Setting

Ms Liz Cook Headteacher Easthampstead Park Community School Ringmead Bracknell RG12 8FS

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Community School

Following my visit to your school on 21 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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Community School

The visit was the second monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in June 2014. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. At its previous section 5 inspection the school was also judged to require improvement.

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Community 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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Community School

 ensure leaders provide support more promptly for the small number of teachers who are not yet proficient in managing students’ behaviour effectively  further reduce the number of students in Key Stage 3 who disrupt lessons in a range of different subjects.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, other senior leaders, the Chair and vice-chair of the governing body, the head of sixth form, and a group of middle leaders. I made short visits to lessons to observe students’ behaviour and conducted 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 01173115246 Direct F 01173150430 Direct email :Sara.Whalley@Tribalgroup.com a phone call with a representative of the local authority. I evaluated records of students’ behaviour, and the school’s safeguarding arrangements.

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Context

Since the last monitoring visit in October 2014, one assistant headteacher has left and you have restructured the leadership team. A different senior leader now has a key responsibility for raising standards of students’ behaviour and achievement.

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Main findings

You have taken action which has improved students’ behaviour overall. As a result, students’ achievement is beginning to improve. Attendance and behaviour is improving for all groups of students and exclusions are falling. Senior and middle leaders are now making a more effective contribution to improvements. However, while the number of lessons which are disrupted by students is reducing, you recognise that there is more to be done before students’ behaviour is good overall.

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Main findings

Senior leaders are effectively improving students’ behaviour and achievement. Leaders are now using the online system for gathering information about students’ behaviour in class (‘class charts’) more tactically. As a result, senior leaders now analyse this information more usefully to identify staff who need extra training or support to manage students’ behaviour better. Where this support has been provided swiftly, disruption in lessons has reduced and students’ progress has improved. However, senior leaders do not always provide this support promptly enough. Consequently, there are a small number of teachers who still do not manage students’ behaviour effectively.

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Main findings

Most subject leaders are effectively improving students’ behaviour. Subject leaders successfully use the ‘class charts’ system to monitor students’ behaviour in the subject areas they manage. They contact the parents of students who persistently disrupt lessons to ensure these students attend the after-school detentions they set. As result, there are now fewer subject areas where students persistently disrupt lessons. This has had a positive impact on students’ progress, which is now monitored more carefully by subject leaders. According to the school’s own information about students’ achievement, the majority of students in Year 11 are now on track to achieve more highly.

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Main findings

Heads of year’s checks on students’ progress and behaviour are more effective. They quickly identify those students who are falling behind in a number of subjects and make sure these students are given extra academic support so they catch up. This approach has led to improvements in students’ achievement, most notably in Years 11, 12 and 13. When heads of year identify that students are misbehaving in several subjects, these students receive appropriate sanctions and well-focused help to manage their behaviour better. Heads of year monitor the impact of support and sanctions rigorously. As a result, the number of students who disrupt learning across a range of different subjects has reduced. However, it is still too high in Key Stage 3. For example, in a minority of Key Stage 3 classes visited, the work set was not sufficiently challenging for some more-able students who finished it too quickly. As a

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Main findings

result, they spent time talking to their classmates, causing the noise level to rise. This slowed their progress and made it more difficult for other students to concentrate.

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Main findings

Governors hold school leaders robustly to account for improvements in students’ behaviour and achievement. They have successfully challenged leaders to improve the proportion of students achieving top grades in the sixth form, for example. The Chair and vice-chair employ their professional expertise to analyse information on students’ attendance and behaviour rigorously. They use their analysis to insist that further improvements are made. As a result, attendance has risen from well below average to above average and the number of short-term exclusions is falling.

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Main findings

Ofsted may carry out further monitoring inspections 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 helped the school improve, for example, by providing effective training for middle leaders. This has strengthened middle leaders’ contributions to improving the school. The school has a relatively high number of looked after children. The local authority has not yet provided effective support for improving the attendance and behaviour of this group of students. However, plans are in place for the local authority to provide better support.

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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 Bracknell Forest and as below.

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