Shakespeare Junior School

Shakespeare Junior School Inspection report

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116072 Unique Reference Number Hampshire Local Authority 290411 Inspection number 1 °2 May 2007 Inspection dates Mike Dukes 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 337 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Yvonne Howard Chair Mr Stuart Gamble Headteacher 24 June 2002 Date of previous school inspection St Catherine's Road School address Eastleigh SO50 4JT

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02380 618905 Telephone number 02380 643002 Fax number

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7 °11 Age group 1 °2 May 2007 Inspection dates 290411 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Shakespeare is larger than most junior schools and includes special provision for ten pupils with moderate learning difficulties. The proportion of other pupils with learning difficulties is average. Seven per cent of pupils come from minority ethnic groups and the proportion who speak English as an additional language is below 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: Shakespeare Junior School, 1 °2 May 2007

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Grade: 2

Shakespeare Junior is a good school where pupils show enormous enjoyment in their learning. As one parent said, 'my daughter comes home excited by the things she has learnt that day.' Pupils' behaviour is exemplary because the adults in school provide positive role models and they manage behaviour in a fair and consistent way. The school is clearly living up to its motto of 'Educating citizens for tomorrow's world'. Senior managers, under the strong leadership of the headteacher, have a clear vision and they are highly committed to providing equal opportunities. As a result, all groups of pupils now do well. Pupils' standards are average and improving. Achievement is good. Standards in English and mathematics are not yet as high as they could be because the remedial actions taken by the school have not had sufficient time to make a full impact. The pupils' good progress reflects the good curriculum and strong teaching across the school.

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Grade: 2

Although the school provides good care and guidance for pupils, teachers do not involve pupils as much as they could in understanding how well they are doing. The pupils' social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is progressing well. They have a good understanding of some world cultures but they are less well-prepared for living amongst cultural diversity in Britain. Pupils make very good use of the many opportunities to be physically active in physical education lessons and in clubs. They are developing a clear understanding of good diets as the school works towards Healthy Schools accreditation. Pupils have good awareness of keeping safe. For example, they write their own risk assessments for trips. They enthusiastically volunteer for jobs to help the day to day running of the school, and are keen to help school council and charity fund raising. Pupils are developing well their skills for the world of work, especially

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Grade: 2

those of teamwork and cooperation. Pupils enjoy school enormously but attendance is only average because of the poor attendance of a small number. The school has a good capacity to improve further because it evaluates its work well, accurately identifying weaknesses and effectively addressing them. The school provides good value for money.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise standards in English and mathematics by fully implementing the school's programmes for support and improvement. • Involve the pupils more in their own learning through self-assessment and a more consistent use of teachers' marking. • Improve the knowledge and awareness of pupils in preparation for living in a culturally diverse Britain.

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Grade: 2

Achievement is now good and standards are average. National progress data for Year 6 in 2006 indicated that pupils' progress was only satisfactory. However, current school information shows progress across the school to be better. Until recently, progress was less good because achievement varied between groups of pupils. In particular, lower attaining pupils were underachieving. Following a school focus on targeted pupils, their progress has now improved. Lower attainers, minority ethnic pupils and those with English as an additional language all progress as well or better than their peers. Pupils from the resourced provision class progress very well and boys achieve as well as girls. The recent improvements in pupils' progress have 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Shakespeare Junior School, 1 °2 May 2007 not yet had sufficient time to work through each year group and be fully reflected in raised standards. Consequently, while pupils enter the school with roughly average standards, they

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Grade: 2

currently leave Year 6 with standards which are similarly broadly average, but this picture is improving. Current Year 6 pupils are on track to reach their very challenging targets.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development is good and reflected in pupils' enjoyment and positive attitudes. Exclusion is rare. Pupils are highly enthusiastic about their school and their enjoyment of learning is obvious. In discussion, they could think of very little they would change. Behaviour and relationships are excellent. Parents and pupils have no concerns about bullying. One child said, 'the school transforms bullies into good people'. Pupils are lively, confident, friendly and helpful. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good although their awareness of cultural diversity is limited. Pupils have good opportunities to reflect on their ideas, actions and consequences, as well as taking responsibilities such as the school council and taking part in musical and drama productions. Adults offer very good examples of tolerance and consideration. Pupils have a good understanding of the importance of healthy lifestyles and

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Grade: 2

staying safe through personal, social, health and citizenship education (PSHCE). For example, they know that some drugs are harmful to them. Links are very good with the infant and secondary schools and with the community. Parents are very supportive. Pupils' good levels of basic skills and their good personal development prepare them well for later life.

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Grade: 2

The quality of teaching is good and often outstanding, leading to pupils making good progress. Teachers encourage pupils and they are enthusiastic in their use of varied teaching strategies. This makes learning enjoyable and exciting, such as when pupils in Year 6 interviewed characters from a story to develop their writing. One pupil commented, `teachers give you fun learning and active lessons.' Relationships are excellent and pupils know that their ideas are valued. Teachers use their knowledge of pupils well to plan for their individual needs and some often use marking and target setting to involve pupils in their own learning. However, this is not yet consistent throughout the school. Teaching assistants provide good support. Pupils in the resourced provision class make very good progress because staff identify and meet their specific needs very well. A parent with a pupil in this class said, 'the standard of teaching is excellent

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Grade: 2

and the dedication of the staff is wonderful.'

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Grade: 2

The school provides a wide and varied curriculum. Strong emphasis is placed on developing basic skills and supporting pupils' personal development. The curriculum, including the creative curriculum, is well planned and monitored to take into account of the wide variety of needs and abilities of pupils. The school is aware that pupils could use their basic skills more creatively across a range of subjects. Provision for English, mathematics and science is good. The programme for PSHCE is well thought out and makes a significant contribution to pupils' personal development and safety. French is being introduced progressively across the school. 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Shakespeare Junior School, 1 °2 May 2007 Specialist provision for pupils with learning difficulties is good. Provision for information and communication technology is a strength. The curriculum is enhanced by a good range of extra-curricular activities, including residential trips and early morning and lunch time clubs,

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Grade: 2

and pupils' participation in these is high. Pupils make good use of opportunities to make contributions to the school and wider community.

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Grade: 2

The school has a strong commitment to caring, with robust arrangements which safeguard the well-being of pupils well. Pupils generally receive good academic guidance, but it could be better. For example, the school tracks pupils' progress carefully but often misses the opportunity to fully involve pupils in assessing their own work. Additionally, marking does not always help pupils to improve as well as it could. Pupils speak highly of the care they receive in school. One pupil commented, `staff are very supportive. They listen to us and make changes to protect us.' Every pupil is treated as an individual. The provision for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is good and they progress at least as well as their peers. Pupils in the resourced provision class are guided and supported very well.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management of the school at all levels are good. The effective leadership of the headteacher has created a strong sense of teamwork which is enabling the school to succeed. This is leading to an improving picture for pupils' achievement, alongside their good personal development within a caring and secure environment. This comment from one of the parents sums up how the majority of them feel about the school: 'I have nothing but high praise for the headteacher and his team. My son is blossoming.' School leaders have effective systems for monitoring pupils' progress and the quality of teaching. These have now been developed further to improve the tracking of pupils who underachieve. This is having a positive impact on their progress which is now good. However, it is too early to see the full impact on standards. The headteacher has successfully created a culture in which staff at all levels take ownership

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Grade: 2

and pride in their work and responsibilities. The induction arrangements and professional development are very good. The school uses self-evaluation well to secure improvements. Governance is satisfactory. Although governors are vigorous in holding the school to account they do not yet have a complete picture of the school's strengths and weaknesses. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Shakespeare Junior School, 1 °2 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. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Shakespeare Junior School, 1 °2 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? 3 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 1 The behaviour of learners 3 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 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. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Shakespeare Junior School, 1 °2 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: Shakespeare Junior School, 1 °2 May 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

14 May 2007 Dear Children Inspection of Shakespeare Junior School, St Catherine's Road, Eastleigh, SO50 4JT Thank you for making the inspectors feel welcome at your school and for being so helpful during the inspection. We were impressed by your very good behaviour and your great enjoyment of school. You told us how well you get along with each other and with the staff and we saw this for ourselves. All the inspectors were pleased that you are learning well how to live healthy lives and to keep yourselves safe. You explained for us how the staff are caring and look after you well. In lessons you worked hard and learned well because your teachers made the work interesting for you. They also set work which was not too easy or too difficult for you. Some of you told us that you were using your targets to help you learn. More of you could be doing this and you may like to ask your teacher to help you with this. We also found that teachers' marking could

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

sometimes help you more. It is really pleasing that most of you are making good progress. Children in the resourced class are doing particularly well. In the past some of you were not making enough progress in English and mathematics but this has changed. The staff now keep a careful check on everyone's progress and they quickly give extra help to those falling behind. Because of this, everyone is helped to learn well. The English and mathematics levels reached by children as they leave Year 6 are similar to those in other schools like yours. You are able to reach levels higher than this and the school has plans to help you do this. Good luck! We have asked your teachers to help you to: • reach higher levels in English and mathematics • use targets and marking more to help your learning • learn more about the backgrounds of different groups living in Britain. Yours sincerely, Mike DukesLead inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Shakespeare Junior School, 1 °2 May 2007

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