Setting

Mrs P Howell Chiltern Primary School Chiltern Way Duston Northampton NN5 6BW

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Primary School

Thank you for the help which you and your staff gave when I inspected your school on 4 May 2011, for the time you gave to our phone discussions and for the information which you provided during the inspection. Please pass on my thanks to the Chair of the Governing Body for finding the time to talk to me.

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Primary School

Since the last inspection, no staff have left the school. There are now 203 pupils on roll, three more than at the last inspection. There are increasing numbers of pupils joining the school from minority ethnic groups. Now, just over two thirds of the pupils are White British, with the other third made up of Asian, Black African and Eastern European pupils. The numbers of pupils arriving or leaving the school at other than the normal times is increasing due to the oversubscription of town schools and families being relocated to the outskirts of Northampton. Since the last inspection, 24 pupils have joined the school and 15 have left. New arrivals often have little or no English. Attainment on entry to the Reception Year is declining each year.

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Primary School

As a result of the inspection on 23-24 September 2009, the school was asked to address the most important areas for improvement which are set out in the annex to this letter.

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Primary School

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time the school has made satisfactory progress in making improvements and satisfactory progress in demonstrating a better capacity for sustained improvement.

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Primary School

Since the last inspection, attainment at Key Stage 1 has declined each year and is now broadly in line with the national average, reflecting the lower attainment of children on entry to the school and those joining the school who have little or no English. In the 2010 national tests, Year 6 pupils attained average standards in Serco Inspections Cedar House 21 William Street Edgbaston Birmingham B15 1LH Ofsted T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Serco amelia.baker@serco.com Direct T 0121 683 3888 September 2010 Page 2 English and above average standards in mathematics. There has been a stronger focus on monitoring the attainment of individual pupils and now every pupil’s progress can clearly be explained. The last inspection identified that attainment in reading was a strength of the school. Now, attainment in reading is broadly similar to that in other schools due to the increase in the number of pupils who arrive in the

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Primary School

school with little or no English. Progress in Key Stage 2 is beginning to accelerate, especially in mathematics, and standards were higher in 2010, when 83% of pupils attained the national average in both English and mathematics compared with 72% the previous year. This is the result of closer monitoring of pupils’ progress data by senior staff, demonstrating a strengthening of the capacity to improve. The school was asked to increase the number of pupils attaining higher levels, and now there are similar numbers of pupils attaining Level 5 in English and mathematics compared with the national average. One of the issues in the past had been the inconsistent progress made by some Key Stage 2 classes and the need for catch-up in Year 6. Progress is now more consistent across the school due to more detailed data tracking how well pupils are performing; earlier intervention when pupils are falling behind; and the additional support that has been provided for Key Stage 2 staff.

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Primary School

The marking of pupils work is now more consistent across the school. Staff all use the same marking system to show pupils how they can improve their work. Pupils explained that their work is marked regularly and that they find teachers’ comments helpful in knowing how to make progress. They say that the comments are more useful in mathematics than in English because they are given extra work to practise the mathematical skills that they find more difficult.

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Primary School

Lesson observations by senior staff are now much more rigorous in what they set out to monitor. The information gathered from monitoring activity is used to support individual members of staff or to prompt additional whole-staff training. For example, the monitoring of teaching identified that many of the staff were unsure about how to make accurate progress judgements, especially at the start of Key Stage 2. The ensuing training focused on this issue and now there is much more consistency and understanding throughout the school. Individual Key Stage 2 staff have been supported with their monitoring of pupils’ progress. Termly progress meetings have quickly identified pupils who may be falling behind or who are not sufficiently challenged. There is now greater potential for pupils to make quicker progress.

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Primary School

Six lessons were observed during this inspection. All staff were seen with the exception of Reception, where the class was out on a school visit. In the best lessons pupils are very well behaved, engaged in their learning and are excited to talk about their work. There is a clear learning focus for the lesson and questions are carefully directed to support and extend learning. In the less successful lessons teachers talk too much, the learning objective for the lesson is not sufficiently clear and there are not enough planned opportunities for the teacher to review the learning, and measure how much pupils have learned. September 2010 Page 3 The support provided by the local authority and other partners working with the school has been effective. Good examples are the support for English and mathematics, and training to develop the skills of senior staff to monitor, support and improve teaching effectively.

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Primary School

I hope that you have found the inspection helpful in promoting improvement in your school. This letter will be posted on the Ofsted website.

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place in September 2009

 Increase the rate of progress and raise levels of attainment at the end of Year 6 by ensuring that:

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place in September 2009

- lessons consistently challenge the more able to reach the higher levels of which they are capable

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place in September 2009

- recent developments in marking are robustly implemented so as to provide teachers with the information needed for planning more accurately to meet the pupils’ needs, and pupils with clearer guidance on how to improve their work

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place in September 2009

- the monitoring of teaching is more sharply focused on the resulting learning and progress for pupils.

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