Falcon Junior School

120913 Unique Reference Number NORFOLK LA Local Authority 313789 Inspection number 28 °29 November 2007 Inspection dates Roger Sadler 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 341 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Trevor Hardingham Chair Mr Tony Waller Headteacher 16 May 2005 Date of previous school inspection Falcon Road West School address Sprowston Norfolk NR7 8NT 01603 441417 Telephone number 01603 441468 Fax number

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7-11 Age group 28 °29 November 2007 Inspection dates 313789 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

From September 2007 the school no longer has Year 7 pupils on its roll, but began to admit pupils into Year 3. Almost all pupils are White British. Pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds, but a below-average proportion is eligible for free school meals. More pupils have learning difficulties and/or disabilities than is typical nationally.

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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: Falcon Junior School, 28 °29 November 2007

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Grade: 3

The quality of education provided by the school, leadership and management and pupils' achievement and progress are satisfactory. The vast majority of parents and pupils hold the school in high regard and one parent reflected the views of many when she wrote, 'I have found the staff to be helpful, friendly and approachable.' Pupils' personal development and well-being is good and the school places strong emphasis on developing these aspects. Pastoral care and support are strong and effective. Expectations of pupils' personal conduct are high. Consequently, almost all pupils behave well, enjoy school, relate well to each other and are polite and considerate. Teaching and learning are satisfactory overall. Classroom management and relationships are good. Teachers use interactive whiteboards well to add impact and interest to lessons. Mathematics is effectively taught throughout the school, which has worked successfully to

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Grade: 3

raise standards in this subject where they are currently above average. Care guidance and support are good. The school regularly assesses and carefully analyses each pupil's progress and directs extra help to those who are not achieving their full potential. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make satisfactory progress because teachers make careful assessment of their needs and ensure that teaching assistants give effective support. The main reason that achievement is satisfactory rather than good is because in too many classes not enough is expected of pupils' writing. Although most pupils attain in line with the standards expected for their ages, few exceed this level. In some classes, pupils' books contain too much poorly presented and unfinished work that goes unchecked by teachers' marking. Teachers miss chances to improve pupils' basic written skills in subjects other than English.

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Grade: 3

Although the school's targets in English provide satisfactory challenge, those in mathematics give much higher levels of challenge. Pupils in some classes show good understanding of their learning targets, but in other classes they lack a clear understanding of where and how to improve their work, especially their writing. Pupils appreciate the good range of interesting visits and visitors used to enhance the school's curriculum. The school is working effectively to make learning more interesting for pupils. Sound monitoring and evaluation at all levels, including by governors and subject leaders provide the school with a clear understanding of where improvements are needed. Checks to ensure that policies are consistently implemented are sometimes insufficiently demanding and this results in inconsistencies, for example, in the effectiveness with which pupils' work is marked. The recent success in raising standards in mathematics and its clear and accurate

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Grade: 3

understanding of where improvements are needed indicate that the school has satisfactory capacity to improve.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve the accuracy of pupils' writing, including the use of grammar, punctuation, spelling and their presentation of written work. ■ Develop pupils' basic written skills in all subjects.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Consistently implement all key policies, especially for the marking of pupils' work.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Ensure that all pupils know their learning targets and how to improve to reach them. 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Falcon Junior School, 28 °29 November 2007 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

Pupils' attainment on entry varies yearly, but is usually in line with what is typically found nationally. Achievement and progress are satisfactory overall. The school's assessments, Year 6 national test results in 2007 and pupils' current work indicate that most pupils are attaining nationally expected standards. Pupils achieve best in mathematics, in which standards have improved well over the last two years and are now above average. Pupils achieve well in the subject because of good teaching, ambitious academic targets and teachers' high expectations. Standards in English declined to broadly average in 2007 when too few pupils attained Level 5 in the subject. Standards in science are average. Year 3 pupils have made good progress this term because teaching is consistently good. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make satisfactory progress in line with that of other pupils, throughout the school because

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Grade: 3

they receive appropriate additional support that meets their needs.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' spiritual, moral and social development is good. They respect others and accept differences between people, but the school is aware that their first-hand knowledge of the multi-cultural nature of British society is no more than satisfactory. Pupils enjoy the school's welcoming atmosphere and the good range of extra-curricular activities. Their enjoyment of school is reflected in their regular attendance. They show good understanding of how to lead a healthy life. Pupils participate fully in making decisions about school life and value their school council as an effective way of influencing change. They take full advantage of the opportunities the school provides for taking responsibility, for example, running the tuck shop with its healthy products at break times. They adopt safe practices and feel safe in school. They know that they can always talk to an adult if they have a problem. Pupils make valuable

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Grade: 2

contributions to the community by raising funds for charities. Their positive attitudes and satisfactory achievement give them a sound preparation for the next stage of education and for their future lives.

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Grade: 3

Teaching and learning are satisfactory. In all classes teachers establish good relationships with pupils, most of whom are keen to take part and enjoy learning. Behaviour is managed well. Where teaching is consistently good, as it is in Year 3 classes, carefully planned lessons delivered at a brisk pace ensure that all pupils learn at a good rate. Pupils in these classes know exactly what is expected of them and work hard. In other year groups, expectations are not always high enough for pupils to make good progress because they are not challenged sufficiently and poorly presented work is accepted. Teaching assistants give effective support to pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in small groups. Support in whole-class sessions is less effective. Pupils are encouraged to evaluate their own learning in most lessons but this 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Falcon Junior School, 28 °29 November 2007

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Grade: 3

practice is not fully consistent. Teachers' marking does not always provide sufficient challenge or guidance on how pupils can improve particular aspects of their work.

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Grade: 3

There is a very good variety of enjoyable extra-curricular activities, such as sport, orchestra and choir to promote pupils' social development. The school has concentrated on improving its curriculum, especially provision for mathematics in which standards have improved significantly. Appropriately, the focus is now on literacy. Information and communication technology is used well in other subjects, but opportunities are often missed to develop writing skills in subjects other than English. The curriculum is suitably modified to meet the needs of most pupils but, on a few occasions, more able pupils lack opportunities to write accurately and at length. Older pupils enjoy learning French and younger pupils enjoy other language-awareness lessons. A strong feature of the curriculum is the personal, social and health education programme that is successful in developing pupils' good understanding of safe and healthy living. Some classrooms are small for the size of classes using them, and the

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Grade: 3

shape makes activities in small groups difficult to organise.

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Grade: 2

The school provides a highly supportive, caring and safe learning environment, which is much appreciated by pupils and parents. Procedures for safeguarding pupils are strong. Support and guidance for those with learning difficulties are satisfactory. Many pupils know their mathematics targets that guide them where and how to improve their work. Because pupils in some classes show little understanding of how to improve their writing, plans are in place for a revised system for giving them writing targets from January onwards. The school regularly and accurately assesses and carefully monitors the progress of each child and allocates additional resources, often involving teaching assistants, when possible underachievement is identified. All teachers show a clear understanding of which pupils require special attention and use this knowledge skilfully when organising teaching groups and extra programmes.

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Grade: 3

Leaders and managers have been successful in ensuring that pupils' personal development and relationships are good throughout the school and that the school provides a secure, happy and caring environment. The senior management team, subject leaders and governors share a common understanding of which aspects of the school are most in need of improvement because they evaluate performance accurately. Monitoring and evaluation of performance were used well to improve achievement in mathematics and resulted in rising standards. Leaders are less successful in ensuring all staff hold consistently high expectations of pupils' writing and staff do not teach writing consistently well. Consequently, written standards, although satisfactory, require improvement. Teachers are not always sufficiently challenged by managers to improve aspects of their work. As a result, the marking of work is often not helpful enough to enable

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Grade: 3

pupils to improve. Governors understand their role and recognise they need to challenge managers more in order to raise achievement above current satisfactory levels. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Falcon Junior School, 28 °29 November 2007 .

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Grade: 3

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Falcon Junior School, 28 °29 November 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? 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? 3 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

3 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 3 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 extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 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?

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: Falcon Junior School, 28 °29 November 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 3 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 3 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? 9 of 10 Inspection Report: Falcon Junior School, 28 °29 November 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

30 November 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Falcon Junior School, Sprowston NR7 8NT Thank you all for making us welcome when we inspected your school, especially thanks to those who talked to us about school life. We enjoyed our visit. We found your school is a happy place where people get on well with each other and treat each other politely and with respect. You make satisfactory progress in your work. You are getting on well enough in science and English and doing well in mathematics. Some of you could present your writing more carefully and improve your grammar, spelling and punctuation. You behave well in lessons and clearly enjoy school. We are pleased you feel safe in school and know that adults look after you well. We were impressed with how you choose healthy food and take plenty of exercise. Many of you take on lots of responsibilities, for example as school councillors and running the healthy-tuck shop. You think of others' well-being when you raise

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

funds and join in community activities. Most of you and your parents regard your school highly and very much appreciate the clubs and visits that are provided. We could see that you enjoy school life and you attend regularly, so well done! Staff know your learning needs well and provide extra help to those of you who are not doing your best. Your headteacher and the staff are working to improve the school and know that there are some things that need to be changed. We have recommended that they should:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ help you to improve your writing and the way you present your work;

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ help you to practise and develop your writing skills when you write in all subjects;

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ make sure that marking is always helpful to you;

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ be sure that each one of you knows the targets you are set in each subject and how you can achieve them. Yours sincerely Roger Sadler Lead inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Falcon Junior School, 28 °29 November 2007

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