Setting

Ian Crookes Florendine Primary School Florendine Street Amington Tamworth B77 3DD

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School

Following my visit to your school on 16 January 2014, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the findings. 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 on 24 October 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.

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Evidence

During the visit, I held meetings with you and the deputy headteacher and with members of the governing body. I also had telephone discussions with the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative of the local authority to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. I evaluated school leaders’ plans for improving the school and I reviewed the information you provided about the use of additional pupil premium funding. I also considered minutes of governors’ meetings as well as minutes from the first core group meeting and examples of lesson observation records. Serco Inspections Colmore Plaza 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 9153 Direct email : naik.sandhu@serco.com

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Context

Since the inspection the teacher responsible for leading the Reception and Key Stage 1 classes has returned from maternity leave. Although membership of the governing body has not changed since the inspection there have been some relatively recent and significant changes. A new Chair of the Governing Body was appointed in September. There are also three new parent governors.

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Main findings

You and the deputy headteacher have a clear understanding of what needs to be done for the school to be judged as good at the next inspection. You have given careful thought to the areas for improvement identified in the section 5 inspection and the action plan provides detailed information about the steps you intend to take to make these improvements. Your shared determination to become good is evident in the way that you, your deputy and your governors talk about the children, the school and your plans.

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Main findings

You have rightly focused your attention on improving the quality of teaching in order to raise achievement. Your systems for checking on teachers’ performance are now more focused on ensuring that lessons provide sufficient challenge for pupils of all abilities. Records from your visits to lessons indicate that your feedback includes development points that make it clear to teachers what they need to improve. The additional training and support that you are providing, is helping teachers to improve their subject knowledge, particularly in mathematics. You are also updating your policy for teaching calculations in mathematics, so that all teachers have a correct and consistent approach to teaching addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Effective teachers from within the school are supporting others and this is helping to raise teachers’ expectations of themselves and their pupils. The most

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Main findings

recent evidence from your checks on teaching and learning indicates that the quality of teaching is improving.

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Main findings

You are now meeting with teachers each half term to evaluate the progress of pupils in their classes and to identify and respond to the needs of any children who are not making good progress. This is helping to ensure that all teachers are held to account for the progress of pupils in their classes. You have looked at samples of pupils’ books to help you evaluate their progress but this work needs further development so that senior and subject leaders use pupils’ books effectively to check that the work planned by teachers is providing challenge for different groups and that pupils are completing enough work in lessons.

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Main findings

Your use of ‘skills ladders’ is helping teachers and pupils to be clear about what pupils know, understand and can do and about next steps in learning. You are also using marking more effectively to identify and correct misconceptions and show pupils what they need to do to make their work even better. Information about the use of additional pupil premium funding is not sufficiently detailed. It does not show how many eligible children are accessing the planned intervention and enrichment activities. It is not clear how you will measure the success of these activities. For example, additional teaching assistants are being deployed to support the progress of pupils eligible for support through the pupil premium, but the school has not yet checked to see if this work is resulting in improved progress.

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Main findings

In line with the recommendation made in the inspection report, leaders and governors have ensured that the school now has a website which is more effective in informing and supporting parents and pupils.

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Main findings

The governing body now has an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. Governors share the determination of the school staff to make the necessary improvements without delay. Governors have taken steps to ensure that their meetings are more focused on the quality of teaching and on pupils’ learning and have become more involved in checking information about pupils’ progress. Some training has already been provided to ensure that governors have a better understanding of how the progress and attainment of pupils compares with pupils nationally. However, minutes of meetings provide little evidence that governors provide sufficient challenge to school leaders. Governors agree that this is an area which needs to be quickly improved. They welcome the external review of governance, which is being arranged by the local authority.

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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 is providing appropriate support to help the school improve. Officers have arranged training for teachers to help them meet the needs of the most able pupils as well as training to help the English and mathematics subject leaders to use information about pupils’ progress more effectively. A representative from the local authority has visited the school this term to meet with school leaders and governors, visit lessons, look at books and evaluate their plans for improvement. Similar meetings will take place each half term. The local authority is also arranging for an external review of governance. The local authority is in the process of identifying a headteacher from a high performing school (Local Leader of Education) to provide on-going support and challenge to school leaders at Florendine.

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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 Staffordshire. Yours sincerely

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