Setting

Mr Stephen Wood Clifford Road Primary School Clifford Road Ipswich IP4 1PJ

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Special measures: monitoring inspection of Clifford Road Primary School

Following my visit with Kathleen Yates, Additional Inspector, to your school on 16– 17 July 2012, 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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Special measures: monitoring inspection of Clifford Road Primary School

The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place on 1 March 2012. 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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Special measures: monitoring inspection of Clifford Road Primary School

Progress since being subject to special measures – satisfactory.

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Special measures: monitoring inspection of Clifford Road Primary School

Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed.

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Special measures: monitoring inspection of Clifford Road Primary 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 Director of Children’s Services for Suffolk.

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Additional Inspector

Serco Inspections Cedar House 21 William Street Edgbaston Birmingham B15 1LH T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Serco Direct T 0121 683 3888

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place in March 2012

 Raise attainment and ensure that all pupils make at least the expected progress in English by the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 by: - improving pupils’ skills in constructing sentences, punctuation and spelling - ensuring all teachers have similarly high expectations of the presentation of work and developing a whole-school approach to the teaching of handwriting and correct letter formation - increasing the opportunities for writing at length in English and across the curriculum.

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place in March 2012

 Improve the quality of teaching and learning so that teaching is consistently good or better and eliminate inadequate teaching by:  - ensuring that assessments are accurate and used effectively to plan work that challenges and matches closely the needs and abilities of all groups of pupils - developing a whole-school approach to planning lessons, and ensuring plans include clear learning objectives and are consistent across year groups - developing and implementing a whole-school marking policy, ensuring that target setting and marking procedures consistently give pupils a clear understanding of their next steps for learning - rigorously monitoring and evaluating pupils’ work and the quality of teaching across the school, putting the emphasis on pupils’ learning, and increasing teachers’ accountability for the progress made by pupils.

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place in March 2012

 Improve the effectiveness of leaders and managers at all levels by: - reviewing and revising the roles and responsibilities of the leadership team so that it is more effective in driving school improvements  - developing a rigorous approach to assessing attainment in reading and writing so that data used for tracking pupils’ progress are reliable and accurate  - developing the role of the governing body in monitoring and evaluating the work of the school, and holding leaders to account. 

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Evidence

The inspectors observed 18 parts of lessons, listened to pupils read, looked at a sample of pupils’ work from every class, scrutinised documents relating to pupils’ progress, raising achievement and the safeguarding of pupils, and met with the headteacher, groups of pupils, staff, parents and carers, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Governing Body and a representative from the local authority.

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Context

There have been no changes in staffing since the inspection in March 2012. The local authority has appointed an additional governor.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

The school has made satisfactory progress in raising attainment in English since the last inspection. Although the attainment of Year 6 pupils in 2012 is below the national average in writing, it has improved since 2011. The proportion of Year 6 pupils attaining national expectations has risen by 16% and the proportion of pupils exceeding national expectations has risen by 8%. Similarly, the current Year 2 pupils have made satisfactory progress in writing and their attainment in writing is in line with the national average. Most classes have met or exceeded their reading and mathematics targets, but not their writing targets.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Pupils have a satisfactory understanding of different writing genres because they now have more opportunities to write for different purposes and audiences across the curriculum. However, not all pupils make fast enough progress in lessons because the emphasis is more on completing a piece of writing and proceeding to the next topic instead of improving a piece of writing so that the quality of their writing gets better each time.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Pupils’ spelling and grammar are better in some classes than others. This is because not all teachers pay sufficient attention to correcting errors. Too few pupils take a pride in presenting their work well. This is partly due to the fact that there are too many bits of paper stuck into books which makes them look untidy. However, the school is not modelling good practice in terms of presentation. Classrooms are untidy and cluttered which restricts space for pupils to work, and wall displays are not of high quality. The school is beginning to develop a whole-school approach to handwriting, but it has yet to have an impact on ensuring that all pupils form their letters correctly. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make good progress with their handwriting. Reading standards at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 are in line with the national average. Weaker readers often find it difficult to link sounds and letters to read

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Achievement of pupils at the school

unfamiliar words, although they can usually make a good attempt at deducing words from pictures. Across the school, not all pupils who are working independently in guided reading sessions make as much progress as they could. When pupils are asked to choose a book, they find it difficult because the books are so tightly packed in book boxes. As a result, they spend too much time choosing and too little time reading.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

The end-of-Key Stage 2 results for Year 6 pupils are above the national average for mathematics and below for English. At the end of Key Stage 1, Year 2 pupils have attained levels for reading, writing and mathematics which are in line with the national average. Those currently in the Early Years Foundation Stage have made good progress in all areas of learning and their attainment is above national expectations for their age.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

In most classes, girls do better than boys in reading and writing and boys do better than girls in mathematics. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, and also those at an early stage of learning English, are well supported in class and make satisfactory progress. There is little difference between the progress of pupils eligible for free school meals and that made by other pupils.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Progress since the last section 5 inspection on the area for improvement:  Raising attainment and ensuring that all pupils make at least the expected progress in English by the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 – satisfactory.

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The quality of teaching

The school has taken appropriate steps to eradicate inadequate teaching and is providing satisfactory professional development opportunities for staff to improve the quality of their teaching. Overall, teaching is consistently good in Year 1 and the Early Years Foundation Stage. In other year groups, there is more satisfactory teaching than good teaching.

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The quality of teaching

The best lessons are characterised by good planning with clear learning objectives and well-focused activities which meet the needs of all groups of learners. Good teaching was observed in a Year 6 mathematical investigations lesson where pupils’ thinking was challenged well. The less successful lessons are characterised by too much ‘teacher talk’ and too little pupil participation.

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The quality of teaching

Teachers are now assessing their pupils more regularly. Teacher assessment is accurate in Year 6 and becoming more accurate in other classes. However, not all teachers are using the outcomes of assessment to plan effectively for the different ability groups within their classes and not all class teams plan together. Consequently, this leads to inconsistency in the quality of learning between two classes in a year group. Marking is improving, but not all pupils are responding to the next steps guidance they are given. Furthermore, teachers are not checking that pupils have taken on board their comments.

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The quality of teaching

Teaching assistants are well deployed to support the learning of pupils with special educational needs and those at an early stage of learning English.

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The quality of teaching

Progress since the last section 5 inspection on the area for improvement:  Improve the quality of teaching and learning so that teaching is consistently good and eliminate inadequate teaching – satisfactory.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ behaviour is satisfactory. Attendance is in line with the national average and pupils arrive punctually. Pupils say that they feel safe and that bullying is rare. They understand the risks of cyber bullying. In class, they demonstrate good attitudes to learning when learning proceeds at a good pace. Pupils lose interest when the teacher spends too much time talking at the expense of involving them in discussion. Behaviour is generally well managed, although noise levels in some classes are too high at times and this hinders pupils’ learning.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Leaders and managers in the school are providing a stronger lead with much help from the local authority and a Local Leader in Education from a neighbouring school. They are monitoring more rigorously the quality of teaching and learning in lessons, but they are not monitoring rigorously enough the quality of the learning environment. For example, pupils do not have access to a well-organised and stimulating library to foster their love of reading. The organisation of books in classrooms is also poor and many books are too old.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The roles and responsibilities of the senior leadership team are now defined clearly. The phase leaders and subject leaders are enthusiastic and ready to take a greater role in monitoring teaching and learning. The impact of their leadership on accelerating pupils’ progress will be a focus for the next monitoring visit.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The accuracy of self-evaluation is improving as it is now underpinned by a systematic analysis of pupils’ progress. The school’s literacy plan has lacked clear success criteria and there is no specific action plan for mathematics; both of these are work in progress.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Governance has been strengthened and the governing body is providing more challenge. Communication with parents and carers is good. Governors, parents and carers are highly committed to playing their part in driving school improvement. Safeguarding procedures meet requirements.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Progress since the last section 5 inspection on the area for improvement:  Improve the effectiveness of leaders and managers at all levels – satisfactory.

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External support

The school is very well supported by the local authority and a Local Leader in Education from a nearby school, both of whom have helped the school to put systems in place to monitor standards, pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching and learning. Teachers and teaching assistants have good access to professional development from the local authority and the partner school to improve their practice. In particular, those teachers on the intensive teaching programme have benefited from the opportunity to observe good practice. The local authority’s statement of action is fit for purpose and the action plan is well-focused upon actions needed to bring about improvement. The school is reliant on the high level of support it receives and it will continue to need this support in the near future.

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