Setting

Mr Michael Waters Headteacher Bollinbrook CofE Primary School Abbey Road Macclesfield Cheshire SK10 3AT

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Primary School, Cheshire East

Following my visit to your school on 18 November 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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Primary School, Cheshire East

The visit was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in September 2013. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Primary School, Cheshire East

Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection.

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with you and your deputy headteacher, as well as the Chair, Vice-Chair and another representative of the governing body. I also met pupils from various year groups to discuss their learning. I held telephone conversations with a representative of the local authority (LA) and a Learning Partner who have been working closely with the school to assist its improvement. Additionally, I made brief visits to a range of classes to check the quality of teaching and learning.

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Evidence

I looked at a range of documentation related to the school’s work, for example, information about pupils’ attainment and progress, records of the monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning, a sample of subject leaders’ files, including their 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 566857 Direct F 01695 729320 Direct email :jkinsman@cfbt.com planning, of minutes of governing body meetings. The single central record was checked and found to be in order.

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Context

Since my last visit a new teacher has been appointed in Year 2 and a teaching assistant has been employed in Early Years.

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Main findings

You, senior leaders and governors have worked extremely hard over the last year to tackle successfully the recommendations from the last inspection that deemed the school to require improvement. National assessment information for pupils’ progress in 2014 shows considerable improvement against the 2013 profile of the school. Most attainment and progress measures are now broadly in line with national averages, including for disadvantaged pupils and most, if not all gaps are narrowing. You know that there is still more work to do, to ensure that the most able pupils and boys do as well as they can in all subjects. Your very strong focus on the improvement of writing this year has had significant impact on these aspects of your work. The more precise systems for tracking pupils’ progress and checking the quality of teaching have contributed strongly to this improvement, as have the thoughtful classroom partnerships between teachers, teaching assistants and other

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Main findings

Your records of monitoring and evaluation of the quality of teaching by senior leaders are very robust and point to improvements in teachers’ use of assessment information to drive pupils’ progress more quickly. As a result teaching is consistently strong. My visits to classrooms and external evaluations confirm this strength and one pupil commented that the teaching was ‘just right’ for her.

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Main findings

You have made a considerable investment in high quality training of subject leaders this year, in order to increase further the capacity of leadership and management. Nevertheless, when some leaders observe teaching, they do not always indicate its impact on pupils’ learning or give an appropriate target for further improvement. You and senior leaders act quickly when such inconsistencies occur. Marking has gone from strength to strength and consistently promotes helpful dialogue between teachers and pupils about their learning.

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Main findings

The pupils’ behaviour during my visit was impeccable. Their enjoyment of school is clear in their consistently above average attendance and the fact that there have been no exclusions for some years.

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Main findings

Pupils are at ease with adults, speaking confidently with them and each other. They are very enthusiastic learners who work well together and are appreciative of each other’s achievements. Pupils show great sensitivity in their response to learning, for example, in a lesson on First World War poetry, they spoke with great maturity and imagination about the experiences of soldiers in the trenches. he school helps pupils to become resilient in tackling challenging work and in learning to take small, carefully calculated risks, that give them confidence, for example in activities in the newly extended Early Years space.

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Main findings

Governance is also much improved. A new Chair of Governors has been appointed and the governing body has undertaken re-structuring and skills audits, to ensure that all members are deployed where they can be most effective. Governors continue to be extremely well informed about the school’s strengths and weaknesses and evidence from governing body meetings points to their sharp understanding of the school and their forensic questioning of senior leaders and each other.

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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 school has made very effective, focused use of local authority support and the specialist expertise of the local teaching alliance and external consultants. For example, the LA negotiated support from a specialist leader of education to strengthen the leadership and management of subjects. You take every opportunity to engage with school improvement events organised by the LA.

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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 Cheshire East, 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

 Chair of the Governing Body  Local authority  Diocese of Chester

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