Setting

Michaela Fallon Headteacher Canon Maggs CofE Junior School Derwent Road Bedworth CV12 8RT

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Junior School

Following my visit to your school on 3 May 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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Junior School

The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses in February 2013. 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, Chair and Vice Chair 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

A Year 6 teacher left the school in April 2013 and the assistant headteacher is teaching the Year 6 class. There have been no other significant changes since the section 5 inspection which judged the school to have serious weaknesses. Serco Inspections 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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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The local authority statement of action clearly identifies the support to be provided to accelerate pupils’ achievement, improve teaching, leadership and management. A range of appropriate activities are planned, including termly inspections by local authority officers and fortnightly visits by a School Improvement Officer, to monitor the progress made in addressing the areas for improvement identified in February 2013. Appropriate arrangements are in place to inform parents and others about the extent of the school’s improvement. The statement of action provides a description of the support that the local authority has provided in the last three years. However, the impact of its actions is not made sufficiently explicit. An important piece of information is missing. There is no explanation as to why the local authority did not intervene effectively, following the inspection in July 2011, to call the school to

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school improvement plan details the actions and the adults responsible for implementing initiatives and the milestones to be achieved at the end of each term. The impact of work is mentioned. However, there are times when the outcomes of the work undertaken could be better quantified. The actions taken to improve teaching and learning, leadership of English and mathematics, and governance, are helping to raise standards.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

An external review of governance was carried out by the local authority in March 2013. The findings of the review pinpointed what aspects of governance were working well and what must be improved. The review has led to the governing body ‘raising its game’ and its members are now much more involved in driving improvement and calling senior leaders to account for school outcomes. The governing body has its full complement of governors and the way it works has improved with the establishment of clear terms of reference setting out how governors’ work together in committees. Governor links with subjects and other areas of the school have been re-established and some governors have visited the school to observe its work at first hand. Staff and children now know who some of the governors are and the work that they do.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

While there is regular review of the school’s progress in addressing the most important weaknesses, there is no formal structure whereby the headteacher, School Improvement Officer and governors evaluate the overall progress made termly, in rectifying the areas for improvement identified in February 2013, and the extent to which the targets set in the school improvement plan are met.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

All staff and others who come into contact with children have been suitably vetted but the single central register does not contain all of the required information. The date of checks and the person carrying them out are not always specified. 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

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

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