Setting

Mr Robert Ellis The Executive Headteacher Deptford Green School Amersham Vale London SE14 6LQ

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Deptford Green School

Following my visit to your school on 22 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 recent section 5 inspection.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Deptford Green School

The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in January 2013.

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Evidence

During this inspection, I held meetings with the executive headteacher and the two deputy headteachers, all of the members of the interim executive board and two representatives of the local authority. The local authority’s statement of action and the school’s improvement plans were evaluated alongside other related documentation.

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Context

An interim executive board (IEB) with three members has replaced the governing body. The headteacher resigned and you have replaced him as executive headteacher with overall responsibility for the school and also for another school in the borough. An appointment has been made to the senior leadership for September to oversee the work of the mathematics department. 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 5323 Direct F 0117 315 0430 Email : suzy.smith@tribalgroup.com

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

You and your senior team have injected the necessary ambition and drive for improvement to tackle concerns raised by the last inspection. You are confident of securing rapid improvements in the school and becoming good by autumn 2014. To achieve this you have rightly prioritised what is going to bring about improvement and are systematically tackling aspects of the work of the school to become good. Some progress is already evident. For example, a thorough review by the local authority reports a reduction in the amount of inadequate teaching in mathematics.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

A comprehensive range of support has been put in place for the current Year 11 in mathematics. Examinations taken already indicate that achievement is likely to be significantly better than for the previous group of students. However, you and senior leaders are acutely aware that this level of support is not sustainable and the quality of teaching in mathematics still needs significant improvement. Senior leaders have identified the best practice in teaching and are using this as examples to others in helping to move the school forward. For example, English marking has been recognised as strong through Ofsted inspection and local authority review. The English department led recent staff training on improving marking.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

You have reviewed the roles and responsibilities of senior leaders and made structures much simpler. As a result, senior leaders are much clearer about their roles and their accountability. They also find in much easier to hold other leaders in the school to account for driving improvement. You have worked with senior and middle leaders to simplify systems so they work more efficiently; a new system for using assessment information is in place and teachers find it much easier to know how well their students are progressing. However, there is still work to do to ensure all teachers use this information effectively to set more demanding work for all of the students in their lessons.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The recently formulated IEB is holding monthly meetings and working closely with the local authority to hold you and senior leaders to account for rapid progress. Members of the IEB are knowledgeable about education and have personally reviewed aspects of the school’s work to gain first hand evidence of the school’s progress. Members of the IEB are well informed about the details of many developments and their impact. Regular discussion, both with the local authority and you, means they clearly know which aspects of improvement work are progressing well and also those where progress has been slower than hoped for.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Sixth form students have had their targets reviewed and made more challenging. Recruitment shortfalls at the end of the last academic year have resulted in a large number of courses with a small number of students studying in each. Senior leaders intend to carefully review the range of subject options for September to ensure the sixth form remains viable.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The key elements of improvement planning are in place, and they support the school’s work increasingly well. The improvement plan is closely linked to the very detailed local authority statement of action. You and the local authority formally review progress on a fortnightly basis to ascertain progress against all the areas for improvement from the last inspection. Robust discussions ensure that progress ratings are firmly based on evidence. The local authority supports evaluation of progress by commissioning reviews by education professionals of the school’s work. As a result, self-evaluation is accurate.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Following the monitoring inspection the following judgements were made.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The local authority statement of action is fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s improvement plans are fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school may appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection after discussion with me about subject area and support package.

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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 and the Director of Children’s Services for Lewisham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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