Westfields Junior School

Inspection Report Westfields Junior School

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115984 Unique Reference Number Hampshire Local Authority 290386 Inspection number 5 °6 February 2007 Inspection dates Olson Davis 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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School Lane School address Junior Type of school Yateley Community School category GU46 6NN 7 °11 Age range of pupils 01252408218 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01252408216 Fax number 456 Number on roll (school) Mr Ron Wilkes Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Karine George Headteacher 28 March 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 290386 5 °6 February 2007 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 large school serves an area of comparative advantage. The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is below average. The large majority of pupils is of White British heritage. The school has achieved a number of awards, including one for promoting healthy life-styles.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Westfields Junior School, 5 °6 February 2007

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Grade: 2

Westfields Junior School is a good school where pupils show confidence and enjoyment in their learning. As one pupil said, 'The school teaches us its motto "confidence to achieve in a caring environment" and the school succeeds.' The headteacher and her staff share a clear vision for the school and show the drive and determination to see it through. They are constantly searching for new ways in which the school can improve itself for the benefit of its pupils. This has had a positive impact on the quality of provision and pupils' academic and personal development. Pupils achieve well and reach standards which are higher than average by the end of Year 6. Pupils do well in mathematics and science. The achievement of pupils in writing is not as good because fewer pupils attain the higher level 5 in the national tests. The school has taken prompt and well-considered action to rectify this situation. Pupils

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Grade: 2

are benefiting from well-planned opportunities to improve their writing skills and more focused targets to help them improve their work. However, in a few lessons the writing tasks given to higher attaining pupils do not present sufficient challenge for them.The school's measures to improve the performance of pupils in mathematics two years ago were very successful and illustrate the school's good capacity to improve. Pupils are taught well and are motivated by a wide range of interesting tasks and activities. They get on well with their teachers and with each other and work hard at the tasks they are given. Despite the relative inexperience of some teachers, staff are competent and confident because they are well supported by senior staff. Colleagues work closely together and share good practice. The school is a safe and busy place in which pupils feel happy and well cared for. Pupils greatly enjoy school. This is clearly shown by their good attendance and keen

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Grade: 2

participation in the outstanding range of activities provided by the school. The rich and varied curriculum meets pupils' needs and promotes their personal skills well. Pupils have a good understanding of healthy life-styles and how to stay safe. They make an outstanding contribution to the community. The school encourages this by the excellent links that it forges with local schools, parents and outside agencies. Pupils behave well. They are friendly and polite. Their good personal and social skills, together with their good level of basic skills, prepare them well for the next stage of their education. Leadership and management are good. The most important areas for improvement have been identified and appropriate actions are being taken to tackle the issues. Against a backdrop of high staff turnover school leaders have forged a strong sense of purpose and teamwork. As a result, there is a shared vision, enthusiasm for and

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise standards in writing by ensuring that the work planned for higher attaining pupils more closely matches their needs. 2 Inspection Report: Westfields Junior School, 5 °6 February 2007

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Grade: 2

From broadly average starting points pupils achieve well and reach above average standards at the end of Year 6. The vast majority of pupils make good progress in lessons because of good teaching, although, where teachers do not pitch work at the right level for pupils, progress can be slower. Pupils do particularly well in mathematics and science with a good proportion of pupils reaching the higher level 5. In mathematics, pupils are good at working out for themselves how to solve problems. In science, pupils have good skills in devising and carrying out their own experiments. The school has recently focused on English following a dip in the writing results in the 2006 national tests. This was because too few pupils attained the higher level 5. Achievement in writing is already showing signs of improvement because of successful interventions by the school. The school ensures that no group of pupils achieves less

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Grade: 2

well than the others. For example, pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities are given good additional help to help them meet the challenging targets in their individual education plans.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development and well-being are good, as is their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils enjoy school a great deal and they are excellent ambassadors for it. They make an outstanding contribution to the community. They work responsibly together and express their views confidently through the school council. This has led to improvements such as improved library books and play equipment. Most notably, the older pupils run a successful and unusual training project for elderly local people, ('silver surfers') in computer use. In addition, pupils are regularly involved in charity fund raising. Pupils say that they have very few concerns over bullying and they readily inform staff of any worries, either directly or through their confidential 'think books'. Pupils show a good commitment to healthy living. For example, most pupils choose to eat and drink healthily at break-times and they show

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Grade: 2

a good awareness of healthy diets. A large majority also engages in physical activities, in addition to PE lessons, such as in after-school clubs and sports events. However, more could be done to encourage physical activities at break-times.

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Grade: 2

Pupils achieve well because of good teaching and learning. Cordial relationships between teachers and pupils are a strong feature of many classrooms and contribute to pupils' positive attitudes to work. Learning is often enlivened by the effective use of interactive whiteboards and other resources. This engages pupils' interest and 3 Inspection Report: Westfields Junior School, 5 °6 February 2007 encourages them to participate more fully in lessons. Teachers place strong emphasis on encouraging pupils to share their ideas with a partner and in groups. This develops pupils' speaking and listening skills and encourages them to put their thoughts into words before writing them down. Pupils' work is carefully marked with detailed comments and strategies for improvement provided by teachers. As a result pupils are being successfully steered towards their next steps in learning. In a few lessons, planning for pupils' different abilities provides tasks that are too similar. As a result,

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Grade: 2

some writing tasks can lack challenge for more able pupils.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good, with some outstanding features. Great care has been taken in evaluating the provision, especially in Years 3 to 5 so that aspects of subjects and the Every Child Matters agenda have been drawn together under themes. This provides pupils with coherent learning opportunities. In the process, very good attention is being focused on helping pupils to develop their skills for learning and on 'stickability'. The use of one 'learning book' for pupils to record their written work helps them to apply their individual achievement targets for writing to all of the writing that they do across subjects. Work is generally planned to meet the needs of pupils of differing abilities but this is not implemented well in all classes. The range of enrichment activities is excellent and these have been very well used to enhance the pupils' enjoyment of their experience in school. There is an outstanding number of clubs with very good

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Grade: 2

participation rates. Pupils have good opportunities to learn from visiting speakers and from visits linked to their curriculum. Parents and other visitors have also been very well involved in a range of challenges working alongside pupils, for example in 'Bring a Dad to School Day.'

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Grade: 2

Care, guidance and support are good. Arrangements for safeguarding pupils are robust and comply with the latest guidance, for example, in the safe recruitment of staff and in the proper attention to health and safety matters. Risk assessments are carefully attended to with regard to the school premises and to school trips. Pupils confirm that there is always an adult to go to if they have any concerns. Support for pupils' personal development is particularly strong, for example through anger management and social skills sessions. The school's good assessment procedures ensure that pupils at risk are identified early and their progress is carefully tracked. Pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities are well supported by a caring and skilled team of teaching assistants and a knowledgeable co-ordinator. In this safe and supportive environment pupils achieve well. Teachers now set sharper writing targets for pupils so that pupils are

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Grade: 2

more aware of what exactly they need to do to improve their work. However, this work is at a fairly early stage and not yet used consistently well by all teachers. 4 Inspection Report: Westfields Junior School, 5 °6 February 2007

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good and this has enabled the school to achieve a number of national awards. School leaders know the school well. The headteacher, together with the senior team, provides a very clear focus on monitoring pupils' progress based on the analysis of the attainment of the pupils on entry. Areas that pupils find difficult in English and mathematics are clearly identified, with action being taken to help all pupils improve. Appropriate actions to improve standards in writing are clearly set out in the school's improvement plan. High priority is given to teamwork involving both staff and governors so that the range of experience in the school is well used across the school. There are very good arrangements for the regular monitoring of lessons through joint observations, but the impact of the teaching is not always related sufficiently to pupils' learning. Governors support the school well and they contribute

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Grade: 2

to the evaluation of the progress the pupils are making. However, they do not consider the school's results early enough in the year to ensure that the school is held to account for the standards it achieves across subjects. 5 Inspection Report: Westfields Junior School, 5 °6 February 2007 .

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Grade: 2

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Westfields Junior School, 5 °6 February 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 1 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 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. 7 Inspection Report: Westfields Junior School, 5 °6 February 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? 8 Inspection Report: Westfields Junior School, 5 °6 February 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for the friendly way you welcomed us when we inspected your school. We enjoyed talking to you and took careful note about what you and your parents had to say about the school. It was good to see how much you enjoy being at school. We found that your parents were overwhelmingly pleased with the school. We agree that your school gives you a good education. Here are some of the many good things about your school. • You do well in your work. You learn a lot in your lessons because the teaching is good and you want to do your best. • You are well cared for by the adults in school and this helps you to feel safe. • You all benefit from the great many interesting activities and experiences that the school provides for you. • Many of you make an outstanding contribution to the community, for example, by representing the views of your classmates or helping with the 'Silver Surfers' club. • The headteacher and senior staff run the school well. They are clear about what needs to

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

be done to improve the school. The governors support them well in this. We have asked the school to help some of you to do even better with your writing by giving you harder work. We hope that you will continue to enjoy your school. We also hope that you will help your teachers as they try to make your school even better for you. Yours sincerely Olson DavisLead Inspector 9 Inspection Report: Westfields Junior School, 5 °6 February 2007

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