Bishop Rawle CofE Primary School

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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Kate Clowes (Acting Headteacher) Bishop Rawle CofE (A) Primary School Royal Walk Cheadle Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire ST10 1QA

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School

Following my visit to your school on 18 and 19 May 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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School

The inspection was the third monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection that took place in May 2015. 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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School

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

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School

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

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School

The school may appoint one newly qualified teacher in key stage 2 before the next monitoring visit.

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School

I am copying this letter to the chair of the interim executive board, the director of education for the Diocese of Lichfield, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Staffordshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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place in May 2015

Raise pupils’ achievement and improve teaching by: – making sure all leaders have the skills required to monitor the quality of teaching and learning, and take effective action to bring about improvement where weaknesses are identified – ensuring that the extra funding from the government is used effectively to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, particularly in Key Stage 2, in order to close the gap between this group and other pupils in the school – teaching reading, particularly early reading, systematically and securely in all classes – improving pupils’ spelling, grammar, punctuation and handwriting – using assessment information to help teachers set work that provides the correct level of challenge for pupils of all abilities – making sure that all action plans contain clear targets against which the governors can check the impact of the school’s work.

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place in May 2015

Improve leadership, behaviour and safeguarding as a matter of urgency by: – managing pupils’ behaviour consistently and fairly and analysing any incident records for trends and patterns – treating pupils with respect and listening to, and taking appropriate action in response to, their concerns – improving communication with parents so that all parents have confidence in the leadership team to keep their children safe.

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place in May 2015

External reviews of governance and of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how these aspects of leadership and governance may be improved.

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Evidence

Her Majesty’s Inspector observed the school’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the acting headteacher, groups of pupils, parents, members of the interim executive board (IEB) and representatives from the local authority and diocese. The inspector observed teaching in all classes, looked at work in pupils’ books and talked to them about their learning. The inspector also checked information relating to pupils’ achievement, attendance, behaviour and safety. Further documents relating to leadership and management were examined, including parent and pupil questionnaires, checks made on the quality of teaching and information on the school’s website.

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Context

Plans are currently underway for the school to become an academy. The proposed date for conversion is September 2016. Although the school has received its academy order, final approval of the official sponsor has not yet been received. Since the last monitoring inspection, the acting headteacher has been appointed as ‘head of school’ in preparation for academy conversion. Two teachers have left the school. At the time of the visit, the Reception year and Year 3 were being covered by temporary teachers. A new Reception teacher has been appointed for September and the Year 3 post has been advertised. Support has also been brokered by the local authority from Glascote Primary School for leaders at Bishop Rawle.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Consultations have been held between the IEB, the diocese, school leaders and the Department for Education in relation to the school’s transition to academy status. Parents and staff have been kept informed during the process. Staff and IEB members are optimistic about this transition because the current acting headteacher will still be a senior leader in the school and they have faith and confidence in her leadership. Additionally, staff are very positive about forming links with other schools in the academy chain as they have already seen the benefits of working alongside other schools.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The acting headteacher and IEB have continued to rigorously and robustly promote high standards of behaviour and achievement. They regularly review and evaluate the impact of actions set out in the school’s improvement plan and local authority’s statement of action. Evidence is collected in relation to the key issues shown in the annex to this report. This evidence is then matched against the clear, measureable milestones formulated by leaders, to determine which actions have been achieved, which are ongoing and which are not yet in place. Evidence collected shows that by the end of the spring term, the targets set for pupils’ attainment had been met in reading and mathematics but not in writing. Significant progress has also been made in relation to improving the quality of teaching and the leadership of behaviour and safeguarding. Subject leaders have also formulated action plans and developed coherent objectives. However, they have not yet evaluated these plans

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

or provided evidence to show the impact of their work. This is an ongoing area for development.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Regular checks are carried out by the acting headteacher in relation to the quality of teaching. Subject leaders are becoming increasingly involved in these checks. For example, the English and mathematics leaders have observed some teaching in conjunction with the headteacher or external consultants as part of their training to ensure that they have the skills needed for their leadership roles. They also carry out book scrutinies and analyse data to determine how well different groups and cohorts are achieving. As a result, subject leaders are beginning to identify strengths and areas for improvement in their respective subject areas. With this increased level of responsibility, subject leaders are making a better contribution to raising the achievement of pupils and improving teaching, although it is still early days.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders track the attainment and progress of all groups of pupils, including those who are the most able, disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs. At the time of the last monitoring inspection, leaders did not calculate the gap between these specific groups and other pupils in the school to determine where the widest gaps existed and whether, over time, these gaps are closing or getting wider. This issue has now been addressed as summary assessments provide this information.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

A new special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has been appointed from within the school to oversee provision and support for pupils with learning or physical difficulties. However, leaders acknowledge that the leadership of this area has been historically weak and pupils have not always been picked up or accurately identified as having additional needs. At the time of this inspection, only 17 pupils were judged to have special educational needs across the whole school and no children in the early years were shown on the special educational needs register, despite staff recognising that some children were not meeting the milestones for their age. Discussions with pupils, together with checking of their workbooks and assessment information, demonstrates that more pupils have learning difficulties than are currently recorded. The new SENCo is very aware of this and has already begun to tackle this issue. Staff knowledge and standardised test scores are helping

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

to identify pupils more accurately. Further work is, however, needed to carefully match provision to the needs of those identified in order to accelerate their progress.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Parents are overall, and increasingly, positive about the changes being made. They say ‘Things are getting better.’ Regular newsletters, published on the school’s website and the ‘open-door’ policy have helped to improve communication between home and school. Leaders have continued to gather parents’ and pupils’ views regularly through termly questionnaires. These present a positive picture of the increasing confidence shown in the school’s leadership team and teaching staff. The parent forum also enables parents to contribute their views, such as discussing and approving school policies, for example the new handwriting policy. Over 92% of parents who responded to the April questionnaire said that their child was happy and felt safe at school and the large majority would recommend the school to other parents. Typical comments made by parents include, ‘my child wants to learn all the time’ and ‘my child wants to come to school even when they are ill’.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The IEB has continued to work tirelessly to raise achievement and improve teaching and leadership. They meet regularly and have a very detailed knowledge and understanding of the progress the school is making towards the key issues as they monitor these systematically. For example, the IEB is aware that pupils who have special educational needs have not been accurately identified in the past and that their progress lags behind that of other pupils in the school. Improved systems in place are often as a result of the IEB’s attention to detail and request for precise information. A good balance of challenge and support is in place.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Leaders ensure that due attention is placed on promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development in lessons, assemblies and through visiting speakers, such as those from Christian Aid. However, pupils say that they have limited opportunities in other subject areas, for example, music, modern foreign languages and geography. Discussions and work in pupils’ books supports pupils’ perceptions that the curriculum has narrowed and pupils do not always cover the full range of subjects required.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching continues to improve and all inadequate teaching has been eradicated. All teachers are working hard to raise achievement and close the gaps which exist in pupils’ knowledge and skills. They use their knowledge of pupils and assessment information well to plan lessons which meet the needs of pupils with different abilities. Teachers have good subject knowledge. Most teachers now have higher expectations of what pupils can achieve and plan work accordingly. However, opportunities are missed to challenge the most able even further by increasing the level of challenge set and promoting mastery of skills, especially in mathematics.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Good relationships exist in all classes between adults and pupils. Pupils work well together in pairs and groups. In the main, teachers periodically check that pupils understand the work set during the lesson. However, sometimes teachers do not always spot pupils who are struggling quickly enough. Consequently, pupils begin to lose focus and complete less work. Although additional support is often provided for those who are disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs, gaps still exist in the achievement of these pupils and others in the school. Due to their limited basic skills, these pupils rely heavily on adult support and do not always have the resilience or confidence to complete work set if unsupported.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Pupils continue to make accelerated progress in reading because teachers have received helpful training, leaders monitor lessons and analyse data and reading books have been sorted more suitably into ability levels. Phonics (letters and the sounds they make) is taught systematically and daily. A recent audit has been carried out by the local authority and this has provided helpful information for the subject leader into which areas still remain weak. Pupils are taught in mixed year groups according to their ability. This enables teachers to pitch the work at the right level. Teachers use correct enunciation and the appropriate subject vocabulary so that pupils learn this from the outset. Good links are made between reading and writing. However, punctuation is not always reinforced during writing activities, for example, the correct use of a question mark, so pupils’ misconceptions are not addressed.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Work in pupils’ books shows that pupils are making good progress in writing, especially in Reception class and Year 1. Each week pupils produce an extended piece of writing in order to increase their writing stamina. The subject leader has introduced creative theme weeks in order to motivate pupils to want to write, for example, about an alien’s visit to the school. Specific tasks are set for pupils to practise their grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting and as a result, these are beginning to improve. A new handwriting policy has been introduced and teachers model cursive writing. While teachers provide helpful feedback to show pupils how to improve their work, teachers do not always pick up and address common spelling errors in high frequency or daily words, such as ‘went’, ‘there’ or ‘April’. As a result, pupils continue to misspell these words.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

At the time of the last inspection visit, progress in mathematics was beginning to stall and leaders had focused heavily on English. However, a greater emphasis has now been placed on teaching mathematics with a stronger focus on pupils’ problem solving and reasoning skills. More investigative tasks are set which require pupils to use mental arithmetic and work independently or in pairs. For example, pupils in Year 6 had to investigate ways of arranging numbers to reach a set target number. Pupils worked enthusiastically and were very focused. However, some of the most- able pupils completed this activity quickly and easily but were not challenged further to find a mathematical rule that would work for the different options explored, thus developing skills in algebra. While there is increasing evidence in pupils’ books of a wider coverage of mathematical concepts, further development is needed so that

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

pupils cover other aspects of mathematics, not solely number.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching assistants are, on the whole, used effectively. They hear pupils read, lead interventions and support small groups or individual pupils in lessons. However, as the school has not yet accurately distinguished between pupils with special educational needs and those who have underachieved due to historic weak teaching, some pupils do not always get the support they need.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Pupils’ attitudes to learning are improving. For example, there was a marked difference in concentration levels, engagement and quality of work seen in some classes, especially Year 3, during this visit compared to previous visits. This is because stability in teaching has been restored and most pupils are now keen to learn. In all classes, pupils listen carefully and follow instructions. However, when work becomes challenging, some pupils lack resilience and the determination to work things out for themselves. Consequently, they tend to quietly disengage.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Most pupils behave well and show good levels of respect for each other and towards staff. Pupils are clear that behaviour is improving and there are fewer serious or disruptive incidents. Those spoken to report that the main issue now relates to pupils answering adults back or being cheeky. However, some pupils spoken to were equally clear that in the past, some adults had not shown them respect and had referred to them as ‘worthless’ or a ‘bad class’. Pupils showed great levels of maturity when discussing this issue and clearly understood that mutual respect is important.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

The acting headteacher, ably supported by her leadership team and other staff are determined to provide a safe and harmonious learning environment for all pupils. All behaviour incidents are systematically recorded and analysed to establish patterns and trends for individuals. Only a small number of pupils are now persistent offenders and each term, this number reduces. There are very few younger pupils on the school’s register, demonstrating that the behaviour policy is increasingly effective and adults manage behaviour more successfully. However, when pupils are made to sit outside the staffroom and miss playtimes for misbehaving, they are not always fully supervised by staff or provided with work. This does little to correct pupils’ behaviour as they continue to ‘play up’.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Pupils are adamant that since Mrs Clowes joined the school, behaviour and teaching have both improved. Pupils feel that they can report incidents directly to the acting headteacher or their own teacher and that they will be listened to and swift action taken. This contributes hugely towards pupils feeling safe in school. The recent pupil questionnaire showed that pupils feel safe, are happy and enjoy school. However, during wet playtimes, pupils do not always have any games or activities to entertain themselves with. Older pupils particularly said that they would like more music or to have games like monopoly to play at breaktimes to help reduce potential misbehaviour.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Attendance is average and similar to previous years. Leaders track the attendance of individual pupils and key groups. Records are kept and appropriate follow-up action is taken where needed to ensure pupils attend school regularly. Leaders and members of the IEB have pursued improving the punctuality of pupils by arranging a visit from the education welfare officer to carry out a ‘late gate’ exercise and contact parents whose children are continually late for school. Some improvement has been noted following this exercise.

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Outcomes for pupils

Standards are rising and progress is accelerating. School’s own information shows that a greater proportion of pupils are working at age-related levels compared to the start of the academic year, with increasing numbers exceeding the levels expected. While the large majority of pupils are working at age-related levels in reading and mathematics, standards in writing remain low, especially in key stage 2. However, progress in writing is evident in pupils’ workbooks with notable improvements in terms of handwriting, quality and quantity of writing. Progress is most rapid in Years 1, 2, 5 and 6, where teaching has been stable since the start of the year. However, pupils in Year 4 have made very good gains in their learning since January and since March in Year 3, as evidenced in their books and visits made to classrooms during this inspection.

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Outcomes for pupils

Children in the early years are making good progress. The gaps in assessment information and lack of curriculum coverage noted at the time of the last visit have been addressed. A wide range of activities are planned to ensure that children have opportunities to develop in all aspects of the early years curriculum. Photographic evidence, together with examples of children’s own work and adults’ observations, all contribute to the assessments made about children’s abilities in their learning journals. School’s own assessments indicate that approximately three quarters of children will reach a good level of development this year; this will be at least in line with the national average and above that from 2015.

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Outcomes for pupils

Analysis of the school’s own data shows that attainment gaps between disadvantaged pupils and their classmates in some year groups are closing, especially in Years 3, 5 and 6 but have remained the same or become wider in other year groups. Leaders recognise that this remains an area for improvement. The school’s own information and work in pupils’ books show that attainment for pupils who have special educational needs or disability is below age-related expectations in reading, writing and mathematics in all year groups. These pupils also make less progress than their peers, especially in reading and mathematics. This is because the leadership and provision for these pupils has not been effective until recently.

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External support

The local authority and diocese have continued to monitor and challenge school leaders well. The local authority has brokered support for the acting headteacher from an experienced headteacher at another school. Leaders have already benefited from the guidance provided by the partner school and adopted some of their practice to raise achievement at Bishop Rawle. The local authority has also commissioned support though a school improvement group to provide continued training for staff and leaders. Training for the phonics leader has been helpful, for example carrying out paired lesson observations and the audit of phonics teaching.

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