Yatton Church of England Junior School

Yatton Church of England Junior School Inspection report

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109214 Unique Reference Number North Somerset Local Authority 288312 Inspection number 2 °3 May 2007 Inspection dates Robert Pyner HMI 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 Voluntary controlled School category 7 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 339 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Ruth Summerell Chair David Powell Headteacher 1 October 2001 Date of previous school inspection High Street School address Yatton Bristol BS49 4HJ

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01934 833554 Telephone number 01934 833190 Fax number

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7 °11 Age group 2 °3 May 2007 Inspection dates 288312 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 one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This large junior school is situated in Yatton, a sizeable village south of Bristol where social circumstances are more favourable than average. The proportion of pupils entitled to free meals is below average. Most join the school from Yatton Infant School with above average attainment on entry. The proportion of pupils who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities is average. The overwhelming majority of pupils are of White British heritage with very few children at an early stage of English language acquisition. The school receives funding from a local secondary school to support work in the performing and visual arts.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Yatton Church of England Junior School, 2 °3 May 2007

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Grade: 2

Yatton Junior is a good school, popular with parents and with strong links with the local church and village community. Parents and pupils are quick to praise the school's welcoming family atmosphere and its outstanding care. As one parent wrote, in a comment typical of many, 'We are extremely happy with the school and particularly appreciate children all being known by all staff individually and their education being personalised to them and their individual needs. It is a happy school where there's always masses going on ° a real vibrant community where parents and the community are welcomed and participate. Children feel valued and are treated with respect ° which they reciprocate.' In this encouraging and happy environment, pupils thrive personally and academically. Their good personal development and well-being are particularly evident in their positive behaviour and considerable enjoyment in all that they do. Pupils' constructive attitudes make a significant

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Grade: 2

contribution to their progress across the school. Pupils enter the school with above average levels of attainment and the school works well to build on this. As a result, by the time the pupils leave in Year 6, their standards in English, mathematics and science are significantly above average. More able pupils achieve high standards in English and science but are less successful in mathematics. Making the most of their high starting points in Year 3, pupils progress well. The school has developed an initiative to improve achievement through reflection and peer appraisal but, whilst the school reports that this has had an impact on progress in literacy, it is yet to be fully implemented more widely. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are supported well and make good progress. Teaching and learning are good. Successful teaching makes effective use of lively activities with a good range of resources and lots of opportunities for working together. However, this

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Grade: 2

is not consistent across the school. The outstanding curriculum is well planned, varied and interesting with excellent opportunities to enhance pupils' personal development and skills. Pupils can talk about how they are progressing in their learning but are not consistently aware of how well they are doing and how to improve. Leadership and management are good, with a positive and enthusiastic approach to improvement. The school has accurately evaluated its strengths and weaknesses, although it is too modest in its judgement of overall effectiveness. The headteacher, deputy headteacher and subject leaders monitor performance well, ensuring a clear view of the standards and progress made by pupils. The headteacher demonstrates a very high level of care for the whole school community. Governors are fully involved in the life of the school and hold it to account well. The school has made good progress since its last inspection. Its capacity to improve further

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What the school should do to improve further

• Develop consistent good practice in teaching, building on the strengths which already exist across the school, so that all pupils are challenged appropriately. • Involve pupils more in their own learning so that they understand how well they are doing and what steps to take next. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Yatton Church of England Junior School, 2 °3 May 2007

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Grade: 2

Achievement is good. Pupils reach standards which are significantly above average by the end of Year 6 in English, mathematics and science, although in 2006 the school fell slightly short of some of its own challenging targets. More able pupils reach standards well above national averages in English and science but are less successful in mathematics. Girls attain standards which are higher than for boys at the school and for girls nationally with outstanding results in English. The school has been investigating boys' attitudes to school through its 'pupil voice' questionnaires and has been working on the development of boys' writing skills, although this has yet to be reflected in results. Given the high attainment on entry from the infant school, the school does well to maintain this good progress in English and science but improvement is less rapid in mathematics. The school is aware of this and is working on problem solving and mental mathematics to improve

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Grade: 2

the achievement in this subject. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities benefit from effective support and make good progress.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development and well-being are good, including their social, moral, spiritual and cultural development. Pupils are proud of their school and are keen to make a positive contribution. Relationships between pupils and adults are good. Pupils generally behave well and are keen to learn. They are polite, welcoming to visitors and considerate towards each other. Playtime behaviour is energetic, safe and usually harmonious. Pupils are able to talk about their feelings, develop the ability to resolve problems and also feel comforted that there is always someone to help them should they need it. They are confident to express their views as they feel these are valued and acted upon. The school council is a well established and there is an effective process for consultation which has, for example, led to improvements to playtimes and the toilets. Pupils demonstrate their initiative and maturity through a range of duties and

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Grade: 2

responsibilities in class and around the school, including 'buddying' and peer mediation at playtimes. Most pupils make healthy eating choices and drink plenty of water. Levels of participation in physical activities are good. Pupils' cultural awareness and spiritual development are particularly well promoted through a wide range of expressive arts activities which benefit from links with the secondary school and contribute greatly to pupils' enjoyment of school. Their good social skills and above average academic performance equip them well for the future.

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Grade: 2

Overall teaching and learning are good. Pupils enjoy their lessons and behave well because teachers have high expectations and use a range of interesting activities and resources. Learning support assistants provide good support for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities, ensuring that they can get the best from lessons. Pupils benefit from the good opportunities they have in many lessons to work collaboratively. They learn particularly well when they have to explain their ideas or reflect on their learning. In the majority of lessons, teachers make it 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Yatton Church of England Junior School, 2 °3 May 2007 clear to pupils what they will learn, and share the steps they will need to make. In one effective lesson, pupils used these steps to evaluate each other's work and this contributed significantly to their good progress. However, these successful strategies are not consistently used across

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Grade: 2

the classes and this has negative effects on pupils' learning. All classrooms have attractive displays of the ways of being a good learner; however, not all teachers make the best use of these ideas. In lessons where learning was satisfactory, tasks were not well explained to pupils, teachers did not ensure that pupils kept up their pace of learning and more able pupils were not always given enough challenge. Marking does not consistently tell pupils how to improve.

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Grade: 1

The curriculum is outstanding. It meets the needs of pupils well, with good emphasis on developing the skills of literacy and numeracy. A strength is the frequent opportunities pupils have to use computers to aid their learning. This results in pupils reaching above average standards in their ICT skills. The school has begun systematically to build pupils' learning skills and this contributes significantly to their personal development. Good links are beginning to be made between subjects, which helps pupils apply their skills in different contexts. An outstanding feature is the excellent range of enrichment activities. These include clubs, residential trips, visits, and particularly music which is real strength of the school. Participation in clubs is high, and many pupils achieve success in competitive inter-schools' sporting events. Year 6 pupils are well prepared for adult life through trips and visitors, which include a focus

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Grade: 1

on team building and life skills such as learning about drugs and consumer awareness. Provision for gifted and talented pupils is good, though extension in lessons is not yet consistently effective.

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Grade: 2

Overall care, guidance and support are good. However, the level of care provided by the school is outstanding. Safeguarding procedures are thorough. In this school, every child really does matter. Pupils' needs are well known and they know they can seek help and advice from teachers and other adults when they need it. The welfare of vulnerable pupils is well thought through and successful. Effective links with other organisations and agencies contribute to the excellent level of care. Provision for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is good and these pupils progress well because of the effective support they receive. Newly introduced provision maps for these pupils give a useful overview of the support they are receiving, but need further refinement. The good system for tracking pupils' academic progress helps teachers to target support. Pupils really benefit when teachers involve them in evaluating their own or each other's work using

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Grade: 2

clear criteria. However, this good practice is not used consistently and pupils do not always know how well they are doing or their next step in learning to bring about improvement.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good and effective in improving, and sustaining, high standards, together with enhancing pupils' personal development. The headteacher and his leadership 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Yatton Church of England Junior School, 2 °3 May 2007 team have a clear understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses. Teaching is monitored but this could be more effective in developing consistent practice across the school. Subject leaders and teaching teams plan well to meet the needs of all pupils and use performance data to monitor achievement. However, monitoring needs to be more focused on ensuring consistency in strategies to raise achievement. Accurate self-evaluation leads to well considered and effective whole-school improvement planning based on the needs of all pupils, involving governors as well as staff. The annual parent and pupil questionnaires are an effective part of this process.

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Grade: 2

Governors provide good support, evaluate the performance of the school closely and have an effective structure to promote improvement. They play a full part in the life of the school and hold it to account well. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Yatton Church of England Junior School, 2 °3 May 2007 .

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Grade: 2

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Yatton Church of England Junior School, 2 °3 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? 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 2 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

2 How well do learners achieve? 2 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The behaviour of learners 2 The attendance of learners 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 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?

2 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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Yatton Church of England Junior School, 2 °3 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Yatton Church of England Junior School, 2 °3 May 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

4 May 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Yatton C of E Junior School, , Yatton, Bristol. BS49 4HJ I am writing to thank you for making Mrs Arnold, Mrs Pike and I feel so welcome in your school when we visited recently and for helping us with our questions. We really enjoyed talking to you and thought that everything that you said was very interesting. I thought you would like to know what we found out about you and the school. We agree with you and your parents that yours is a good school. These are some of the things that we liked about Yatton: • You enjoy school and do well in your lessons to reach high standards. • You get on well with each other and the adults in the school. • You behave sensibly and are helpful to each other. • Your teachers work hard to help you to learn and make your lessons interesting. • All the staff work well together to keep you safe and healthy so you feel confident about all

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

that you do. Your headteacher makes sure that you are cared for very well. • The opportunities that you have to learn and develop your skills and interests are excellent. • The governors support the school well. We have asked your teachers to work on a few things so that you can make even more progress in your learning. We think that your teachers should make sure that they share their good practice with each other in order to make your lessons even better. We have also asked that they develop the project already started in your school where you, the pupils, consider and reflect on your own learning so you know how well you are doing and what you need to do to improve. You can also help to improve your school even more by continuing to work hard and make the most of the opportunities available. I am sure that you will. Yours sincerely Robert Pyner Her Majesty's Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Yatton Church of England Junior School, 2 °3 May 2007

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