Flax Hill Junior Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Key findings

This is a good school.

It has improved with increasing rapidity since the previous inspection. Pupils, parents, carers and staff are very positive about the school and how it keeps pupils safe and looks after them. It is not outstanding because, although rapidly improving, pupils' achievement is still satisfactory overall.

Achievement is satisfactory. Attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is average. Although progress in the past was unsatisfactory, current pupils made good progress over the last year because of better teaching, and gaps are narrowing quickly between the performances of different groups of pupils.

Teaching is good and has improved rapidly over the last academ...ic year. Teachers have high expectations of pupils and use a wide range of strategies to engage and motivate them. In better lessons, effective questioning and well-timed interventions ensure that pupils are challenged and able to demonstrate their learning.

Teachers mark pupils' work regularly and identify how well they have achieved. However, pupils do not have enough opportunities to respond to teachers' marking or to self-correct their work in lessons. Pupils are extremely well behaved and courteous.

The school is a safe, calm and orderly community with a purposeful learning culture. Pupils collaborate well in groups and provide good support to each other. A large majority of parents and carers hold positive views about behaviour and their children's safety.

Leaders demonstrate an ambitious vision for the school and high expectations for what every pupil and teacher can achieve. The headteacher's strong leadership of a committed staff team and the progress made to improve teaching and achievement demonstrate good capacity for sustained improvement. Recently appointed middle leaders in the school are very clear about their responsibilities but their contribution to school improvement is not yet fully embedded.

Performance management procedures contribute well to improvements in teaching and pupils' progress.

Information about the school

The school is a larger-than-average junior school. Almost all pupils are of White British heritage and none is at the early stages of learning English.

The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is broadly average, as is the proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. The main areas of additional need include moderate or specific learning difficulties, such as speech, language or communication difficulties. Pupils' attainment meets the current government floor standard for primary schools, which set the minimum expectations for their attainment and progress.

The school accommodates a privately managed after-school club which is inspected separately. Since the last inspection, the school has undergone significant staffing changes. A new headteacher was appointed in September 2010 and four new teachers have joined the school.