Setting

Mr Jerry Seaward Acting headteacher Newport Church of England Aided Primary School Hazel Close Carisbrooke Meadows Newport Isle of Wight PO30 5GD

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Aided Primary School

Following my visit with Ken Bryan, additional inspector, to your school on 20 and 21 January 2014, 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 previous monitoring inspection.

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Aided Primary School

The inspection was the second monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in April 2013. The full list of the areas for improvement which were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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Aided Primary School

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time: The school is making reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures.

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Aided Primary School

The local authority's statement of action and the school’s post-Ofsted action plan are now both fit for purpose.

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Aided Primary School

The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers.

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Aided Primary School

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

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

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 5323 Direct F 0117 315 0430 Email : suzy.smith@tribalgroup.com

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure no teaching is inadequate and increase the proportion of good or better teaching, by: - making sure teachers have the chance to observe good teaching and providing support during lessons so that they know what good teaching looks like and can share this practice with one another - making sure teachers increase the pace of lessons and expect pupils to complete their work with more urgency - making sure teachers use the information they have about the progress of pupils, particularly the more able, to give them work which is more challenging and more closely builds on what they already know and can do - giving pupils more opportunities to practise and develop their numeracy and literacy skills in a range of situations and across different subjects.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase pupils’ progress and raise their attainment in English and mathematics, by: - making sure staff have higher expectations of what pupils can do in every lesson - giving pupils more opportunity to respond to the comments in their books from teachers’ marking - frequently involving pupils in assessing the progress they are making towards their targets.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Urgently increase the effectiveness of senior leaders in bringing about improvements in teaching, by:  - making sure that there is an appropriate leadership structure in place across the school and that leaders identify issues and introduce solutions - giving teachers precise feedback about what they need to do to improve, and showing them how to do so - providing a clear, well-structured framework for the development of pupils’ skills and knowledge, right across the school, around which teachers can plan their work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the support for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, and accelerate their progress rapidly, by: - further developing the systems to identify which pupils need support, and when they may have overcome their difficulties - helping leaders to monitor the effectiveness of the support provided for these pupils and rapidly making changes where support is not making enough difference.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure that governors gather more first-hand evidence to check the views of senior leaders and use this to challenge the school, by: - undertaking training to understand the data about the school in greater detail and how these compare with schools nationally - developing the systems for the performance management of the headteacher and senior leaders, to support them and hold them accountable for bringing about rapid improvements.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.  

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Evidence

The inspectors observed the school’s work. They scrutinised documents, including the checks made to ensure the suitability of staff to work with children. The inspectors met with senior leaders; teaching staff; some governors, including the Chair of the Governing Body; and a group of pupils. The lead inspector spoke to a representative from the local authority on the telephone and spoke informally to a group of parents and carers at the beginning of the school day. Eleven part-lessons were observed; most of these were conducted jointly alongside a senior leader.

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Context

A new Chair of the Governing Body was elected in the autumn term, and an additional foundation governor has been appointed. The Principal from Christ the King College is recognised by the school community as the Executive Headteacher who is providing support and challenge to the school’s leadership team. An extended leadership team is now in place and includes: the recently appointed inclusion leader, the acting mathematics leader, acting English leader, and the leader for the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Key Stage 2 leader.

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Context

There are currently two supply teachers in Years 4 and 5 while the school is advertising these posts. One member of staff has gone on maternity leave and another returned from maternity leave. Some teaching staff have been employed on a temporary basis to provide additional support for pupils in English and mathematics. Two learning support assistants have left the school and three new ones have been appointed. There is a new librarian who works at the school for three days a week.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Higher expectations of what pupils can do in lessons is leading to better progress across the school, but this is uneven across year groups and within subjects. Rates of progress also vary depending on the different groups of pupils. Although the progress pupils make is now tracked accurately, there is no clear view of the extent to which the school is narrowing gaps in attainment.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are progressing well in their learning and development. If their rate of progress is maintained, they will be better prepared for when they enter Year 1 than has previously been the case. In the rest of the school, boys, especially those for whom the school receives additional funding through the pupil premium, are progressing well with their reading. This is due to the additional support they receive. However, with the exception of girls in Years 4 and 6, who are also progressing well, girls are not making enough progress in reading. Younger pupils are not developing a secure knowledge of letters and sounds (phonics); this is slowing the progress they make in reading and writing. The comprehension skills of pupils in the juniors need to improve more rapidly. To date, most year groups have met or exceeded their targets in writing; the exception is in Year 6 where pupils still have a lot to catch up on from previous underachievement.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Nevertheless, pupils are becoming more confident in writing at length, using complex and interesting sentences.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

The least amount of progress made by pupils so far this year is in mathematics. The exception is Year 6 where pupils have received additional support and teaching to help accelerate their learning. Overall, pupils are more confident at basic addition and subtraction. Pupils are starting to develop the skills they need to solve problems, but are not resilient enough when work is challenging. Pupils’ mental recall of number facts including multiplication remains weak and they have limited knowledge of shape, space and measures. Too few disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are making sufficient progress because they do not get enough appropriate support.

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Achievement of pupils at the school

Pupils like the use of target cards to help them to know what they need to do to improve their work; however, at times, targets are not pitched at the right level. Pupils value the constructive comments their teachers write in their books. They find these comments encouraging, and also very helpful in helping them to identify what they could do better. Pupils are beginning to take more responsibility for identifying for themselves what they need to do to improve their work. They are showing more pride in their work; this is reflected in the increasingly good quality of presentation seen in their books and in the work on display around the school.

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The quality of teaching

Not enough teaching is securely good or better. The vast majority of teaching seen required improvement and a small amount was inadequate. Most of the teaching judged to require improvement included good elements of teaching. Teachers have benefited from observing good practice in other schools and would welcome more opportunities to do so. They now recognise the components of good teaching but have yet to embed these things in enough lessons. Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is becoming more purposeful because activities have a clearer focus on children's learning.

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The quality of teaching

Typically, relationships between teachers and pupils are positive; there is a purposeful learning environment with displays that support pupils’ progress and learning; and teachers encourage pupils to use target cards to help them to know what to aim for. Teachers’ marking includes celebratory comments as well as clear indications of what pupils need to do next to improve. Teachers are starting to provide more opportunities for pupils to practise and develop their numeracy and literacy skills in a range of subjects; this is reflected well in religious education and topic books.

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The quality of teaching

Despite the fact that teachers are beginning to make use of information about pupils to plan lessons, the following common weaknesses were observed: overly long introductions that did not leave pupils with enough time to complete their work; too few opportunities for pupils to talk about their work and share ideas especially when writing; insufficient challenge for the most able, therefore slowing their progress unnecessarily; and teaching and support staff not encouraging, particularly younger pupils, to use and apply their phonic skills to help them with reading and writing.

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The quality of teaching

A significant shortcoming of the quality of teaching is the support provided to disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. Despite some pockets of effective practice, many teaching and support staff do not possess the knowledge and skills to help this group of pupils to progress well in their learning.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are generally happier at school now and have become more engaged with their learning. This is reflected in their rising levels of attendance. Although parents and carers told one of the inspectors that their children are happy and safe in school, some pupils told the inspector that they did not always feel safe in school. This is because staff do not always deal effectively with undesirable behaviour in class and around the school. Some pupils feel particularly vulnerable at playtimes, especially at lunchtime. This is because the staff on duty do not deal swiftly or effectively with bullying or disagreements. Pupils, and parents and carers, agree that there is not enough for pupils to do at playtime and that this contributes to some overly boisterous behaviour which pupils believe lunchtime staff do not manage well. Pupils would welcome more guidance about who they can speak to if they feel bullied or have personal concerns. Despite the concerns voiced by pupils at the time

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

of this inspection, pupils’ behaviour observed in lessons and around the school was generally good.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Senior leaders have successfully raised staff morale. Staff work collaboratively and share ideas of good practice. This helps staff to feel valued and well supported. Staff told inspectors that they appreciate the clarity and consistency with which senior leaders communicate expectations and key messages. The executive headteacher has helped the acting headteacher to develop his role by acting as a critical friend. The acting headteacher has created an extended leadership team which is helping to build capacity in the leadership and management of the school. Newly appointed leaders contribute to identifying issues in need of improvement and suggest how these can be resolved. However, their action plans do not include enough targets that can be measured. This limits their ability to judge the extent to which they are successfully contributing to raising standards for different groups of pupils.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Leaders and managers regularly review the quality of teaching and learning. They are eradicating inadequate teaching effectively. Although teachers value the feedback they receive following lesson observations, they would welcome more precise next steps to improve their practice. The deputy headteacher is a particularly strong leader of teaching and contributes well to improvements to the quality of teaching noted during this inspection. Senior leaders introduced structured programmes of work for English and mathematics. These programmes provide teachers with clear guidance about planning for progress in pupils’ learning. Leaders and managers are not analysing and then summarising in sufficient detail information about the proportions of pupils from different groups who are not meeting, meeting or exceeding targets.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

In a short space of time, the newly appointed inclusion leader has secured the confidence of staff and they are keen to learn from her. She has already revised the special educational needs register to ensure that pupils in need of additional support are correctly identified. Although staff are beginning to track the progress made by disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, leaders and managers recognise that the improvements needed to support these pupils have been too slow and this must now be addressed as a matter of urgency. This includes providing training for teachers and learning support assistants, and monitoring their effectiveness more closely.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Leaders and managers do not analyse incidents or the frequency of undesirable behaviour closely enough. Consequently, they do not have a clear picture of whether the number or severity of incidents are increasing or declining, or if any groups of pupils are overly represented.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Parents and carers who spoke to the inspector stated that they noticed that the quality of education at the school is improving. However, they would welcome better levels of communication from the school and for this to be more timely.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Governors are developing a greater awareness of the progress made by pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium. Governors are beginning to challenge senior leaders by asking questions about the progress made by pupils. They have started to attend training to help them to understand data in greater detail, but recognise there is still some way to go before they become completely confident with this level of information. Although governors are developing systems for managing the performance of the headteacher and senior leaders through the use of an external consultant, targets to measure the impact of key leaders in raising standards have not been set.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

The school's post-Ofsted action plan is now more tightly focused on the quality of teaching and learning; and the management of teachers’ performance is more closely linked to pupils’ progress. Although the plan includes more targets for the school to aim for, it would benefit from additional quantified targets so that progress can be more accurately and closely measured.

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The quality of leadership in and management of the school

Leaders, managers and administrative staff undertake appropriate checks to verify the suitability of staff to work with children.

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External support

There is a good working relationship between Hampshire local authority and the school. Local authority officers are in regular communication with school leaders. Reports produced by local authority officers provide school leaders, managers and governors with insightful points for improvement. However, these are not always acted upon swiftly enough by the school. Hampshire’s governor services have completed an external review of governance which has resulted in helpful and pertinent recommendations to help improve the effectiveness of governance at the school.

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External support

As a result of the support they have received from the English and mathematics local authority inspectors, the newly appointed English and mathematics leaders are supporting their colleagues to help them to improve their practice. A good example of the impact this is having is the progress that has been made in the quality of teachers’ planning for English and mathematics.

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External support

Hampshire local authority provided senior leaders at the school with the support needed to produce a revised post-Ofsted action plan that is now fit for purpose. The local authority's own statement of action clarifies partnership arrangements between the Isle of Wight, Hampshire and the Diocese in supporting the school. The proposed actions to help the school come out of special measures are mostly clear and specific. They match the issues raised in the section 5 report and include strategies to improve leadership and management, including governance at the school.

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External support

A specialist leader of education provides effective levels of challenge and support for the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. This is leading to the improvements noted since the previous inspection.

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