Setting

Mr I Coombs John Hanson Community School Floral Way Andover SP10 3PB

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Community School

Following my visit to your school on 13 May 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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Community 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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Community 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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Community School

 ensure that all faculty action plans are clearly aligned with the overall school improvement plan  ensure that the plans clearly define the intended impact of specific initiatives on students’ progress.

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Evidence

During the visit, I met with you and other senior leaders, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. I scrutinised a range of documents including the school’s improvement plan, students’ progress data and your external review of your use of pupil premium funding. We briefly visited some lessons around the school to see teaching and learning. 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 5307 Email : rachel.evans@tribalgroup.com

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Context

The previous deputy headteacher left the school at the end of the spring term. A new deputy headteacher has been appointed to take up post in September 2014.

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Main findings

You and your senior leaders are clear about what needs to be done to improve the school and you have begun to deal with the issues identified at the previous inspection. You have carefully reviewed and adjusted your school improvement plan accordingly. These responses build well on the improvements that were already evident and recognised in the inspection report. The plan has clear targets, and useful descriptions of the improvements they will promote so that its overall impact can be judged. However, the intended outcomes of some specific initiatives, such as your recent introduction of a ‘non-negotiables’ for setting homework, are not so well defined. Not all middle leaders in the school are fully aware of the plan and faculty plans have not yet been adapted and developed to align with it. Although you are working to address this, there is a risk that initial momentum may be lost if it not done swiftly enough.

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Main findings

You have refined your approach to checking the quality of teaching, introducing a programme of regular no-notice learning walks and regular work scrutiny. You are supporting and training subject leaders appropriately so they can all become fully involved in this. You have also introduced a standardised agenda for all meetings with middle leaders which is helping you and senior leaders to hold them to account more consistently and effectively. As a result you are gaining a better understanding of existing strengths and areas where further improvement is required.

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Main findings

You have plans to implement an exciting and ambitious ‘Foundations for Good Learning’ programme, a comprehensive tailored development and support package to address inconsistencies in teaching and to help all teachers develop their skills. Your previously established protocol for lesson planning provides you with a helpful reference point for this work. Rightly, you intend to draw on good practice already in the school such as the English department’s approach to planning more effectively to meet the needs of students eligible for the pupil premium. Much of the detail of the programme has yet to be worked through; you are conscious of the need to ensure an appropriate balance between utilising internal good practice and bringing in outside expertise as you do this.

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Main findings

You value the increasing support and challenge provided by the governing body. They have now established a core group of appropriately experienced governors and this is helping them to hold you to account more effectively. The local authority’s recent review of governance helpfully recognises the strengths of the Governing Body and recommends areas for further development. Governors are responding well to these recommendations, developing an action plan for their own improvement and receiving training to improve their monitoring and evaluation of school performance.

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Main findings

The local authority’s recent external review of the use of pupil premium funding acknowledges that you have good systems in place for monitoring and tracking the progress of students who are eligible for this funding. Your have appropriately incorporated recommendations from the review into your school improvement plan.

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External support

A local authority officer provides helpful termly monitoring visits. She has worked usefully with you in the development of your action plan and you are negotiating a range of appropriate support from the local authority with her. So far, this has included support to review mathematics and literacy provision. Further support is planned for the development and delivery of your Foundations of Good Learning programme. You are also making increasing use of the links that you have established with two local teaching school alliances.

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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 Hampshire.

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