Killamarsh Junior School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 28 January 2025

At Killamarsh Junior, pupils feel happy and well cared for. It is a friendly and welcoming place. Pupils feel safe. They talk maturely about the positive changes in behaviour such as walking very orderly through school and the reward system of points. Pupils know how adults support them in the L.E.A.R.N.E.R approach. This has helped the school to robustly address previous issues that had been highlighted as areas for improvement. This is a school that has experienced significant turbulence in the last few years. New leadership has resulted in recent improvements in many aspects of the school's work. There is still more work to do in ensuring all pupils learn well across all subjects as there are clear areas of high expectations within the school. The school encourages pupils' views about their school. School councillors are elected by their peers. They are passionate about helping others and their community. For example, pupils raised money for a hospital to support the treatment of other children. Pupils also support the British Legion. Pupils benefit from going on trips in the local area and further afield, for example visiting nearby Creswell Craggs to learn about the Stone Age. They also enjoy their residential experiences. Parents and carers, staff and pupils all speak particularly highly of the new leadership. The community is proud of its school.

What the school should improve

• There is inconsistency in the delivery of the planned curriculum and the use of assessment. As a result, not all pupils learn the planned curriculum as well as they should. The school must ensure that the curriculum is implemented consistently well, and that checks about pupils' learning support the identification of the next steps in learning. This is in pursuit of enabling all pupils to know, understand and do more.
• Some teachers do not always ensure that pupils produce high-quality work. They do not check that pupils spell keywords correctly or that they use correct punctuation. This means that some pupils persist with inaccurate spelling, which affects the accuracy of their writing. Teachers should ensure that pupils' work in books is of a high quality by checking that they are spelling correctly, setting work out neatly and using correct punctuation.

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