St James’ Church of England Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school is proud of its diversity. A comment typical of staff was 'together, we are a family'. Pupils are warmly welcomed into the school with a hearty free breakfast.

Pupils see the school as a safe place. It is calm across the day and pupils are well-mannered. Pupils try hard and concentrate on their work.

Pupils feel proud when they earn 'golden tickets' for working hard.

However, leaders have not ensured that the curriculum is implemented well enough. Teachers want pupils to do well, but pupils do not gain the essential knowledge they need to be well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Many pupils need to catch up in reading.
<...br/>Pupils know that kindness is an important value. They show kindness to each other in lessons and in the playground.

Pupils from different communities the school serves are friendly with each other. They say bullying doesn't happen. Most pupils attend well and enjoy it here.

Teachers arrange visitors and activities to spark pupils' interest and extend the curriculum. During the inspection, all pupils visited the 'Life Bus' to help them know more about staying safe.

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

Senior leaders have not made checks on how well the curriculum is delivered, and so they are unaware that pupils are not learning as well as they could.

There are curriculum plans in place for every subject area. However, some subject plans are more effective than others. New leaders do not have clear plans in place about how to improve the quality of education pupils receive.

The quality of education pupils receive is not good.

The reading curriculum is built around high-quality books. Teachers encourage pupils to read deeply and gain an understanding of what they read.

However, the school's approach to teaching pupils who are at an early stage of reading is not effective. Staff are not well trained in the teaching of phonics. Staff do not have the correct subject knowledge to provide pupils with the right support.

A relatively high number of pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), English as an additional language, or those who are disadvantaged are not catching up quickly enough. The books that these pupils read do not help them practise the sounds that they already know. This hinders pupils' ability to read words and sentences accurately and holds them back in other subjects.

Some teaching plans are overloaded. It is not clear what essential knowledge pupils need to be taught or by when they should know it. Pupils recall the interesting activities they do.

However, they do not gain or remember all the necessary knowledge they should.In subjects such as computing and mathematics, the curriculum plans are ambitious and well organised. Teachers usually deliver the content clearly.

Pupils, including those with SEND, remember and make links between knowledge increasingly well, particularly in computing. However, leaders' recent actions to prioritise pupils' oral language and vocabulary development are at a very early stage. As a result, pupils struggle to explain their thinking clearly when they are required to use technical mathematical vocabulary.

So, pupils' gaps in vocabulary remain.

Pupils behave well in lessons. Leaders' actions to ensure that pupils attend well are paying off.

There are strong systems in place to support pupils' good attendance.

Leaders are keen to foster pupils' ambition. Pastoral support is strong.

Older pupils take their responsibilities as prefects and librarians seriously. Widespread clubs and activities, when able to operate, are well attended. Leaders help pupils to live in their diverse community with understanding and tolerance.

They plan visits to both the church and the mosque.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff have up-to-date training and understand the range of risks to pupils' safety.

They are vigilant and raise concerns with leaders promptly. An improved system is now in place to ensure that leaders' actions to seek help for families are clearly recorded. Appropriate checks are made on staff prior to employment at the school.

Parents value the support they had from the school during lockdown. There is high mobility in the community. Leaders promptly check on the safety of pupils not in school.

Pupils have a good knowledge of risk when working or playing online. Teachers refresh this knowledge regularly.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Senior leaders do not have a full and accurate picture of the quality of education pupils receive.

Teaching is not providing pupils with all the knowledge they need to be well prepared for their next stage of education. Senior leaders need to develop their knowledge of the implementation and impact of the curriculum so that they can improve the quality of education pupils experience. ? Staff are not sufficiently trained in the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics to know how to teach consistently the ability to read accurately and fluently.

A relatively high proportion of pupils, some of whom are disadvantaged, have SEND, or are pupils who speak English as an additional language, need to catch up in reading. Their inability to read well is holding them back when accessing some subject content. Leaders need to ensure that staff receive the appropriate training in the teaching of phonics so that pupils catch up.

• Pupils do not always understand the mathematical vocabulary that teachers use. Leaders should ensure that the development mathematical vocabulary is prioritised and there is a systematic approach to teaching and assessing pupils' knowledge of this aspect of the mathematics curriculum. ? Not all curriculum plans specifically identify essential knowledge.

Plans are overloaded and teachers cannot recognise or prioritise the most important content and vocabulary that pupils must learn. This leads to pupils not being able to retain or recall knowledge accurately. Leaders should sharpen curricular plans so that teaching becomes better matched to essential knowledge and pupils remember more.