Setting

Mr Jonathan Kirk Headteacher Bishop Wilson Church of England Primary School Craig Croft Chelmunds Cross B37 7TR

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Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 16 September 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 June 2013. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Church of England Primary School

Senior leaders and governors are taking incisive and urgent 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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Church of England Primary School

 further refine the half termly pupil progress meetings into three- week monitoring cycles  ensure that teachers use a robust monitoring system to identify the progress of different groups and address underachievement rapidly  streamline and co-ordinate the different sources of external support to provide one strategic overview of all actions  agree a system of external evaluation to check the impact of actions along with timescales.

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Evidence

During the visit, meetings were held with you and the deputy headteacher, other senior leaders, the Chair of the Governing Body and three other governors. I also Serco Inspections Colmore Plaza 20 Colmore Circus Queensway Birmingham B4 6AT T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T: 01216 799162 Direct email : siobhan.garrattley@serco.com met with a representative of the local authority, a representative from the diocese and a group of pupils. The school action plan was evaluated. A range of documentation was reviewed, including the latest information about pupils’ progress and feedback to teachers following reviews of their marking. During the visit, you joined me on brief visits to classes to talk to pupils and review their work.

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Context

The school moved into a new building on September 6 th . Since the inspection, a part-time teacher has been appointed and an additional Teaching Assistant.

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Main findings

You have responded effectively and rapidly to the issues identified in the recent inspection. You and other senior leaders have set up programmes of support and training to improve the quality of teaching. You regularly check the quality of teaching and pupils’ work. Your latest review of teachers’ marking shows improvements in the quality of feedback given to pupils. Written feedback to teachers clearly identifies successful practice and where further improvements are required.

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Main findings

You have worked with the local authority and the diocese to improve the systems for checking pupils’ progress. You are now able to check the progress of individual pupils and groups of pupils more easily. As a result, teachers are clearer about what is expected of them and how they will be held accountable for pupils’ achievement. Senior leaders meet half-termly with teachers to discuss pupils’ progress. I recommend that you now introduce a three-weekly monitoring cycle so that leaders can identify and address any underachievement of groups more rapidly.

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Main findings

The school improvement plan identifies suitable actions to improve the quality of teaching and the work of senior leaders. However, the school is receiving support from several external support groups but lacks a strategic overview to identify how the different improvement activities will support each other. This means that you also lack an agreed system of external evaluation to check the school’s progress alongside the specified timeline. I recommend that you urgently address this.

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Main findings

You have taken urgent actions to improve attendance. Pupils talk positively about the new self-registration system and other reward systems such as the attendance certificates and assemblies. Your records show that more pupils are attending school regularly. Documentation also shows that this is making a significant difference to the achievement of some individual pupils. This information is presented clearly and shared appropriately with the parents, carers and families involved.

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Main findings

Governors are clear about what the school needs to do to become ‘good’ and have taken a range of appropriate actions since the inspection. A senior adviser from the local authority has joined the governors’ school improvement group. This group meets regularly. Documentation shows that they are frequently checking that the actions in the school improvement plan are helping to raise pupils’ achievement. A local headteacher has joined the governing body as an Associate Governor. Governors value the additional knowledge and expertise she brings.

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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 and the diocese have helped you to focus on the main areas of weakness and take suitable actions. You have organised an extensive programme of support for English and mathematics from your local school support network. It is too early to judge the impact of this.

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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 Solihull and the Diocese.

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