All Saints Church of England Aided Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

All Saints Church of England Aided Junior School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are safe and happy. They have a genuine sense of belonging to the school and care for each other well.

Pupils have very positive relationships with staff. The school manages behaviour highly effectively and helps pupils to feel responsible for themselves, their peers and their school. The school's values of love, respect, perseverance and community are exemplified by staff and pupils equally well.

Pupils' behaviour and attitudes to learning are excellent Staff apply the behaviour policy fairly and consistently. In lessons, and in the playground, pup...ils are calm, respectful and keen to do their best. Pupils' good attendance and punctuality are supported conscientiously.

Wider responsibilities, such as the school's 'CREW' approach to developing leadership skills, help pupils to thrive, with striking impact on disadvantaged pupils in particular.

The curriculum is highly ambitious. Staff have the highest expectations for all pupils' achievement.

Most pupils achieve high outcomes by the end of key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics, ensuring that they are prepared for their next stage of education well. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have their needs identified quickly and are supported thoughtfully. Governors are clear about the school's ethos and commitment to every pupil.

One governor summarised the views of others, stating, 'We never give up on any child.'

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The curriculum has many strengths. Subjects are designed and sequenced effectively.

In subjects such as mathematics and music, staff have secure subject knowledge and implement the curriculum consistently well. Lessons help to build pupils' vocabulary and learning purposefully. For example, mathematics builds cumulatively and leads to ambitious end points.

In music, pupils learn about graphic notation in Year 3 and begin to create compositions. This leads to stave notation and understanding the full range of treble clef notes by the end of Year 6. However, assessment is not yet fully developed across all foundation subjects.

As a result, some pupils do not build successfully on their prior knowledge and achieve as well as they could.Pupils have a love of reading. Most pupils learn to read well.

They talk confidently about books that have inspired them. For example, pupils in the 'Reading Rangers' group speak passionately about their love of Shakespeare's plays such as 'Hamlet' and 'Julius Caesar'. Pupils are helped to think about texts deeply, developing mature insights and understanding.

However, for some pupils at the earliest stages of reading, books are not closely matched to the sounds that they have learned, and staff are still developing their expertise in teaching phonics to support these pupils fully effectively. This means that some pupils who fall behind do not catch up to their peers as quickly as they could.

Opportunities to develop pupils' talents and interests at the school are extensive.

Pupils cherish the many activities available such as orchestra and choir. All pupils learn musical instruments and perform to audiences, building pupils' confidence and helping them to be rightly proud of their achievements. Disadvantaged pupils consistently benefit from the school's personal development programme.

Pupils love their leadership roles such as 'play leaders', who help pupils to play games positively during lunchtimes. Pupils model kindness and empathy, independently creating charity stalls and organising sports competitions for their peers. Residential trips to Minstead and the Isle of Wight, as well as trips to places such as Butser Ancient Farm, help pupils to remember the curriclum and build rich cultural experiences.

Sports activities are inclusive and matched well to a wide range of pupils' needs and interests, including those of pupils with SEND.

Governors are highly skilled and committed to the school. They understand their roles and responsibilities and help to make strong and sustained improvements.

Staff engage with parents and carers highly effectively. Staff are overwhelmingly appreciative of how the school helps to offer strong professional development and manage their workload so that they can focus their efforts on teaching. Both staff and pupils captured this sentiment wonderfully, with one pupil sharing, 'Our school is like a family and a home.

We are all supported here.'

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some of the books that the weakest readers use to help them learn to read are not matched closely enough to the sounds that they have learned.

This means that some pupils do not always learn to read as effectively as they could. The school should ensure that reading books are matched precisely to pupils' needs to help all pupils develop fluency and accuracy. ? In some foundation subjects, the approach to checking pupils' understanding is not yet fully developed.

This means that, sometimes, gaps in pupils' learning are not identified as effectively as they could be. The school should continue to develop assessment and use this information to address pupils' errors and misconceptions precisely.Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2013.

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