Henleaze Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have plenty of enrichment activities that develop their character and interests. However, the curriculum lacks the same ambition. Staff do not have high enough expectations of pupils' learning.

As a result, pupils do not learn as well as they should.

This is an inclusive school where pupils look after one another. The emphasis on their personal development means that pupils appreciate that everyone is different.

They have a mature understanding of equity. This is summed up in their belief that 'fair doesn't always mean the same'.

Pupils behave well.

The school has worked with pupils to review the policies and practice for securing goo...d behaviour. The new approaches are working. Pupils are respectful towards one another and adults.

Older pupils say how much better behaviour is compared to when they started at the school.

Pupils' knowledge about online safety is strong. They know how to keep themselves safe online.

The culture of mutual respect means that pupils trust adults to listen to them. Pupils feel safe because adults listen and are effective at supporting them with their worries.

Pupils develop a sense of citizenship.

They are proud of the charity work and fundraising they do. They understand they can make a difference to people and their environment.

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

The school has rightly identified that the curriculum needs developing.

However, the developments lack rigour. Checks on the impact of these developments are not focused on the effect they are having on pupils' learning. As a result, the curriculum is not implemented consistently well.

The school is not clear enough about the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum.

The delivery of the curriculum varies too much across year groups and subjects. Many staff do not have a secure grasp of the subjects they are teaching.

This includes in reading and mathematics. The school does not ensure staff follow the expectations for curriculum implementation. Checks on the curriculum focus on compliance rather than the impact on pupils' learning.

Governors challenge and support leaders. However, their view of the quality of education at the school is overly generous. This is because the information given to them is not based on an evaluation of the impact the curriculum is having on pupils' ability to know, remember and do more.

In some subjects, the content has been coherently sequenced so that pupils build on what they know. Pupils work through sequences of learning that they enjoy. They build knowledge and competence over time through small steps of learning.

This is particularly the case where the implementation of the curriculum is better. For example, in languages, pupils learn phonics, word recognition and grammar. They are then able to use these together to speak in short sentences.

The reading curriculum, however, lacks ambition. The school has identified several books for each year group to study. These texts are supplemented with extracts from other resources.

Overall, the selection of books that pupils read is not rich or coherently selected. The school has chosen a specific approach to the teaching of reading. However not all year groups follow this.

As a result of these weaknesses, pupils experience a disjointed reading curriculum. The school has recently adopted a sequenced phonics programme to support pupils who are still at the early stages of reading. Staff are working alongside the infant school to develop a smooth transition for those pupils who still require the phonics programme.

Consequently, it is in the early stages of development and not yet as effective as it could be.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are fully included in the curriculum and wider life of the school. This is down to the inclusive ethos that underpins the school's values.

Pupils learn about visible and invisible disabilities during assemblies. This gives them a compassionate understanding towards their peers. As a result, pupils across the school play and learn harmoniously together.

The school's work has had particular impact on pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.

Nevertheless, the weaknesses in the curriculum overall equally affect pupils with SEND. Provision and planning for pupils with SEND are not always precise.

Teaching is not always well matched to their individual starting points. As a result, some pupils with SEND do not always learn well.

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 checks on the implementation and impact of the curriculum are not rigorous enough. As a result, the depth at which pupils learn the curriculum is too variable. The school needs to check the effectiveness of the curriculum robustly so it can assure itself that pupils know more and remember more.

• The reading curriculum, including phonics, is not ambitious or implemented well enough. Pupils, including those who have fallen behind, do not develop sophisticated reading skills. The school must ensure that the reading curriculum is ambitious and coherent and that is implemented as intended so that pupils learn to read well, including those who have fallen behind.

• Staff do not all have the required subject or pedagogical knowledge they need to plan and teach the curriculum sufficiently well. This leads to inconsistency and a lack of ambition. The school must ensure that staff have the expertise they need to implement the curriculum as intended.

• Planning and provision for some pupils with SEND are not precise enough. This means that some pupils struggle to learn well because what they are intended to learn is not matched, or adapted, well enough to their individual starting point. The school must support staff to plan and adapt teaching with precision so that pupils with SEND learn well across the curriculum.

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