All Saints Church of England Junior Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

There is a strong sense of family at this school. Pupils display the Christian values they have been taught.

The school provides a warm and nurturing environment for pupils to succeed. Pupils are very happy and greet visitors with a smile. Pupils feel safe, and staff are tenacious in ensuring that they remain so.

Pupils make good progress. The curriculum is well designed, and pupils are taught by well-trained teachers. The school is still developing some aspects of the curriculum, and leaders know what needs to improve.

Pupils behave very well in lessons and are unfailingly polite. They show respect to adults and enjoy learning. Pupils have good relationships... with teachers.

Bullying is very rare and is swiftly dealt with if it occurs.

Pupils participate in a range of different clubs, such as Greek mythology, 'maths magicians', curling and choir. Pupils have opportunities to take on leadership responsibilities, such as membership of the caring squad, which supports other pupils and keeps the environment clean.

Pupils proudly represent the school as part of the pupil parliament. They are helping to improve the school and have recently worked on providing personal reflection spaces around the school site.

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

The school has planned an ambitious and inclusive curriculum.

Pupils study a broad range of subjects that prepare them well for secondary education. The curriculum is well constructed and sequenced logically. Important knowledge is broken down into digestible chunks, which helps pupils to learn new information.

This allows pupils to build their knowledge and make progress. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are very well supported and fully included in lessons. Pupils with SEND have their needs quickly identified and receive appropriate support in lessons.

The school ensures that important 'sticky' knowledge is identified at the start of each topic. Pupils are assessed regularly to gauge how well they are acquiring this knowledge. In some lessons, teachers do not identify gaps in pupil's knowledge or understanding as well as they could.

When this happens, teaching does not precisely address the gaps in knowledge that some pupils have.

Teachers use different techniques to help pupils retain knowledge. For example, lessons usually start with a 'memory lane' task that links previous learning to the current topic.

However, in some lessons, work is not matched to pupils' prior knowledge and understanding. Elsewhere, sometimes pupils are not clear about what specific vocabulary means. This slows the progress that some pupils make through the curriculum.

The school has developed a strong culture of reading. Reading is celebrated and promoted at every opportunity. For example, classes are named after famous authors, and pupils can win raffle prizes for frequent reading.

Pupils read each day and talk enthusiastically about the books they are reading. Pupils who are weaker at reading are very well supported. They receive additional reading time and intensive one-to-one interventions.

As a result, these pupils rapidly make progress with their phonics knowledge and fluency.

The school has high expectations of behaviour and has established a culture of respect. Pupils are very well behaved in lessons.

They are attentive and enjoy learning. They are polite, cheerful and respectful towards teachers and visitors. Most pupils attend school regularly, but there are some who do not.

Leaders are not complacent and have plans to further improve the attendance of all pupils.

Pupils benefit from a well-structured programme of personal development. They are taught in age-appropriate ways about healthy relationships, how to keep themselves safe online, the meaning of consent and the changes they can expect during puberty.

Pupils participate in engaging lessons that encourage debate and discussion. Pupils know and understand Christian values well. They are also taught about fundamental British values and different world faiths, although some pupils struggle to recall detailed knowledge of these.

Pupils have opportunities to engage in a variety of clubs, extra-curricular activities and leadership positions.

Leaders have made rapid improvements to the school and have high ambitions for pupils. The trust provides the school with high-quality support, and staff are well trained for their roles.

Staff enjoy working at the school and consider leaders to be mindful of their workload and well-being. Governors and trustees have a good understanding of the school and provide clear strategic leadership.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the work set does not consistently match pupils' prior knowledge or support pupils to develop their subject-specific vocabulary. As a result, some pupils do not build knowledge from prior learning and commit new information into their long-term memory as well as they could. The school should ensure that the work set matches prior knowledge and that pupil's use of subject-specific vocabulary is developed.

• In some subjects, teachers do not identify gaps in pupils' knowledge and understanding. This means that teaching is not targeted at addressing these gaps in pupils' knowledge. The school should ensure that assessment is used consistently across the curriculum to identify gaps in pupils' knowledge and understanding.

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