Setting

Tribal Kings Orchard 1 Queens Street Bristol, BS2 0HQ T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161

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enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0117 311 5307 Email : rachel.evans@tribalgroup.com

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Mr J Bailey The Headteacher Haylands Primary School Bettesworth Road Ryde Isle of Wight PO33 3HA

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Haylands Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 12 March 2015, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions which have been taken since the school’s previous monitoring inspection.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Haylands Primary School

The inspection was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses following the section 5 inspection which took place in July 2014. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Haylands Primary School

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Haylands Primary School

The school is making reasonable progress towards the removal of serious weaknesses.

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Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Haylands Primary School

This letter and monitoring inspection report will be published on the Ofsted website. I am copying this letter to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children’s Services for Isle of Wight.

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place in July 2014

 Ensure that, throughout the school, teaching is always good or better by: − consistently planning tasks that help pupils make good progress, particularly the most able − providing activities which engage pupils’ interest, make suitable demands of them and motivate them to behave well − developing pupils’ confidence to respond to questions and explain their answers − increasing the subject expertise of staff, especially in English and mathematics − improving the effectiveness of teaching assistants in supporting learning when in classes

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place in July 2014

 Raise pupils’ achievement by ensuring that they: − consistently spell accurately and use the correct grammar and punctuation when constructing sentences − develop effective skills for planning and writing extended pieces of work, including in subjects other than English − develop their ability to apply mathematics skills well in different situations, including when solving problems − are able to understand what they are reading, including being able to identify the plot or characters through clues in a fictional text.

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place in July 2014

 Increase the impact of leaders on the school’s performance by ensuring that: − leaders in charge of subjects play a full part in checking and improving the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress in their areas of responsibility − governors develop their skills fully to hold all school leaders to account for the impact of their work.

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place in July 2014

An external review of governance should be undertaken to assess how this aspect of leadership and governance may be improved.

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Evidence

Her Majesty’s Inspector met with the headteacher, other leaders, governors, a group of pupils from Years 4 and 5, and a representative from the local authority. She also visited lessons, checked work in pupils' books and listened to pupils read. She checked school documentation, including the leaders' checks on lessons and pupils' work, minutes of meetings and samples of lesson planning to evaluate how well teaching, achievement and leadership are improving.

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Context

The substantive headteacher joined the school in January 2015.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Since joining the school in January, the headteacher has taken urgent and effective action to tackle the areas for improvement. He has sensibly made sure that teachers and governors have an accurate picture of pupils’ progress and is beginning to implement effective processes by which teachers can be held to account for pupils’ achievements. It is positive that teachers are starting to be involved in checking information about pupils' progress. The headteacher has regular, sharply-focused meetings with teachers to check if pupils’ learning is accelerating.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Governors have received useful feedback from the external review of governance, carried out by the local authority. It identifies many areas in which the governors are effective and makes some helpful suggestions as to how governance can be further improved. Governors know what needs to be done to improve the school and are keen to ensure all members of staff are held to account for the full scope of their roles. They ask relevant questions which challenge the headteacher. The headteacher and Chair of the Governing Body would benefit from meeting regularly to review progress and liaise regarding school issues.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Leaders are becoming more effective in helping to improve the school. The headteacher has effectively sharpened senior leaders’ skills so that the leaders now recognise where learning is, and is not, taking place. As a result, leaders have a better understanding of what needs to be developed in their areas of responsibility and are driving improvements well through their work with teaching staff. However, they are not yet taking the initiative to identify and improve other areas.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Teaching is improving. The headteacher and local authority have provided effective training for all teachers in planning lessons and making sure that activities help all pupils to learn as much as they can. As a result, many teachers are beginning to plan relevant learning objectives and the tasks often link well to what teachers want pupils to achieve. This is helping to improve behaviour in lessons. Leaders are also providing constructive support to individual teachers. Where this support is working well, teachers are improving more rapidly. The headteacher and other leaders check pupils' books regularly. However, their checks on teaching are not as frequent as they need to be; so, where teachers are not following school policy, this is not being identified or tackled quickly enough.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Achievement in many classes is improving. Where teaching is most effective, pupils are catching up to where they should be. The headteacher has a thorough knowledge of the classes where pupils are not making as much progress as they should be and is taking appropriate action to tackle this. The actions of leaders to improve teachers’ subject knowledge, such as training, planning with teachers and team teaching, are appropriate, but it is too early to see the impact of those actions on achievement.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Many teaching assistants are beginning to have a greater impact on pupils’ learning. Most have a better understanding of what help pupils need and recognise several ways in which they can help in class. However, some teaching assistants are giving pupils too much help so they complete the task, but learning is limited.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Staff and governors are now much more focused on the need to improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils so that they are catching up with their peers. It is positive that the school is in the process of recruiting a teacher with specific responsibility for checking how the needs of disadvantaged pupils are met and providing the necessary support to improve their learning.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Pupils speak very positively about the changes they have noticed in school. They describe lessons as being much more interesting and enjoyable. They particularly appreciate the opportunities they have to work together in groups. They say they are working hard and doing well.

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Strengths in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 Leaders are checking learning in pupils’ books regularly.  Information about pupils' progress is now accurate and in use by teachers and governors.  Leaders are using a range of relevant strategies to improve practice of weaker teachers.  Leaders are developing their areas of responsibility effectively.

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Weaknesses in the school’s approaches to securing improvement:

 Leaders are not checking teaching regularly enough.  Not all leaders who have responsibility for subjects are being held fully to account for school improvement.  Leaders, other than the headteacher, are not yet fully involved in driving school improvement.

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External support

The local authority continues to provide effective and relevant support. The feedback from adviser visits provides clear direction to steer the school about what to focus on next. The local authority’s involvement is particularly valuable and necessary when the school is looking to secure school leaders, such as the recently appointed headteacher.

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