Setting

Ms L Khalil Heston Primary School Heston Road Hounslow TW5 0QR

p.1

Education act 2005 to Heston Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 10 December 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.

p.1

Education act 2005 to Heston Primary 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.

p.1

Evidence

During the visit, meetings were held with the headteacher, other senior leaders, members of the Governing Body and representatives of the local authority. The school improvement plan and action plans were evaluated. The HMI toured the school with the headteacher and scrutinised several documents.

p.1

Context

There have been no major alterations to the context of the school since the inspection, such as significant leadership or staffing changes.

p.1

Main findings

Senior staff have accepted the findings of the inspection, acting promptly to use them as a spur for improvement. The school has written an appropriately targeted action plan to address each of the issues raised by the inspection. This dovetails 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 5373 Direct F 0117 315 0430 Direct email : jo-anne.harwood@ tribalgroup.com suitably with the main school improvement plan. The headteacher has established a further link with a partner school.

p.1

Main findings

The regular programme of lesson observations by senior leaders has formed a more optimistic view of the quality of teaching than that found in the recent inspection. In part, this is because observers focus more on whether teachers do certain things in the lessons, than how well all the pupils are learning. In addition, teachers usually have many weeks’ notice of when senior leaders’ observations will happen, which makes it harder for senior staff to be certain they are observing teaching as it usually is.

p.2

Main findings

Staff have worked quickly to make the curriculum more helpful to boys’ writing, by introducing topics which are designed to appeal to boys. It is too early to know what impact this has had, as full assessments of the pupils’ work have not yet been made since these changes. The school is rightly increasing the regularity of its assessment of pupils, so it can check more thoroughly on how much progress each pupil is making. It has sensibly made links with other schools, so that these assessments can be checked and moderated.

p.2

Main findings

The active governing body also has accepted the findings of the inspection and is considering carefully how it can improve its work. Many governors are new but swiftly gaining a better understanding of their roles, partly through well-organised training. The governing body is becoming increasingly robust and challenging of the school. Members are strongly committed to the school and community. Rightly, governors promote the importance of a broad, exciting and relevant curriculum to raising standards. At present, however, middle leaders who are responsible for subjects are not fully empowered or accountable for the curriculum and standards in their subjects.

p.2

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:

p.2

Main findings

 work with the local authority to sharpen the focus of lesson observations by senior staff, so that their evaluations of teaching are more detailed and better related to how well pupils learn, not what teachers do, and help teachers to improve their practice more quickly  provide teachers with less or no notice of lesson observations  ensure that teachers’ assessments of pupils are carefully and accurately moderated, checking that information about pupils’ progress is fully reliable  empower subject leaders to lead their subjects, while holding them accountable for pupils’ progress in the subject, so that the school develops further a broad, exciting and challenging curriculum.

p.2

Main findings

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

p.2

External support

The local authority has a clear and accurate view of the progress of the school since it opened and of its potential to be a flagship school. Officers provide appropriate, well-judged, support. They are developing a programme of support to help improve the lesson observations by senior staff and support and training for the headteacher in inspection and self-evaluation skills.

p.3

External support

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children’s Services for Hounslow and as below.

p.3