St Mary and All Saints Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

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

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Mrs M Bainbridge 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 Voluntary Aided Primary School

Following my visit with Mark Cole, Her Majesty's Inspector, and Deborah Robins, Ofsted Inspector, to your school on 9 and 10 March 2016, 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 that have been taken since the school's previous monitoring inspection.

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of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

The inspection was the fourth monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection that took place in October 2014. The full list of the areas for improvement, that were identified during that inspection, is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Having considered all the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time:

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of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Leaders and managers are not taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.

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of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection.

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of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Oxford, the Regional Schools Commissioner and the director of children's services for Reading Borough Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 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 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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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 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 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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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 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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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 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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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 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 special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), the early years support headteacher, the chair and five 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. There were insufficient responses on the Parent View online survey.

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Context

Since the previous monitoring inspection, three full-time and three part-time teachers have left the school. Three full-time teachers have joined the school. Two classes are being taught by long-term supply teachers.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Leaders and managers have not acted quickly enough to narrow the gaps between the achievement of different groups of pupils. This is particularly evident in the wide gap between boys and girls. Boys achieve significantly less well than girls in most classes. In addition, the gap in achievement between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils is still too wide.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Since the arrival of the interim headteacher in the autumn term 2015, there have been significant improvements in the quality of teaching. This is because the systems for checking pupils’ learning in lessons and over time are more robust.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 The interim headteacher and deputy headteacher regularly check on pupils’ progress in lessons, their work in books and their views about their learning.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Middle leaders and subject leaders are checking the quality of teachers’ planning for learning in lessons. The English and mathematics subject leaders are supporting some less effective teachers to increase their skills. As a result, the proportion of better quality teaching has increased.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Senior leaders are fully aware that the most effective teachers are having the biggest impact on improving pupils’ progress. They know that their skills and expertise need to be shared to improve the competencies of less skilled teachers. There is a tension between ensuring that these teachers spend the greatest proportion of their time teaching their own classes but also spend time sharing their expertise to improve the teaching skills of other colleagues. Currently the capacity of senior and middle leaders is stretched.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Expectations have been raised. This is evident in the work in pupils’ books, where presentation, handwriting and spelling have improved. Pupils’ work in all subjects across the curriculum has improved. Greater emphasis has been placed on making sure that writing in all subjects is of a higher standard.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 School leaders have implemented a new assessment system. They are now tracking the progress that pupils are making using this new system. They regularly check the proportion of pupils meeting the expectations for their age in all classes. School leaders also measure the progress of all groups of pupils. This has revealed that, in some classes, a lower proportion than usually found are on track to meet the expectation for their age. The external moderation of assessments is yet to take place.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Work to evaluate the impact of additional government funding for pupils who are disadvantaged (those eligible for the pupil premium) is under way, but is at an early stage and has so far had little impact on improvement in this group’s achievement. Leaders are now monitoring more closely whether interventions and support programmes are having the desired effect on increasing rates of pupils’ progress.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 The SENCo regularly checks on the progress of pupils with special educational needs or a disability. She is proactive in her approach to providing the most effective support for these pupils’ particular needs. As a result, most are making similar progress to other pupils.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Governors are making regular visits to the school to check on the school’s progress. However, their challenge to senior leaders to rapidly raise standards for all groups of pupils is less clear. This is partly because, currently, they are unsure of the expected rates of progress for all groups of pupils during the year.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Senior leaders have recently carried out an evaluation of the work of the school. However, this does not focus sharply enough on the areas for development required to rapidly improve the school towards the removal of special measures.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 The school development plan does not set out clearly enough the expected impact that planned actions are expected to have on increasing rates of pupils’ progress. The plan does not show how its success will be measured. It does not include milestones linked to pupils’ progress over time. As a result, school leaders and governors are unable to determine the success of the plan.  The curriculum has been developed to ensure a breadth and balance of learning opportunities for pupils. The curriculum leader is planning to make closer links between subjects to enable greater coherence in learning for pupils. Currently, the information about the curriculum is not readily available for parents on the school website.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Checks on the performance of teachers are being carried out. The headteacher has ensured that suitable targets for teachers are in place, linked to improving pupils’ progress and to supporting whole-school improvement. This information is shared with governors to enable them to make appropriate decisions about the pay progression of staff.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Governors have sought to appoint a new substantive headteacher, but this has so far proved unsuccessful. Governors and the Diocese are in discussion about the future direction of the school. They are considering the appropriateness of links with a multi-academy trust.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

 The quality of teaching has improved since the previous monitoring inspection. However, it is still too inconsistent. Some teachers are not responsive enough to pupils’ learning needs during lessons. As a result, the activities they plan are not always appropriately adjusted during lessons to provide further challenge for the most able pupils or to ensure that lower ability pupils are able to access the learning task.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

 At the end of the last academic year, assessment information was checked to make sure that it accurately reflected the standards that pupils’ achieved. This information has been used as a starting point to measure pupils’ progress since September. Pupils’ achievements are checked regularly through assessments that teachers carry out and through regulated tests.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

 Teachers are becoming more familiar with the new assessment system, but this is at an early stage of development. Some teachers are not using the information they gather about what pupils have achieved to plan suitable activities in lessons.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

 Teachers’ subject knowledge is, in most cases, sound. However, some teachers in Key Stage 1 are not making sure that pupils pronounce the sounds letters make accurately. This means that pupils are not always able to build individual letters and groups of letters together correctly to read and write words. This slows their progress.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

 Teaching in the early years has improved. A wide range of interesting and stimulating activities are provided for children to explore and investigate. Children were enthused and fascinated by the real baby chicks they had in the classroom. This gave them a wide range of tactile and visual experiences in their exploration of the life cycle of a chick.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

 Pupils’ behaviour has improved, but there are still some pupils who lack respect for adults and those around them during lessons. Most pupils display positive attitudes to learning. They are eager to listen and are diligent in their work. However, where teaching is weaker, some pupils who find it difficult to regulate their own behaviour quickly lose concentration. This disrupts their own learning and the learning of others.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

 Most teachers have very good relationships with pupils, and pupils show high levels of attention and respect during lesson. In these lessons, pupils are fully engaged in learning and are self-disciplined.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

 In some lessons, some pupils find managing their own behaviour difficult. However, where the school’s behaviour policy is consistently applied, pupils are clear about expectations and know that if their behaviour falls below the expected standard, sanctions will be applied. However, not all teachers use the behaviour policy effectively. Pupils quickly pick up on this and their behaviour is left unchecked. As a result, their behaviour deteriorates.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

 School leaders make regular checks on pupils’ behaviour and any incidents of bullying and racist behaviour are dealt with swiftly. School records show that the number of recorded racist and bullying incidents has reduced.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

 Pupils have a better understanding of how to keep themselves safe in different situations. This is because the school makes sure that lessons and assemblies include learning about keeping safe when using the internet and in the community

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Outcomes for pupils

 Pupils’ progress has improved. There are higher proportions of pupils achieving the standards expected for their age. However, the school’s own information about pupils’ achievements, in reading, writing and mathematics, shows that outcomes in writing are still lower than in reading and mathematics across the school.

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Outcomes for pupils

 There are wide gaps between the achievement of boys and girls. Outcomes for boys in writing are lower than girls in almost all classes. The gaps in achievement between boys and girls are not closing quickly enough.  Evidence from pupils’ work, which inspectors scrutinised during the inspection, shows that there is a very sharp focus on improving writing. In some cases, the work in books shows better progress than in the school’s assessment information. School leaders know that it is vitally important that assessments are checked to make sure that they accurately reflect pupils’ achievements.

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Outcomes for pupils

 Pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding (additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals) are not making progress at the same rate as other pupils. Their progress is slower. Additional support is being provided for these pupils to help them to catch up, but the school’s information suggests that the gaps in achievement for these pupils compared to other pupils are still too wide.

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Outcomes for pupils

 Children in the early years are making much better progress. From very low starting points, a higher proportion of children are on track to be well prepared for learning when they start in Year 1. Some children still lack sufficient language skills to be able to express their ideas. Adults are now modelling language well, in order to support children to use the appropriate skills to begin to speak clearly in sentences.

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Outcomes for pupils

 Children’s ability to use sounds to read and write words in the early years has improved. Adults provide effective opportunities for children to listen to the sounds letters make and to model the building of letters and groups of letters to make words.

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External support

The local authority officer makes regular visits to the school to support school leaders and to check on the quality of teaching. There is some evidence of impact. However, the overall impact of local authority support so far, in the school’s journey through special measures, has not brought about significant improvements in narrowing the gaps in achievement of some groups of pupils. Although the external review of governance was concluded a year ago, the impact of governors in challenging the school to bring about rapid improvement has been limited. There is some evidence that there is some positive impact of the support provided by the English and mathematics advisers in improving teaching. Once again, though, this is patchy, partly due to changes of teaching staff at the school. Prior to the inspection in October 2014, the local authority had arranged for a team of headteachers from local schools to provide support to the school. This has now ceased because the

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External support

headteachers within the team were unable to offer significant support.

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