James Wolfe Primary School and Centre for the Deaf

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

James Wolfe Primary School and Centre for the Deaf continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school where pupils work hard to show the school's 'PROUD' values. The value of 'respect' is evident in the warm, caring relationships between staff and pupils across the school.

Pupils trust that an adult will listen and help them if they have a worry. This means pupils feel safe. Pupils are kind towards each other, and this makes James Wolfe a happy place for pupils to learn.

Pupils behave well during learning and social times. This is because staff have high expectations of them. Classrooms are calm places to learn and as a result, pupils ac...hieve well here.

There are a range of opportunities for pupils to take on roles of responsibility. For example, 'British Sign Language Buddies' promote the importance of sign language across the school and 'History Heroes' encourage their friends to identify a person in history that is significant to them.

Attendance is a priority for the school.

Leaders are taking appropriate action to support pupils and their families so that attendance continues to improve.

Pupils enjoy the wide range of enrichment activities on offer such as gymnastics, fencing and musical theatre club. These opportunities aim to help pupils to develop their talents and pursue their interests.

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

Reading is given priority here. Pupils are taught to read right from the start of Reception. This is because leaders want all pupils to read fluently and confidently.

Children in the nursery listen enthusiastically to familiar texts. They take great delight in providing the actions and sound effects for the 'ticking of a clock' and the 'dripping of a tap'. Pupils have opportunities to visit the school library and are read aloud to daily.

These experiences develop a love for reading.Staff are trained to teach phonics well and this means the reading programme is delivered consistently. Pupils practise their phonics knowledge by reading books that are carefully matched to the sounds and letters that they know.

Pupils have positive attitudes to reading because they have the skills they need to decode unfamiliar words. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff typically check the sounds that pupils know and identify pupils who find phonics difficult, so they are given the help they need to catch up.

Leaders have put in place a curriculum which is logically sequenced. They have considered the knowledge and skills that they expect pupils to know and remember year-on-year. For example, children in Reception can solve simple addition calculations because they know what each number represents.

Pupils in Year 4 regularly practise their recall of multiplication facts, and this helps them to confidently solve mathematical problems.

Teachers, including those who teach in the early years and in the deaf centre, have access to effective training. Therefore, they have the subject knowledge to explain new concepts clearly and correct misconceptions quickly.

Teachers reinforce subject related vocabulary which pupils use when explaining their thinking. For example, pupils in Year 4 use words such as, 'meander', 'source' and 'estuary' when describing rivers. Pupils in the deaf centre are taught key vocabulary alongside the signs for classroom objects such as, 'scissors', 'paper' and 'pen'.

Leaders have clear actions in place to ensure that a greater proportion of pupils make the required progress in mathematics and reading by the end of Year 6.

Leaders are determined that pupils with SEND achieve well. There are suitable processes in place to identify pupils with SEND.

The school works effectively with external professionals such as educational psychologists and speech and language therapists who provide staff with targeted training. However, sometimes the support given to pupils with SEND as they learn the curriculum is not precise enough. Consequently, some pupils do not achieve as well as they could.

Pupils behave very well. They are motivated and resilient learners who show positive attitudes to their learning. This includes children in the early years.

The curriculum can be taught without interruption.

This is an inclusive school where everyone is celebrated. Pupils' wider development is given priority here.

Pupils are taught about diversity and that families can look different. Pupils also learn about healthy and unhealthy relationships and consent in an age-appropriate way.

Leaders provide opportunities for pupils to learn how to identify risks both within and beyond the school.

For example, police officers delivered workshops for older pupils about risks they might encounter online.

Governors are ambitious for all pupils and staff. They have a clear understanding of what the school does well and what it needs to do to be even better.

Leaders carefully consider staff workload and 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, pupils with SEND are not given precise enough support within lessons.

This means that some pupils do not access the curriculum as well as they could and learning is hampered. The school needs to ensure that the support given to pupils with SEND is precise so that these pupils achieve well across the curriculum.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2018.

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