Setting

Nathan Hairon Headteacher Brookmans Park Primary School Bradmore Way Brookmans Park Hatfield AL9 7QY

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Education act 2005 to Brookmans Park Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 7 March 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 Brookmans Park Primary School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in 29 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, other senior leaders, two members of the governing body, including the Chair, and a group of pupils from Year 6. A telephone conversation was held with a representative of the local authority. A range of documentation was reviewed, including the outcomes of monitoring activities and the most recent governing body minutes. The school’s action plan was evaluated.

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Context

Since the last inspection, there have been no significant changes to staff or the school’s organisation. 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 9160 Direct email : antony.grace@serco.com

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Main findings

The school has responded positively to the findings of the last inspection. The school accepts that the outcomes from the recent inspection are the right ones. Leaders, including governors, have made suitable plans to strengthen priorities identified in the school development plan. The post-inspection action plan is sufficiently detailed, clearly setting out the actions to be carried out. The actions relate directly to raising achievement and improving the quality of teaching. Although the plan includes some measurable success criteria, these do not include the proportion of pupils who are capable of making better than expected progress. Leaders have drawn up a helpful timetable which identifies how they will monitor and evaluate the impact of actions being taken to secure improvements. However, there is not a close enough link between review meetings to discuss pupils’ progress with class teachers and the

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Main findings

monitoring activities, including the timing of lesson observations by leaders.

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Main findings

Senior leaders have responded with sufficient urgency and have taken immediate action to:

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Main findings

 raise teachers’ expectations about pupils’ learning through coaching and feedback to individual teachers on lessons observed  implement changes to marking pupils’ work in English, so that they have a clear view about how well they are doing and teachers following up points made for improvements  make sure that subject leaders are equipped with the necessary skills, through external training and coaching in school, to carry out their roles robustly  strengthen the quality of checking and measuring how well children are making progress from when they start in the Nursery to the end of the Reception Year.

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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

 ensure that the action plan provides more details about the proportion of pupils capable of making better than expected progress  make sure that there is a tight link between pupils’ progress review meetings with teachers and the frequency of lesson observations.

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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 is buying support arranged by the local authority for providing training for subject leaders. A mathematics adviser has provided support to help improve the quality of teachers’ marking in this subject. Support from other consultants outside the local authority is helping to improve teaching and learning in literacy. A training session for governors on the use of pupils’ performance data has been agreed for the summer term 2013.

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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 Hertfordshire.

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