Setting

Mick Chilvers Woodfield Hawthorne Lane Coventry CV4 9PB

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Education act 2005 to Woodfield

Following my visit to your school on 14 January 2013, 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 Woodfield

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 senior leaders and teachers, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body and a representative of the local authority. The school’s raising attainment plan was evaluated. A range of documentation was also considered including the most recent system implemented for collecting data related to pupil progress.

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Context

Since the inspection, there has been a shuffling of senior leadership responsibilities in the school. There is now an acting deputy headteacher in place, with responsibility to improve the quality of teaching. An assistant headteacher has responsibility for developing systems for analysing data more effectively.

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Main findings

Serco Inspections Colmore Plaza 20 Colmore Circus Queensway Birmingham B4 6AT T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0121 679 9163 Direct email :lewis.mackie1@serco.com The reallocation of leadership responsibilities among the senior leadership team has resulted in a sharper focus on supporting teachers to improve the quality of the learning in their classes. Expectations are now in place for teachers to grade their own lessons as a part of the lesson observation process. This has resulted in teachers accurately evaluating the quality of their own teaching. The school already has evidence to show that teachers who were not previously teaching good or better lessons, are starting improve the quality of their teaching. Progress is evident through the schools’ monitoring of the small improvements being made. The school has started to develop improved systems for collecting data to show the levels at

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Main findings

which the pupils are working. Initial data has been collected and the school is now monitoring how much progress pupils are making relative to where they start. This needs further development, so that targets are set which are well-matched to the needs and abilities of individual pupils and are compared to national data. Training has already been confirmed so that teachers will receive input on understanding better how to use data to inform their teaching.

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Main findings

The governing body is providing appropriate support and challenge for the headteacher. Governors have played an active part in developing the raising attainment plan and are developing their skills in asking the right questions to ensure that they can fully participate in developing and improving the school. The plan meets the improvement needs of the school. However it is not clear from the plan who is responsible for all aspects of the evaluation of the work and this needs to be clarified. The Chair of the Governing Body has also developed a pro-forma to better record visits by governors and to monitor their impact.

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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

 HMI to work with the governing body to model the sorts of questions they should be asking leaders so that they can fully interrogate the progress of the raising attainment plan and be clear about what the data is telling them about pupil progress.  HMI to attend a senior leadership team meeting in the summer term to support them as they start to interrogate the year’s data. Support will also be provided on how to use the data to inform teaching and set meaningful targets for pupils’ achievement.  HMI will also discuss with his line manager the appropriateness of any upcoming Ofsted seminars which could support the school in these areas.

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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 support which has been valued by the school’s leaders and governing body. This has included providing an external school improvement partner and several consultants to support aspects of the school’s work, including the teaching of mathematics and developing the range of qualifications available in Key Stage 4. The school has also started to forge links with local schools and professional networks. This has included establishing emerging links with a national leader of education to support leadership in the school. The headteacher is currently researching other links, to support the development of other areas of the school’s work. This external support is already having an impact on the school’s systems for improving the quality of teaching and assessing pupil progress.

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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 insert local authority name [delete reference to DCS if the school is an academy] and as below.

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