Setting

Mrs Pat Boyle Headteacher Wigginton Primary School Westfield Lane Wigginton York North Yorkshire YO32 2FZ

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Wigginton Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 12 May 2014, 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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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Wigginton Primary School

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

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Wigginton Primary School

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

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Wigginton Primary School

The school is making reasonable progress towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation. It is my recommendation that the next inspection be a full section 5 re-inspection.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Wigginton Primary 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 Executive Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children’s Services, Education and Skills for York.

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Additional Inspector

CfBT Inspection Services Suite 22 West Lancs Investment Centre Maple View Skelmersdale WN8 9TG T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 01695 566939 Direct F 01695 729320 Direct email: glankertis@cfbt.com

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place in April 2013

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is at least good in order to accelerate pupils’ progress and help them attain the standards of which they are capable, especially in English and in Key Stage 2 by: - improving the teaching of reading, especially in Years 5 and 6 - planning lessons that meet the needs of all pupils including boys and those pupils with disabilities or special educational needs - ensuring lessons motivate and challenge pupils effectively to help them learn at a brisk pace throughout the lesson, as well as developing their independence - improving teachers’ questioning skills so that all pupils are encouraged to think more deeply about the learning they are making - improving the quality of teachers’ marking so that pupils are told clearly what they need to do next to improve their work - ensuring teachers have high expectations of their pupils and encourage them to take greater pride in their work

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place in April 2013

- raising teachers expectations of pupils’ literacy skills in subjects other than English.

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place in April 2013

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by: - developing the expertise of subject leaders so that they can contribute more effectively to improving teaching and pupils’ progress - implementing a rigorous programme of checks and an analysis of pupils’ progress so that school leaders are better able to understand how well pupils are doing and know whether actions to speed up progress have worked.

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Evidence

The inspector met with the headteacher and three other senior leaders, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteacher and the special educational needs coordinator. The headteacher and inspector conducted brief visits to lessons in all key stages to gain an overview of teaching and learning. The inspector also met with the Chair of the Governing Body and two other governors. The inspector held discussions with the two literacy coordinators and with a group of nine pupils. The inspector talked with parents present in the Reception class working alongside their children. The focus of the monitoring inspection was the points for improvement set out in the inspection report particularly the quality of teaching, monitoring, progress made by pupils and leadership.

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Context

Since the second monitoring inspection, there have been no changes to the senior team leading the school. A teaching assistant specialising in speech and language has been given designated time to strengthen the provision in line with the school improvement plan.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Since the previous monitoring inspection, the senior leaders have continued to adhere to the school improvement plan. This they do in a responsive way making adjustments to different aspects of the plan as they are implemented. Senior leaders are monitoring progress against the improvement plan and apply measures that are rational and relevant to the plan. They have affirmed the standards now required from pupils and staff by rigorous monitoring and by providing feedback on the monitoring to teachers in the school. Teachers feel well informed and are clear about the areas for improvement set out in the improvement plan. They express high levels of confidence in the senior leaders.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The governing body is now vigorous and very well organised in the way it carries out its role of challenge and support. Governors have aligned their skills to curriculum and management priorities. They are visiting the school more frequently than prior to the school inspection of April 2013. They have developed the role of governor of the month, which requires that during their month they are more frequently in school and carrying out a range tasks. This gives rise to the assigned governor reporting to the full governing body to ensure they have an insight into developments. This has raised the profile of governors and teachers speak positively of their support and interest in the work of teachers. The linking of individual governors with specific subjects or areas of development has had a positive impact on the school. Subject leaders are required to submit reports and give presentations to the governing body.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

It is clear from discussions with staff and observation of lessons that teachers have embraced the drive to improve teaching and learning. Compared with previous monitoring inspections the standards of teaching and learning have improved. The school’s own records of lesson observation show an increased proportion of lessons judged to be good or better. During the visits made to lessons there was a good pace to learning with no off-task behaviour seen. Pupils were applying themselves to the challenging work well and were demonstrating positive attitudes to learning.

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Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 There has been a continued clear focus on improvement since the last monitoring inspection. Teaching and learning, achievement and, in particular reading, remain priority areas for development.  Senior leaders monitor teaching and learning rigorously. All teachers are seen teaching six times a year. The judgments on teaching have been moderated by joint observations and have included external consultants, the partner headteacher and local authority improvement staff.  Monitoring of standards is carried out in several ways. These include lesson observations, book scrutinies, a series of short lesson observations, planning trails and reading trails.  Two teachers appointed to and sharing the literacy coordinator role are leading improvements in literacy. They oversee the planning and assessment of literacy, working with phase teams of teachers and bringing about consistency in planning and assessment.

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Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 The regime for tracking pupils’ progress introduced after the school inspection now requires half-termly assessments on the basis of which pupils’ progress meetings take place with senior leaders and teachers at the start of each half term.  As a result of the pupils’ progress meetings, targets are reviewed and their parents informed of the reviewed targets. In interview, pupils spoke positively of these targets and how they help them to learn.  Teachers use the information from assessment and pupils’ progress meetings to create their class action plan.  The coordinators are working with teachers to accumulate best practice folios made available to all staff. This is happening for guided reading. Senior leaders contribute to this development by carrying out reading trails to track progress.  Teachers responsible for subject areas are collecting and creating material in the form of ‘Big Books’ to exemplify and display the work going on in their subject

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Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

area.  This openness about work in progress is helping to clarify provision for teachers and provide feedback to senior leaders on progress.  Pupils’ progress is a key issue for the school. The half-termly assessment and capture of performance data using the local authority database is providing clear evidence of improvement in progress within the year. These data are presented in a one-sheet format that teachers use to review their own classes.  Senior leaders use the performance data to identify issues of individual pupils and the phase teams help teachers to make provision plans for them. This is contributing to the culture of continual improvement.  Communication with parents has improved. Discussions with them identified that they have good levels of confidence in the school. Parents are better informed of pupils’ progress and targets and the school’s website is being developed to give them good access to the school’s information.

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External support

The local authority continues to work closely with the school, providing challenge and support to leaders. They have continued to provide consultant time for key issues which are identified in liaison with the school leaders. The local authority had appointed an Executive Chair of the Governing Body who continues to serve the school well. Its officers continue to support the school with a challenge partner to work with the school leaders. The school has the support of a partner headteacher from a successful school in the authority. She continues to make frequent visits, working with the headteacher to plan and improve the quality of teaching and learning and to refine policy and procedures in the school. The partner headteacher is part of the school improvement panel that meets termly. The school is part of their cluster of schools and they are collaborating to share expertise, provide professional

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External support

development and engage in moderation activities.

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