Burlington Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Burlington Junior School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Burlington Junior is a vibrant, inclusive and friendly place. Pupils enjoy coming to school and make the most of the wide range of opportunities provided. Relationships at the school are warm and respectful.

Pupils feel safe and are kept safe.

Staff have high expectations of what all pupils can achieve. The school has planned the curriculum so that it offers breadth and variety.

The school's focus on high ambition for all ensures that teaching introduces new learning in clear, manageable steps. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) follow the s...ame curriculum and receive extra help if they need it.

Pupils behave well.

If behaviour falls below expectations, staff act swiftly to deal with it. Pupils understand the importance of being 'ready, respectful and safe'. They are confident to take on responsibilities, such as acting as representatives on the school council.

Bullying is rare. Pupils are confident that, if it happens, staff will take action to deal with it.

Pupils appreciate the range of clubs and visits the school offers.

These include football, coding club, choir and craft activities. Pupils speak excitedly of the Year 5 'Camp Night', residential trips, visits to Hampton Court Palace and the clubs they attend.

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

The curriculum is ambitious and meets the requirements of the national curriculum.

The school has given careful thought to the knowledge that pupils should learn. This has been logically sequenced. Pupils have regular opportunities to revisit learning and make sure that it is remembered.

For example, in music, pupils learn about staff notation in Year 3, revisiting this and consolidating their knowledge as they move up through the school. By Year 6, pupils are more confident about reading music and writing their own increasingly complex compositions.

In most subjects, pupils apply what they know and remember with confidence.

Teachers plan purposeful activities that allow pupils to make connections between their learning. For example, in mathematics, pupils gain fluency when they are learning about more difficult concepts because they regularly practise prior learning.

However, in a few subjects, these strengths are not as consistently strong.

The school has identified that this is the case where planning is at an earlier stage of development. In these subjects, pupils do not remember what they have learned as clearly because they have not secured the knowledge they have learned previously. This means they are less able to tackle more complex ideas with confidence.

The school has prioritised the importance of reading, which has been placed at the heart of the school's curriculum. Staff have received comprehensive training in the teaching of phonics. Pupils, including those with SEND, have regular opportunities to practise their reading with books matched to sounds they are learning.

This helps them to develop the phonic knowledge and skills they need to read with increasing fluency. Pupils who struggle with reading are given effective support to catch up quickly. The school promotes a love of reading through the curriculum by, for example, including books written by a diverse range of authors.

In addition, there are trips to the local library, competitions, and book giveaways. Pupils in Year 6 read to pupils in Year 3 through the school's buddy reading programme.

Effective systems are in place to identify the needs of pupils with SEND and to communicate these to all relevant staff.

This helps teachers to make helpful adaptations to the planned curriculum to support them.

Pupils behave respectfully. They attend well and are keen to learn.

They understand the importance of being kind and value the school's focus on treating each other equally. Pupils show appreciation of the range of faiths and cultures within the school community. The curriculum for pupils' wider development is extensive.

Pupils participate in a rich range of clubs and activities.

Music is an important part of the school's curriculum. All pupils learn to play the recorder in Year 3 and the ukulele in Year 4.

High numbers of pupils sing in the school's choirs. Pupils are proud that they have opportunities to sing in public performances, such as at The Rose Theatre and the O2 Arena.

Leaders have an accurate view of the school's effectiveness.

They have planned priorities for improvement based precisely on clearly defined priorities. There are effective systems in place to ensure pupils attend regularly. Governors are well informed and maintain effective strategic oversight of the school.

They have received relevant training and understand their statutory responsibilities well.

Staff, including those at the early stages of their career, are very appreciative of the support from leaders. They say that leaders are approachable and consider workload carefully when making decisions.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's ambitious curriculum is not firmly embedded. In a few subjects, this is at an earlier stage of development.

In these subjects, pupils do not remember the foundational knowledge they have covered securely. The school should continue to implement plans to embed the curriculum fully.

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 September 2014.

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