Setting

Mrs S Irvine Headteacher St Peter-in-Thanet CofE Junior School Grange Road St Peter's Broadstairs Kent CT10 3EP

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CofE Junior School

Following my visit to your school on 17 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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CofE Junior School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in May 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, the deputy and assistant headteachers, a representative from the local authority and members of the governing body. I evaluated the school improvement plan and a range of documentation. This included the school self-evaluation form, data relating to pupils’ attainment and progress as well as minutes of recent governing body meetings. You took me on a tour of the school and we made brief visits to a range of classes. 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 email :suzy.smith@tribalgroup.com

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Main findings

Your ambition and determination to return to being a good or outstanding school is widely shared across the staff and the governing body. Following your return from secondment and the subsequent inspection, you have built up momentum and this has resulted in swift improvement in a short time. The senior staff and governors have a clear view of what is required to improve further. They know that ensuring consistently good teaching across the school and good rates of progress for all pupils is paramount. The recent end of Key Stage 2 test results demonstrate very significant improvement in levels of attainment and in rates of progress compared with the previous year.

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Main findings

Senior leaders and governors were prompt to compile a short-term action plan to supplement the areas for improvement that were already in the comprehensive school improvement plan. The action plan has been created with clear and measurable success criteria for each priority area. Timescales are ambitious. Roles and responsibilities for implementing actions, for monitoring progress and for evaluating impact are also explicit. This will enable your ‘Ofsted Action Group’, made up of senior leaders and some members of the governing body, to easily check on progress towards embedded improvement.

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Main findings

The essential actions required for improvement are already underway. These include:  training to improve the quality of teaching, including ‘master classes’ that you are leading  training to ensure that teachers understand the difference between sub-levels of attainment in order that they plan more accurately for pupils’ next steps  setting clear expectations of progress across each year and key stage  refining systems for analysing pupils’ progress that give a clear overview of the progress of individuals, identifiable groups, classes and cohorts across the school  establishing clear expectations for teachers in marking and assessing pupils’ work  an audit of skill followed by training to improve the teaching of mathematics  widening opportunities to engage pupils and their families in learning, for example through the multiplication challenges  reviewing and increasing use and range of resources

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Main findings

 strengthening the accountability of teachers for the progress that pupils make through giving them greater responsibility for checking and accounting for pupils’ progress.

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Main findings

Governors bring a high level of knowledge and skill to their roles. They receive regular information on all aspects of the school’s work, know the school in detail and play a vital part in driving improvement. Evaluations of the school’s performance are accurate and honest. Governors are clear about what requires improvement and how this is to be achieved. Governors accept that in the past the governing body has been insufficiently rigorous. Minutes of meetings and discussion with governors during this monitoring visit demonstrate this is no longer the case. Senior leaders and the governing body are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection.

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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. We agreed that I will return in the autumn term to evaluate progress.

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External support

The school receives effective support from the local authority. External consultants have been commissioned to provide significant advice to senior and middle leaders. This has included reviewing how data relating to pupils’ attainment and progress is analysed and presented. Local authority advisers are responsive to the school’s individual requirements, for example a mathematics audit has recently been completed. This good level of support will be maintained in the coming year and will continue to include regular reviews of progress. Partnerships have been established with two local grammar schools to share and spread outstanding teaching practice.

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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 Kent and as below.

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