St Anne’s (Stanley) Junior Mixed and Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Anne's (Stanley) Junior Mixed and Infant School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at St Anne's (Stanley) School thrive in a supportive and caring environment. Pupils understand the importance of responsibility.

For example, older pupils said that they enjoy helping younger pupils, including children in the early years, to settle in well. The supportive relationships that staff have fostered with pupils help to ensure that children and pupils feel happy and safe in school.

Pupils value their education, and they work hard in lessons.

They respond positively to leaders' high expectations and they achieve well. Pupils said... that staff willingly help them with their learning.

Pupils are polite, well mannered and respectful towards each other.

They behave well. Pupils are taught a range of strategies to help them to regulate their own emotions. This helps pupils to become increasingly confident and resilient.

Leaders are thorough when they respond to incidents of bullying. Pupils are confident that leaders and teachers deal with any bullying swiftly and effectively.

Pupils enjoy taking part in a wide range of extra-curricular clubs, such as judo, gymnastics, art, choir and cookery.

Pupils benefit from many educational visits during their time at school. These experiences are fun and memorable. They also help pupils to deepen their understanding and bring the curriculum to life.

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

Leaders prioritise the teaching of reading. They have ensured that all staff have received appropriate training to enable them to deliver the phonics programme well. Staff support children and pupils, who fall behind, to catch up quickly.

Children and pupils have access to suitable books that help them to practise the sounds that they have learned. They are also exposed to a wide range of texts as they move through school. For example, pupils enjoy taking the 'buddy box' home.

Here, teachers provide recommended reads and a hot chocolate for pupils to enjoy outside of school. By the end of key stage 2, most pupils become fluent and confident readers.

Leaders have designed an ambitious and well-organised curriculum from the early years to Year 6.

Leaders have identified the essential knowledge that they expect children and pupils to learn over time. For example, pupils in Year 4 learn about historical rulers. This learning builds well on pupils' historical knowledge from Year 3.

Added to this, teachers expose pupils to new vocabulary and revisit this vocabulary regularly during lessons.

In most subjects, teachers use assessment strategies well to check and ensure that pupils develop a rich body of subject knowledge.

Even though subject leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum, in a small number of subjects, leaders do not check sufficiently well whether teachers are delivering the curriculum effectively.

This means that these subject leaders are not as clear about where pupils have potential gaps in their knowledge or how well pupils are learning the curriculum.

Leaders have suitable systems to identify pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) quickly. Teachers make adaptations to the delivery of the curriculum so that pupils with SEND can learn well alongside their peers.

Leaders work effectively with external agencies to provide specialist support for those pupils who need it.

Children in the Reception Year get off to a flying start. Adults model expectations well to children, helping them to understand the school's rules and values.

Children in the early years settle quickly into routines. Across the school, pupils behave well in lessons. Learning is rarely disrupted.

Staff encourage pupils to be aspirational. Pupils said that they learn about self-empowerment. They also learn about different faiths and cultures.

Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. Leaders strive to develop active citizens who contribute well to society. For example, pupils recently held an event in school 'buy a cake, take a coat' to help those in need.

Governors understand their statutory responsibilities well. They are mindful of the well-being of staff and leaders. Staff said that leaders are approachable and considerate of their workload.

However, governors do not have a secure enough understanding of how well pupils are learning the curriculum in the foundation subjects. This sometimes hampers how well governors hold leaders to account for the quality of education that pupils receive.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

All staff have received up-to-date safeguarding training. Leaders' safeguarding procedures are strong. Leaders work closely with parents and carers, and external agencies, to ensure that vulnerable pupils and their families get appropriate, timely support.

Pupils said that the drama productions and regular workshops that they attend help them to understand the importance of keeping themselves safe. Pupils learn about online safety through their computing lessons.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, leaders have not checked how well teachers are delivering the curriculum.

As a result, leaders do not have a clear understanding of how well pupils are learning in these subjects. Leaders should ensure that these subject leaders are equipped well to check that teachers are delivering the curriculum as they intend. ? Governors are not sufficiently well informed about how pupils are learning the curriculum in the foundation subjects.

Sometimes, this hinders them from holding leaders fully to account for the quality of education that pupils receive. Governors should ensure that they have the information that they need to challenge leaders effectively.

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 December 2016.