Setting

Michaela Fallon Headteacher Canon Maggs CofE Junior School Derwent Road Bedworth CV12 8RT

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School

Following my visit to your school on 13–14 November 2013, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the outcome and findings of the inspection. 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 previous monitoring inspection.

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School

The inspection was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses following the section 5 inspection which took place in February 2013. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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School

Having considered all the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time:

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School

The school is making reasonable progress towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation.

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School

This letter and monitoring inspection report will be published on the Ofsted website. I am copying this letter to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body, the Director of Children’s Services for Warwickshire.

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Additional Inspector

Serco Inspections 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 : 0121 679 9158 Direct email : rachel.dayan@serco.com

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place in February 2013

 Ensure that teaching is consistently good or better in all year groups by:

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place in February 2013

- making sure teachers give pupils work that is well matched to their varying abilities and demanding enough to enable all pupils to make good progress - improving the balance between whole-class teaching and pupils’ independent activities so that learning is continuous across the lesson - making sure that pupils’ work is always marked in all subjects and gives pupils advice on how to improve.

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place in February 2013

 Improve pupils’ achievement, especially in mathematics, by:

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place in February 2013

- sustaining the improvements in teaching and better deployment of staff so that underachievement is removed - making sure that extra help for pupils supported by the pupil premium, particularly the use of additional adults in the classroom, is always fully effective and measuring the impact on pupils’ achievement.

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place in February 2013

 Improve leadership and management, including governance, by:   - ensuring that a planned and systematic programme of checking and evaluating the quality of teaching is fully developed so that teaching and learning improve further - setting individual targets for teachers that are robustly followed up to make sure that teaching continues to improve.

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Evidence

The inspection concentrated on evaluating the extent of improvement in raising standards and pupils’ achievement, particularly in mathematics, and how well senior and subject leaders and governors are driving improvement.

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Evidence

The inspector met with the headteacher, assistant headteacher and learning pastoral manager, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body and a diocesan governor, English and mathematics leaders, a group of learning ambassadors and the school improvement adviser.

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Evidence

The inspector observed seven lessons, and teaching was seen in all year groups. Feedback was given to all teachers so that they knew where the strengths and relative weaknesses in their teaching lie. A scrutiny of work was undertaken with the headteacher and the English leader, to evaluate the quality of marking and its impact in raising standards, particularly in writing and mathematics. A range of documentation was evaluated, including the school’s amended school improvement plan, pupil attainment and progress data, governing body minutes, local authority inspection reports, anonymised appraisal records and the monitoring of teaching outcomes. Two weaknesses, identified at the first monitoring inspection in May 2013, were followed up. The single central register was evaluated to ensure that the date of all checks and the person carrying them out were always specified. While the school improvement plan was judged to be fit for purpose, it did not always clearly

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Evidence

quantify the outcomes of work undertaken.

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Context

An office manager left in July 2013. A new office manager was appointed at the beginning of the autumn term 2013. There have been no other significant changes since the first monitoring inspection in May 2013.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The headteacher, senior staff, English and mathematics leaders and governors are driving improvement at a fast pace. The headteacher is doing a very good job, and she is well supported by governors, who have considerably increased their effectiveness. Senior leaders and governors communicate high expectations and the quality of education has improved significantly since February 2013.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The leadership of teaching in English and mathematics is very good. As a result, standards in mathematics have risen markedly and pupils are making good gains in their learning in reading, writing and mathematics. The school’s actions have secured good improvement in achievement for those supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding for those known to be eligible for free school meals). For example, there has been a significant rise in the number of free school meals pupils making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. The gap between the performance of free school meals pupils and other pupils in the school is narrowing rapidly. Year 6 attainment in mathematics has risen from significantly below average in 2012 to average in 2013.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The headteacher and governors have rightly focused their work on the key priorities identified in the school improvement plan. Actions are well targeted and are based on a secure understanding of the school’s performance and a thorough analysis of staff and pupils’ strengths and weaknesses. Pupils’ attainment and progress are tracked securely, and data is used to identify any underperformance and to inform action to bring about further improvement. Performance management procedures have improved. Teachers are set individual targets to improve teaching and pupils’ progress, and all teachers are required to set a personal target for improvement. Targets are robustly followed up to ensure that they are met. There is a planned and systematic programme for checking the quality of teaching and learning by senior leaders, subject leaders and governors. Monitoring and intervention strategies are quickly improving teaching and pupils’ achievement, particularly in English and

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

mathematics. In May 2013, there were some minor weaknesses in the contents of the school improvement plan and the single central register. All weaknesses have been rectified. For example, measures to judge success are now quantifiable and all of the required information is contained in the single central register.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The headteacher commissioned an external review of governance and it was carried out in March 2013. An audit of the governing body’s strengths and weaknesses pinpointed what was working well and what must be improved. Weaknesses have been suitably addressed. For example, clerking arrangements were not robust enough in February 2012. A new clerk is ensuring that governors’ work is better organised and meetings are properly minuted. Governors are appropriately holding senior leaders to account for school outcomes. For example, governors conduct school visits with an improvement focus to find things out for themselves. A written record is made of their findings and visit outcomes are shared with the whole governing body. A weaknesses identified in May 2013 has been remedied. There is now a formal structure whereby governors, the headteacher and school improvement adviser evaluate the progress made termly in rectifying the areas

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

identified for improvement in February 2013.

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Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 Teaching and learning in all years is improving quickly. Underachievement has been eradicated. Most pupils made good gains in their learning in reading, writing and mathematics between February and July 2013. Assessment information is mostly used well to ensure that work is properly matched to pupils’ capabilities. Most of the activities provided are suitably challenging and there is a good balance between whole-class teaching and pupils working independently.  Pupils’ reading and mathematical skills are developing well. Pupils are writing in a range of different forms and their ideas are developing well. Sentence construction, tense usage and the use of descriptive language are much improved. Pupils are being taught effectively how to punctuate and to organise text into paragraphs. The younger pupils are writing in a fluent joined style.

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Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 Teaching assistants are appropriately deployed and extra support is carefully targeted. Teaching assistants are involved in lesson planning and this ensures that they know what must be achieved and how. They support and guide learning effectively.

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Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 Learning ambassadors play an important role, helping their classmates to understand what aspects of learning are working well and what must be improved. They regularly review what is holding back individual and group achievement and what barriers must be removed to bring about even greater progress. Their ability to reflect on those things that hinder learning and impact on others’ learning is impressive.

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Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 Marking is of high quality. The school’s marking policy is embedded consistently. Feedback clearly identifies the strengths and weaknesses in pupils’ work. Pupils are encouraged to evaluate each others’ work as well as their own. A very good dialogue is established between the teachers and the pupils to raise standards.

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Weaknesses in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 Occasionally, pupils are given work in mathematics that is not properly matched to their specific needs or ability. At times, the work provided is too difficult or is too easy. This indicates that teachers have not properly identified what pupils can and cannot do before they plan activities.

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Weaknesses in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 Work scrutiny reveals that pupils are not writing at length often enough. Older pupils are not writing in a fluent joined style. Spelling errors are not being eradicated quickly enough. The spelling policy is not being applied consistently.

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Weaknesses in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 Pupils’ progress, year-on-year, is not being tracked cumulatively; using pupils’ different starting points, to judge the proportions making expected progress, and the proportions exceeding expected progress, in reading, writing and mathematics, and comparing results to national figures.

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External support

Good support has been provided by the school improvement adviser and governor service department in the local authority. Termly quality assurance visits by local authority advisers have suitably evaluated the progress made in addressing the most important school weaknesses. Judgements made about the school, by advisers, are fair and accurate and are in accord with the findings of this inspection. Governor training has improved governors’ expertise and their ability to better hold senior leaders to account. They are no longer reliant on the information supplied by senior leaders to determine the school’s performance. A specialist leader in education input has improved subject leadership and teaching quality to such an extent that it is no longer required. An outside provider has improved the quality of performance management by improving the range of criteria used to judge teachers’ competence.

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