Setting

Patricia Wheatley Headteacher Weddington Primary School Winchester Avenue Nuneaton CV10 0DR

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School

Following my visit to your school on 15 October 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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School

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

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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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School

 ensure that governors have a programme of activities in place to enable them to find out for themselves the progress the school is making  ensure that, when pupils correct their spelling errors, teachers check that they are accurate  ensure that the improving practice in marking now evident in most classes is consistent in all classes

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with you and members of the senior leadership team, two representatives from the governing body and a representative 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 9163 Direct email : lewis.mackie1@serco.com of the local authority to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. The school improvement plan was evaluated. We made visits to some classrooms to talk to pupils and look at the work in their books.

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Context

Since the inspection in July, one teacher has taken maternity leave and one has left the school. A newly qualified teacher has joined the school. Long term supply cover is in place in one class until the end of October at which time the class teacher is due to return. A new Chair of the Governing Body was appointed in September following the resignation of the previous incumbent.

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Main findings

It was evident during the monitoring inspection that you and the deputy headteachers have acted with a sense of urgency to address the areas for improvement identified in the inspection in July. You are determined to ensure the school becomes good as quickly as possible. You have an accurate view of the areas that require improvement and my visits to lessons and scrutiny of pupils’ books confirmed that you have correctly prioritised where improvements need to be made.

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Main findings

Your action plan is thorough and detailed and outlines precisely what role you expect pupils, teachers and governors to play in the improvement process. You have included a number of ways that success will be measured however these are not yet sharp enough to enable governors to monitor precisely which actions have been the most effective. Governors have not yet organised for themselves how they will find out how effective your actions are at improving pupils’ progress.

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Main findings

You have reorganised staff so that good and outstanding teaching practice can be shared more effectively and the progress that pupils make can be accelerated. Individual staff members are receiving coaching and a programme of professional development is in place to support teachers to improve their practice. For example, in order to improve pupils’ progress in writing you have secured the support of a literacy advisor to work alongside teachers in Years 2, 3 and 4. You make regular and thorough checks on the quality of teaching through observing lessons, talking to pupils, looking in their books and analysing information about pupils’ progress. These checks indicate that teaching has improved since the time of the inspection in July. Senior leaders and governors are prepared to take appropriate action if any teaching remains less than good after support has been provided.

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Main findings

In order to help pupils to improve their writing skills you have made a number of changes to practice. The introduction of a separate book for grammar and punctuation work and one for writing has helped teachers to keep a close check on how often pupils have the opportunity to write longer pieces of work. Additionally, teachers are now expected to provide more opportunities for extended writing in English lessons and also in other lessons, for example science and history, as well as in homework activities. The English subject leader is making regular checks to ensure that this happening and evidence from my visits to classrooms shows this to be the case.

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Main findings

Evidence from pupils books shows that marking is improving. Most teachers are marking work in line with the recently reviewed marking policy. Pupils understand the marking system. In some classes teachers are providing pupils with precise advice about how to improve their writing and pupils are making the improvements suggested. This is helping them to make better progress. This is not yet consistent in all classes, the senior leadership team are acutely aware of where improvements are too slow. Sometimes when pupils have corrected their spellings they make errors and this is not picked up quickly enough by the teacher. In addition marking in mathematics is not yet as good as that seen in other books. Teachers are not yet skilled in identifying the next step for pupils in the mathematical concepts being taught and tend to provide pupils with more of the same activity just using bigger numbers.

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Main findings

The new Chair of the Governing Body has responded in a pragmatic way to the requires improvement judgement and is aware that some training is required to ensure that governors hold the school to account in a robust way. He has conducted an audit of governors skills in order to ensure that governors are well matched to the roles they undertake. A review of governance has very recently been completed and governors plan to develop an action plan in line with the recommendations that are made. A programme of training activities has begun to ensure that all governors fully understand their responsibilities and provide school leaders with an appropriate level of challenge. There are some opportunities for governors to find out for themselves how the school is improving, for example their recent attendance at the triangulation of evidence day, however this is not sufficiently rigorously planned to give them a clear picture of the improvements being made.

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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 is providing a good range of support to the school. The advisor is making regular visits to the school to quality assure the judgements of the senior leaders and to check on the progress that the school is making. Plans are in place to link Weddington with a local outstanding school so that good practice in marking and writing can be shared.

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External support

The school also benefits from being able to tap into the good practice of a number of local schools through a consortia arrangement.

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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 Warwickshire. Yours sincerely

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