Setting

Aviation House 125 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0300 123 1231 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs A Griffiths Headteacher Kingsley St John's and Norley C of E School Federation Hollow Lane Kingsley Frodsham WA6 8EF

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Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of your staff and pupils, during my visit on 19 and 20 January 2011 to look at the leadership of the federation.

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The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the names of the contributing institutions but individual institutions will not be identified in the main text without their consent.

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The evidence used to inform the judgements included: interviews with the federation’s senior leaders, governors, staff, parents, pupils, local authority and diocesan representatives; and the scrutiny of relevant documentation.

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The effectiveness of the federation leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement is good.

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Outcomes

 Since federation, senior leaders and staff have successfully maintained relatively high levels of pupils’ attainment in both schools. The large majority of pupils make good progress in their learning. In some years, pupil cohorts are very small and some contain a high proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and this makes meaningful year-on-year comparisons difficult. However, accurate assessment information shows that pupils’ attainment across the federation is rising steadily.  Behaviour continues to reflect recent inspection outcomes and ranges from good to outstanding. Pupils’ acceptance of responsibility for their own conduct and the welfare of others is noteworthy and contributes markedly to the calm atmosphere which pervades both schools.  Pupils’ attendance has been maintained at above average levels.

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Provision

 The quality of teaching has benefited from some cross-federation work and the sharing of staff expertise, however, there is scope for more. This has led to improvements in provision, with higher pupil attainment in mathematics the most notable outcome.  Joint curriculum planning has enabled a limited range of shared activities between schools although much further work is required if pupils are to benefit as much as they could. This has included, for example, pupils’ engagement in ‘themed days’ and joint curriculum and residential visits.  The quality of care, guidance and support continues to be outstanding and has been promoted successfully since federation. Exceptional levels of care ensure that pupils have confidence in staff and the safety of their surroundings.  Clear and informative feedback matched with detailed monitoring contributes well to pupils’ learning and progress. It ensures they have a

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Provision

clear sense of their achievements and how to improve their work further.

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Leadership and management

 Along with senior staff and governors, you provide clear direction for the federation. Collectively, you enjoy the full commitment of the workforce and morale is good. Ambition is high and is reflected in pupils’ challenging targets. You have skilfully managed the demands of leading both schools. Consequently, the federation has been securely established and enjoys the support of the large majority of those parents who made their views known.  Governance structures continue to evolve. Although the premises and budget committees act separately for each school, all other governor functions now focus on federation-wide matters.  Self-evaluation processes are rigorous and routine. Senior leaders demonstrate an accurate understanding of each school’s performance. Carefully crafted improvement plans reflect priorities well. The recently revised draft federation strategic plan (2011 – 13) offers a clear perspective

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Leadership and management

from which future decisions about the federation can be determined.  Staffing instability at Kingsley St John’s is being successfully resolved and is proving beneficial in improving pupils’ learning and progress.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 extending the use of shared staff expertise across the federation to promote improvement  extending opportunities for pupils to engage in joint projects and activities and to work in larger groups so that they can benefit from sharing experiences and learning from each other.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

I hope that these observations are useful as you continue to develop the leadership of the federation.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

As I explained previously, a copy of this letter will be sent to your local authority, the Director of Education for the Diocese of Chester and will be published on the Ofsted website. It may be used to inform decisions about any future inspection.

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