Holland Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Holland Junior School

Following my visit to the school on 6 June 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings.

The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in November 2014. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

You have worked successfully and with determination since you started as acting headteacher in April 2018. You have identified weaker aspects of the school's work quickly and accurately and your swift actions have had an immediate and positive... impact. You are ambitious for pupils and all staff.

Staff and governors share your high aspirations and are united in their drive to ensure that pupils receive the highest standard of education. You lead by example in the way you model your high expectations. This has resulted in a strong team spirit where everyone understands their part in the school's ongoing improvement.

You know and value every child and their family. One parent commented, 'The headteacher is totally in tune with the children.' As a result, pupils enjoy school, work hard and achieve well.

They make particularly strong progress in reading. Staff have worked effectively to plan interesting work and use engaging texts that capture the pupils' interests. Your work with parents and carers is strong, with many attending a wide range of workshops about children's learning and emotional development.

Parents have confidence in you and other school staff to support pupils to develop academically and personally. One parent, reflecting the positive views of many, commented, 'The headteacher and staff have helped my child to blossom.' Governors are knowledgeable and committed.

Their sharply focused visits enable them to check how well the school's improvement priorities are being addressed. Governors are clear about their responsibility to ensure that the actions you take impact strongly on pupils' achievement. The leadership team has addressed the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection well.

You, together with staff and governors, have ensured that teaching assistants are skilled at supporting pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. Staff focus closely on pupils' individual needs. Teachers use information on pupils' progress to usually set work at the right level to ensure that pupils are stretched in their thinking.

You are aware that pupils' progress in mathematics is not as strong as in reading and writing. You also acknowledge that there are times when teachers do not challenge pupils sufficiently, particularly the most able pupils. When this happens, the pace of learning slows.

Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that safeguarding arrangements are effective and that records are detailed and of high quality. You make all relevant checks on staff who work at the school.

Governors have a good oversight and knowledge of the school's safeguarding arrangements, and monitor these closely. For example, they check that pre-employment checks have been carried out in accordance with statutory requirements. Leaders have ensured that there are clear systems and processes for reporting concerns and escalating these appropriately.

Leaders support staff effectively to understand and follow school procedures consistently, and this contributes to the strong culture of vigilance. You work well with external agencies to ensure that pupils, and where appropriate their families, get timely and effective support and guidance. Pupils speak knowledgeably about keeping themselves safe.

For example, they are aware of the dangers of using computers and what steps to take if they are worried. You have established a culture of openness and this ensures that pupils feel and say that they can raise any issues with staff. Parents confirm that their children feel safe.

Inspection findings ? I examined pupils' progress in mathematics, particularly the progress made by girls. Over time, progress in mathematics has been slower than in reading and writing. You and your team have made mathematics a key focus in your comprehensive plans for improvement.

Learning in lessons and the school's achievement information show that pupils typically make good gains in their skills. Girls make rapid progress in mathematics because teachers provide clear guidance on how to improve if they make mistakes. Pupils benefit from well-planned opportunities to deepen their mathematical skills in a range of real-life contexts.

Pupils are provided with a wide range of resources to help them to understand how to tackle differing problems. However, the level of challenge for pupils from some teachers is not sufficiently demanding. This means that some pupils, particularly the most able pupils, are not progressing quickly enough in mathematics.

• I also looked at the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. In the past, disadvantaged pupils have not made enough progress, but now they are making rapid progress. This is because of the positive impact of effective support and teachers' successful approaches to address any gaps in their learning.

Consequently, the attainment of disadvantaged pupils is rising rapidly in reading, writing and mathematics. Disadvantaged pupils' knowledge and understanding are closely monitored by the class teachers and senior leaders to ensure that good progress is maintained. Workshops help parents to provide further support for their children's learning at home.

• A scrutiny of pupils' work and other inspection evidence show that they typically make good progress in writing. Pupils have challenging learning opportunities to extend their writing skills across subjects and when writing in different genres. Pupils are provided with a good range of enrichment opportunities, which motivate them to build their writing stamina.

For example, pupils wrote good-quality pieces of work to prepare for the popular 'Greek day'. Staff promote pupils' talk and language well during lessons. Teachers challenge pupils to apply these language skills when they are writing, resulting in good- and sometimes very high-quality pieces of work.

• You have been robust in tackling low attendance, particularly that of specific groups of pupils. This has resulted in absence and persistent absence decreasing significantly for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Pupils with previously low attendance have improved their attendance.

There are numerous examples of improvement in the attendance of these two groups. You have widely communicated the importance of good attendance, for example within the weekly newsletter. You work well with the education welfare officer from the local authority to support and challenge parents whose children still do not attend regularly enough.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? pupils make more rapid progress in mathematics ? teachers provide the right level of challenge in mathematics, particularly for the most able pupils. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Surrey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Richard Blackmore Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you, four governors and the lead teachers for English and mathematics. I spoke with a representative from the local authority. I also talked with parents as they collected their children at the end of the school day.

I visited all classes and I reviewed a sample of pupils' current books. I evaluated a range of the school's documentation, including: information about pupils' achievement and attendance; the school improvement plan; evidence of leaders' monitoring of teaching and learning; and documents related to safeguarding. I considered the responses of 57 parents to Ofsted's online survey Parent View, the 53 free-text responses from parents, the 124 responses to the online pupil survey, and the 17 responses to the online staff survey.