Blacklow Brow School

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

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Mr Barry Bridden Blacklow Brow Primary School Tarbock Road Huyton Liverpool L36 5XW

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Blacklow Brow Primary School

Following my visit to Blacklow Brow Primary school on 26–27 April 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 recent section 5 inspection.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Blacklow Brow Primary School

The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection that took place in October 2015.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Blacklow Brow Primary School

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

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Blacklow Brow Primary School

Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Blacklow Brow Primary School

The local authority’s statement of action is fit for purpose.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Blacklow Brow Primary School

The school’s improvement plan is fit for purpose.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Blacklow Brow Primary School

The school may appoint up to two newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Blacklow Brow Primary School

I am copying this letter to the chair of the interim executive board, the regional schools commissioner, the director of children’s services for Knowsley and the chief executive officer of The Dean Trust. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 Improve leadership and management at all levels, including governance, by: – ensuring that school leaders have a well-informed strategic plan that provides clear direction for the school and will move it forward – ensuring that self-evaluation is based on a clear and realistic understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. This should include accurate analysis of pupils’ achievement in each year group as well as the impact of actions being taken to improve outcomes for pupils – making sure that classroom monitoring is regular, rigorous and challenges weak practice – managing the performance of teachers professionally and using this process to improve the quality of the workforce – developing subject leaders to ensure that they are able to monitor their subjects effectively and provide relevant advice, support and resources to enable teachers to deliver the full range of subjects with increasing confidence

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

and effectiveness – making sure that additional funding, to support disadvantaged pupils and to improve sport throughout the school, is well managed and spent wisely to improve provision – ensuring that attendance information is used more effectively to challenge lateness and frequent or unauthorised absence in order to improve attendance – developing more effective home-school partnerships in the early years provision to make available better information for parents about how their children are doing, so their learning can be better supported at home – making certain that transition arrangements meet pupils’ needs better – ensuring that the school website meets statutory requirements and provides parents with regular and relevant information about the school and what their children are doing – providing relevant training for governors to enable them to fulfil their duties effectively, and ensure that they are able to challenge and hold school leaders

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

 Improve teaching, learning and assessment to ensure that all groups of pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils and the more able, make much better progress than at present by: – providing appropriate quality training for all staff, to improve their practice, especially in the teaching of phonics and mathematics – making lessons more pacy and challenging, so they engage and stretch pupils, especially the more able – planning work which pupils find more interesting so as to improve their concentration and attitudes to learning – planning a cohesive curriculum, which meets the needs of all pupils and enables teachers to build on pupils’ previous learning across the full range of subjects – giving pupils more opportunities to investigate and solve problems, think for themselves and write at length – promoting reading for pleasure more effectively by encouraging reading at home and checking on pupils’ progress more frequently than at present

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took

– developing pupils’ grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary in all subjects and providing more frequent opportunities for them to respond to marking and correct their work.

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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 pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Evidence

During this inspection, meetings were held with you as the leader in charge, the assistant headteacher, the chair of the interim executive board (IEB), the chief executive officer of The Dean Trust, a representative of the local authority and the recently appointed parent champion. I met with all teachers and a group of teaching assistants. I spoke with a range of pupils and parents. I visited classrooms and looked at pupils’ work. I also scrutinised a range of documentation including leaders’ evaluations of the school’s work, teachers’ training records, information on pupils’ current attainment, teachers’ planning documents and a range of policy documents. The statement of action and the school’s improvement plan were evaluated.

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Context

Following the publication of the last Ofsted report, the local authority undertook a review of the school’s arrangements for leadership and management. As a result, interim leadership arrangements were commissioned with The Dean Trust (a multi- academy trust). These arrangements remain in place. In December of 2015, the governing body was dissolved and replaced with an interim executive board (IEB).

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Context

In January of this year, The Dean Trust allocated staff to take temporary senior leadership responsibility for the school. A leader in charge is the acting headteacher for the time being and there is an acting assistant head teacher. There has been a realignment of leadership roles throughout the school, matching the school’s improvement plan.

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Context

The replacement of the governing body by the IEB has meant that the recommended external review of governance has not taken place.

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Context

The substantive head teacher and deputy head teacher were not present during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The recently formed IEB has set high expectations for the school. It is monitoring the impact of improvements closely and is holding the school’s senior leadership team rigorously to account. Both the current school leaders and The Dean Trust have been keen to improve their understanding of the views of parents. Consequently, they have recently appointed a ‘parent champion’ who will attend meetings of the IEB. The school’s culture has been transformed. The school is currently well led. The leader in charge and the assistant head teacher inspire all members of staff to do the best they can for the pupils’ benefit. Teachers now have a very clear vision of what they are expected to do and to achieve. They also know they will be given very good support to realise this vision. Staff morale is high. Teachers and teaching assistants say they have begun to feel valued. Staff display a new energy and enthusiasm, which are infectious and are inspiring pupils to do their very best. All

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

groups of teachers, other staff and pupils that spoke to me say that the school has improved considerably since the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Many structural changes have been made to the way things are done around Blacklow Brow. The curriculum, for example, is well organised and learning systematically builds on what pupils already know, understand or can do. Subjects are now taught throughout the school at the same time. Pupils and teachers say they much prefer the more structured day. The school has introduced systematic and consistent approaches to the teaching of reading and phonics (letters and the sounds that they make). Different teachers teach the same strategies to pupils throughout the school, eliminating confusion and accelerating their progress.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Secure plans are in place to develop the teaching of mathematics in a similarly structured way. This is at an earlier stage of development and so pupils’ achievement in mathematics is not improving as quickly as their achievement in English.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

All teachers now have additional responsibilities and they all welcome these. They now feel they are expected to drive improvement in their allocated areas. The structured school timetable enables teachers to review work easily across the whole school. They are being well trained in how to evaluate the impact of different developments accurately. Teachers are at an early stage of being accountable for these improvements but understand that this will be an important feature of their annual appraisal.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Attendance has improved because pupils enjoy school and key staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities. Efficient management systems have been introduced and the attendance of all pupils is now carefully monitored. Parents of pupils who are not at school in time are expected to phone to explain why. Any unexplained absence is promptly and rigorously followed up. Good attendance is celebrated. There has been a considerable reduction in the number of pupils who are persistently absent.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The school is well on the way to developing good monitoring systems, which will accurately measure the impact on pupils’ attainment of the changes that have been introduced. The school is aware that the next stage is to measure accurately the progress that pupils make. As a requirement of the last inspection, an external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium has taken place. The review has provided a clear understanding of how the school intends to spend this additional funding. However, it is too early for the school to evaluate the impact of this on improving the achievement of disadvantaged pupils.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Parents who spoke to me said that communication from the school is very much better. They like the new parents evenings and reports on pupils’ progress. They say they now have meaningful and informed conversations with teachers about their child’s learning. Parents say they find it easier to help their child improve. Parents recognise the improvements that have been made across the whole school in a very short time. Enrolment to next year’s Reception class is significantly oversubscribed.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Staff have welcomed the extensive training programme that has been introduced to improve teaching. Training covers whole-school improvements and personalised training for teachers and teaching assistants. The success the school has had in introducing new ways of teaching reading and phonics is built on good training, sound practice and highly positive staff attitudes.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Teachers have received good training on how to support disadvantaged pupils. Additional funding is made available to teachers to help disadvantage pupils improve. The expectations of what more-able pupils can achieve have been raised. Teachers are required to plan specific activities that will really challenge these pupils, adding interest to their learning and accelerating their progress.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Pupils enjoy their learning and work enthusiastically. Their attitudes to their learning and helping others are very good. Pupils are clearly happy in school and most relish the challenges they are set. One pupil said, ‘The school is much better now. The work used to be too easy.’ Pupils are very proud of their work. They are keen to show their books to visitors and talk about what they have been learning.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is improving. All aspects detailed as areas to improve in the last inspection are being addressed.

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External support

The local authority has taken decisive action to address the considerable weaknesses described in the last inspection report. Without delay, it engaged the support of The Dean Trust. The Dean Trust has been able to provide the school with two experienced and highly effective leaders who have introduced structure to the school and raised everyone’s expectations. The Dean Trust has also provided high-quality training of teachers, teaching assistants and administrators. It has provided additional administrative support in the form of budget management and a review of staff roles and responsibilities. The Dean Trust has been instrumental in ensuring that the school is improving quickly.

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