Setting

Miss J Wardle Executive headteacher Edgewood Primary and Nursery School Edgewood Drive Hucknall Nottingham NG15 6HX

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Nursery School

Following my visit with Clive Kempton HMI, to your school on 13 December 2011, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings.

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Nursery School

The inspection was the second monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in February 2011. The full list of the areas for improvement which were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached and the main judgements are set out below.

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Nursery School

Progress since being subject to special measures – satisfactory.

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Nursery School

Progress since previous monitoring inspection – satisfactory.

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Nursery School

Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed.

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Nursery School

This letter and monitoring inspection report will be posted on the Ofsted website. I am copying this letter and the monitoring inspection report to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body and the Corporate Director for Children, Families and Cultural Services for Nottinghamshire.

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Nursery School

Jeremy Spencer Her Majesty’s Inspector Serco Inspections Cedar House 21 William Street Edgbaston Birmingham B15 1LH T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Serco Direct T 0121 683 3888 Annex

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place in February 2011

 Raise pupils’ level of attainment in writing and mathematics by:  improving pupils’ sentence construction, punctuation and spelling, especially in Years 3 to 6  developing pupils’ abilities to use and understand mathematical language, solve mathematical problems and calculate accurately  ensuring that there is greater emphasis on developing pupils’ skills in literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology across the curriculum.

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place in February 2011

 Ensure that there is a higher proportion of good teaching by:  increasing the pace and level of challenge in lessons  making certain that work set is always carefully matched to pupils’ needs  using marking and target setting more effectively in order to make sure that pupils know exactly how to improve their work.

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place in February 2011

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by:  ensuring that the monitoring of teaching and learning is regular, rigorous and involves checking the quality of pupils’ work as well as formal monitoring of the quality of lessons  developing the skills of senior leaders so that they can support the headteacher more effectively and make a better contribution to school improvement.

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Evidence

Inspectors observed the school’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the executive headteacher, the head of school, senior leaders, subject leaders, a representative from the local authority, representatives from the governing body and a representative from a neighbouring partner school. Inspectors observed 13 lessons, taught by 13 teachers, and spoke to four different groups of pupils.

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Context

Since the previous monitoring inspection, the headteacher and the interim deputy headteacher have left the school. A new executive headteacher and a new deputy headteacher have been appointed. The deputy headteacher has subsequently been appointed as head of school. The executive headteacher also works in another local school. An assistant headteacher, who was on sick leave at the time of the last inspection, has now returned to the school on a part-time basis.

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Pupils’ achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning

National tests in the summer 2011 demonstrate that pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics remains below national expectations. However, current school data and lesson observations show that pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are beginning to make improved progress. This is due to the stronger focus of the new executive headteacher and head of school upon improving the quality of teaching and learning, and tracking the pupils’ progress more rigorously.

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Pupils’ achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning

The school has placed an increased emphasis on improving the quality of pupils’ writing. Pupils now take more pride in the presentation of their work because teachers have higher expectations of them. The quality of handwriting is improving and spelling tests are a regular feature of the curriculum, especially in Key Stage 2. There are now more opportunities for pupils to write in other subjects, for example in history. There are increased opportunities for pupils’ extended writing and more frequent teacher assessment. However, pupils still do not write enough in their books or have enough opportunities or to write in different genres. Their spelling is weak and strategies to improve spelling across the school remain underdeveloped.

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Pupils’ achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning

In order to develop pupils’ abilities to understand mathematical language, ‘working walls’ displaying key mathematical vocabulary are consistently visible in all classrooms. These are frequently referred to in lessons and support learning effectively. A new commercial scheme of work for mathematics has been introduced. Staff are now more confident to augment the scheme of work with their own ideas and resources. The subject leadership of mathematics has been reviewed and is now the responsibility of the head of school, supported by a team of teachers and higher level teaching assistants. School data suggests that an increasing proportion of pupils are now making accelerated progress in mathematics and are closing the gap on their peers nationally. Discussions with pupils as part of this monitoring visit revealed that there remain significant issues with their ability to calculate quickly and accurately and also in their basic knowledge and recall of multiplication tables. There

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Pupils’ achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning

are still not enough opportunities for pupils to develop numeracy and information and communication technology skills across the curriculum.

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Pupils’ achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning

Progress since the last monitoring inspection on the areas for improvement:

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Pupils’ achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning

 raise pupils’ levels of attainment in writing and mathematics – satisfactory.

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Other relevant pupil outcomes

Attendance has improved since the last monitoring inspection due to the school’s policy of refusing to authorise holidays in term time and a stronger school focus on rewarding good attendance. Current attendance figures since September 2011 are 95.7%, higher than the similar period last year. Pupils’ punctuality is better than in the same period last year and fewer pupils have been late for school.

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Other relevant pupil outcomes

There have been two fixed-term exclusions in the autumn term. Although a new behaviour policy has been introduced, its impact has been limited because pupils can receive too many warnings before action is taken by senior staff. On some occasions, the poor behaviour of a minority of pupils still has a negative impact on the pace of learning in lessons.

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The effectiveness of provision

The quality of teaching and learning has improved since the last monitoring visit. The key priority of the executive headteacher and the head of school has been to improve its quality, particularly in Key Stage 2. Good support has been provided by a partner school. Identified staff have been paired with teachers from the partner school for a period of two weeks, where they observe good practice in the partner school. A bespoke programme of support is then devised for each teacher involved. This has been generally well received and valued, and has resulted in improving teaching quality.

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The effectiveness of provision

Pupils are becoming increasingly aware of their learning targets and know what they have to do to improve, especially in writing. All teachers continue to mark work regularly, although the quality and usefulness of their comments are variable. A standardised format has been introduced for planning lessons and this has focused staff more on planning lessons to meet the needs of different groups of pupils. Teachers have been trained to improve their use of learning objectives and success criteria. Although these are now consistently used in teachers’ planning and to focus pupils, too many learning objectives remain vague and/or immeasurable.

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The effectiveness of provision

All teachers were jointly observed with a member of the senior leadership team during this monitoring visit. At the last monitoring visit, 25% of lessons were judged to be good or better. The school’s current monitoring of teaching judges 62% of lessons to be good or better. This monitoring visit identified that 46% were good or better. In the best lessons, the pace of learning is good, and activities are well- matched to the abilities of different groups of pupils. Pupils engage effectively in learning because they enjoy the activities and understand the next steps they need to take to improve. In the less successful lessons, the pace of learning is too slow and some pupils become easily distracted and lose focus. Low-level disruption is not addressed quickly enough and there are missed opportunities to maximise learning.

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The effectiveness of provision

Progress since the last monitoring inspection on the areas for improvement:

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The effectiveness of provision

 ensure there is a higher proportion of good teaching – satisfactory.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The executive headteacher appointed to work with the school has worked effectively with the head of school. They have achieved much in a short space of time. Teachers have been re-energised by their strong leadership and high expectations. Staff are striving hard to improve teaching and accelerate pupils’ progress, although some are finding it harder than others. The management structure has been reviewed and now more staff have a role in monitoring and developing curriculum areas. Work scrutiny and analysis of pupil progress data has become an established feature of leadership roles. Issues arising from closer monitoring of pupils’ work and progress have resulted in subject action plans highlighting key areas to address. However, subject leaders have not had the opportunity to monitor the quality of teaching in their subject area, although this is planned as a future activity.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Regular pupil progress meetings hold individual class teachers to account and highlight those pupils making slower progress and in need of additional intervention support. A wide range of intervention programmes are now used by all staff and their impact is closely monitored. There are particularly good examples of additional support, provided by highly effective teaching assistants, for those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

As at the last monitoring visit, the school’s improvement plans are over-complex and not sufficiently focused on key short-term priorities required to raise attainment and improve provision. The governing body continue to provide effective challenge and support to the executive headteacher and head of school.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Progress since the last monitoring inspection on the areas for improvement:

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 improve the quality of leadership and management – good.

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External support

The local authority has brokered effective support for the school from a local school acknowledged for its good practice. The deployment of the headteacher of this partner school as executive headteacher, for two days per week, has provided good support to the head of school, following the resignation of the previous headteacher. The quality of the local authority’s support to the governing body during recent leadership transition has been less effective.

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Priority for further improvement

 Devise a one-term action plan with clear and measurable success criteria that identifies the few key priorities to ensure the school makes rapid progress before its next visit.

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