Setting

Miss Karen Wood Executive Headteacher All Saints Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior School, Hessle Northolme Road Hessle HU13 9JD

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Yorkshire

Following my visit to your school on 29 January 2015, 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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Yorkshire

The visit was the second 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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Yorkshire

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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Yorkshire

 Strengthen the analysis and use of assessment data to: - inform and focus checks on the quality of teaching - identify the impact of the additional support in enabling pupils to catch up, particularly those who are supported through Pupil Premium funding - quicken the progress of the most able pupils.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I met with you and the head of school. Meetings were also held with literacy and mathematics leaders, the Chair of Governors and 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 566937 Direct F 01695 729320 Direct email :jsimmons@cft.com representatives of the local authority and the diocese to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. The school’s action plans were evaluated. Joint learning walks visiting several lessons were conducted with senior leaders and informal discussions were held with pupils about their work. Documents relating to behaviour, and self-evaluation were scrutinised. A meeting of the governors’ scrutiny committee was observed.

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Context

Considerable changes in the leadership and management of the school have taken place since the first monitoring inspection on 20 June 2014. The headteacher has resigned and the school is led by an executive headteacher from All Saints’ Church of England Voluntary Controlled Infant School. The deputy headteacher is now the head of school and is responsible for the day-to-day operational matters. A new Chair of the Governing Body was elected in November and the governing body was reconstituted with several new members in December 2014.

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Main findings

The school’s improvement plans are sharply focused on what needs to be done to move the school forward. The roles of staff with leadership positions are clear, and training and support are helping to bring more consistency to teaching, assessment and the management of pupils’ behaviour. Changes to the teaching of mathematics have followed sharper analysis of the reasons for pupils’ slower progress in mathematics in summer 2014. A greater emphasis on deepening mathematical knowledge, together with more opportunities for pupils to develop and practice their skills within other subjects, is evident. Actions to develop writing and reading are also being implemented quickly. Decisions to purchase £8,000 of books are well intended to stimulate and stretch the most able readers. These pupils are looking forward to having more demanding texts to read very soon. Pupils’ reading records show that they are reading regularly and more widely.

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Main findings

The quality of the schools’ work is kept under close review by senior leaders through observations of teaching, checks of pupils’ work and frequent assessments. The challenge for senior leaders and subject leaders for mathematics and literacy is to draw together the information coherently in order to accelerate pupils’ progress. To date, reviews have not always been finely focused to identify the impact of actions on specific groups of pupils or to determine any remaining barriers to their progress.

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Main findings

Governors have responded wholeheartedly to the messages in the recent review of governance. Reforms to the way they conduct their work demonstrate much better understanding of their strategic role. Governors’ oversight and understanding of the school’s work are improving. Frequent meetings of the newly formed scrutiny committee check that improvement plans are being implemented effectively. Governors are asking the right questions to probe data and information. For example, their analysis of the most recent school data shows that progress, for some pupils in Years 5 and 6, remains stubbornly slow. Checks on the impact of actions in classrooms, particularly for pupils receiving support through the pupil premium fund, are not sufficiently developed to provide all the detail that governors require. Senior leaders and governors have established improvements to systems for recording behavioural incidents. Regular checks and reporting take place.

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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 has supported this school exceptionally well. The timing of support and the quality of the work, particularly that provided by a national leader in education, has provided great assistance to school leaders and governors in helping them to identify where the systems in school need to be overhauled. The school has drawn upon this good advice very well to inform its plans and priorities. Training for subject leaders provided by local authority officers has already helped to bring more consistency to classroom practice and improvements in pupils’ learning are evident in lessons. Plans are in place for a good local school to work with All Saints to support the drive for further improvement.

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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 East Riding of Yorkshire and as below.

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