Setting

PROTECT-INSPECTION

Ms Sarah Chaloner Headteacher Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School Longlands Close Crossbrook Street Waltham Cross EN8 8LU

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of England Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 23 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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of England Primary School

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

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of England Primary School

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

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of England Primary School

 establish a working group with senior leaders, governors and the new local authority adviser with the purpose of identifying and planning the specific actions, timescales and monitoring activities to move the school rapidly to good in the next year

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of England Primary School

 urgently implement the recommendations from the review of governance.

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with you, with other senior leaders, the new Chair of the Governing Body and another governor and a representative of the 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

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PROTECT-INSPECTION

local authority to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. The school action plan was evaluated and evidence from your monitoring was taken into account. We visited all classrooms together, looked at books and spoke to pupils about their work.

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Context

There have been significant changes since the last inspection. You have reallocated leadership responsibilities and formed a new leadership team. Two teachers have left the school and three new teachers have been appointed. Two governors have also left and a new Chair of the Governing Body has been elected.

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Main findings

Improvement planning is not clear enough in relation to expected successes, the timescales within which these will be achieved or how these will be monitored. As a result, the work of the newly established leadership team is not well enough focused on making sure the actions you are taking are bringing about the required improvements urgently. You have implemented a wide range of activities to analyse and monitor the quality of the school’s work. Because these are not tightly linked to the intentions in your planning, the guidance given to staff about what is needed in terms of improvement is not sufficiently clear.

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Main findings

Governance is not improving fast enough. Because improvement planning lacks clarity about how success will be evaluated and monitored, governors’ work still lacks sufficient challenge and their current analysis of the work of the school is incomplete. A review has been undertaken by a Diocesan adviser and appropriate key priorities identified for improving their work. The new Chair of the Governing Body has only been in post for a very short time. New clerking arrangements are in place and minutes of meetings show that governors are asking more challenging questions about the work of the school.

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Main findings

You have made improvements to marking. The books we looked at showed some good examples of this although in some classes, it is less well developed and comments are too general to help pupils make good progress.

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Main findings

Progress and attainment have improved in writing. Outcomes at the end of Year 6 are higher than in 2013 and the local authority has validated the accuracy of your assessment. Current analysis shows that pupils will need to make accelerated progress across Key Stage 2 if these higher standards are to be sustained.

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Main findings

The new systems for analysing and tracking pupils’ achievement are providing you with more detailed information about how well different classes and groups of pupils are doing. In turn these are starting to provide better information for governors. Because planning and evaluation lack rigour, this information is not yet used well

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PROTECT-INSPECTION

enough to ensure teachers adapt what they are doing to challenge and support pupils to make good progress quickly enough.

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External support

Following the inspection in May, the local authority sharply challenged the school regarding its performance. As a result, leaders lost confidence in the relationship and sought other support for some aspects of their leadership work including the review of governance. Advice regarding improvement planning was offered just prior to this visit and a new improvement partner has been allocated to develop this further and to work more closely with governors and leaders. Local authority adviser support has been effective in developing provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage and in supporting improvements in writing and mathematics. The work of an externally sourced data analyst has improved the school’s understanding and analysis of how well pupils are achieving.

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External support

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

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

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