Setting

Mrs Janice Box Headteacher Edgebury Primary School Belmont Lane Chislehurst BR7 6BL

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School

Following my visit to your school on 8 July 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 my visit I met with you and your deputy headteacher, members of the governing body and your school improvement officer from the local authority. The school development plan, documentation about the monitoring of teaching, information about pupils’ achievement and the minutes of governing body meetings were evaluated. We discussed strengths and weaknesses in teaching as we toured the school to see pupils working in lessons.

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Context

There have been no significant changes to the staffing or the school’s organisation since the recent inspection. 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

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Main findings

You and your deputy headteacher have begun to tackle the areas for improvement identified in the recent inspection and there are signs of improvement in teaching. You have revised your school development plan and it links directly to the priorities relating to teaching and pupils’ achievement in mathematics. The plan identifies clear roles and responsibilities, with timescales to test the impact of the school’s planned strategies. We agreed that you can refine the plan further by including more specific targets for the progress of groups of pupils, including those benefitting from pupil premium funding. The school development plan does not include sufficient detail about strengthening governance.

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Main findings

You are developing a better quality of teaching by giving teachers clearer, more regular feedback. Some lesson observation forms require more detail about subject specific knowledge and the progress of different pupils in the lessons observed and over time. Training sessions for teachers are starting to help them plan learning that is better suited to pupils’ abilities. You are helping teachers become more familiar with what is expected nationally for pupils’ progress in Key Stage 1 and 2. The new system for collating achievement information is giving you a clear picture of how well pupils are learning and you are responding quickly where data show that pupils’ progress is stalling. By analysing the data for each class and breaking this down by pupil groups you are better able to see patterns over time and hold teachers to account through more robust discussions about pupils’ achievement.

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Main findings

You have welcomed links with Farnborough Primary School to help your teachers improve their mathematics teaching. They have befitted from the visit to Farnborough to work with colleagues, observe lessons and see different approaches they can apply to their own teaching. This is complemented by the work with the mathematics consultant from the local authority. In our visits to lessons we saw some good examples of pupils becoming more mathematically literate. You and your deputy headteacher are working well with the mathematics consultant to refine longer term planning to improve mathematics throughout the school.

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Main findings

Governors have drafted an initial improvement plan for developing good governance. However, this has insufficient detail about how governors will develop their work and demonstrate their impact. The governing body is committed to securing the rapid improvement of the school. Despite this commitment the external review of governance has not taken place. Governors have not used guidance, for example, from the National Governors Association, as a starting point to assess their strengths and areas for development. They are not sufficiently conversant with analysing how pupil premium funding is being spent and its impact on the achievement of eligible pupils.

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Main findings

You are helping governors begin to analyse the achievement data you present in your reports. However, governors’ understanding of how achievement information at Edgebury compares with national expectations is not secure enough. Governors do not ask challenging questions about the performance of different pupil groups and how well in-school gaps are closing. You and your deputy headteacher provide information about teachers’ performance, but governors need more guidance about how to make the links between the quality of teaching over time, its impact on pupils’ achievement and teachers’ progression through pay scales. The lack of urgency in developing better governance is not helping strengthen this key aspect of leadership quickly enough.

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Main findings

Senior leaders and governors are not 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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Main findings

 undertake urgently an external review of governance  devise a detailed action plan to develop governance, which includes training on achievement data, monitoring the impact of the pupil premium funding and how to scrutinise the leadership of teaching and its link with performance management  use findings from Ofsted survey reports and good practice examples to strengthen governance and further develop high quality mathematics teaching  refine the school development plan to include more specific targets for the progress of pupil groups.

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Main findings

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

The local authority has not provided sufficient support to strengthen governance of the school. Despite meetings with a local authority advisor, governors have not been supported to audit their knowledge and skills and evaluate their strengths and areas for development. There remains an urgent need to review governance and plan additional support for the governing body. The mathematics consultant from the local authority has provided good support to the school to promote better mathematics teaching. As a result of feedback from her lesson observations and audit of the mathematics curriculum, teachers are developing a better understanding of how to plan lessons with good levels of challenge and make more use of mathematical vocabulary. They are making more effective use of better mental mathematics starter activities to quickly engage pupils. The school improvement officer and local authority are continuing to monitor the school.

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External support

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

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