Setting

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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Mrs Karin Heap Headteacher Chapel Road School Chapel Road Attleborough Norfolk NR17 2DS

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Requires improvement: monitoring inspection visit to Chapel Road School

Following my visit to your school on 18 April 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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Requires improvement: monitoring inspection visit to Chapel Road School

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

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Requires improvement: monitoring inspection visit to Chapel Road 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, meetings were held with you, the two deputy headteachers, the two phase leaders, the leaders of the early years and the post-16 provision, and the chair and vice-chair of the governing body to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I had a telephone discussion with the head of education and inclusion from Norfolk local authority. I looked at the single central register of recruitment checks on staff’s suitability to work with children. I went into each classroom with you. I looked at documents about pupils’ achievement and senior leaders’ monitoring of teaching. The school improvement and development plan was also evaluated.

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Context

Three teachers have been appointed for September 2016 to replace the three teachers who will leave the school at the end of this term. The school will move to a new building in autumn 2017.

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Main findings

The judgement of ‘requires improvement’ at the inspection in November 2015 came as a shock to the staff and governors. Since then, staff and governors have seized the opportunity to reflect and act on the areas identified for improvement. For example, staff quickly acknowledged the need to expect higher standards from the most able pupils.

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Main findings

Senior leaders and the governors aim to provide good-quality education by the end of July 2017. The action plan sets out a suitable range of actions to establish the foundations for improvement, particularly the systems for assessing pupils’ achievements and monitoring the quality of teaching. The actions are set out clearly. Staff know what is expected and how the quality of their work will be monitored. The plan will have run its course by the end of May 2016. A new plan will benefit from clear measurements for success for the next academic year, particularly for the difference that the actions will make for the pupils. Actions taken since the November 2015 inspection include:

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Main findings

 reorganising the curriculum and the timetable for children in the early years class so that they can choose from a range of activities throughout the day  more frequent assessments of pupils’ work, which now closely link to the curriculum and targets for each pupil, enabling staff to check quickly whether interventions are making a difference  more opportunities for post-16 students to gain accreditation for their literacy and numeracy skills  frequent monitoring of teaching by ‘progress partners’, which works well to motivate staff to play an active part in improving teaching and assessment  more frequent meetings between staff and governors to check how well pupils are doing  training for teaching assistants, which has improved their skills and raised their expectations of the most able pupils across the school.

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Main findings

Staff understand what needs to be done and are developing their skills and regaining their confidence quickly. As a result, the quality of teaching and assessment is improving. You have identified inconsistencies in staff’s use of assessments and how well teachers plan pupils’ learning. The external consultant confirms the differences between classes. The tour of classrooms during this monitoring inspection indicates that pupils need more opportunities to practise communicating with staff and with one another, and that resources and displays are not used effectively to support pupils’ learning.

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Main findings

Governors continue to visit the school regularly to gain first-hand information about the school’s work. The minutes of recent meetings show that they ask challenging questions and ask for additional information when needed.

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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

Senior leaders seek advice and support from local special schools and a mainstream primary school. Staff have visited other schools and more visits are planned, for example to consider how best to develop the post-16 provision. An independent external consultant provides challenge. Local authority officers are confident that senior leaders know where to gain support, particularly through established networks of schools, and have commissioned a challenge partner to evaluate the school’s work later this term.

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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 Norfolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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