Setting

Mr R Petch Headteacher All Saints Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior School, Northolme Road Hessle HU13 9JD

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Yorkshire

Following my visit to your school on 20 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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Yorkshire

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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Yorkshire

Senior leaders and governors are not taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection and plans are not sharply focused on rapidly bringing about improvement. The school should take immediate action to:

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Yorkshire

 Improve the quality and urgency of the school’s work to tackle the barriers to improvement by including specific sharply focused actions in school plans.  Ensure that leaders’ checks on the school’s work take place more regularly and are finely focused to identify the difference they are making to pupils’ learning.  Keep governors fully informed so that they have an accurate view of the impact of the school’s work to raise standards and quicken pupils’ progress, and are better able to hold staff to account. 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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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher, other senior leaders, pupils and the Chair of Governors and members of the governing body. Meetings were also held with representatives of the local authority and the Diocese of York to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. The school action plan was evaluated and samples of monitoring records by leaders were analysed.

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Main findings

The school has made slow progress to tackle the areas for improvement in the three months since the school was inspected. Despite leaders, staff and governors consensus about what the initial barriers to improvement are, plans do not present a convincing picture of how the school intends to tackle them.

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Main findings

Leadership is not sufficiently developed at senior level and throughout the school to provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses in pupils’ performance in reading, writing and mathematics. Governors, the local authority and the diocese are concerned about the slow pace of improvement. Local authority advice and support is compensating for this current lack of capacity in the school and as a consequence some leaders are becoming more informed about where to focus their efforts to improve reading and mathematics. The headteacher has undertaken very little monitoring since the inspection and there is no systematic programme of monitoring planned.

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Main findings

Some training for teachers to develop their knowledge of how to teach reading has taken place. Opportunities for pupils to learn and to practice their reading skills have increased. Although discussions have taken place with staff about expectations of planning, marking and feedback to pupils they have not led to changes in practice across the school. Pupils in many classes still do not receive feedback about how to improve their work and, in a small number of cases where this has started to happen, teachers are not checking that pupils have acted upon their guidance.

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Main findings

Pupils are pleased to have additional resources to play with at break and lunch times and the expectations of behaviour and sanctions for misbehaviour are much clearer. Behavioural incidents are being recorded more systematically but the information is not analysed or used to determine whether behaviour policies are effective and where improvements may be needed.

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Main findings

Weaknesses in the school plan and in the headteacher’s leadership of monitoring and analysis of school data mean governors have not been kept sufficiently informed about the school’s work. Governors have not held staff to account for these omissions. The recent review of governance and addition of new governors to the governing body are beginning to provide greater capacity and additional expertise to help drive improvements. Her Majesty’s Inspector has serious concerns about the sufficiency of the actions being taken by the school. Ofsted will return to the school next term under section 8 of the Education Act 2005, and, where necessary, provide further support and challenge to the school until its next section 5 inspection. Her Majesty’s Inspector and school leaders discussed and agreed that the school will attend an Ofsted seminar.

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External support

The local authority has made extensive resources available to support the school prior to, and in the three months since the section 5 inspection. They are working in close partnership with the diocese to support the school. For example, they have arranged for a good school, Roos Primary School, and an executive headteacher and national leader of governance to work with senior leaders to secure improvement. Their efforts are hampered by a lack of co-ordination by senior leaders at All Saints and too slow a pace in acting on advice received. Nonetheless the support to literacy and numeracy leaders and the addition of experienced governors to the governing body are starting to provide a way forward for the school.

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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 East Riding of Yorkshire and as below.

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