Setting

Mrs Stephanie Colegate, Headteacher Homelands Primary School Westhill Road Torquay TQ1 4NT

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School

Following my visit to your school on 20 May 2013, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report 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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School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in March 2013. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Evidence

During the visit I met with you, your deputy headteacher, two representatives of the Governing Body and a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions being taken to improve the school. I also scrutinised a range of documents and met with pupil representatives to listen to their views about the school.

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Main findings

You have wasted no time in introducing greater rigour to the monitoring and evaluation of the school’s work. This has raised the school’s expectations of what pupils can achieve as you have begun to tackle some of the inconsistencies in teaching that are still evident in the school. Tribal 1-4 Portland Square Bristol BS2 8RR T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0117 311 5359 Direct F 0117 315 0430 Email : christina.bannerman@tribalgroup.com The school improvement plan lacks precise actions and measures to improve teaching and a realistic time frame so that their impact can be accurately monitored. As a result, it does not support senior leaders and the governing body to monitor progress towards achieving their goal to become a good school. Therefore, it is not currently fit for purpose although it includes the areas for improvement recommended in your recent inspection report.

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Main findings

Along with your deputy headteacher you have begun to review the school’s teaching and learning policy in order to motivate teachers and eradicate inconsistencies in the quality of teaching and learning. You plan to establish an exciting, skill-driven curriculum that is designed to motivate, challenge and inspire pupils. Currently, too many subject leadership responsibilities remain with senior leaders and have not been handed over to middle leaders. This constrains the work of senior leaders.

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Main findings

The local authority has commissioned the support of two outstanding local schools to help develop your leadership skills and improve the quality of teaching. As a result, you are improving the professional development of your staff. For example, some teachers have visited these schools to focus on developing pupils’ writing skills. Pupils who met with me said they appreciate the efforts their teachers go to in making learning enjoyable and that their work is marked regularly. However, not all pupils were able to say how this was helping them to improve their work.

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Main findings

Governors do not yet receive regular up-dates on pupils’ progress and standards which prevents them from fully understanding the school’s strengths and weaknesses. However, training from the local authority has helped governors understand the importance of evaluating the impact of the school’s improvement work. They are keen to hold the school regularly and effectively to account. As a result, governors have established a committee specifically to review the outcomes of the monitoring of teachers’ lesson planning, teaching and pupils’ progress.

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Main findings

Overall, senior leaders and governors have begun to take effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection.

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Main findings

HMI recommend that further action is taken to:

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Main findings

 draw on the expertise of the local authority and external support partners to eradicate the remaining weak teaching and strengthen the monitoring and evaluation work of senior leaders and governors  ensure the school improvement plan includes precise actions and measures to improve teaching so that its impact can be accurately monitored and shared with governors  ensure that the impact of the school’s work on improving pupils’ achievement can be more clearly evaluated and acted upon by school leaders and governors within set time frames.  take steps by the end of this academic year to distribute curriculum responsibility to middle leaders.

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Main findings

Ofsted will continue to monitor the school until its next section 5 inspection.

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Main findings

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children’s Services for Torbay.

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