Setting

CfBT Inspection Services Suite 22 West Lancs Investment Centre Maple View Skelmersdale WN8 9TG T 0300 1231231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 01695 566933 Direct F 01695 729320 Direct email: ggleaden@cfbt.com

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Mrs Heather Wareing Headteacher Carleton St Hilda's Church of England Primary School Bispham Road Carleton Poulton-le-Fylde Lancashire FY6 7PE

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Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 30 April and 1 May 2013, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to confirm the 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 previous monitoring inspection.

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Primary School

The inspection was the third monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in March 2012. The full list of the areas for improvement which were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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Primary School

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Primary School

The school is making reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures.

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Primary School

Newly Qualified Teachers may not be appointed.

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Primary School

This letter and monitoring inspection report will be published on the Ofsted website. I am copying this letter and the monitoring inspection report to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body, Blackburn Diocese and the Interim Executive Director for Children & Young People for Lancashire.

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March 2012

 Rapidly improve the impact of leaders’ actions on improving the quality of education provided, including in the Early Years Foundation Stage, by:  reviewing the delegation of senior and middle leaders’ roles and responsibilities  increasing the rigour of leaders’ monitoring and evaluation procedures  ensuring the governing body provides sufficient challenge to school leaders  providing better and more accurate reporting from senior leaders and the local authority to the governing body  raising the bar for the setting of targets for pupils’ attainment to ensure that all groups of pupils are expected to make good progress  reviewing the school’s policy to secure more effective teaching and learning  providing staff training in leadership skills.

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March 2012

 Eradicate all inadequate teaching and improve satisfactory teaching to good, including in the Early Years Foundation Stage, by:  improving the quality of teachers’ planning to identify the skills and knowledge to be learned by pupils  improving the use of assessment information to ensure lesson plans take full account of pupils’ starting points  ensuring whole school consistency in implementing the school’s approach to teaching  providing staff training that is matched to the improvements needed in the quality of teaching  ensuring teaching is always brisk and that regular checks are made on pupils’ progress in lessons  improving the marking of pupils’ work so that feedback informs pupils about how to improve.

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March 2012

 Improve pupils’ academic outcomes and achievement, including in the Early Years Foundation Stage, by:  ensuring greater challenge in lessons especially for higher attaining pupils  improving the teaching and marking of writing  ensuring a greater consistency of good quality teaching throughout the school  increasing expectations of the progress made by girls.

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Evidence

The inspector had a telephone conversation with the Chair of the Governing Body and met with the headteacher, senior leaders, six governors, a group of parents, the new pupil council and a representative from the local authority. The inspector observed teaching in all classes, sampled pupils’ work and took account of pupils’ progress tracking, the headteacher’s monitoring of teaching and the most recent local authority review.

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Context

There have been further changes to staffing since the last inspection. The interim associate headteacher has been appointed as the substantive headteacher. A new Early Years Foundation Stage leader has been in post for two weeks. An advertisement for a deputy headteacher is going out shortly.

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Context

This inspection focused on pupils’ achievement and teaching in Years 1 to 6. The Early Years Foundation Stage will be evaluated at the next monitoring inspection.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Pupils are making better progress in lessons because teachers are planning activities that build on pupils’ knowledge and skills at a faster rate. Teachers are increasingly setting activities at the right level to make sure pupils of all ability achieve as well as they should. Appropriate additional support is being provided for groups of pupils who need some extra help to achieve their full potential. Pupils in Year 6 are receiving effective whole-class teaching and targeted small group support to address any gaps in their learning. Several pupils are receiving additional teaching in mathematics so they can enter for Level 6 in the standardised assessment test. Pupils with special educational needs have more focused support in small groups with teaching assistants. They are making better progress because they have more specific learning targets which are reviewed weekly.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Pupils’ books show that progress has quickened as the school year has progressed. This is particularly evident in Year 1 and in Year 3 where pupils moved across key stages. School leaders are clear that they need to make sure assessments are moderated with the receiving teacher so they can build on pupils’ skills from the start of the year. Pupils have clearer guidance to improve their writing, which is helping to bring their achievement in writing closer to their achievement in reading.

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The quality of teaching

Teachers have welcomed opportunities for further professional development and are keen to introduce new approaches. They have higher expectations of what pupils can achieve. Pupils say ‘work is harder but lessons are more fun’. This was certainly the case in lessons seen in Years 1 to 6, which had a range of tasks to keep pupils active and interested. In Year 1, pupils thoroughly enjoyed a story about a dragon and their descriptive writing showed imagination and a broad vocabulary. Science and mathematics lessons in Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 classes engaged pupils in challenging problem-solving activities. Pupils showed perseverance and a sense of achievement when they worked out the solutions. Pupils in the Year 5 and Year 6 classes were working with high levels of concentration and produced interesting and well-presented pieces of writing.

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The quality of teaching

Where teaching is most effective, teachers give very clear explanations of new learning and of the tasks they expect pupils to complete. Activities are pitched at precisely the right level so that pupils have to think and work hard but can complete their work within the given time. Where teaching is less effective it is generally because the teachers’ explanations are not clear enough, so pupils find tasks too difficult. Teaching assistants are not always deployed as well as they could be in lessons.

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The quality of teaching

Teachers are assessing pupils’ progress and grouping them more effectively, so that activities take account of their prior learning. Phonics teaching (about the sounds that letters make) is better organised, with teaching assistants providing more focused support for small groups. Further training is planned to make sure teaching assistants are deployed effectively in all lessons. Marking is much improved, giving pupils helpful guidance to move onto the next steps in learning. However, pupils do not always have the opportunity to act on the advice they are given. Marking is used very successfully in Years 1, 5 and 6 where pupils are given time to follow up the guidance and apply it to subsequent pieces of work.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are enjoying lessons more. When they have challenging tasks, they concentrate well and persevere with their work. Behaviour has improved generally because there are better routines and clearer expectations. Parents, who met with the inspector, endorse this and say that their children feel safe.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Members of the recently formed pupil council were very keen to talk about their achievements, including their part in the selection of the new headteacher. They feel they have more opportunities to give their views and are looking forward to sharing their ideas with the headteacher. They feel that other pupils would like more responsibility, for example, in the organisation of games at break-times and with jobs around the school. Such opportunities are currently limited.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The appointment of the associate headteacher as substantive headteacher has provided stability and continuity in the drive for improvement. Her appointment has been welcomed by staff, parents and pupils. She continues to provide strong leadership focused on the all- round achievement of pupils. Parents are confident that the concerns they had previously are being tackled and improvements are being managed well; the inspection confirms this view. Senior leaders and governors are ensuring that the post-Ofsted action plan is being followed. The school improvement plan is currently appropriately focused on the weaknesses identified at the last inspection, but it will need to be broadened as the school moves into the next academic year.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The roles of senior leaders have been reviewed to give the literacy and mathematics leaders more responsibility in leading improvements. They have monitored teaching and pupils’ progress and have a clear overview of strengths and areas requiring development. A new Early Years Foundation Stage leader has just been appointed with well-defined areas of responsibility. The delegation of leadership roles to other leaders has been delayed due to changes in staffing but a review of middle leaders’ roles is planned.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The governing body has been strengthened with the appointment of new members with relevant expertise. They are developing greater insight into the school’s performance as they have a clearer understanding of data and are more actively involved in monitoring progress with action plans and pupils’ achievement. The link governors for literacy, numeracy and able, gifted and talented pupils have spoken with pupils, looked at their work and reported their findings to the full governing body. The headteacher keeps governors well informed through regular progress reports to the Standards and Effectiveness Committee. Governors’ links with parents are currently limited and could usefully be developed.

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External support

The local authority has provided good support to improve teaching and learning and develop governors’ skills to check progress and the quality of education. The amount of consultant support is being reduced appropriately as the school’s staff develop capacity to sustain improvement.

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