Setting

Mr Mark Snow Headteacher Barton Primary School and Early Years Centre Green Street Newport PO30 2AN

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Early Years Centre

Following my visit to your school on 12 September 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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Early Years Centre

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

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Evidence

During this inspection I met with you, your deputy headteacher and two senior members of your teaching team to discuss the school’s improvement plans. I also met with the Chair of your newly appointed Interim Executive Board and a representative from the local authority to discuss their part in the school’s improvement. The statement of action produced by the Isle of Wight local authority and the school’s improvement plans were evaluated.

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Context

Since the inspection, three teachers have decided to leave the school and two have just returned from long-term absence. Two new teachers have been appointed and 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 took up their posts one week before this visit, one of whom has whole-school responsibility for mathematics.

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Context

The previous governing body has disbanded and a new Interim Executive Board has been formed by the local authority. It had not yet met at the time of this visit. Changes have been made to the timetable to increase the length of lessons, thereby increasing pupils’ learning time. A number of building works have been carried out to secure the site and improve access. In addition, some internal alterations have been made to improve teaching spaces.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Leaders and managers are not well placed to tackle the key priorities of the school because plans and actions are not sufficiently focused on improving the quality of teaching. Although there is evidence that the headteacher has led some improvements, other senior members of staff have yet to demonstrate their role in improving the quality of teaching.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The Interim Executive Board is newly appointed and will need to take urgent action to ensure it is able to monitor the impact of the school’s initiatives to improve teaching and pupils’ progress.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s current improvement plans cover too many areas. Insufficient time has been allowed for initiatives to be implemented successfully. They lack a logical approach and the sequence of actions and priorities is not clear.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The statement of action produced by the Isle of Wight Local authority does not contain sufficient information explaining how the Interim Executive Board will be supported and how the progress of the school will be monitored.

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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 Isle of Wight local authority statement of action is not fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s improvement plans are not fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The local authority should ensure that the statement of action clearly identifies how the Interim Executive Board will be supported to fulfil its role. The statement should also clarify how the local authority will monitor and evaluate the school’s progress and ensure that targets for pupils’ progress are sufficiently challenging.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Senior leaders and the Interim Executive Board should move swiftly to:

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

 introduce an effective whole-school tracking system that enables teachers and senior leaders to measure and evaluate pupils’ progress  ensure that the senior leader with responsibility for Key Stage 1 tackles the underachievement indicated by the school’s progress information of pupils in Years 1 and 2  adjust the improvement plan so that it is focused on improving the quality of teaching, provides a well-thought-out timescale of actions and clearly identifies how the impact of actions will be evaluated  identify what the school means by ‘good’ teaching and be clear about the range of evidence that will be used to judge the quality of teaching.

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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 Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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