School Vision and Ofsted

Recent Ofsted Report

Dear Carers and Parents,

As you are aware, the school underwent a full Ofsted inspection on 2nd and 3rd July 2019. We would like to thank everyone who provided feedback to the Ofsted inspectors.  It is critically important that you are free to provide your views to the school and to those who assess us. 

We have now received the final report, which is posted below. We recommend you read the entire report.

In summary, Ofsted concluded that Exhall Junior School requires improvement in most key areas. Obviously, all of the staff and governors are disappointed by this outcome. We want you to know that we are all committed to delivering the improvements that Ofsted identified as necessary.  We believe that we have the staff and resources to make these improvements.

This report focuses on what we need to do to improve further, including:

• Ensuring that the quality of teaching is uniform across all year groups so that all pupils make strong progress;
• Ensuring greater consistency in teaching across the school and delivering greater challenge to pupils;
• Improving the behaviour of some pupils, in particular through raising the standards of expectation and fairly applying the school’s behaviour policy to address inappropriate or intolerant behaviour; and
• Improving attendance and punctuality, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.

As the report notes, we had already identified many of these challenges and had taken immediate action to make the necessary improvements. We shall continue to deliver the solutions we have identified and we expect them to evidence further improvements before the next Ofsted inspection. However, we recognise that we must do more and so, since the inspection, we have developed plans to ensure further improvements. We are confident that, with your help, we can secure the improvements necessary to address Ofsted’s concerns. 

One particular area of concern for the inspectors, which we are sure will also concern parents and carers, was reported poor behaviour by a small number of pupils, including the use of inappropriate language. Whilst this poor behaviour was not actually seen by the inspectors and does not reflect a widespread problem in Exhall we will take all action necessary to address the concerns raised. We firmly believe that everyone should feel safe - students, carers, parents and staff alike. Steps are already in place to ensure that a culture of safety is felt by all, and we shall build on that over the coming year by reviewing and vigorously applying the necessary policies.

We should all recognise that Ofsted recognised that the school does some things well, including:

• Reading – this is a strength of the school. Pupils enjoy reading and make good progress so that they do well in the national tests at the end of Year 6;
• Staff feel well supported by senior leaders and value the training they have received this year. They want the best for the pupils they teach;
• Governors understand their roles and are well informed. They support leaders well and have the skills to hold them to account effectively; and
• Leaders are diligent in their safeguarding duties. The safeguarding culture is strong.

Please be assured, we are committed to doing our very best for each and every one of our students, and the Ofsted findings will serve to give us even greater drive to build on our strengths and effectively tackle the identified improvement priorities.

Ofsted Reports

Please find below the link to Ofsted's information about our school including our Inspection Reports:

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/21/125585

Ofsted Parent View

Please find below the link to Ofsted's 'Parent View' website. This enables parents to provide Ofsted with feedback about our school: https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parent-view-results/survey/result/19142/current

DfE Performance Data

The School Data Dashboard was closed on September 30th and  the Department for Education (DfE) has released the school comparison tool. It can be used to compare performance data across schools and colleges. 

The new service can be used by anyone to access Exhall performance data, please follow this link to find schools in England and view school performance, characteristics and spend per pupil data performance data http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/