Setting

Mrs Tina Norton Headteacher Kintbury St Mary's Church of England Primary School Gainsborough Avenue Kintbury Hungerford Berkshire RG17 9XN

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School

Following my visit to your school on Monday 26 November 2012, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report on the findings of my visit. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time you made available to discuss the actions you are taking to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in September 2012. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Evidence

During the visit, meetings were held with the headteacher and other leaders, members of the Governing Body and a representative of the local authority. The school’s raising attainment plan (RAP) was evaluated and the inspector looked at documents used by leaders to monitor and evaluate the school’s work.

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Context

Since the last inspection, the headteacher has assumed the role of special educational needs coordinator and two teachers have moved classes to teach different age groups. The role of learning support assistants has started to expand to include more involvement in assessing pupils’ progress in classes. The headteacher and governors are developing a link with another local primary school Tribal 1-4 Portland Square Bristol BS2 8RR T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0117 311 5307 Direct F 0117 315 0430 Direct email : emma.thomson@ tribalgroup.com to create a collaborative partnership to support the school’s self-evaluation and improvement activities.

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Main findings

Leaders have reacted positively and quickly to the last inspection report. The headteacher and other senior leaders have been pro-active in improving the quality and consistency of teaching. They have been seeking out and sharing effective practise from within the school, from other schools and have provided training for staff. A programme of observing teachers in other schools is at the early stages of implementation. Teachers are particularly enthusiastic about the early training on assessment for learning and how they can use this to set learning aims and to check pupils’ progress against clearer success criteria throughout lessons. More emphasis is being given to planning work that matches and challenges pupils with different abilities in one class. Leaders have extended the use of pupil targets in Key Stage 2 classes and are strengthening procedures to assess, mark and monitor pupils’ progress in all age groups.

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Main findings

Governors are knowledgeable about the schools work and are considering plans to alter their structure so they are able to hold leaders to account more robustly, especially for the achievement of pupils. The local authority is starting to work with governors to develop their understanding and ability to ask more probing questions about pupils’ progress and standards. A review of governance is yet to take place. Governors understand that the impact of additional government funding, through the pupil premium, needs to be more tightly monitored to ensure it is making a difference for pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable.

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Main findings

Senior leaders and governors have begun to take effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection. Following the visit to the school, HMI recommend that further action is taken to:

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Main findings

 strengthen the success criteria in the RAP plan, so that it includes more quantifiable and measurable milestones, to help check progress more easily  ensure that success criteria indicates more clearly the impact of the actions taken  give more emphasis to pupils learning during monitoring activities especially when observing lessons  ensure that information provided for governors on pupil progress and standards has clearer comparisons to national information for a wider perspective of the schools work  send the detailed spring term action plan to HMI for scrutiny and comment.

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Main findings

Ofsted will continue to monitor the school until its next section 5 inspection.

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External support

The local authority has provided effective support which is assisting school improvement well, particularly through their involvement in the improving schools project. The local authority consultant for mathematics has already worked with the subject co-ordinator to review calculation methods across the school, to improve the consistency of teaching in mathematics and to support the monitoring and evaluation of the subject. Officers have worked with the headteacher to create the RAP plan and to evaluate aspects of the schools work. Senior leaders have also been pro-active in seeking support from other local schools to help improve the schools work.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children’s Services for West Berkshire.

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