Setting

Steve Harris Rakegate Primary School Rakegate Close Wolverhampton WV10 6US

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Education act 2005 to Rakegate Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 30 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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Education act 2005 to Rakegate Primary School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection on 3-4 October 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 senior leaders, the Governing Body, a group of pupils and a representative of the local authority. The school improvement plan, the school’s assessment information, the Governing Body minutes and performance management information were evaluated.

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Context

There have been no changes in context since the inspection in October.

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Main findings

The amended school development plan addresses all the key priorities identified at the schools recent inspection. There are strengths in terms of the use of measureable indicators to check progress. Senior leaders recognise the barriers to further improvement such as the lack of involvement of a minority of parents. The 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 3261 Direct email :ann.morris@serco.com school benefits from the considerable financial expertise that Governors possess but not all governors are fully confident when it comes to using comparative data to evaluate the school’s effectiveness.

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Main findings

Senior and middle leaders are more effective because they are learning more from effective practice elsewhere. For instance a contributory factor to the improvements in the Early Years Foundation Stage and more recently in mathematics is the links the school has with other schools. In addition the school has recognised that new initiatives are more likely to be successful if these are carefully monitored and amended throughout the period of implementation. For instance the school is rightly giving a lot of attention to the impact of its new approach to performance management that focuses on specific groups of pupils making enhanced progress during a term. The pupils appreciate that they are listened to but the school is at an early stage of being able to gain insights into learning from pupils.

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Main findings

Senior leaders and governors are taking 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

 Develop longer term plans that more clearly outline how the school will deploy its pupil premium funding and link this to the priority the school has regarding increasing the involvement of parents.  Ensure governors receive regular training, independent of the school, on how they can effectively analyse the comparative data that exists about the school’s performance.  Use the pupil voice more when evaluating learning.

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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 school is improving quite strongly therefore it is not the recipient of significant external support. The school has recognised that the links with other highly effective schools will help accelerate the rate of improvement. The local authority has prompted governors to ask the right challenging questions. Further external support should be directed towards ensuring governors can even more effectively hold senior leaders to account.

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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 Wolverhampton.

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