Setting

Mrs D Grimsey Headteacher Westbury Leigh Church of England Primary School Sandalwood Road Westbury Wiltshire BA13 3UR

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Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 20 June 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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Church of England Primary School

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

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Evidence

During the visit, I held discussions with you, other senior leaders, three representatives from the Governing Body and a representative of the local authority to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. The school improvement action plan was evaluated. A selection of pupils’ books was scrutinised. I also looked at the school’s data records, area leaders’ files and the outcomes and impact of the school’s and local authority’s monitoring activities.

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Main findings

I am pleased to report that the quality of teaching has begun to improve since the school was last inspected. This has been achieved through the effective coaching delivered by team leaders, which has helped teachers to identify the gaps in pupils’ learning. These improvements are clearly seen in the amount of progress that pupils 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 have made recently. School data show that children in Reception have made good progress in reading and writing. In Year 1, there has been a 36% improvement in pupils reaching age related expectations. Pupils in Year 2 have made good progress. In Year 5 and 6, pupils have made good progress in reading and mathematics.

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Main findings

The quality of marking and the feedback from teachers has improved since the last inspection. It is more informative because it shows pupils how they can improve their work and, in the best examples, it explains clearly the next small steps they need to make to improve their learning. In some classes peer marking is also present. When we discussed the evidence we agreed that the new procedures for improving learning that have been trialled and found to be successful should be implemented across the school this term, rather than waiting until September. These include the way pupils’ books are set out and the ways that teachers mark them. We also agreed the school should ensure more opportunities are provided for different pupils to work together.

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Main findings

Since the last inspection, the phase co-ordinators have received good quality training and support from the local authority’s subject specialists and the lead advisor from the Wiltshire Improving Schools Programme (WISP) programme. They have undertaken lesson observations, scrutinised pupils’ work, and analysed performance data. As a result, they have correctly identified where inconsistencies in practice remain and, importantly, put forward strategies to show how these can be resolved. With your support and encouragement they have begun to hold colleagues to account for the work in their area of responsibility. The quality of mentoring for newly qualified teachers has increased and this is also securing improvements in teaching and learning. We agreed that the focus now needs to be on improving the support delivered by the learning support assistants, so that they can maintain a better continuity of pupils’ learning. There are examples of outstanding teaching and

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Main findings

learning in the school. However, we agreed that to raise phase leaders’ aspirations still further they need to witness more outstanding teaching in other schools that is phase specific, for example the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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External support

The school has received good support from the WISP partner and other external professionals. You told me that sometimes the school has been given conflicting advice from these sources and that you feel this has got in the way of the school making more accelerated progress. To resolve this we agreed that you should amend the school improvement action plan so that it contains more identifiable, termly measurable milestones for each action point. We also agreed that leaders and managers will have termly targets, which are set directly against the school action plan. Furthermore, we agreed that you should present data so that it is clear and easily understandable to those that need to review it, but in the way that best suits the school. As you know, the WISP partner has conducted case conferences with you and others in the school. During the meetings, each year group’s performance was considered in detail and the school held to account for the progress the pupils had made. This

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External support

attention to detail has helped you to identify where improvements have been made to pupils’ achievements and where support and further intervention is still needed. It is intended that this robust system of challenge will eventually be undertaken by the school with the governing body taking over the role of the challenge partner. In order to be able to model best practice and continue to challenge the senior leaders, we agreed that more members of the governing body need to attend future meetings over the next two terms.

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External support

Senior leaders, working with the governing body and the responsible authority, are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection. The school should take further action to:

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External support

 train the learning support assistants so that they can provide a better continuity of learning for pupils  standardise the systems across the whole school for recording pupils’ levels of attainment in their books and explain clearly what needs to be done to improve the quality of the work. We agreed that this should start immediately, rather than waiting until September  ensure all leaders have clear job descriptions, which reference the school action plan and maintain regular meetings to monitor progress being achieved to improve the quality of teaching and learning  ensure that there are termly milestones for each action point in the school action and improvement plans  ensure additional members of the governing body attend the case conferences.

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External support

Ofsted may carry out further visits and, where necessary, provide further support and challenge to the school until its next section 5 inspection.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body, the Director of Children’s Services for Wiltshire and the Diocese of Salisbury.

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