Fair Oak Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Fair Oak Junior School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Relationships between staff and pupils are excellent.

Staff know every pupil in this large school. Pupils feel valued, safe and secure. They know they can talk to a trusted adult who will take the time and listen to any concerns.

This is an inclusive school, where everyone is welcome.

Pupils know the school has high expectations of them and rise to the challenge. They behave well and follow the school rules of be ready, be respectful, be safe.

Pupils know there are consequences to poor behaviour. Pupils ...who need support to manage their feelings and emotions get the support they need.

Pupils are proud to be pupil councillors.

Year 6 enjoy supporting younger pupils at lunchtime. However, the opportunities for pupils to take on wider leadership roles are limited. Although, pupils enthusiastically talk about the small offer of clubs, they would appreciate more breadth and variety.

The school has high ambitions for pupils. Pupils' achievements at the end of Year 6 are strong. They leave well prepared for their next stage of learning.

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

The school, including governors, are committed to providing the best-quality education for pupils. Recently, the school has reviewed the curriculum to ensure it is broad, balanced and ambitious. They have made sure that the precise knowledge they want pupils to learn is set out clearly.

The school have carefully thought about when the key knowledge and skills are taught. This enables pupils to build knowledge over time.

Teachers know their subjects well and challenge misconceptions effectively.

They explain things clearly. Staff use questions effectively to encourage pupils to share and expand their ideas. However, pupils' ability, in some subjects, to remember knowledge over the long-term is variable.

This is sometimes because the opportunities the school provides to help pupils retrieve and retain their prior knowledge are limited. Although the school has begun to address this, it is still in the early stages. As a result, some pupils' achievement across parts of the curriculum is weaker than in others.

Reading is a central part of the curriculum. Pupils enjoy reading rich and diverse texts, which help them to develop an understanding of the world in which they live. The school has a well-sequenced phonics programme.

This supports those pupils who are not reading as fluently or confidently as their peers. Knowledgeable staff deliver the programme to a high standard. The school ensures that pupils' early reading books match closely to the sounds that they know.

The school is knowledgeable about the barriers to learning experienced by pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Procedures are in place to quickly identify pupils who need support. Staff are trained to meet the needs of pupils.

In most subjects, teachers use this information to adapt their teaching. This means that pupils with SEND learn these subjects well. However, sometimes the adaptations made do not fully consider the specific needs of pupils with SEND.

In these cases, pupils with SEND find it difficult to access the curriculum and fall behind their peers. Pupils with SEND, particularly those who attend the resource base, are fully included in the daily life of the school.

Pupils listen well to their teachers, concentrate and are keen to contribute in class.

Learning is not interrupted. Pupils confidently talk about the importance of eating healthily and exercising. They learn how to keep themselves safe online as well as in the community.

Pupils have a good understanding of how to promote positive mental health in their overall well-being. They can explain that discrimination is wrong and that everyone is equal.

Governors have played a central role in supporting the school.

Staff feel valued and appreciate the support offered by school leaders around their well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes, the adaptations made to teaching do not take pupils' specific needs fully into account.

As a result, some pupils, including those with SEND, struggle to access learning. Their learning is not as secure as the school expects. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge and expertise to adapt their approaches to meet the specific needs of pupils.

• In some foundation subjects, checks on pupils' learning do not identify gaps in pupils' knowledge sufficiently well. As a result, some pupils are not always ready for the next steps in their learning. The school should ensure that teachers have the knowledge to check routinely that the intended knowledge has been learned, and use this to inform future learning.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 for overall effectiveness in May 2015.

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