Setting

Mrs Sarah Chaloner Headteacher Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School Longlands Close Crossbrook Street Waltham Cross Hertfordshire EN8 8LU

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of England Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 22 May 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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of England Primary School

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

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of England Primary 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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of England Primary School

 embed the recently adapted systems for monitoring teaching and pupils’ achievement so that all teaching continues to improve and the remaining weaknesses are eradicated

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of England Primary School

 ensure the plans to monitor the impact of extra support on the progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are rapidly implemented. 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 9153 Direct email : naik.sandhu@serco.com

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Evidence

The timing of this inspection matched that of a local authority review; this inspection and the review took place together. Meetings were held with you, the English subject leader, the member of the governing body leading on improvement, a diocesan adviser and the local authority adviser, to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. We evaluated the school action plan and monitoring schedule, analysis of achievement, records of staff performance management and of pupil progress meetings. We visited all classes, I visited them with the English subject leader and the senior adviser from the local authority visited with you. We spoke to teachers and children about the learning taking place and looked at pupils’ work. With the senior adviser I looked at a wider sample of work in English, mathematics and topic books.

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Context

Since the last visit, the deputy headteacher has resigned and will leave the school at the end of the academic year; a new deputy headteacher has been appointed she will take on the leadership of mathematics when she starts her position in September. A teacher has returned from maternity leave and is currently providing cover to release staff as well as spending time with the pupils she will teach next year. An experienced nursery nurse has been appointed to work with the children in the early years and to develop the involvement of parents.

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Main findings

You are providing more determined and better focused leadership. This is evident in the actions you have taken to improve the quality of teaching and in the sharper improvement planning. While changes are bringing added urgency, they are not yet fully embedded because some are still relatively recent. You have continued to take greater responsibility for developing a detailed knowledge of the quality of teaching and of pupils’ achievement and are building a leadership team with increased capacity to make improvements. A rigorous cycle of review and development is now in place. An example of this is the effective support given to the Year 5 teacher through regular meetings with you and the English subject leader. Drawing on a range of evidence you have identified short term improvement priorities and modelled good practice with her class. As a result, the teacher has improved her practice. Pupils spoken to said that expectations of them were higher. As one said,

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Main findings

‘I’m getting better at my work because we are given more opportunities and are challenged more’. In Year 4, higher expectations and clearer guidance about how to improve is moving pupils’ learning on more rapidly.

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Main findings

These improvements are reflected in the monitoring of pupils’ achievement. You have a detailed understanding of the progress made by different groups of pupils and assessment information suggests that standards will be higher overall at the end of Reception, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 this year. There are however, remaining inconsistencies in some year groups and subjects. Particularly in reading and in the progress made by pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs. Provision for these pupils is an identified priority that you and the governors have started to monitor carefully. Although the special educational needs coordinator has analysed pupils’ needs and made changes to the support they receive, there is insufficient monitoring to demonstrate whether, as a result, these pupils are making better progress.

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Main findings

Lesson observations and the review of workbooks showed that teachers have higher expectations of pupils and that there are improved attitudes from pupils to their work. In most lessons, pupils are working harder and they are presenting their work with greater care. In Year 2, a display of pupils’ work clearly exemplifies the standards expected in writing. Pupils were responding enthusiastically to a writing task using new vocabulary, recorded in their learning journals, to extend their work. These improvements are not similarly evident in every class and not all teachers are meeting the high standards of marking seen in the books of an increasing number of pupils.

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Main findings

Governors have continued to monitor the school’s improvement rigorously through the school improvement group. They now have a detailed knowledge of pupils’ achievement across the school and are keeping a check on how resources are used to accelerate pupils’ progress where this is necessary. They know what targets have been set to improve teaching and are involved in monitoring improvement through well planned activities for example, joining leaders when they scrutinise pupils’ work.

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External support

Advisers from the local authority and the diocese have worked closely with you to drive improvement; they have contributed to governors’ knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the school through attendance at the school improvement group meetings. Stronger relationships have been developed with the local authority and you are drawing effectively, and with greater confidence, on the support of both local authority and diocesan advisers to improve leadership and teaching.

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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 Hertfordshire and the Director of Education for the Diocese of St Albans. Yours sincerely

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

The letter should be copied to the following:

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

 Appropriate authority - Chair of the Governing Body/Interim Executive Board  Local authority – including where the school is an academy  Diocese – for voluntary aided and voluntary controlled schools

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