Setting

Mrs Deborah Packham Headteacher Rusper Primary School Rusper Horsham West Sussex RH12 4PR

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School

Following my visit to your school on 13 October 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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School

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

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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.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I met with you, the deputy headteacher and two members of the governing body including the chair of governors and I held a telephone discussion with a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I visited classrooms, spoke to pupils, scrutinised work in pupils’ books alongside leaders in the school and evaluated the school improvement plan. 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

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Context

Since the previous inspection, one member of the teaching staff has left the school. Two teachers have joined the school, one of whom is temporary. The clerk and one other governor are new to the governing body.

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Main findings

You have taken effective action to ensure that the areas identified in your last inspection are addressed. Planned actions to tackle weaknesses in the teaching of writing and mathematics have taken place promptly. As a result, teachers have begun the new academic year well placed to deliver important changes confidently. The collection, presentation and checking of information about pupils’ progress has been developed well with support from the local authority. You have ensured that these systems support teachers to regularly and accurately evaluate pupils’ achievement. Since the last inspection, the range and frequency of leaders’ checks on the quality of teaching has increased significantly. Leaders now robustly hold teachers to account and teachers use the regular feedback they receive to adapt and improve their practice.

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Main findings

Governors have stepped up their role in evaluating the impact of leaders’ actions to improve teaching, learning and assessment. Governors participate in a wider range of checks, closely linked to the school’s improvement plan. Link governors take responsibility for specific areas of improvement and report on them to other governors. A newly established governor record of visit includes helpful evaluation of discussions with pupils. All of these changes have sharpened governors’ focus on the quality of pupils’ learning. Consequently, governors are clearer about the task ahead of them and the distance to travel. They recognise and accept that the decline in standards over time is not good enough and are committed to making rapid improvement.

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Main findings

Teachers are quickly putting changes into place. In Key Stage 1, pupils now benefit from opportunities to rehearse their writing and practise using story language. Pupils use the new writing toolkits confidently to support them when they write on their own. The newly established working walls are helping to remind pupils of their learning and the steps they need to take to be successful. In Key Stage 2, problem- solving activities challenge pupils more in mathematics. Teachers are in the early stages of embedding these approaches into sequences of lessons. However, those seen in pupils’ work indicate that there are increased opportunities for mathematical reasoning and explanation.

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Main findings

Leaders understand the required pace of change because there is much to do to improve pupils’ outcomes. Many pupils’ progress needs to rapidly accelerate in order that they are well prepared for the next stage in their education. Leaders have not yet set clear enough targets to show how quickly pupils’ achievement will improve. This means that governors are not yet able to hold leaders fully to account for improvements to pupils’ 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

Local authority support is closely aligned to the areas for improvement. It is shaped effectively to strengthen teaching, learning and assessment in writing and mathematics. In addition, support for leaders, including governors, has strengthened the quality of monitoring and evaluation since the inspection.

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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 West Sussex. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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