Setting

Ms L Blount Headteacher St Peter's Church of England Primary School Minniecroft Road Burnham SL1 7DE

p.1

England Primary School, Burnham

Following my visit to your school on 28 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.

p.1

England Primary School, Burnham

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

p.1

England Primary School, Burnham

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:

p.1

England Primary School, Burnham

 amend the school improvement plan to include all the areas for improvement and measurable milestones that link to pupils’ outcomes  improve governors’ mechanisms for checking the impact of leaders’ actions and holding them to account  use information about pupils’ progress more effectively to target the work to tackle weaknesses in teaching and variances in pupils’ learning  further develop the skills of middle leaders so that they can help you to improve the school. Tribal Kings Orchard, One Queen Street, Bristol BS2 0HQ T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0117 311 5323 Direct email : suzy.smith@tribalgroup.com

p.1

Evidence

During the inspection, I met with you, senior leaders, members of the governing body and a representative from Buckinghamshire Learning Trust, to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. I visited classrooms and looked at pupils’ work. I also evaluated the school improvement plan and reviewed other documentation, including behaviour logs and monitoring records.

p.2

Main findings

You have taken purposeful action to tackle the areas for improvement identified in the recent inspection. The school improvement plan provides some useful details of what you intend to do, but does not include all the areas for improvement. You have not made links between the actions you plan to take and expected improvements in pupils’ progress. This means governors cannot easily check if the school is improving.

p.2

Main findings

Governors have requested an external review to enable them to improve. They identify ways in which they can be more effective, but their mechanisms for holding you to account for improvements are not as strong as they need to be. They know they need to be able to measure impact on pupils’ learning but are unsure how to do this securely.

p.2

Main findings

Middle leaders are becoming more effective. They are developing the skills to carry out accurate checks on teaching and analyse information on pupils’ progress in their areas of responsibility. At present they are not fully accountable for their roles, so too much is being done by you.

p.2

Main findings

Leaders and teachers are now checking pupils’ progress much more regularly. However, this information is not being used well enough to identify weaknesses in teaching and variances in pupils’ progress. This means that, although the school takes action, it is not as rapid and sharply focused as it needs to be.

p.2

Main findings

You have improved the information about the school’s use of the pupil premium grant, which provides financial support to disadvantaged pupils. You now recognise that the funding is used carefully, but is not yet helping to narrow the gap between those pupils and their peers. It is positive that the school has recognised the urgency of an external review of how the pupil premium grant is spent, which is due to happen imminently.

p.2

Main findings

Teaching is improving. Your regular checks on classroom practice and immediate feedback to teachers are effective in helping them to know how to improve. Teachers are beginning to have higher expectations of what pupils can achieve and the activities we saw were at the right level for the middle ability pupils. In some classes we saw teachers challenging more able pupils well with structured tasks which made them think hard.

p.2

Main findings

Expectations of behaviour are much more consistent. The recording of incidents is much improved and all pupils we saw behaved appropriately in lessons and around the school. You have also improved the way the school responds to bullying. Parents can now make immediate contact with the school and concerns are taken very seriously. The recording of this is also much improved.

p.3

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.

p.3

External support

Since the inspection, the school has been supported very effectively by the Buckinghamshire Learning Trust. The trust has intervened quickly to provide considerable leadership support and is committed to continuing this. The school would benefit from linking with an outstanding school to observe best practice.

p.3

External support

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body, the Director of Children’s Services for Buckinghamshire and the Dicoese of Oxford.

p.3