Setting

PROTECT-INSPECTION

Mr Robert Baker Headteacher Fulfen Primary School Rugeley Road Burntwood WS7 9BJ

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Education act 2005 to Fulfen 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 Fulfen Primary School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in 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 the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the Chair and the Vice Chair of the Governing Body, representatives from the local authority and a group of pupils from Years 3 and 4. A range of documentation was reviewed including school data, lesson observation feedback, school improvement planning and the unvalidated RAISEonline.

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Context

There have been no significant changes since the recent inspection which judged the school to require improvement.

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Main findings

The revised school improvement plan includes the areas for improvement identified in the recent inspection. Many of the actions are appropriate and directly relate to raising achievement and improving the quality of teaching. There is, however, 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 3281 Direct email :siobhan.garrattley@serco.com

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PROTECT-INSPECTION

insufficient reference to how the school will raise the achievement of more-able pupils. The plan does not have enough measurable success criteria against which the impact of the school’s work can be checked.

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PROTECT-INSPECTION

Senior leaders are working with middle leaders in order to help middle leaders develop their leadership skills. They have started working in small teams to check how well pupils are learning in different subjects. The school has a programme in place for regularly checking the work of teachers. All class teachers receive detailed and helpful feedback following lesson observations. However, this feedback sometimes places too much emphasis on what the teacher is doing rather than the impact the teacher is having on different groups of learners.

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PROTECT-INSPECTION

The governing body is keen to improve the way in which it checks the work of the school. The information it receives about pupils’ achievement is not always presented concisely. This makes it difficult for governors to ask questions about how well pupils are learning as they move through the school.

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PROTECT-INSPECTION

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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PROTECT-INSPECTION

 ensure that the school improvement plan identifies how the school will raise the achievement of more-able pupils and contains measurable success criteria  strengthen the school’s monitoring, by reporting clearly on pupils’ learning  work with the local leader of education and the local authority to make sure that the assessment information presented to governors is clearer so that they are able to ask precise questions about pupils’ progress.

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PROTECT-INSPECTION

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

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External support

The school’s advisor has delivered training for all teachers on effective teaching. This training has been recently delivered and the impact has yet to be seen. The local authority has brokered links with a local leader of education in order to further strengthen leadership and the quality of teaching. Next term, the local authority is planning to provide training for the governing body.

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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 Staffordshire.

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