are just right for you. Everyone at the school wants to make sure you do as well as you can, so some inspectors will visit your school again, to see how well the school is doing. We are sure they will enjoy meeting you as much as we did.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

With best wishes Nicola Davies Lead Inspector 9 Inspection Report: Victoria Junior School, 18 °19 October 2006

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