Kingmoor Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Key Findings

¦ Kingmoor Junior provides pupils with a good quality of education. The school is improving under the highly-effective leadership of the headteacher and full commitment of staff. It is not outstanding because, although teaching is mostly good, the pace of learning is uneven.

Learning is slower in lessons where pupils have insufficient opportunities to work independently and where activities are not precisely matched to their abilities. Monitoring and action-planning requires further refinement to move the school from good to outstanding. ¦ Pupils make good progress to attain high standards in tests at the end of Year 6.

The exciting, enriching curriculum supports pupils' above-average attainme...nt across all subjects, especially in music, arts, modern foreign languages and sport. The school excels at music, with a thriving orchestra and choir. ¦ Teaching is mostly good with some that is outstanding.

Teachers have good subject knowledge and expect high standards from pupils. Assessment and marking are good across the whole school. However, there are a few lessons where the work of lower- and middle-ability pupils is not as precisely matched to their learning needs as it could be.

¦ Pupils' behaviour and safety are good overall. Many pupils have exemplary attitudes to learning and rise to teachers' high expectations. There are a few pupils who have less positive attitudes to work, but this is mostly well managed.

Pupils' moral and social development is outstanding. They collaborate exceptionally well and make an excellent contribution to the school. ¦ The vast majority of parents and carers are extremely positive about leadership, stating for example, that the school 'has come on hugely with the strong influence of the headteacher'.

They refer to 'well-motivated teachers' and 'conscientious, reliable staff.' Inspectors agree. Effective management of both teaching and the school's performance has already improved the school from satisfactory to good.

This, together with the mostly good teaching, provides the school with a strong capacity to improve further.

Information about the school

Kingmoor Junior is an average size school. Most pupils are White British with a few from minority ethnic groups.

The proportion of pupils known to be entitled to free school meals is below average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is broadly average, although a higher than average proportion is supported at School Action Plus or has statements. Kingmoor Community and Business Centre shares the same building and provides adult courses and family learning.

The school has several awards including Activemark, Sportsmark and Healthy School status It has a strong musical tradition and has won several awards in regional music festivals. The school meets the government's current floor standard for achievement at Key Stage 2. A new headteacher has been appointed since the last inspection.

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms