Setting

Ms Aedin Lipski Headteacher Parsloes Primary School Spurling Road Dagenham Essex RM9 5RH

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School

Following my visit to your school on 17 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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School

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

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School

Senior leaders and governors 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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School

 implement the recommendations identified in the recent governance review and ensure that all staff are rigorously held to account for pupils’ performance.

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Evidence

During the visit, meetings were held with you, other senior leaders and leaders of English, mathematics and with a representative of the local authority, and a telephone discussion was held with the Chair of the Governing Body to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I met with a group of pupils from Year 2 to 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 Year 6. The school improvement plan was evaluated, minutes of recent governing body minutes reviewed, and range of documents were scrutinised including the governance review, the headteacher’s report, performance management documents, records of observations, and samples of pupils’ work.

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Context

Following the section 5 inspection, five new teachers have been appointed, including two newly qualified teachers. The senior team has been reorganised with member taking a particular lead on either reading, writing, mathematics or special educational needs. Each leader is supported by a middle manager as a co-worker.

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Main findings

You and your staff, including the governing body have been reflective about the school’s effectiveness. This has helped you to begin marshalling the staff and governing body to drive improvement. You are clear that high quality teaching is a key factor to this and have used observations to clarify key features of good teaching. You and other senior leaders have primarily focused on raising expectations for better teaching by working alongside teachers in lessons and leading discussions on expectations linked to for example, ‘pace’, ‘differentiation’ and’ how teachers can engage pupils in discussion when using talking at length’. Your records indicate that this direct approach is helping class teachers to examine and change their practices. This is also linked to the increased coaching and mentoring opportunities, in-depth feedback to improve teachers’ skills and, the regular scrutiny of pupils’ work. The full impact on pupils’ achievement is beginning

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Main findings

to show in the recent national test results. Nevertheless, there is still more to do to accelerate pupils’ writing and numeracy skills, in particular the more able. Pupils still do not take enough pride in their work or respond to comments about how to improve it. Marking, is much improved but is not yet consistently good. Pupils are keen to learn but say that their does not always challenge them.

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Main findings

The development plan is fit for purpose but the targets and milestones are not explicitly outlined to gauge the impact of actions. You linked the tracking system robustly to teachers’ performance management; consequently, staff are more mindful of their responsibility to accelerating pupils’ performance. Although links with good and outstanding local and neighbouring schools are developing, initial work to improve practice is evident in pupils’ work and the more structured approach to planning.

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The governing body

The Chair of the Governing Body is knowledgeable about the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Since the inspection, minutes of meetings indicate that governors have begun to exert their influence in response to the training and review of their roles. For example, you and your governors have found the Ofsted training on governance very useful. However, the recommendations are recent and have not yet been implemented so that all teachers are held rigorously to account. You are using the pointers raised during the training, for example on teaching over time to drive improvement. You are also using the school’s tracking information to inform your strategic plan. Additionally, your new report format to governors is informative; it poses a series of questions for them to work in groups, probe and form hypotheses about the impact of teaching on pupils’ performance. As a result, governors are more attentive to asking questions about the achievement of the increasingly diverse

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The governing body

groups, and in particular the progress of White British pupils. The governance review has been timely. For example, link governors have been appointed and the new ‘aide-memoiré’ is being used to grill you and senior leaders about teaching and pupils’ performance. Additionally, minutes of meetings about governors’ approach to holding the school to account are now precise. There is however, more to do to ensure that all governors consistently exert their influence to drive improvement and, as yet, not all governors are fully involved in the school’s work.

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The governing body

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

You have responded positively to the local authority’s reviews of teaching pupils’ progress and curriculum planning. This positive response has demonstrated drive and capacity to improve further. The local authority specialists’ support is supporting the teaching of literacy and numeracy. Increased accountability from the authority’s Director’s Challenge has led to you, other senior leaders and governors holding staff more to account for pupils’ achievement.

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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 Barking and Dagenham.

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