Setting

Mrs Kate Schonhut Headteacher Blundeston Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Church Road Blundeston Lowestoft NR32 5AX

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of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 25 June 2014, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection 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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of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in March 2014. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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of England Voluntary Controlled Primary 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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of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

 include more quantifiable measures within the improvement plan so that the impact of the school’s work can be monitored more effectively

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of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

 develop a policy which gives precise details about how each member of the school’s leadership team will monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching and learning across the curriculum.

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Evidence

During the inspection I held meetings with you, the deputy headteacher and subject leaders to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. I also met with the Chair of the Governing Body and held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority. I evaluated the school’s improvement plan and 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 9161 Direct email : ann.morris@serco.com scrutinised pupils’ work, in writing and mathematics. I also looked at outcomes from the school’s monitoring activities and discussed the impact of performance management on improving teaching and learning with school leaders.

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Context

Since the previous inspection one teacher has left the school and a replacement has been appointed. There has been a change to the school’s leadership structure with the addition of two middle leadership posts.

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Main findings

Senior leaders and governors have moved promptly to address the weaknesses that were identified at the previous inspection. They have taken robust and effective action to eradicate inadequate teaching. They have also developed an improvement plan which identifies a range of appropriate actions which the school intends to take in order to be judged as good at its next inspection. The plan focuses on what needs to be done to improve the school however it does not contain enough quantifiable measures for school leaders to use to check on progress.

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Main findings

You have begun to make improvements to systems for checking on the work of teachers. For example, when making judgements about teaching, school leaders now consider the impact on pupils’ learning by looking at the quality of work in pupils’ books and pupil progress information. Middle leaders are also beginning to play a more active role in school improvement. For example, the subject leader for English has undertaken a review of guided reading across the school. However, currently there is no plan which sets out, in detail, the precise role of all school leaders in the checking the work of the school. As a result, some key areas of the school’s work are not covered and there is the potential for work to be duplicated.

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Main findings

Governors play an active role in school life. The Chair of the Governing Body accepts that governors now need to focus more closely on pupil outcomes when challenging school leaders about performance. Action has been taken to address this issue, for example the existing links between governors and individual classes has been strengthened recently through governors’ involvement in pupil progress meetings. This is helping governors to gain a more well-informed view about how the school is performing.

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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

Since September 2013 the local authority has provided a challenge partner to work with the school’s leadership team. Although the school found the additional support and challenge useful, the person appointed to carry out this role was replaced in April 2014 and the new challenge partner has only visited the school on one occasion since. It is too soon to measure the impact of this work.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body, the Director of Children’s Services for Suffolk and the Director of Education for Norwich Diocese.

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