Setting

Ms Donna Eaton Peatmoor Community School Pepperbox Hill Swindon SN5 5DP

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Community School

Following my visit to your school on 16 December 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 first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in June 2015. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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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 in order to become a good school. The school should take further action to:

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Community School

 ensure that all pupils, and particularly the most able, are sufficiently challenged in every lesson to achieve the highest standards and make rapid progress from their starting points.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, other senior leaders and members of the governing body, including the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative of the Link Academies Collaborative Trust, to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I evaluated the school improvement plan and scrutinised a range of documentation, including minutes of meetings and safeguarding information. Together, we visited classrooms to observe learning and pupils’ attitudes to learning. I looked at English and mathematics books to evaluate the level of challenge and also the impact on pupils’ learning of your marking and Ofsted

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Evidence

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk feedback policy. In addition, I spoke with pupils during the day to seek their views on recent improvements.

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Context

The governing body has appointed the interim headteacher and interim deputy headteacher to permanent positions since the previous inspection. A newly qualified teacher has been appointed to teach in Year 3.

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Main findings

You have acted decisively to implement the improvements identified at the previous inspection. You are determined to ensure that the school is at least good at its next inspection. Together with the deputy headteacher, you are driving improvements at a fast rate. You have raised expectations of what staff should deliver and what pupils can achieve. The whole school community share in your vision to ensure that all pupils receive only the best education. Parents support the work you are doing to improve the school.

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Main findings

You have prioritised the need to improve the quality of teaching. You and your leaders frequently check teachers’ practice and its impact on improving outcomes for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with disabilities and special educational needs. Your agreed ‘non-negotiables’ ensure that pupils understand the purpose of the lesson. Teachers have strengthened the quality of teaching. They plan carefully the learning each day and check pupils’ understanding. They adjust activities to suit individual needs to ensure that pupils achieve well and make good progress. However, leaders agree that some pupils, and particularly the most able, can be challenged further to achieve the highest levels.

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Main findings

Teachers mark pupils’ books regularly and provide helpful feedback. Pupils say this approach helps them know what they have done well and where to improve their work. Leaders know that teachers’ expectations of how pupils should respond to their feedback are not always consistent. However, they are conducting regular scrutinies of work in books and lesson drop-ins to tackle this.

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Main findings

Pupils behave well and act safely in classes and around the school. They say, ‘Teachers make our work fun and so we get better at our work.’ Pupils appreciate the care teachers take to deliver high-quality lessons and to help them improve their learning. Consequently, the school is calm and pupils demonstrate strong attitudes to learning. This is making a positive contribution to improving pupils’ achievement and progress at a faster pace.

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Main findings

You have established an effective leadership team to drive further improvement. English, mathematics and science leaders are rising to the challenge of improving standards in their subjects. Your school development plan and subject action plans accurately identify the school’s key priorities. For example, leaders have recently introduced a more rigorous approach to checking pupils’ progress. This enables leaders to hold teachers to account for the progress of the pupils in their class. Subject leaders are increasingly monitoring the impact of teaching on pupils’ outcomes and raising teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve. Throughout the school, evidence of high-quality work is displayed to celebrate the good progress pupils make, particularly in writing. Following the review of the use of the pupil premium funding, leaders have a sharper focus on checking the learning and progress of all groups of pupils, including those with disabilities and special

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Main findings

educational needs. As a result, teachers quickly identify pupils at risk of falling behind and plan work to help them catch up. Effective intervention, managed by the inclusion leader, ensures that small group and individual teaching is of a high quality. Work in books confirms this extra support boosts the progress of these pupils.

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Main findings

Governors have used their recent review of governance to strengthen the effectiveness of their work. Minutes of their meetings show they have a good understanding of the achievement and progress of pupils across the school. They receive high-quality information from the headteacher and also subject leaders to increase their knowledge of the school’s performance and the impact of government funding to support disadvantaged pupils. They use their regular visits to the school to check the impact of actions taken by leaders for themselves. This is helping them to ask increasingly challenging questions to ensure that actions taken are making a difference to pupils’ outcomes. Governors agree this level of challenge and rigorous analysis of pupils’ progress needs to continue to ensure that all pupils, and especially the most able, make good progress.

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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 school is benefiting from the support available within the Link Academies Collaborative Trust. Teachers share training and plan opportunities together to check the effectiveness of their work in their own schools. This collaborative approach is helping teachers improve their practice and develop their understanding of the increased expectations of the new National Curriculum.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children’s Services for Swindon. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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