Setting

Mrs Elise Tiplady Headteacher Claremont Primary and Nursery School Claremont Road Off Hucknall Road Nottingham NG5 1BH

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Nursery School

Following my visit to your school on 8 February 2013, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the outcome and inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions which have been taken since the school’s most recent section 5 inspection.

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Nursery School

The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses in October 2012. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Evidence

During this inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher and acting deputy headteacher, four representatives of the governing body, and a representative of the local authority. The local authority’s statement of action and the school’s improvement plan were evaluated.

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Context

Since the last inspection the headteacher has announced her retirement and will leave the school at the end of the spring term. The Chair of the Governing Body has stepped down from his role and the vice-chair has taken over this role. The deputy headteacher has relinquished her leadership responsibilities and a new acting deputy headteacher has joined the school. There have been no changes made to the school’s status since the last inspection. 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

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s leadership is undergoing a period of significant change. However, leaders are successfully beginning to tackle the areas identified for improvement at the time of the last inspection. An appropriate improvement plan has been developed by school leaders. Clear success criteria are included in the plan to enable leaders to measure the impact the actions make on improving the school. I have asked the school’s leaders to make minor amendments to the plan by the end of February 2013. Firstly, to add clear milestones to the plan, so that governors can easily check to see if the school is on track to achieve its targets. Secondly, to identify in the plan exactly how each action will be checked, when it will be checked, and who it will be checked by.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The governing body has formed an executive committee, consisting of four governors, to focus sharply on the school’s main priorities for improvement. The committee is helping the governing body to develop an increasingly accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. The local authority has agreed to provide additional training to support governors to have a better understanding of data about pupils’ performance, and also to add further financial expertise to the governing body.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The local authority has provided appropriate support to the school through checking the school’s action plan and also through regular meetings with the Chair of the Governing Body to keep him up to date with developments. Senior leaders appreciate the support and encouragement received from the local authority during a challenging period of time for the school.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Following the monitoring inspection the following judgements were made:

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s improvement plan is fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The local authority’s statement of action is fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

HMI will continue to monitor the school. A visit is planned for the summer term to check the impact that leaders are making on driving improvement and to check the quality of teaching.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

I am copying this letter to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body, and the Director of Children’s Services for Nottingham City local authority. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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