Polehampton Church of England Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud and happy to be members of this warm and friendly school.

They value being part of the close school community where newcomers quickly make friends. Pupils know and live out the school's values through their positive behaviour across the school. They understand the importance of working together and willingly help others when they can.

This is evident when pupils invite others to join their games at playtime.

The school's ambition is for every pupil to achieve the very best they can. Pupils respond well to the encouragement of staff.

In lessons, this helps them to tackle more challenging learning with greater confidence. Pupils typica...lly complete learning activities purposefully. They act quickly to make improvements that are identified by teachers.

This positive learning ethos supports all pupils to learn well.

Pupils value the range of wider opportunities provided by the school. They happily share the experiences gained through trips and residentials.

The school champions pupils' successes. They enjoy receiving 'house points' for their effort and day-to-day achievements. Each week, pupils keenly anticipate the celebration assembly to find out whether their 'house' leads the competition.

This recognition supports pupils to feel valued.

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

The curriculum is broad and ambitious for all pupils. Across all subjects, the important knowledge that pupils need to learn is carefully organised.

However, in some subjects in the wider curriculum, the approaches used to check how well pupils learn important knowledge over time lack focus. As a result, these checks do not identify where pupils have incorrect understanding. Consequently, future teaching does not address these issues, and pupils can continue to have misconceptions.

This is not the case in core subjects, where teachers identify and correct any knowledge gaps.

Teachers' subject knowledge is secure across subjects. They draw on this well when teaching new ideas.

The teaching approaches used by most teachers support pupils to develop secure understanding. Typically, these include giving clear explanations and asking questions to check understanding. In a few cases, teachers use these strategies less effectively.

Where this happens, pupils do not always develop a clear understanding of the key ideas. As a result, they can progress on to new learning with gaps in their knowledge.

Teachers carefully adapt learning activities for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

This helps them to progress well through the planned curriculum. Teaching assistants provide high-quality support for pupils who need more specialist support.

The school prioritises reading.

Through the school's reading curriculum, pupils develop strong reading skills, benefiting from a wide range of challenging texts. For pupils who are at the earlier stages of reading, additional support helps them to catch up quickly and develop into confident readers.

Pupils' behaviour is calm and respectful.

They know the rules and learn why these are important. In lessons, pupils respond promptly to and follow the instructions of staff. If pupils lose focus, teachers typically direct them back to learning activities quickly.

Around the school, pupils' conduct is safe and considerate. They follow clear routines and take opportunities to help each other.

The school purposefully develops pupils' character.

They learn how to become more independent, including how to stay safe. Through a range of leadership roles, including being on the school council, pupils learn how to handle responsibility. They take great pride in contributing to the school through these.

The school promotes the importance of diversity. Pupils explore a wide range of different cultures and beliefs. These help pupils to develop respectful attitudes and to value differences.

The school accurately identifies and drives forward further improvements. Staff feel valued and enthusiastically contribute to achieving these. They appreciate efforts to reduce their workload so that they can focus on teaching well.

Governors track the impact of changes on pupils' achievement closely. They, along with the trust, provide appropriate challenge and support for the school, which helps sustain changes.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few cases, some of the strategies used by teachers do not support pupils to learn new knowledge well. This means pupils can have errors in their understanding of new ideas. The school needs to ensure that all teachers use teaching strategies that support pupils to develop a secure understanding of what they are studying.

• In some foundation subjects, methods of checking pupils' learning over time do not identify whether they understand important knowledge well. This means that pupils can continue to have misconceptions. The school needs to ensure approaches to checking pupils' learning support teachers to address and fill knowledge gaps across all subjects.

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