Setting

Karl Stewart Shaftesbury Junior School Latimer Street Leicester LE3 0QE

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Education act 2005 to Shaftesbury Junior School

Following my visit to your school on 21 February 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 Shaftesbury Junior School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in December 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 deputy headteacher, the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative of the local authority. The school improvement and action plans were evaluated and a tour of the school was undertaken.

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Context

Since the December 2012 inspection, the governing body has reorganised its committee structure. A partnership with Humberstone Junior School has enabled a number of visits and joint activities to take place. There has been a change of temporary teachers and a permanent appointment has been made for the start of the summer term 2013. 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 9168 Direct email : beverely.joyner@serco.com

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Main findings

The reorganisation of the governing body has made a very significant difference to the ability of its members to provide suitable challenge and support to the school. It is now able to ensure that more governors have direct understanding of the key issues affecting the school and of how to promote improvement. Governors’ plans are sharply focused and time-referenced. Records of meetings indicate that governors are able to ask challenging questions and they now receive much more accurate and detailed information about pupils’ progress and teaching quality. The school’s action planning, in the light of the inspection outcomes, has been effectively adapted to cover all the areas outlined in the report as well as the school’s existing priorities. However, it lacks a concise executive summary that would help all staff to know and understand the key priorities and to measure the school’s progress in achieving them.

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Main findings

There is a good programme of voluntary informal support for some teachers, which could be strengthened by greater focus on recording areas for improvement and professional development. Teachers have appreciated and benefited from professional development activities but not enough is done to encourage informal discussion between colleagues around improving teaching and learning. Teachers who are not involved in the informal support programme do not get enough help in developing them into outstanding practitioners.

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Main findings

The school has good systems for monitoring the progress of pupils, aimed at checking that most pupils achieve level 4 in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Key Stage 2. There is, however, insufficient focus on the individual progress of pupils, especially those who have the potential to achieve at levels 5 and 6. As a result, learning targets are not necessarily reviewed in the light of the progress each pupil has made and so are not always sufficiently ambitious.

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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 recommends that further action is taken to:

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Main findings

 produce a concise summary of the school action plan so that all staff can be clear about the priorities of the school and the progress that has been made  ensure that the professional development of all teachers is aimed at the consistent delivery of good and outstanding lessons, and that all teachers have a professional development plan  develop strategies that enable a much greater focus on the individual progress of pupils, so that parents and pupils can quickly understand how well they are doing and so that teachers can plan for the full range of ability and potential in each class.

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Main findings

HMI will provide additional support by helping leaders to visit examples of schools in similar situations, where the outcomes are good and outstanding. Ofsted will continue to monitor the school until its next section 5 inspection.

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External support

The school is using the support provided by the local authority well. The local authority appointment of a new governor, who has subsequently become the Chair, has provided a much needed boost to the governing body, whose overall effectiveness is now much enhanced. The school improvement adviser has made a number of visits and is providing a good level of challenge and support to the school. The partnership link established with Humberstone School has been well received by staff, although it is too soon to be able to evaluate the impact on pupils’ 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 Leicester City Council.

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