Granby Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils enjoy attending the school.

They speak of the care and kindness of the staff who look after them. There are strong relationships between staff and pupils. Staff know all pupils well.

They understand and address the various barriers and challenges pupils face when they are learning. This leads to a strong, child-centred environment where pupils feel safe and ready to learn.

Staff have high expectations of all pupils' behaviour and learning.

All staff implement the school's behaviour policy consistently and effectively. This provides pupils with clear boundaries that they stick to. Pupils behave well and work hard in lessons.

Altho...ugh the school wants the best for its pupils, these ambitions are not fully coming to fruition. Changes made to the curriculum are not having the impact the school desires. Aspects of the curriculum are not consistently implemented.

Some subjects do not identify exactly what pupils should learn.

The school's values of 'care to achieve your best' are understood by all. They are lived out by pupils who care for each other, their school and the local community.

Some pupils who are part of the eco-committee help to improve the school environment. Others have developed enterprise skills by running a market stall.

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

The school is in the process of designing an ambitious curriculum.

It is working with the governing body and local authority to accept support and respond to challenge. Everyone is united in making sure that their actions have impact, especially for the curriculum.

Staff work in teams to continue to develop the curriculum so that it meets the needs of all pupils.

In some subjects, what pupils should learn and when is clearly and logically planned. However, in other subjects, it is unclear exactly what teachers intend pupils to know and remember. In several subjects, the curriculum is not implemented consistently.

Some of the learning activities and work given to pupils do not always support them to learn the intended curriculum. As a result, pupils struggle to recall the important knowledge they need.

Teachers use different ways to check pupils' understanding during lessons.

They use the information gathered to address any misconceptions or gaps in pupils' knowledge. However, in the subjects where it is less clear what pupils should be learning, teachers cannot make accurate judgements about how well pupils have learned key knowledge.

The school promotes a love of reading.

However, some pupils are not confident readers. This has an impact on their ability to access the curriculum fully. The school has very recently expanded the range of its reading interventions.

This means pupils are now better supported with more precise help to improve their reading and comprehension. It is too soon to see the impact of these interventions. At present, the school's published outcomes remain low.

Staff support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. This ensures that they are helped to access the curriculum. Staff use a consistent approach that helps all pupils to manage their emotions.

They provide effective techniques and safe spaces to help pupils who need support to calm themselves and be ready to learn.

The school is working closely with families to highlight the importance of being at school. The school has recruited staff to support families whose children struggle to meet the schools' high expectations regarding attendance.

As a result, most pupils' attendance is good.

Staff consistently apply the simple school rules. Pupils appreciate the boundaries and routines that staff provide and behave well.

Pupils engage well with after-school sports events and activities, such as the choir, which build teamwork and develop in them a sense of pride and achievement. There is effective support for good mental health. Pupils are taught about respecting those who are different from them.

They have a good understanding of fundamental British values and the school is equipping them well to be responsible citizens.

Staff say that they are well cared for. Their well-being and workload are carefully considered.

They are proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In less well-developed subjects, it is not clear what the important knowledge and skills are that pupils are expected to know and remember.

In these subjects, pupils do not develop a secure understanding of what they are learning. The school should ensure that the curriculum clearly defines the key content that pupils will learn over time in all subjects. ? There are occasions when the learning activities and work given to pupils do not always support them to know and remember key knowledge.

When this is the case, pupils struggle to recall the important knowledge they need. The school needs to ensure that staff are fully equipped to plan precise and purposeful activities that will help all pupils to build knowledge consistently well. ? In some subjects, teachers lack the right information to allow them to assess accurately.

This hinders them in identifying, and then addressing, any gaps in knowledge that pupils may have. The school should ensure that assessment systems provide teachers with a precise understanding of whether pupils have learned the key knowledge that they need to succeed. ? Reading support is not precise enough to ensure that all pupils become confident readers.

There are some inconsistencies in the delivery of the phonics programme. Pupils who find reading difficult are not yet getting the right help at the right time to enable them to become confident readers. The school needs to ensure consistency and accuracy in the implementation of reading interventions so that those pupils who receive such support become confident readers who can use their reading skills across the curriculum.