St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School

St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School Inspection report

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116388 Unique Reference Number Hampshire Local Authority 312288 Inspection number 20–21 November 2008 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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Junior Type of school Voluntary aided School category 7–11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 228 School (total) The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Jane Bacot-Kilpatrick Chair Mr Matthew Rixson Headteacher 25 April 2005 Date of previous school inspection Church Avenue School address Farnborough GU14 7AP 01252 543320 Telephone number 01252 541134 Fax number

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7–11 Age group 20–21 November 2008 Inspection dates 312288 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. 2 of 11 Inspection Report: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 2008

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

The school is housed in an 18th century, Grade II listed building. The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is well below average. The school's intake overall is socially and economically advantaged. Most pupils are of White British heritage. The largest minority ethnic groups are from other White backgrounds, Asian and mixed backgrounds. There are very few pupils at the early stages of learning English. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is below the national average; there are a range of needs including pupils with behavioural difficulties, pupils with autism and pupils with moderate learning difficulties. The headteacher joined the school in April 2008 after the school had been through a period of temporary leadership.

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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: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 2008

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Grade: 3

St Peter's Church of England Junior School provides a satisfactory standard of education. Last year, the school went through a difficult period, with frequent changes in leadership and staffing, and progress and standards declined. This year, staffing is more settled and pupils are making better progress in lessons. Central to the school's growing success is the dynamic leadership of the new headteacher. In a short time, he has provided clear and determined direction for the school. Teachers are embracing his new ideas and they are keen to improve. As a result, there is a sense of teamwork among staff, who are firmly committed to raising standards. Parents appreciate the improvements, particularly the strong partnership between school and home, and the new sporting opportunities for pupils. As one parent wrote, 'The change in the school over the last few months has been dramatic. Parents now have a voice;

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Grade: 3

there is excellent communication between parents and the school. The improvement in sport (with the new football team) and extra-curricular activities have been extremely welcome.' Pupils respond well to the caring attitude of adults, which helps them to feel safe and contributes to their good personal development and well-being. Pupils are polite and friendly. They form positive relationships with one another and with staff. Newly arrived pupils are made to feel welcome and settle quickly. Behaviour in and around the school is good. Pupils say that behaviour has improved since last year. Pupils enjoy their school and participate enthusiastically in a range of physical activities. This contributes well to their good understanding of how to keep healthy. Older pupils show initiative in organising activities to raise funds for charities. Pupils' good enterprise and interpersonal skills, together with their good basic skills, prepare

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Grade: 3

them well for their future economic well-being. Pupils attain standards that are above average by the end of Year 6. Given their starting points, this is satisfactory achievement. Pupils make steady progress in their learning because teaching is satisfactory. The headteacher's introduction of more rigorous assessment, tracking and intervention procedures has added vigour to the school's push to drive up standards. It has enabled teachers to review and improve their teaching. However, in some instances, teachers do not make effective use of assessment when planning learning activities. As a result, some more-able pupils do not achieve as well as they should because they are not set sufficiently challenging work. Teachers sometimes miss opportunities to add challenge to pupils' work in writing. Consequently, standards in writing are lower than standards in reading, mathematics and science at the end of Year 6.

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Grade: 3

The headteacher's good understanding of what needs to be done next, and of how to do it, has provided a strong impetus to school improvement. The most important areas for improvement have been identified within a well-focused improvement plan, and appropriate actions are being taken to tackle them. The school is aware that there is more to do to ensure that new initiatives are fully embedded so that they show a measurable impact on standards. The school rightly recognises the need to strengthen the influence of middle managers on monitoring and improving achievement levels, and the quality of teaching and learning within their areas of responsibility. The school has good capacity to improve.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Ensure that all teachers make effective use of assessment to match work more closely to abilities and needs of pupils, particularly the more-able pupils. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 2008 ■ Develop the role of middle managers to ensure that each has proper oversight of standards and the quality of teaching and learning in their areas of responsibility. A small proportion of the schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory, but which have areas of underperformance, will receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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Grade: 3

Achievement is satisfactory. Standards are above average at the end of Year 6, which represents satisfactory progress from pupils' above average starting points at the end of Year 2. There is some variation in how well pupils do in different subjects. Despite most pupils reaching the expected Level 4, results in English and mathematics are lower than in science because smaller proportions reach the highest Level 5 in these subjects. The school is aware that pupils make slower progress in English than in other subjects. Last year, the school focused its teaching and resources on improving pupils' reading skills, and this brought about an improvement in reading standards. However, results in writing are not so high because pupils do not have enough opportunities to develop the higher-order writing skills required to attain the highest levels in the Year 6 assessments. School data show that attainment levels in the current Year

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Grade: 3

6 are higher than last year because of well-targeted support for pupils and as a result challenging targets are being used more effectively to reduce gaps in attainment. Those who find learning difficult make satisfactory progress. Minority ethnic pupils make similar progress to White British pupils.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils have a good awareness of cultural issues because of the schools' involvement in fundraising projects such as 'Water-Aid' and links with a school in India, but they do not show a strong enough awareness of the cultural diversity found in Britain today. The school's contribution to community cohesion is satisfactory. Pupils welcome the many opportunities they have to contribute to the local and wider communities by taking part in local competitions and church events. They take their responsibilities as council members, librarians, play leaders and buddies seriously, and make a positive difference to the school and its community. The school council represents the views of pupils well and feels that the school takes account of its recommendations.

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Grade: 3

Relationships between teachers and pupils are good, and this contributes to pupils' good behaviour in lessons. Teachers make good use of resources such as the interactive whiteboards to stimulate pupils' interest and to support pupils' learning. They make the learning intention of the lesson clear so that pupils know what to expect. Pupils particularly enjoy their learning when teachers provide opportunities for them to work in an active way and to discuss their work. This clarifies their thinking and develops their skills of working together. In some lessons, assessment is not used effectively to match work to the different abilities and needs of pupils. Teachers sometimes expect too little of some pupils, and pupils find the work lacks challenge. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 2008 Opportunities to extend more-able writers are not always sufficiently well planned. Some

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Grade: 3

teachers are vigilant in checking pupils' understanding throughout the lesson, adapting the lesson and tasks to meet their needs. However, not all teachers check so carefully on pupils' learning to ensure that they are making good progress.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum provides pupils with a variety of experiences, which they enjoy. Pupils say how much they enjoyed the 'book week', the 'healthy week' and the 'anti-bullying week', in which they were able to learn and develop their personal skills and their academic skills in a fun way. The school has recently reviewed the provision for information and communication technology and there is now a systematic approach to the development and application of pupils' skills. The 'dragon day' organised through the school's link with the local secondary school is an example of how the school uses specialist expertise to improve pupils' learning. However, the curriculum is not focused sufficiently enough to extend pupils' higher-order writing skills in English and their problem-solving skills in mathematics. The school offers an increasingly wide range of out-of-school activities and clubs, which are well attended by both boys and girls.

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Grade: 3

'This is a caring school because adults listen to you and they take your suggestions seriously.' This comment from one of the Year 6 pupil sums up the good pastoral care pupils receive in the school. As a result, they feel safe, happy and valued. Arrangements to ensure pupils' welfare and safety are robust. The school uses its good links with outside agencies to enhance the social and emotional well-being of vulnerable pupils. This enables those pupils to enjoy and take part fully in school life. The school has recently reviewed the provision for pupils who find learning difficult. This has resulted in better deployment of the learning support staff to meet more fully the needs of specific pupils. Academic guidance is satisfactory. The quality of teachers' marking varies. The school uses its tracking system well to identify groups and areas for focused work. Pupils have targets in English and mathematics. However, the teachers' approach to

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Grade: 3

target setting is inconsistent, and pupils are not yet sufficiently involved in evaluating what they do well and what they need to improve.

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Grade: 3

The headteacher regularly monitors the quality of teaching, with a focus on raising standards. Careful checks are made to ensure that advice has been taken up but some variation in the quality of teaching remains. This is because some middle managers are not sufficiently involved in monitoring standards, monitoring the quality of teaching and learning, and working alongside colleagues. This limits their contribution to raising standards in their areas of responsibility. Professional development is given high priority to improve skills and to promote school initiatives. A great deal of effort has been put into forming good partnerships with parents. They speak of the welcoming way they are encouraged into school. This allows them to be more involved in their children's learning. The school has effective links with feeder schools and secondary schools, which enrich the curriculum and smooth the transfer between schools

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Grade: 3

for pupils. Governors know the school well through the high-quality information provided by 6 of 11 Inspection Report: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 2008 the headteacher and their own visits. They work assiduously to maintain the school buildings and to improve provision for pupils. They have reviewed their role so that they can more fully hold the school to account for the progress made by pupils. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 2008 .

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Grade: 3

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 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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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

3 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 3 How well learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make progress

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Achievement and standards

1 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: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 2008

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learners?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which 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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learners' needs?

How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? 3 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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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 3 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 3 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination eliminated 3 How well does the school contribute to community cohesion? 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: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

05 December 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School,Farnborough,GU14 7AP My fellow inspector and I visited your school recently to check how well you were getting on. Thank you for being so friendly and making us feel so welcome. We found that your school provides you with a satisfactory education and has some good features, in particular your personal development. Here are some of the good things about your school:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ your attendance is good and the staff take good care of you

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ you enjoy your learning and the other activities in school

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ you behave well and want to do your best in lessons

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ the school listens to you when you suggest how things could be better and you value being given responsibilities ■ you are making satisfactory progress in your learning and this is getting better

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ the headteacher and governors have clear plans on how to improve the school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

To improve further, we have asked the school to:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ make sure that teachers give you tasks that are at just the right level for you, particularly those of you who are capable of doing harder work ■ encourage teachers with responsibilities to visit classrooms more often to see how well you are learning; this will help them to check that you are making good progress. We hope that you will continue to enjoy your school. We also hope that you will help your teachers as they work hard to make your school even better for you. Yours sincerely Olson Davis Lead Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: St Peter's Church of England Aided Junior School, 20–21 November 2008

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