Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs A Goetzee Headteacher Toton Bispham Drive Junior School Bispham Drive Toton Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG9 6GJ

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Drive Junior School

Following my visit to your school on 22 March 2016, 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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Drive Junior School

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

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Drive Junior School

Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection in order to become a good school.

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher, the acting deputy headteacher and other middle leaders, the chair of the governing body, another governor and a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection.

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Evidence

I toured the school, visiting every class, and spoke with pupils about their work and scrutinised their books. The school improvement plan was evaluated. I also scrutinised school documentation relating to attainment and progress. The single central register was checked.

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Context

Since the last inspection, a new headteacher has been appointed. The substantive deputy headteacher has been seconded to another school as an acting headteacher. The assistant headteacher is now acting as deputy headteacher. Two new teachers have been appointed, one of whom is a newly qualified teacher. A new business manager has also been appointed.

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Main findings

Since your appointment, you have acted with urgency to address the issues identified at the last inspection. Your improvement plan tackles the areas for development in a succinct and appropriate way. The actions are given deadlines and focus specifically on increasing the progress and attainment of different groups of pupils. The cost of actions is identified so that the governing body is able to evaluate their effectiveness and value for money. The governing body is also able to check the effectiveness of your work for themselves. The many opportunities it has to check the impact of your actions and hold you to account are clearly identified. However, not enough outcomes are easy to measure or quantify for pupils and this weakens the governors’ ability to hold you to account.

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Main findings

You have secured a more robust system for managing the performance of teachers. Through careful assessment of their strengths and areas for development, you have devised a programme of training and support that precisely meets their needs. You use a wide range of evidence to judge the quality of their work. Targets for performance improvement are tightly linked to the national teachers’ standards to improve the quality of teaching. As a result, teachers say they have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. The quality of teaching is improving because teachers are being held to account for their work in a transparent and rigorous way.

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Main findings

You and other leaders have begun to ensure that colleagues provide more challenge in learning. For example, in mathematics, teachers check pupils’ understanding of mathematical concepts and set tasks that more appropriately fit their learning needs. Pupils understand that they are expected to work on a task that is ‘harder’ and challenge themselves to improve.

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Main findings

This new approach is not yet fully established and you are aware that some refinements are needed. However, current school performance information in mathematics shows that all groups of pupils are making good progress from their different starting points.

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Main findings

Your school website now contains all the information required by the Department for Education.

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External support

The local authority is providing effective challenge and support to ensure that the school is judged to be good at its next inspection. The local authority has provided in-school support to improve the quality of teaching and learning by assisting you to carry out observations of teaching, scrutinising pupils’ work and meeting with other school leaders to improve their work. The local authority has also brokered an effective partnership with Eskdale Junior School to support the acting deputy headteacher in her new role. The George Spencer Academy Trust and the local teaching school alliance also support the school effectively.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Nottinghamshire County Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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