Ringwood Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Ringwood Junior School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are full of enthusiasm for their school. Leaders and staff support pupils well and develop their talents and interests.

Pupils enjoy their lessons because teachers make learning enjoyable. They want to achieve success. Even the youngest pupils expect their work to challenge them.

They say that 'learning is fun'.

Leaders' ambitions for 'limitless learning' extends to pupils' personal development.Pupils' views help leaders to keep improving what the school offers.

Pupils understand the firmly rooted values that help everyone to work together. They know how to... be considerate within the community and beyond it. For example, pupils helped to raise funds to reroof their twin school in Kenya.

Older pupils relish the opportunity to apply for a wide variety of 'jobs' that help the school to run smoothly. They are proud to wear the badges that identify their special roles. Pupils of all ages appreciate that there is something for everyone among the large selection of available clubs.

Pupils say that bullying hardly ever happens. If it does, they know what to do to make it stop. They feel safe to learn because they trust the adults in school to help them.

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

Leaders, governors and staff have the very highest aspirations for pupils. Pupils respond positively. Throughout the school, pupils behave well.

Classrooms are purposeful because pupils let teachers get on with their job. Pupils listen to the adults, joining in their lessons keenly because they want to learn.

Pupils are well prepared for their move to secondary school.

This is especially the case with reading, writing and mathematics. The school inspires pupils to succeed in these subjects. Year 6 pupils like writing because they have 'really cool stuff to write about'.

Other subjects and a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities motivate pupils equally well.Pupils treasure the time that they spend reading. On entry to the school, leaders make it a priority to develop pupils' confidence and fluency.

Teachers ensure that all pupils learn how to read with understanding. Pupils access books by a wide range of authors and challenging books. They respond well to their teachers' choices.

Year 4 pupils identified complex vocabulary and grammar in a book about Shackleton's adventure in the Antarctic, for example. By Year 6 pupils are confident they have all the necessary reading skills to tackle any text.

Teachers understand the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

There is some helpful extra teaching in place to overcome the difficulties these pupils may experience. This might take place before, during or after the lesson. Pupils with SEND benefit from being in the same lesson as the rest of the class.

However, when reading and writing, classroom learning activities do not reliably meet their needs well.

Pupils learn science, history and geography through carefully planned and engaging projects. These cover what pupils need to learn in a logical order.

Pupils greatly enjoy the visits and visitors associated with their work. Learning subject-specific vocabulary enables pupils to talk confidently about their ideas. Teachers help pupils to remember what they are learning.

Pupils are becoming adept at recalling facts and information. They like to do this. However, pupils do not develop as thoroughly the skills they use in their learning.

This means that pupils do not build fully on all they have previously learned, to help them with their future learning.

Leaders successfully promote pupils' personal development. They provide a large number of interesting clubs, including some that pupils have chosen.

Pupils are proud to represent their school at sports events and to take part in performances. Parents, carers and pupils appreciate what the school offers. If pupils need help to make sense of their emotions, they get it.

Staff go out of their way to include disadvantaged and other vulnerable pupils in school life.

Teachers have a thorough knowledge of the subjects they teach. This is because leaders develop staff expertise.

Staff say that leaders have created a strong team. They maintain a sharp oversight of everyone's well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff are vigilant and create a strong culture of care. They are quick to spot any concerns about a pupil's welfare or safeguarding. The designated leader ensures that pupils and families have timely support.

There is comprehensive training for staff and governors, in line with their responsibilities. Leaders are alert to any risk factors in the community. Staff ensure that pupils know how to keep themselves safe when they are using technology.

Governors support leaders to ensure that effective recruitment checks are in place for staff and volunteers.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders have thought carefully about how the curriculum content in each subject should be sequenced and they keep this work under review. However, in science and some of the foundation subjects, planning does not explicitly help teachers to focus sharply on how pupils will build subject-specific skills, knowledge and understanding.

Leaders need to continue refining the curriculum so that pupils have more opportunities to apply and develop fully, over time, what they know and can do. . Pupils with SEND benefit from the extra help they receive to be fully included in the curriculum.

On occasion, they do not have well-matched learning tasks or resources for literacy. Leaders need to ensure that the needs of pupils with SEND are met precisely so that they consistently achieve as well as they can.

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 a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 26–27 April 2016.

Also at this postcode