Setting

Headteacher Mr M Pickering Clanfield Junior School Little Hyden Lane Waterlooville PO8 0RE

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School

Following my visit to your school on 9 June 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 in February 2014. 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. The school should take further action to:

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School

 refine its self-evaluation procedures to present a full and accurate picture of its strengths and weaknesses and the reasons for them  put more detail in the improvement and development plan about monitoring and evaluation strategies  concentrate more closely on managing the progress of groups of pupils that are recognised as being vulnerable to underachievement.

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Evidence

During the visit, I met with you, the Chair of Governors and two other governors, and a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. The school improvement and development plan was evaluated, and 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 various other documents were scrutinised, including an updated self-evaluation. We undertook short visits to several classes to see teaching and learning.

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Main findings

There are good systems in place to track the achievements of pupils, and analyses of the performance of each class against expectations are now undertaken more frequently. There is good emphasis on the progress of individuals; you, your senior leaders and teachers know pupils well and use this knowledge to support their progress and well-being. However, there is not enough regard given to the progress of groups vulnerable to underachievement, for example the need to ensure that those eligible for free school meals catch up on previously lost ground. The school disputes the reliability of the Key Stage 1 outcomes for pupils as they join the school in Year 3 and, in response, carries out its own assessment when pupils join the school. However these may underestimate pupils’ starting points. As a result, leaders could have an over-optimistic view of the progress that pupils make as they move through the school.

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Main findings

There are plans underway currently to reorganise senior team roles to establish a stronger culture of accountability throughout the school. As an aspect of this, there is a commitment to introduce regular high quality conversations with middle leaders using the frequent measures of pupils’ achievement now underway, and for them to do the same with all teachers. The special educational needs coordinator is beginning to provide appropriate challenge and support for disabled pupils or those who have special educational needs by undertaking training to equip herself better for this role. You and other senior leaders are aware of the need to arrive at judgements of the quality of teaching by considering a broad range of evidence, most importantly taking the progress of students into account. This is beginning to happen.

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Main findings

Your self-evaluation does not always identify previously demonstrated successes and weaknesses accurately, nor is the analysis of the reasons that lie behind them always clear. For example you associated the disappointing Key Stage 2 results in 2013 with a greater proportion of disabled pupils and those with special needs in that year group, rather than explore the extent to which their needs were, or were not, met. The poor mathematics results were due to inaccurate assessments being made but the self-evaluation does not point to this explicitly as an issue from which to learn. You and governors describe the school’s current overall effectiveness as good, but the local authority does not share this view. However, you are confident that the Key Stage 2 results in 2014 will demonstrate good achievement in all subject areas. Issues from the evaluation process are tracked into the school improvement and development plan. It is not clear in the plan how you will regularly

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Main findings

gauge the progress being made with these issues, however. Governors are improving their capacity to offer more challenge and support to you and your senior staff, and they have developed a useful set of strategies which are summarised in a separate governor development plan. Some governors are beginning to adopt a usefully critical approach to the quality of the school’s work. The governing body shows great willingness to learn about current standards of teaching and learning and to support developments.

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Main findings

The school has useful links with Horndean Technology College, a local secondary school, but there are no links with other good or outstanding primary schools yet. The local authority is keen to help you to establish these links to assist you to refine aspects of leadership and management in the school, and to enable teachers to see good and outstanding classroom practice.

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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. We agreed that I will scrutinise the Key Stage 2 results with you as soon as they are known to the school.

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External support

The local authority is providing good quality support for the work of the school. Your leadership and learning partner meets with you regularly and she provides good support for developing leadership and management. There is very good support from the local authority’s mathematics adviser whose work is valued by the staff involved. She has made a useful contribution to this aspect of the school’s improvement and development planning. There is also very good support for the work of the special educational needs coordinator. The local authority governor services team led the useful review of governance which the governing body requested. The local authority representative has agreed to investigate your concerns around the reliability of Key Stage 1 outcomes.

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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 Hampshire.

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