Setting

Mrs Susan White Headteacher Priory Lane Community School West Common Gardens Scunthorpe DN17 1EJ

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School

Following my visit to your school on 27 June 2014, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the outcome and 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 most recent section 5 inspection.

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School

The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses in February 2014. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Evidence

During this inspection, meetings were held with you, the deputy headteacher, two members of the governing body including the Chair and a representative of the local authority. The local authority’s statement of action and the school’s post-Ofsted action plan were evaluated. We looked at your data regarding the progress being made by all pupils and the quality of teaching at the present time. You and your deputy took me on a tour of the infant and the junior sites.

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Context

Since the inspection, you have reorganised senior leadership roles and staff are becoming familiar with these changes. Three teachers, two full-time and one part- time, are leaving at the end of the summer term; appointments have been made to these posts. Two staff have been appointed as phase leaders; the post for a Year 5/6 phase leader remains vacant. A senior school improvement officer works with you for two days a week on behalf of the local authority. An appointment has been made to the governing body. 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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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The reorganisation of senior leaders is designed to give additional support and challenge to staff at the junior site. This is because the weaknesses in pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching, seen during the inspection and confirmed by your current data, are still apparent. You gather information about pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching regularly and some similarities regarding, for example, the way pupils’ books are marked and whether work is set at the right level for them, are apparent. Support plans are in place and these are helping some teachers improve the quality of their teaching; however, not all are improving at a fast enough pace to ensure that all pupils make the progress of which they are capable. Your provisional data indicate that the results in national tests are likely to show improvements this year, but there is evidence of underachievement for too many pupils. You plan to introduce commercial schemes for literacy and numeracy soon.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

At present, however, it is not possible to know if these will make a difference and improve pupils’ ability in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The governors visit the school and report their findings regularly. They welcome the training provided by members of the local authority. Consequently, they feel better able to challenge you and have an understanding of how additional funding (the pupil premium) is being used and what difference it makes.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Additional support from local authority officers and a link with Westcliffe School are having a positive impact. Staff are able to visit and discuss teaching issues on a regular basis.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Following the monitoring inspection, the following judgements were made:

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s action plan is fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The local authority’s statement of action is fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Both plans run in parallel and meet requirements. However, they need to be strengthened so that the targets set to measure improvements in the quality of teaching and the progress made by all groups of pupils within the school occur more often than at present. The current system is too general and would benefit from being sharper so that governors can check if the school is moving forward appropriately.

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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 Governing Body and the Director for People for North Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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