Setting

Mr Keith Cahillane St Andrew’s C of E Primary School Mardale Avenue Orford Warrington Cheshire WA2 9HF

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Requires improvement monitoring inspection visit under section 8 of the

Education act 2005 to St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School.

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Requires improvement monitoring inspection visit under section 8 of the

Following my visit to your school on 3 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.

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Requires improvement monitoring inspection visit under section 8 of the

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, the deputy headteacher, subject leaders, members of the governing body, and a representative of the local authority. The school improvement plan was evaluated, a learning walk took place and monitoring records were examined.

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Main findings

Senior leaders have an action plan to address most areas for improvement identified at the inspection in September 2012. It includes actions which are intended to improve standards across the school and expected outcomes. However, it does not include enough detail of how the plan will be monitored and evaluated.

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Main findings

The headteacher and deputy headteacher responded positively to the judgement of the last inspection and are keen to make the improvements required. This has CfBT Inspection Services Suite 22 West Lancashire Investment Centre Maple View White Moss Business Park Skelmersdale WN8 9TG T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 01695 566863 Direct F 01695 729320 Direct email :jbennett@cfbt.com included developing the ways in which pupils’ data are recorded and shared with staff and governors. As a result, targets are now set and shared with pupils showing how to improve their progress. Links have been made with a range of local schools to help develop systems and procedures at St Andrew’s. Some monitoring of teaching and learning has taken place and detailed feedback has been provided for teachers. However, monitoring is not sufficiently focused on attainment or progress

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Main findings

of pupils during the lesson. Senior leaders have carried out limited learning walks and book scrutinies of pupils’ work. The regularity of these is not sufficient to fully hold teachers to account and as a result senior leaders do not have an accurate and detailed view of the quality of teaching and learning. Leaders are aware however that too much teaching still requires improvement. Teachers’ performance management targets are now more sharply focused on improving pupil outcomes but support programmes are not in place to develop the quality of teaching for individual teachers.

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Main findings

Subject leaders for English and mathematics are keen to make a difference to their subject areas. They are becoming more confident in the use of data to inform assessment although they report that there remains some lack of confidence in the accuracy of English and mathematics data. Moderation of pupils’ work is increasingly carried out to ensure teacher assessments are becoming more reliable. Subject leaders are not monitoring their areas of responsibility so have limited knowledge of how well their subjects are achieving on a day-to-day basis.

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Main findings

Governors are beginning to understand the strengths and weaknesses in school and are starting to hold the school to account for its actions. They are keen to develop their skills and knowledge further and are welcoming of support. Data are now shared with governors so they are aware of how year groups are performing. However, they do not sufficiently understand how groups are performing for example pupils who receive support from the pupil premium (additional government funding). This is because the headteacher is not sharing this information at governing body meetings.

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Main findings

Although change is beginning to take place and some positive action has been taken, the pace of this change is not rapid enough and needs to be accelerated to secure future improvement.

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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

 rigorously and regularly check all aspects of teaching and learning to ensure that pupils make better progress  provide support to rapidly improve teaching that is not judged to be good or better  review evaluation procedures of actions agreed through the development plan and ensure they are tightly focused on the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection  further develop an understanding by all leaders of how to strengthen leadership capacity by using the Ofsted ‘getting to good’ publication  undertake an external review of the Governing body  develop tracking procedures so that the progress and attainment of different pupil groups can be rigorously monitored.

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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 receives regular support from the local authority. The school adviser reviews the school performance and provides useful advice. The local authority and diocese have very recently brokered support from a local leader in education, although this work has not begun. Support has been delivered to improve the quality of teaching and improve English and mathematics.

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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 Warrington.

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