Setting

Mr I Mulinder Interim Headteacher St Anne's Catholic Primary School Washington Road Caversham Reading RG4 5AA

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School

Following my visit to your school on 19 March 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 recent section 5 inspection.

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School

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

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Evidence

During this inspection, meetings were held with you, your deputy headteacher and seconded deputy headteacher, the lead child protection officer, three members of the Interim Executive Board (IEB) including the Chair, and an officer from the local authority. The local authority’s statement of action and the school’s improvement plan were evaluated. I also looked at a range of documentation linked to safeguarding, including the single central record and evidence of work in pupils’ books.

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Context

Since the inspection in November 2013, the acting headteacher has left and you took up the post of interim headteacher in January 2014. This post is due to continue until the end of the summer term 2014. The seconded deputy headteacher is supporting the school for three days per week. This support is also due to 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 email :suzy.smith@tribalgroup.com continue until the end of the summer term. One new teacher has been appointed. The Early Years Foundation Stage teacher is on maternity leave and two part-time teachers share this post. This job-share role is due to continue until the end of the summer term. One teaching assistant has left. At present, the bursar is not in school. A part-time temporary bursar has been appointed. The role of special educational needs coordinator is held by two job-share teachers. A new special

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Context

educational needs coordinator has been appointed to start in the summer term. In February 2014, the governing body was disbanded. The IEB was formed on 10 February 2014.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Senior leaders are not well placed to tackle the key priorities for improvement because plans and actions are not sufficiently focused on the areas for improvement identified during the section 5 inspection. The headteacher and seconded deputy headteacher have begun to work with teachers to identify strengths and areas for improvement in their practice, but this is at an early stage of development.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The IEB is newly appointed. Members identified some key statutory policies that were not in place when the IEB was established. They have taken swift action to consult staff in order to ensure policies on safeguarding, health and safety, appraisal and whistleblowing are agreed and implemented. They will need to take urgent action to ensure all statutory policies are in place and to monitor the school’s progress to improve teaching and leadership.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The local authority is supporting the school, both financially and in its quest to appoint a new permanent headteacher. However, it has not checked the school’s safeguarding arrangements with sufficient rigour.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Serious safeguarding concerns were identified during this monitoring visit. The school must address these concerns urgently. Further checks are to be undertaken by Her Majesty’s Inspector on 25 March 2014.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Following the monitoring inspection these judgements were made:

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The local authority’s statement of action is not fit for purpose. It requires greater clarification to determine how the shortcomings identified in the report are to be addressed.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s improvement plan is not fit for purpose. It does not address all the priorities for improvement identified in the section 5 inspection. A new plan should be drawn up to include:

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

 sharply focused actions to address all the areas for improvement in the inspection report  closer links to pupils’ attainment and progress in order to check on whether the school’s planned actions are effectively addressing pupils’ underachievement  clear measurable milestones to check on the progress of all the planned actions  greater clarity on how the school plans to address shortcomings in the school’s safeguarding arrangements  greater detail regarding the monitoring of the actions within the plan and how the plan will be evaluated.

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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 Interim Executive Board, the Director of Children’s Services for Reading and the Director of the Diocesan Education Service. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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