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Andrew Bramwell Headteacher Moat Hall Primary School John's Lane Great Wyrley Walsall WS6 6BX

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Special measures: monitoring inspection of Moat Hall Primary School

Following my visit with Lucy Maughan, Additional Inspector, to your school on 21–22 November 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 Moat Hall Primary School

The inspection was the second monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in February 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 Moat Hall Primary School

Progress since being subject to special measures – good.

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Special measures: monitoring inspection of Moat Hall Primary School

Progress since previous monitoring inspection – good.

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Special measures: monitoring inspection of Moat Hall Primary School

Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed by the school.

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Special measures: monitoring inspection of Moat Hall 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 Staffordshire.

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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 Direct T 0121 683 3259 Direct email :lisa.parkes@serco.com

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place in February 2012

 Raise achievement and accelerate pupils’ progress in mathematics, and ensure that pupils’ attainment reaches the national average by July 2013, by:  establishing greater consistency in the quality of mathematics teaching  improving the teachers’ knowledge of the subject  creating more opportunities for pupils to use and apply their mathematical skills across the curriculum.

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place in February 2012

 Rapidly improve the quality of teaching and learning so that it is consistently good or better and has a positive impact on pupils’ achievement by:  ensuring that all lesson planning and teaching take account of the specific needs of all groups of pupils, especially those of higher ability  achieving consistency in the teaching and pace of learning in lessons to accelerate the progress of all pupils across the school  improving teachers’ marking across the school so that it guides pupils more effectively to understand how well they are doing and the next steps in their learning  teaching pupils the skills to evaluate the quality of their own work and that of others, so they are able to take control of their learning and assess their own progress.

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place in February 2012

 Increase the effectiveness of leadership and management at all levels by:  ensuring that rigorous and extensive monitoring of teaching leads to accurate evaluations that will have a direct impact on improving pupils’ learning and progress, particularly in mathematics  evaluating the impact of the curriculum in meeting the needs of all pupils  developing the skills and accountability of middle leaders and giving subject leaders opportunities to judge the quality of teaching and learning in lessons, so they have a clear picture of standards in their subject.

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place in February 2012

 Improve provision in the Nursery class so that it meets the learning needs of the children and accelerates their progress by:  ensuring that the activities planned to improve the children’s basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy are better matched to their age and abilities  giving children experience of all the areas of learning indoors  ensuring that there are more accurate assessments in children’s ‘Learning Journeys’ to help staff build on what the children have already learned and to plan the next steps for improvement.

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Evidence

Inspectors observed the school’s work, visiting 17 lessons; including some with the mathematics and English subject leaders. They undertook a learning walk to look at the quality of marking across a number of classes. They heard pupils read. They scrutinised documents and met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, middle leaders, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body, a representative of the local authority and groups of pupils.

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Context

Since the previous monitoring visit in July 2012, two new governors and a new business manager have been appointed. A member of staff has returned after a sabbatical year.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Children who joined the Nursery this year had skills generally below those expected for their age. Because of the major improvements to the quality of teaching and planned activities for children in the Nursery and Reception classes, these children have made a good start in school. Progress in children’s ability to speak to each other, get on with each other and improving their use of language have been better than their ability to count.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

The progress of children in the Reception class has improved. Children have a wide variety of interesting activities, including those they can choose for themselves and those where they are guided by a teacher or teaching assistant. The use of assessments to check how well children in both years are progressing has improved. There are now accurate records of what children have achieved and these are used well to see what children need to do next.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Recently published results for Key Stage 1 assessments show that standards in reading, writing and mathematics have improved. Standards in all three are broadly average. Key Stage 2 results show that standards have remained similar to the previous year.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

The school has good records across all years to show how well pupils progress. These records show that pupils make better progress in Key Stage 1 than in Key Stage 2. This is because in the older age groups pupils are making up for previous years when they made inadequate progress. For these older pupils, the progress they make in the year has improved and is at least in line with that expected

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nationally. Records show achievement in mathematics has improved. The school has rightly identified that it needs to do more to support the writing for boys, as this is an area where progress is not good.

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Pupils enjoy more opportunities to investigate and apply their mathematics in practical activities. This has meant pupils have a better understanding of their work. They also get opportunities to practise skills in a more interesting way; for example, identifying the largest possible perimeter for a shape made up of four similar smaller shapes. This practised perimeter but also gave pupils opportunities to reason and to show imagination with their mathematics.

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

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 improve provision in the Nursery class so that it meets the learning needs of the children and accelerates their progress – good

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 raise achievement and accelerate pupils’ progress in mathematics – good.

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The quality of teaching

The quality of teaching and learning has improved. More teaching is good and none is inadequate. When teaching is judged to require improvement, staff are keen to learn what they can do to improve and this ambition and commitment to carry on improving is one of the reasons why the school is making good progress in this area.

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The quality of teaching

Teachers who teach the same year group plan together. This has meant work is better matched to the needs of the pupils. It has also improved the challenge for high-ability pupils.

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The quality of teaching

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, teaching has improved. Lessons are well planned to include a variety of activities for children to follow. These include work to help them gain the essential skills to read, write and to calculate while still allowing children to develop independence and social skills.

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The quality of teaching

Lessons start with teachers explaining what pupils have to do to be successful. These are already recorded in pupils’ books so time is not wasted and lessons progress with better pace. For some younger pupils these are not written in a way which pupils of that age can easily understand. When pupils are studying topic work, these are based around the subject being studied and not just focused upon writing skills.

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The quality of teaching

Marking has improved. It is best in pupils’ writing books and in their topic work. It is more variable in mathematics books, but all books are marked frequently and give advice on how pupils can improve. In humanities and science books, marking now focuses on the subject being studied, while still making sure that correct English

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spelling and punctuation are used. Pupils get opportunities to look at each other’s work and then give advice as to how this could be improved. They are also being given more responsibility for improving their own work.

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Lessons often get pupils to discuss their work in pairs or groups. This is effective in helping them think what they are going to write or how they are going to tackle a mathematics problem. Pupils also enjoy acting out their work. There are more opportunities for pupils to work without being directly supervised by an adult. Teaching assistants support teachers well in classrooms by supporting pupils to complete tasks without giving too much help or doing the work for them.

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

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 rapidly improve the quality of teaching and learning – good.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Behaviour and relationships continue to be good. Pupils work well in groups during lessons and they support each other. The school has made sure that parents, carers and pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe when using the internet. This has included the use of social network sites and of using text messages inappropriately. Pupils enjoy the clubs and were particularly keen to talk about the new football team and the cheerleaders.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Attendance has improved and few pupils have too much time off school.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Senior leaders continue to give the school drive and ambition. Staff are supportive and they have responded well to the support from both senior leaders and local authority consultants to improve the quality of teaching. Leaders for literacy and numeracy accurately monitor the work in classrooms through observations as well as looking at the planning and the books. The school is increasing the role of subject leaders, with staff taking responsibility for science and other subjects. Senior leaders have an accurate overview of the strengths of teaching but their system to record how good lessons are does not focus enough on the quality of learning that is taking place.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The impact of actions identified on the post-Ofsted action plan is being continually evaluated. The school has started to increase the areas it wants to improve. This year, two teachers are trialling a new way of teaching different subjects. This is based around a theme and includes suitable homework tasks for pupils and the support of parents and carers. The recent work on the ‘secret garden’ showed some very good and imaginative work and is being used well to engage pupils. The school values the work for pupils in art and music and these are subjects pupils enjoy.

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Members of the governing body have had training from the local authority and more is planned. They now have a better understanding of how to check on the progress pupils are making and to make sure that achievement is improving. They are supplied with a good overview of progress information for all year groups and for different groups.

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The governing body has taken advice from the partner school which supports the school and it has changed the way it organises its committees. This has also meant more governors have experience of chairing meetings overseeing an area of governance. The school has worked with governors to make sure that they know what to look for when they come into school to look at the work in different subjects. This includes a common format on how to report back to the other governors.

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

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 increase the effectiveness of leadership and management at all levels – good.

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External support

The local authority continues to provide good support for the leadership of the school and the governing body. Staff have benefitted from working with the Local Leader in Education and other teachers from the partner school. The Early Years Foundation Stage consultant has supported teachers well so that the quality of teaching in the Nursery and Reception classes has improved. Good support from the literacy and numeracy consultants has improved the leadership and monitoring skills of the subject leaders in school. This has also meant that they are better able to advise teachers how to improve.

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External support

The core group meetings evaluate the impact of support and also any areas which may need further help. They have identified that the school has improved in the areas identified in the last inspection. The school values the frequent input from the local authority adviser, whose work in overseeing the support for the school has brought about improvements.

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