Southwater Junior Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. The new headteacher provides a clear direction for the academy, fully supported by governors and all staff, focusing on improving pupils' progress and attainment. Teaching and pupils' achievement are monitored rigorously.

This information is used most effectively to help pupils attain higher standards. Pupils make good progress and attainment is above, and sometimes well above, average by the time they leave at the age of 11. A few pupils' attainment in mathematics and English is exceptionally high.

Groups of pupils whose circumstances may make them vulnerable make similar progress to others. Teaching is good with some that is outstandin...g. Staff value highly the very effective training provided for them.

Specialist teaching enables pupils to make substantial progress in music and other subjects. Behaviour is good overall and excellent in Year 6. Pupils greatly enjoy school and have positive attitudes to learning.

Above average attendance and good punctuality reflect the effective partnership established between the academy and parents and carers. Pupils feel very safe. Strong and successful leadership and management result in increasingly effective teaching, while also providing an excellent range of clubs and activities.

Governance is highly effective. It is not yet an outstanding school because: A legacy of weaker learning over time, particularly in spelling, still restricts what pupils can achieve. The proportion of outstanding teaching is not yet high enough.

In a minority of lessons, work is rushed so pupils do not have time to complete work to a high standard; at other times a slow pace of work results in insufficient challenge for some pupils. Arrangements for transfer between schools at age seven and 11 are not yet sufficiently robust in terms of curriculum and assessment. Not all subjects have sufficient curriculum time to enable pupils to attain the highest standards.

Information about this school

Southwater Junior Academy is larger than the average sized primary school. Southwater Junior School became an academy in July 2011.When its predecessor school, Southwater Junior School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be outstanding overall.

The headteacher joined the academy at the start of the current academic year. A well-below-average proportion of pupils are eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in local authority care, pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and the children of families in the armed forces. Most pupils are White British, with English as their home language.

Very few pupils, from a range of ethnic backgrounds, speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils supported through school action is broadly average, as is the proportion supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs. The academy meets the government's floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in English and mathematics.

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