Setting

Miss Nuala Kennedy St John Vianney RC Primary School Stanley Road London N15 3HD

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Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 19 June 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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Primary School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in February 2015. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Primary School

Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I held meetings with you and the substantive headteacher who will be taking up post in September 2015 to discuss the action taken since the last inspection. I also met with leaders responsible for English, mathematics, early years and special educational needs. I held discussions with pupils from Key Stage 2, a representative from the local authority and spoke briefly to a representative from the Diocese of Westminster. I met four members of the governing body. The school improvement plan was evaluated. I examined the single central record of recruitment checks as well as minutes of governing body meetings. You accompanied me during short visits to classes where we observed teaching from Nursery to Year 6, spoke to pupils and looked at pupils’ work. Tribal Kings Orchard 1 Queens Street Bristol, BS2 0HQ T 0300 123 1231 Text Phone: 0161 6188524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Evidence

Direct T 0117 311 5307 Email : rachel.evans@tribalgroup.com

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Context

Since the inspection no teachers have left or joined the school.

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Main findings

Leaders have used the areas for improvement identified in the last inspection to develop a clear and strategic plan to secure improvements. They have taken action to make sure that key issues are addressed swiftly. Over a short period of time, leaders have organised a programme of training for staff to improve the quality of teaching. The school’s approach to teaching reading and writing has been reviewed. Well-selected improvements are beginning to increase rates of progress for all groups of pupils including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, those who speak English as an additional language and disadvantaged pupils.

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Main findings

Pupils in Key Stage 1 and 2 now spend an increased amount of time reading daily in order to help them build up their reading skills quickly. Older pupils have been trained as reading buddies and are supporting the younger ones to develop reading fluency. Teachers have high expectations of the amount and variety of writing that pupils need to produce each week to help them make better progress in writing. Work in pupils’ books is beginning to show that in a wider variety of subjects, teachers expect pupils to write regularly and use their knowledge of the features of high-quality writing consistently. Teaching assistants have benefitted from specific training to help them contribute to pupils’ learning in lessons. Senior and middle leaders check the quality of teaching. Teachers and teaching assistants act on the advice following these monitoring activities.

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Main findings

A new system to track the progress pupils make is helping leaders to check how well pupils achieve and pick up on any underperformance more quickly. Increased challenge to stretch the most able and greater ambition in terms of the amount of work pupils can produce in lessons are helping to improve pupils’ progress. Leaders have started to review more regularly the effectiveness of additional support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. They make changes to provision where there is not enough impact on improving pupils’ achievement.

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Main findings

Changes to the way teachers mark pupils’ work are beginning to secure greater consistency in the amount and quality of teachers’ feedback and guidance. The quality of advice and guidance about how pupils can develop their writing has improved most significantly. Pupils appreciate the opportunities they now have to respond to teachers’ suggestions about how to improve their work. Leaders are aware that further development is needed to increase the quality and consistency of teachers’ marking in mathematics.

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Main findings

School leaders have made sure that external reviews of governance and of the use of the pupil premium have taken place. Members of the governing body have quickly adopted the recommendations from the review of their work and are beginning to make strategic changes to the way they work to support and challenge the school. The governing body is now firmly focused on securing pupils’ better achievement. They know that evaluations of teaching quality must take account of the impact of teaching on raising pupils’ academic achievement. They are beginning to make effective use of the information that the school gathers about pupils’ progress and check how well different groups of pupils at the school achieve. Governors have been successful in appointing a substantive headteacher for the start of the next academic year.

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Main findings

Leaders and governors examine more closely how successfully additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is used. As a result, rates of progress are increasing and previous gaps between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and the others show signs of closing.

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External support

Leaders have established links with local primary schools to add to the school’s capacity to improve. This is enabling the school to draw upon effective support to help improve the quality of teaching, in particular.

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External support

Leaders are working with the local authority to monitor the school’s effectiveness closely through paired visits to lessons, scrutiny of pupils’ work and checks on pupils’ progress data. An advisor from the local authority makes regular visits to help develop teaching and strengthen the quality of senior and subject leadership.

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External support

Members of the governing body have rightly drawn upon the support of the local authority and the Diocese of Westminster to assist with the recruitment of the substantive headteacher for the new academic year starting in September 2015.

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External support

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

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body, the Director of Children’s Services for Haringey and the Director of Education for the Westminster Diocesan Board.

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