Wakefield St Johns Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior and Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Wakefield St Johns Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior and Infant School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are thriving at this successful school. Christian teachings are at the heart of the curriculum.

Gospel teachings underpin the school rules. Many parents and carers were pupils here themselves. This contributes to the strong 'family feel' of the school community.

The trusting relationships between staff and pupils help everyone to feel happy and safe.

There is a much higher than average proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language in this school. Numbers are increasing as the school warmly wel...comes pupils from asylum-seeking families.

The school takes every opportunity to celebrate pupils' different cultures and faith traditions.

The school has a good reputation within the wider community for welcoming pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The proportion of pupils with education, health and care plans (EHC plans) is much higher than average.

The school has equally high expectations for all pupils to achieve well. Most pupils are achieving as well as they should.

The school has equally high expectations of pupils' behaviour.

The school rules are 'display a positive attitude, be respectful and be safe'. Pupils know these rules and they stick to them. Pupils play well together and behave well, including at breaktimes and lunchtime.

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

Staff visited children's pre-school settings in the summer term before they joined the school. Nursery teachers passed on information about children with SEND during these visits. The school adapted the early years curriculum to meet these children's additional needs straight away.

This helped children with SEND get off to a good start in September.

All children in Reception Year began learning to read straight away as soon as they started school at the beginning of term. Children settled quickly into the routine for phonics lessons.

They are developing good listening and attention skills.

The school introduced a new curriculum for early reading two years ago. The curriculum is fully embedded now.

Teachers check that pupils' reading books are well matched to the sounds that they know. Although most pupils read as well as they should for their age, the majority of struggling readers are pupils who are learning to speak English as an additional language. Understanding the most successful strategies to help these pupils learn has not been prioritised in the school's training programme.

The school is not adapting the curriculum well enough for pupils who are learning to speak English as an additional language. Too few of these pupils are catching up quickly enough with their peers.

The ambitious curriculum for mathematics is implemented well.

Its effectiveness is reflected in the good outcomes that pupils achieve in statutory mathematics assessments. The school provides more practical work to help pupils with SEND understand mathematical concepts. This is helping pupils with SEND to make good progress in mathematics.

The school has reduced workload by changing the policy on providing feedback to pupils about their learning. The school now checks pupils' understanding during lessons. As a result, pupils' misconceptions are corrected straight away.

The school has developed the curriculum in all subjects using a consistent model. There is a strong emphasis on recapping pupils' prior learning at the start of every lesson. The school uses specialist resources recommended by the local authority, or by special schools, to adapt the curriculum for pupils with SEND.

These resources are used consistently well in all subjects and in all year groups so that pupils with SEND are very familiar with them. This maximises the impact of these resources on improving pupils' communication and interaction skills over time. This is improving the rate of progress that pupils with SEND are making in all curriculum subjects.

Although careful thought has been given to presenting information suitably for pupils with SEND, the school misses opportunities in all curriculum subjects to present labels around classrooms and prompts on displays in the first languages spoken by many pupils. For pupils at the earliest stages of learning to speak English as an additional language, this overloads their working memory.

Pupils are extremely interested in their lessons, and they behave consistently well.

Poor behaviour very rarely disrupts learning. Pupils with EHC plans have a personalised curriculum each. These include sensory breaks if necessary.

This helps to ensure that pupils with EHC plans remain calm to access their learning.

The curriculum for pupils' personal development is a strength. The school offers a wide range of after-school clubs.

Older pupils have age-appropriate discussions about moral and ethical issues. For example, after the Spanish team won the Women's World Cup, older pupils discussed the post-match ceremony. Pupils debated power imbalance, gender and the importance of consent.

Pupils are learning about healthy relationships.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum is not adapted well enough to meet the needs of pupils who speak English as an additional language.

Many of these pupils are not achieving as well as their peers. The school should provide training to ensure that all staff have the knowledge and skills they need to adapt the curriculum well to meet the needs of all pupils who speak English as an additional language.

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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in September 2012.