Setting

Mrs M Bainbridge Interim Headteacher St Mary and All Saints Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Wensley Road Coley Park Reading Berkshire RG1 6DU

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of England Primary School

Following my visit with Graham Marshall, Ofsted Inspector, to your school on 6 and 7 October 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. The inspection was the third monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in October 2014. The full list of the areas for improvement which were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached. Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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The school is not taking effective actions towards the removal of special

measures. The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection. This letter and monitoring inspection report will be published on the Ofsted website. I am copying this letter and the monitoring inspection report to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children’s Services for Reading Borough Council and the Diocesan Director for Oxford. Yours sincerely Ann Henderson

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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place in October 2014

 Secure essential improvements to leadership and management at all levels by: – implementing rigorous and effective systems for monitoring all aspects of the school’s work – ensuring that self-evaluations are accurate developing the roles and responsibilities of senior leaders, so they guide the work of the school and challenge and support middle leaders and other members of staff – effectively improving middle leadership so that it has greater impact on pupils’ achievement – ensuring that governors hold all leaders, especially the headteacher, properly to account – broadening and deepening the curriculum so that it fully meets the needs of pupils – ensuring that procedures for managing teachers’ performance are fully effective and staff are held to account for their impact on pupils’ achievement.

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place in October 2014

 Significantly improve teaching to raise the achievement of all groups of pupils in all subjects by: - raising teachers’ expectations for all pupils and groups of pupils so that work is appropriately challenging and builds on what pupils already know and can do - ensuring that teachers use assessment information to inform their planning so that work set in lessons consistently meets the needs of pupils with differing abilities - developing teachers’ subject knowledge in all areas of the curriculum - ensuring that activities in the early years are purposeful and relevant, helping children to build on what they have already learned.

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place in October 2014

 Improve pupils’ behaviour through: - consistently setting and expecting high standards of behaviour so pupils are ready to learn more quickly and know how to keep themselves safe - urgently tackling incidents of bullying and racist behaviour.

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place in October 2014

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

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place in October 2014

 An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Evidence

Inspectors observed the school’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the interim headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the curriculum leader, the assessment leader, the chair and three members of the governing body, a group of pupils and a representative from the local authority. Informal discussions were held with parents at the start of the school day. Her Majesty’s Inspector also considered the views of parents in the Parent View online survey.

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Context

At the end of July 2015 three teachers and the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) left the school. The interim headteacher and five new teachers joined the school in September. One of the new teachers is the new SENCo. The two new Reception teachers now share the lead role for phonics (letters and the sounds they make).

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Outcomes for pupils

Pupils’ achievement is not improving quickly enough. Their attainment across the school at the end of July 2015 was too low. In Year 6, attainment in reading, writing and mathematics was significantly below the 2014 national average. Standards in writing were particularly low. Boys achieved less well than girls in reading and writing and significantly lower than national averages. Too few pupils achieved the highest levels. Outcomes were below the government’s floor standards.

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Outcomes for pupils

Pupils’ attainment in Year 2, although slightly improved from the previous year, is also well below the 2014 national average. Boys did less well than girls in reading and writing. Not enough pupils achieved the higher level.

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Outcomes for pupils

At the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development in 2015 was below the 2014 national average. Almost half the children currently in Year 1 are therefore not well enough prepared for learning in Key Stage 1.

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Outcomes for pupils

In all year groups across the school, pupils are not making enough progress in lessons and over time. This means that the gaps in their learning are not being filled quickly enough and they are not catching up to reach the standards expected for their age.

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Outcomes for pupils

Observations carried out during this monitoring inspection showed that children in the early years are now getting off to a better start. This is because activities across all areas of learning are well-planned and interesting for children. Children are provided with better opportunities to develop their early reading skills and their progress in this area is more rapid.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching is not improving quickly enough. This means that pupils are not making enough progress in lessons or over time. Although teachers are now beginning to consider the differing abilities of pupils when planning lessons, they are not using assessment information well enough to enable pupils to progress more rapidly. Expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low; this is particularly the case for the most-able pupils in the class. Teachers are not making enough use of the information they have on pupils’ achievement to identify gaps in their learning and plan activities to address underachievement and enable pupils to catch up.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Teachers are explaining the learning pupils are expected to achieve during lessons and providing helpful guidance to enable pupils to know what their work should include. However, they do not always check whether there are any misunderstandings as they go along, or what pupils have learned by the end of the lesson. This limits teachers’ ability to assess pupils’ knowledge and understanding. In many lessons teachers are not expecting enough. The quantity of work produced is not providing pupils with sufficient opportunity to practise their skills and develop their understanding, particularly in writing. There is a stronger emphasis on pupils producing neat, legible, joined handwriting and in most classes this has improved.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

The quality of marking and feedback to pupils is becoming more consistent. Pupils understand the marking policy and know that when their work has been highlighted in pink, they have been successful. They also know that a green highlight means that they need to correct or improve their work. However, in many cases, teachers have not expected pupils to respond to their marking comments, or they have not provided sufficient time for them to do so, which is out of line with the school’s policy. This is beginning to change. Some teachers clearly expect responses, and encourage pupils to improve their work. In one lesson, pupils were being taught how to do this to enable them to show how to improve their work. This now needs to happen routinely, so that all pupils can demonstrate their improvements, which is in line with the school’s marking policy.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

The quality of learning in the early years has improved significantly since the previous monitoring inspection. The Nursery and Reception classes now provide a range of opportunities for children to learn, both indoors and outside. Classrooms are well-organised and suitably structured to enable children to enjoy taking part in a wide range of learning activities. Adults interact well with children, encouraging their language development and their interests, helping them to concentrate for sustained periods and enjoy their achievements. Teachers in the early years are aware that there is more to be done to ensure that their assessments of children’s learning accurately reflect children’s achievements so that they can plan the right things for children’s next steps and share these with parents.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Pupils say that behaviour has improved and there are fewer incidences of poor behaviour in lessons. Inspectors observed that, where teaching is more effective, pupils concentrate for sustained periods and display positive attitudes to learning. However, where teaching is weaker, pupils soon lose concentration and off-task behaviour interrupts their learning and the learning of others. Around the school and in the playground, pupils generally behave well. However, there is more work to do to reach a point where behaviour is where it needs to be. Behaviour on the part of a small minority of pupils is too boisterous and sometimes shows lack of respect for some adults.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Pupils say they feel safe and know that suitable systems are in place to keep them safe in school. They say that although there are a few incidents of bullying from time to time, they are dealt with effectively and families are involved to ensure that issues are resolved. Pupils know that adults take care of them and will listen to them if they have a problem. Pupils’ understanding of how to keep safe when using the internet and mobile technology is not as secure. There is more to be done to ensure pupils know how to keep themselves safe and do not misuse new technologies.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Attendance during the last academic year declined. Incidents of lateness are also too prevalent. The interim headteacher has already alerted parents to this. Regular newsletters highlight the need for pupils to attend school every day and to arrive on time for the start of the school day. This is vitally important to enable pupils to access as much learning time as possible in order to increase their rates of progress.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

The school has experienced a great deal of turbulence in its leadership in recent times. As a result, progress has been slower than expected. Improvements since the last monitoring inspection have been limited. The new interim headteacher is fully aware of the issues facing the school and also the need to rapidly increase the rate of progress required to enable the school to be removed from special measures.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

The interim headteacher has quickly established expectations for how she would like parents to support their children’s learning. Regular newsletters, for example, provide useful information to enable them to understand systems and procedures, particularly in relation to safeguarding and attendance. Newsletters to staff convey the need for all staff to raise their expectations in relation to pupils’ behaviour for learning and movement around the school. More now needs to be done to ensure that all staff are in no doubt about the urgency with which they are required to increase rates of pupils’ progress. This is under way. A more systematic approach to monitoring teaching and learning has been established. Senior and middle leaders are involved in this work, to check on the progress of pupils and the quality of teaching much more regularly. The impact of this work is limited at present. However, the interim headteacher is beginning to convey to staff the need to rapidly

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

raise standards and provide useful feedback to teachers about the most important features of their teaching that need to be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

At the time of the last monitoring visit, a number of senior and middle leaders were new to their roles. Their skills are beginning to be developed. However, not enough is being done by senior and middle leaders to check on the effectiveness of new systems and strategies. For example, the analysis of information on pupils’ progress is underdeveloped. School leaders are not conveying high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve. They are not evaluating the effectiveness of assessments of pupils’ learning well enough. They are not using the information they gather about pupils’ attainment and progress to plan precise next steps and to focus sharply on addressing underachievement. The new pupil premium leader and SENCo are gathering information about the progress of these groups of pupils, but their skills in analysing this information are also underdeveloped. All school leaders need to gain a better understanding of the information about pupils’ achievement in order to target

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

strategies to meet pupils’ differing learning needs.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

The curriculum leader has supported staff to implement the new National Curriculum to meet the needs of all groups of pupils. He has successfully developed a curriculum map, in agreement with all staff, which covers all aspects of the National Curriculum and religious education. Suitable themes for each year group provide opportunities for pupils’ skills to be developed progressively over time. Pupils are positive about the themes they are learning about. Displays around the school, which are bright and lively, convey a broad and balanced curriculum which includes opportunities for pupils to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. The inclusive nature of the school is evident through its celebration of cultural diversity within the school community. The promotion of British values is evident through the creation of class charters, elections for the school council and the celebration of other faiths and cultures – pupils were learning about the Diwali

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

festival of light during the inspection.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management

Systems are in place to manage the performance of teachers, but the information that has been gathered so far has not yet been used well enough to hold teachers to account for the progress of pupils in their class. The governing body is beginning to ask challenging questions to check on the school’s progress, but the information they receive does not always help them to know what is going well or whether the most important priorities for the school are being addressed. Governors need to carry out robust monitoring activities themselves, through visits and discussions with staff and pupils, for example, to check on the progress being made to increase rates of pupils’ progress. They also need to check whether key actions are leading to the desired rapid improvements that the school urgently requires.

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External support

The local authority has provided a range of support through the English and mathematics advisors. The work of a national leader of education to support improvements in the Early Years Foundation Stage has been particularly effective. The local authority officer and team of leaders who support the school make regular visits to assist senior leaders. However, the impact of this work is more limited. There is more to be done to check that senior leaders, middle leaders and teaching staff fully understand assessment systems in order to raise expectations and ensure that pupils’ progress rapidly increases.

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