Baddow Hall Junior School

Baddow Hall Junior School Inspection report

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114913 Unique Reference Number ESSEX LA Local Authority 311753 Inspection number 23 April 2008 Inspection date Roderick Passant 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 226 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Roy Bellman Chair Mr Guy Niven Headteacher 10 January 2005 Date of previous school inspection New Road School address Great Baddow Chelmsford Essex CM2 7QZ 01245 472391 Telephone number 01245 478629 Fax number

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7-11 Age group 23 April 2008 Inspection date 311753 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 Additional Inspector. The inspector evaluated the school's overall effectiveness, including some aspects of leadership and management, the current standards and progress of pupils and pupils' personal development. Evidence was gathered from external data, the information that the school has on tracking pupils' progress, the school self-evaluation form and lesson observations. Discussions were held with members of the school leadership team, the chairman of the governing body, the Local Authority (LA) link adviser and a group of Year 6 pupils. Parents' questionnaires were analysed and the school's systems for safeguarding pupils were checked. Other aspects were not investigated in detail but the inspector found no evidence to suggest that the school's own assessments, as given in its self-evaluation, were not justified and these have been included where appropriate within the report.

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Description of the school

The school is average in size. The percentage of pupils from minority ethnic groups and those whose first language is other than English is low. The percentage of pupils who require additional support for their learning is average although the numbers with statements, which details the additional support they should receive, is low. The percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals is below average. Fewer pupils join or leave at various points of the school year than in most schools. These overall statistics mask significant variations in the key characteristics of each year group. Attainment on entry shows year-on-year variation from broadly average to above. The school's Investors in People Award has been recently renewed and it is recognised nationally as a Healthy school. It has also gained Activemark in December 2007 in recognition of its work in games and physical education. The school has a lead role in a local schools'

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Description of the school

network for mathematics. The school operates a breakfast club run jointly with the local infant school and an out-of-hours provision in association with YMCA. The school has also attained recent national recognition for its financial management.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 9 Inspection Report: Baddow Hall Junior School, 23 April 2008

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Grade: 2

Baddow Hall is a good school. It has very evident strengths and has made significant improvements since the last inspection. The leadership of the headteacher is excellent and founded on an accurate analysis of what needs to be developed and the establishment of a systematic and focused approach to getting things done. He has established very clear professional expectations, good leadership and management across the school and created a strong team of staff united in their commitment to every learner. Excellent relationships between adults and pupils underpin the school's distinctive ethos, the sensitivity shown towards individual pupil's needs and the quality of learning in classrooms. The result is that pupils spoken to confirmed that they are confident to approach an adult if they are troubled. The personal development of pupils is exceptional. This stems from the school's clarity about its philosophy and its approach. The extremely wide range of enrichment activities fosters

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Grade: 2

pupils' enjoyment of school and their attitudes to learning and this spills over into lessons. Pupils enjoy school a great deal, because what they do is interesting. The school provides them with many opportunities to succeed in ways other than academic and this helps develop their self-esteem. The impact of getting to school for eight o'clock on a wet mid-winter morning to participate in a club activity goes far beyond the benefits of the actual activity and helps explain why pupils are motivated and have such positive attitudes to learning reflected in their good attendance. The school integrates The Breakfast Club and the separately organised After School Club effectively into this whole school approach so that they are not add-on features. The recently introduced house system provides further means of recognising academic and personal achievement. The school makes extremely effective use of other agencies and schools to extend

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Grade: 2

the quality of provision or to provide specialist academic or pastoral support. Most pupils behave extremely well for most of the time because of their involvement in developing codes of behaviour, the positive approaches by staff and the school's recent systematic approach to monitoring any incidents. The school is vigilant about the possibility of pupils being unkind to one another and any incident regarded as racist - usually involving inappropriate language and very infrequent - automatically involves parents and is reported to the governing body and the LA. The school takes its responsibilities towards developing pupils' awareness of the diverse nature of society very seriously through its work in religious education, personal, social and health education and citizenship. The result of all this is that, as one pupil put it, 'we all get on with each other' and pupils feel extremely safe in school.

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Grade: 2

Robust systems for health and safety, safeguarding, medical support and general supervision of pupils underpin pupils' sense of security. Pupils have an exceptionally clear understanding of what constitutes healthy living and effectively contribute to the local and school community. Pupils take their responsibilities around the school such as monitors or house captains very seriously. The school council provides an effective means for all pupils to express their views and pupils feel that they have a voice and can, and have, made significant changes to aspects of school life. The school also ensures that pupils have meaningful opportunities to show initiative and financial acumen and, through their charity work, to empathise with the plight of others. Pupils have good opportunities to work together in teams, and residential trips extend their social expertise. Year 6 pupils are on track to attain above average standards. They have made good progress

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Grade: 2

and achieved well. Although there is some year-on year variation, the percentage of pupils 4 of 9 Inspection Report: Baddow Hall Junior School, 23 April 2008 reaching the nationally expected level is consistently above average and particularly so in the percentage of pupils gaining the higher level. The school effectively challenges pupils capable of higher attainment. For the last two years out of three, standards in science have been exceptionally high. The school makes particularly effective use of challenging targets at school, teacher and pupil level to ensure that standards remain above average and improve. Pupils make good year-on-year progress because the school tracks all pupils' progress extremely well. There are termly meetings with class teachers to look at the progress of each individual pupil. This means that the school identifies underachievement early and if necessary, puts in place

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Grade: 2

specific support strategies. Similar meetings review the action plans for those pupils who require additional support. The result is that these pupils make good progress against their personal targets. These meetings, in combination with performance management targets, keep individual pupil's academic progress and achievement as a central focus within the school. They also allow the headteacher to monitor the impact of teaching over time. Pupils make good progress and achieve well because, overall, teaching is good. Although pupils have good learning experiences for much of their time, there is some inconsistency. The school has the capacity to tackle this because it benefits from having a relatively large team of staff who have a range of skills and professional experience and who are prepared to share their skills. What distinguishes the best lessons is the teachers' ability to channel pupils' motivation

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Grade: 2

and energy into effective learning so that the pupils are working as hard as the staff. In these lessons, pupils are engaged, develop their independent thinking and learn to self-asses the effectiveness of their own work. The use of on-going assessment to support pupils' learning is a relatively recent development in the school and the good practice seen in some lessons needs embedding and sharing so that it is a consistent feature across the school. The headteacher has a very accurate view of teachers' relative strengths. Lesson planning is detailed and effective and identifies the support or challenge planned for individual pupils. The school uses broad ability groups to narrow the range of needs in English and mathematics. Support for individuals is often within small groups, regularly evaluated for their effectiveness. The school lays the foundation for pupils' future economic well-being and prepares pupils for

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Grade: 2

the next steps in their education extremely well. This is because the school provides many opportunities to develop pupils' enterprise skills, the balance of pupils' personal and academic skills, and above all, the fostering of their enjoyment of learning. Year 6 pupils are confident, articulate and socially adept. They are motivated, enjoy reading and have above average literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology skills. Given that the majority of parents are supportive of the school - evidenced by their responses in the questionnaires returned - that there is an effective and supportive governing body, and overall good leadership and very effective management, the school's capacity to improve further is good.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Develop even greater consistency in good learning across the school. 5 of 9 Inspection Report: Baddow Hall Junior School, 23 April 2008 .

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What the school should do to improve further

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 of 9 Inspection Report: Baddow Hall Junior School, 23 April 2008

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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? Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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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?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The attendance of learners 2 The behaviour of learners 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. 7 of 9 Inspection Report: Baddow Hall Junior School, 23 April 2008

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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 1 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 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 of 9 Inspection Report: Baddow Hall Junior School, 23 April 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

24 April 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Baddow Hall Junior School, Great Baddow, CM2 7QZ Thank you for making me so welcome in your school. I enjoyed my day at Baddow Hall very much. My particular thanks to the Year 6 pupils who gave up so much of their lunchtime to talk to me. What you had to say was very helpful. It was clear from the way you talked about your school that you are very proud of it. You have every right to be. This is a good school, which is helping you develop as young people exceptionally well. It was good to hear that you like your teachers and would be confident to talk to an adult if you were troubled or upset about something. You clearly enjoy school a great deal because of all the interesting things that you do. You have an extremely good understanding of what makes a healthy lifestyle and how to look after yourselves. The school prepares you extremely well for the next steps in your education. Most of you behave well for most of the time. You told me

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

that you all get on with each other and my impression was just how friendly you were. I was impressed just how seriously you took your various responsibilities. It is clear that the School Council is very effective, makes a real contribution to school life and provides you all with an opportunity to have a say in the way the school is run. Year 6 pupils are good ambassadors for the school. You are on track to reach your challenging targets and you have made good progress over your time in school. The school keeps a very close eye on the progress you all make and is quick to pick up if you need some additional help. All staff care about you a great deal and work very hard on your behalf. You make good progress because teachers are skilled at helping you learn effectively for much of the time. I have asked Mr Niven to work with the teachers to achieve this even more often. It is clear that the school

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

has improved a great deal since my colleagues last visited it and that you are helping it to continue to develop and improve. Sincere good wishes for your future school careers. Roderick Passant Lead inspector 9 of 9 Inspection Report: Baddow Hall Junior School, 23 April 2008

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