Setting

Miss Daisy Bailey Headteacher Laira Green Primary School Bramley Road Plymouth Devon PL3 6BP

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Education act 2005 to Laira Green Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 18 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 Laira Green Primary School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in November 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 and subject leaders, four members of the Governing Body and a representative of the local authority. A session on the teaching of letters and sounds was observed with the subject leader. The inspector met with groups of pupils. The school improvement plans were evaluated.

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Context

There have been no significant changes to staff or governors since the inspection.

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Main findings

The school has taken appropriate steps to build upon improvements to the quality of teaching and to raise achievement, especially in Years 1 and 2. Pupils have suitable 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 3115319 Direct F 0117 3150430 Direct email :matthew.parker@tribalgroup.com targets for both the short and long term and staff are being held accountable for their actions in supporting pupils to reach these.

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Main findings

Reading levels are rising because of improvements to the way in which pupils are taught the basics, including the way in which words are formed The school has identified that the standard of pupils’ writing is not as high as it should be and so has taken steps to build upon improvements to the teaching of reading to improve pupils’ writing.

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Main findings

The mathematics subject leader has undertaken a review of the way in which the subject is taught. She has identified that too much teaching was based on the text book and was not developing pupils’ mathematical understanding. There is a clear action plan to bring about the necessary improvements to the quality of teaching.

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Main findings

There is a very clear timeline of when improvements will be introduced, when they will be checked to see their impact and when governors will receive a report on the progress to date. The action plan includes elements from the school’s work with the Teaching School initiative. The school expects the impact of actions to improve reading, writing and mathematics to be reflected in improved standards by the summer term. However targets within plans are not always focused upon outcomes which are measurable and hence may not be evaluated.

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Main findings

Governors have benefited from support from the governor support team in the local authority. They have evaluated the effectiveness of the governing body, identified areas for improvements and given support to ensure governors are better able to challenge the school and to check on the progress made by pupils. Governors get good information from the senior leaders on how well different groups are progressing across all years. However this information does not show how effective pupil premium money is at closing the gap in attainment between pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium and those who not.

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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

 strengthen the success criteria within the school’s action plans so they give clear outcomes which can be evaluated

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Main findings

 include specific information on how the gap between the attainment of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium and those who are not, is closing.

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Main findings

The HMI will make a further visit to support school subject leaders in evaluating the impact of the school’s work to improve reading, writing and mathematics, including joint lesson observations. HMI will also undertake a further visit to support leaders and governors in developing action plans which better meet the needs of the school. Ofsted will continue to monitor the school until its next section 5 inspection.

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External support

The school has worked well with the local authority governor development team to improve the effectiveness of governors. The Plymouth Teaching School Alliance support has been successful in improving the quality of teaching. The local authority has identified another local school which was recently judged to require improvement and has plans to work together with these schools along with a Local Leader of Education to tackle similar areas which require improvement.

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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 Plymouth City Council.

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