Setting

Post-inspection note of visit letter – schools requiring improvement monitoring inspection visits

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Mrs Josie Evans Headteacher Christ Church Church of England Controlled Primary School Brookhill Road Waterworks Street Bootle Merseyside L20 3JL

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Church of England Controlled Primary School, Sefton

Following my visit to your school on 19 September 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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Church of England Controlled Primary School, Sefton

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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Church of England Controlled Primary School, Sefton

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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Church of England Controlled Primary School, Sefton

 use monitoring and evaluation to focus on the impact of actions on pupils’ learning and progress.  have a consistent approach to agreed classroom expectations.

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher, the Chair and one other member of the Governing Body, and a representative of the local authority to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. I visited every class with you to 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 566 937 Direct F 01695 729 320 Direct email :jsimmons@cfbt.com see the changes in the school environment and talk to pupils and observe lessons. The school improvement plan was evaluated.

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Context

Since the section 5 inspection, which judged the school to require improvement, the deputy headteacher and another member of the senior leadership team have left the school. Two acting assistant headteachers have joined the senior leadership team. Two other teachers have also left the school and a teacher has returned to school following her maternity leave. The school is fully staffed although some posts are temporary and the post of the special needs coordinator is to be advertised.

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Main findings

The action plan contains all the areas requiring improvement identified in the inspection report; the actions are clear, staff have responsibility and the structure of the senior leadership team has created clearer lines of responsibility to hold others to account. Timescales are realistic and leaders have prioritised actions to improve the quality of teaching. However, leaders and governors need to have a clear focus on the impact the actions taken by the school have on pupils’ achievement.

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Main findings

A detailed programme of support and coaching has improved teachers’ assessment of pupils’ attainment. Five teachers are enrolled on an ‘outstanding teacher programme’ and teachers have observed good practice, both within and beyond the school, to establish what constitutes good and outstanding teaching. However, teachers need to monitor and evaluate how changes in their teaching impact on pupils’ learning in the classroom to accelerate progress and raise standards. Leaders are monitoring pupils’ progress through more frequent, targeted lesson observations and checks on pupils’ workbooks to enable any pupils falling behind to be quickly identified and supported.

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Main findings

Marking procedures have been tightened and pupils are given time at the beginning of each lesson to read and respond to marking and feedback. Clear expectations have been agreed with staff to improve marking across the school; however, some inconsistency is still evident and there are missed opportunities to challenge pupils to extend and deepen their learning.

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Main findings

The school has introduced a number of actions to increase the number of pupils achieving national expectations in the Year1 phonic screening check. For example; pupils are taught phonics in small groups according to their phonic phase; nine teachers have undertaken a two day training programme to improve literacy skills; and resources have been purchased to support the teaching of reading, writing and speaking and listening. Pupils who need extra support with reading or with spelling have individual or guided sessions to accelerate their progress. All classrooms have a dedicated reading area to raise the status of reading and encourage reading for pleasure. The school has increased its focus on improving pupils’ speaking and listening skills and introduced philosophy for children to encourage these skills to lead to higher achievement in pupils’ writing.

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Main findings

Evaluation activities are more frequent and more focused on performance management targets and pupils’ progress to enable leaders, at all levels, to respond rapidly to any underperformance. The governing body is fully involved in the drive towards improvement; for example, following the inspection the diocese and governors set up a post-Ofsted monitoring committee, and the Chair attended the Ofsted ‘Getting to good’ seminar to support the school. Governors’ monitoring meetings are challenging and timed to coincide with pupil reviews so governors have up to date data to analyse.

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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

The local authority provides support to the school through the school standards and effectiveness advisor; support from the early years’ team; and from the headteacher at Freshfield Primary School who is a National Leader in Education. The school advisor has validated the headteacher’s judgements regarding the quality of teaching during her visits to the school and is working with the senior leadership team to improve consistency. She offered advice and support to develop the action plan and monitoring schedule and attended the Ofsted ‘Getting to good’ seminar with senior leaders and the Chair of Governors. She attends the post-Ofsted governors’ monitoring meetings to provide support for the school’s drive for improvement.

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External support

A consultant is working with the headteacher regarding the new code of practice to refine the systems for identification and support for pupils with special educational needs.

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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 Sefton and as below.

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

The letter should be copied to the following:

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

 Diocese – for voluntary aided and voluntary controlled schools

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