Setting

Debra Standage Headteacher Broughton Infant School Narbeth Drive Aylesbury Buckinghamshire HP20 1NX

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School

Following my visit to your school on 3 October 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 July 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

 extend the scope of the improvement plan to: include medium and longer term priorities; be more explicit about what difference actions will make to pupils’ learning; and specify governors’ role in improving the school, as well in improving their function as governors  accelerate actions to support the achievement and inclusion of pupils who speak English as an additional language and make sure all staff understand their role in this  make the new anti-bullying policy more specific about how the school will teach children to recognise and tackle all types of bullying. 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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Evidence

During the visit, I met with you, members of the governing body, a representative of the local authority, and a consultant headteacher, to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. I evaluated the school improvement plan. I read a range of documentation, including minutes of governing body meetings, policies, and evaluation of actions taken to improve the school.

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Main findings

Since the inspection, the outdoor area used by the Reception classes has been completely overhauled to make sure that children are learning while they play. Additional equipment is helping them to recognise and use letters and numbers and encouraging them to problem-solve and interact with one another. Teaching assistants understand better how to direct children’s learning, when to intervene and when to question. ‘Learning Journey’ books are now in place. Teachers and teaching assistants use them effectively, to keep records of their observations and to help move children on to the next steps in learning.

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Main findings

You are strengthening the whole school approach to assessment by regularly checking how teachers mark and level work. Pupils can also track their progress independently, using wall displays and trackers in their books. Teachers from outstanding schools and local authority experts monitor teacher assessment for accuracy. You are working closely with a consultant headteacher to establish a strong baseline for assessment across the whole school. You are working in partnership with the junior school to make sure that pupils’ levels when they move up to Year 3 are accurate.

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Main findings

New behaviour and anti-bullying policies, launched in September, are having a positive impact on pupils’ attitudes to learning. Teachers reward and promote good behaviour in every lesson, using common symbols that pupils understand. The five ‘Golden Rules’ of good behaviour are well understood by pupils and helping them to manage their own behaviour better. Although work has begun on helping children to understand and tackle different types of bullying, such as e-safety, this is not explicit enough in the new policy. Attendance is improving. It is currently almost 95% for the whole school, compared to 93% for the same time last year. A much stronger emphasis on attendance is driving this, including tougher messages for parents about not removing children from school during term time. The ‘Golden Register’ is a positive motivational reward for the top-attending class each week. Attendance still varies for different groups of pupils, however, and you are aware of the need to

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Main findings

The school improvement plan sets out clearly what you are doing to improve teaching and leadership and to raise achievement. It currently addresses immediate and urgent actions for improvement, but lacks a longer, strategic plan for how the school will become good. It is clear about how teachers will change how they teach, but not as clear about how pupils will learn more as a result.

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Main findings

The governing body is constructively self-critical and reflective. Governors have actively sought advice and training to strengthen their work. An initial review of their effectiveness has helped them develop their roles, but they are undertaking further review led by a National Leader of Governance, as well as leadership training with the National College for Teaching and Leadership. They are better equipped than in the past to question and challenge you about the school’s success; you, in turn, are ensuring that they have the tools to do this by supplying them with clearer and more comprehensive information. The school improvement plan outlines the actions governors are taking to develop their roles; it does not, however, make clear enough how they will monitor and evaluate the school’s rate of improvement towards becoming good.

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Main findings

Plans are in place to develop the school further as a welcoming and inclusive environment for all families, including those who speak English as an additional language, but this needs to happen faster. Improvement planning prioritises the achievement of pupils of Pakistani heritage, but it does not make explicit enough that this is everyone’s responsibility, or what training staff will undertake to improve their understanding of how to accelerate the progress of bilingual pupils.

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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 provides good support to the school through the work of a school improvement adviser and a consultant headteacher. Their regular contact is helping you to evaluate sharply how well the school is doing. The consultant headteacher is particularly well focused on the need for more accurate assessment, so that you are able to identify whether teaching is having a good enough influence on pupils’ progress over time. The local authority adviser is supporting the development of leadership throughout the school with well-planned training and coaching for subject co-ordinators. You have made links with outstanding schools and are using these to good effect, to help teachers understand what good and outstanding teaching looks like and to improve their own teaching accordingly.

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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 Buckinghamshire.

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