Freemans Endowed Church of England Junior Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 19 November 2024

Pupils love coming to this school and attend well. The school makes sure that all pupils feel part of the 'big school family'. Parents and carers think highly of the school. They typically comment on the school's high expectations, supportive staff and family values. Parents especially value how well their child settles when they join in Year 3. Since the nearby infant school came under the same leadership, there is a smoother transition. Pupils from both schools take part in joint events. Leaders have aligned the curriculums and the ways both schools work. This helps pupils' learning to link coherently. Pupils' behaviour is exemplary. Pupils are incredibly focused in lessons. They listen carefully and continually try their best. They persevere with complex challenges. Pupils take care with their work, and it is always presented well. Pupils are incredibly polite and courteous. They demonstrate high levels of respect. Pupils say that everyone is accepted and treated with kindness and understanding in their school. Pupils play well together at social times. They quickly put away the equipment and line up so no lesson time is lost. The school is ambitious and is determined that all pupils receive the best possible education. Pupils mostly achieve well.

What the school should improve

• The school has not ensured that pupils' misconceptions and errors are addressed consistently well. This can sometimes cause insecurities or lead to emerging gaps in pupils' knowledge. The school should identify common or repeated mistakes and ensure that pupils' misconceptions and important errors are resolved effectively.
• For a few pupils still at the earlier stages of gaining fluency with reading, the school has not ensured that they practise reading with books at the right level of difficulty. Occasionally, reading books are too difficult for these pupils to read with enough accuracy to make sense of what they are reading. The school should ensure that reading books are appropriately matched to these pupils' phonics knowledge and fluency so they can become confident and fluent readers.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)