Setting

Mrs Elizabeth Maxted The Headteacher St Saviour's Church of England Primary School Herne Hill Road London SE24 0AY

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Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 18 December 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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Primary School

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

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Evidence

During this inspection, meetings were held with you, the executive headteacher and the deputy headteacher, three members of the governing body including the Chair, and a representative from the local authority. The local authority’s statement of action and the school’s development plan were evaluated. I reviewed the records of your monitoring and the minutes of governing body meetings. I examined some of the school’s safeguarding records and went on a tour of the school with you, where we visited classrooms and looked at pupils’ English and mathematics books.

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Context

Since the last inspection, the headteacher has left the school and the governing body has appointed you as the headteacher. The school has entered into a three- year partnership with the Loughborough Federation of Schools to provide additional leadership support. The federation’s executive headteacher is working alongside you. 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 Three new members have been appointed to the governing body; one of these is a parent governor and the other two are foundation governors.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Senior leaders show a commitment to bringing about rapid and sustainable improvement at the school. The senior leadership team is benefiting from your record of accomplishment as a successful headteacher and your proven ability to address any weaknesses in teaching and learning. The executive headteacher is providing you with good support, which enables you to remain focused on improving the things that will make a difference to how well pupils learn.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

You have made a good start to improving the quality of teaching by drawing upon the expertise of one of the schools in the federation. Your meetings with teachers about pupils’ learning, in which you hold them to account for the progress that pupils make, are very rigorous. You scrutinise every aspect of classroom practice and give teachers regular feedback about what they are doing well and what they must improve. You have begun to use individual action plans to support teachers where their teaching is not yet leading to good progress. Teachers understand that this links to their appraisal and to any increase in salary.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The Chair of the Governing Body demonstrates an unwavering dedication to improving the school. He has ensured that all governors understand their role and made sure that they have clear areas of responsibility. He has skilfully guided the school through a time of significant change. His open and transparent approach has ensured that parents have been kept informed about important developments at the school, during a time of turbulence. An external consultant is working with the governing body to review its practice and develop governors’ skills further. You have ensured that governors have a much better understanding of school information on pupils’ progress. They would benefit from training in using this information to ask the questions that challenge you and other leaders about pupils’ achievement.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s development plan makes improving teaching and learning its central focus and demonstrates the high expectations of leaders. The actions that leaders plan to take and the timescales given are appropriate. It does not identify the specific arrangements for monitoring improvements and does not give enough attention to the interim progress measures that leaders expect to see for groups of pupils.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Following the inspection, the local authority, governing body and the Diocese of Southwark took swift action to establish a three-year partnership between the school and the Loughborough Federation of Schools. This has brought stability to the leadership of the school. Local authority officers have supported and challenged the school through regular visits and meetings. These have effectively held leaders to account for the speed with which improvements are made. The local authority’s statement of action clearly identifies responsibility for monitoring the school but does not specifically address what will be monitored and by whom.

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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 local authority’s statement of action is fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s development plan is 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

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

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