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 Alison Ashcroft, Ofsted Inspector, on 29 June 2016 and Christopher Crouch, Ofsted Inspector, on 30 June 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 fifth 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 taking effective action towards the removal of special measures. The school may appoint no more than two newly qualified teachers before the next inspection.

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of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

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

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place in October 2014

 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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place in October 2014

 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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place in October 2014

 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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place in October 2014

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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place in October 2014

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 and the curriculum leader. Inspectors also met with the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), the pupil premium leader, the early years team and support headteacher and three middle leaders. Her Majesty’s Inspector also met with the chair of the executive committee and two members of the governing body, a group of pupils, the diocesan advisor and diocesan representative on the executive committee 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 Ofsted’s Parent View online survey for inspectors to evaluate them.

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Context

The local authority and the diocese have established an executive committee, in addition to the governing body. The executive committee comprises appointed members from the local authority and the diocese, three governors and the headteacher. The school partnership advisor from the local authority and the deputy headteacher also attend executive committee meetings. There have been no staff changes since the previous monitoring inspection. Six teachers are leaving at the end of the summer term. New teachers have been appointed to replace them.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 The headteacher has raised expectations further by making sure that teachers are held to account for the progress pupils make. Performance management procedures are clearly linked to improving outcomes for pupils. They are aligned to the Teacher’s Standards. Teachers are encouraged to be reflective and honest in their judgements about their own performance.  The newly formed executive committee has sharpened the focus on raising standards and narrowing the gap in achievement between different groups of pupils. Committee members challenge school leaders effectively and ask pertinent questions to make sure that everyone is in no doubt about the urgency of securing further improvements in pupils’ achievement.  The headteacher and chair of the executive committee have devised a raising achievement plan which sets out the key priorities to bring about rapid improvement. The plan is closely linked to improving pupils’ progress and

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

raising standards. The success of the plan will be measured by the impact the planned actions have on narrowing the gaps in achievement between different groups of pupils. Information about pupils’ achievement is clearly set out in the plan.  School leaders and members of the executive committee are using the evidence of progress from the raising achievement plan to evaluate the school’s performance. This is now carried out effectively, but is at an early stage of development and the impact is limited so far.  School leaders carry out a wide range of monitoring activities regularly. These include checks of pupils’ work in books and teacher’s planning, observations of teaching and learning, discussions with teachers about the progress pupils are making and discussions with pupils to gain their views about their learning. As a result of their monitoring activities, school leaders know which teaching requires further improvement and have put support

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

plans in place for some teachers.  Senior leaders have been successful in developing the skills of middle leaders. This has increased the capacity of the school to bring about further improvements. Middle leaders are increasingly providing effective coaching and support for teachers who are not performing well enough. Middle leaders share their expertise well. They effectively demonstrate their teaching skills to teachers who need support to improve their practice.  School leaders are using the evidence from their monitoring activities to successfully judge the quality of teaching. This is showing that some teaching has improved. However, some teaching has not improved enough. As a result, some teachers are leaving at the end of the summer term.  The curriculum has been organised to enable pupils’ learning to be assessed regularly and accurately. Some subjects are taught discretely. The curriculum leader is aware that there is more to be done to further improve

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

the curriculum and to make it more relevant and exciting, particularly for boys.  School leaders are aware that the attendance of some pupils is still not good enough. They have recently carried out a telephone survey with parents of vulnerable pupils whose attendance and punctuality is not good enough. This was designed to ascertain the barriers to pupils’ learning and the issues that cause poor attendance or prevent pupils arriving at school on time. The family support worker is working with these families to help them to overcome barriers to ensure that pupils’ achievement, attendance and punctuality improves.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

 Teaching is improving more strongly in some classes than others. It is not yet consistently good enough to ensure that all pupils make the progress they can. Where teaching is weaker, the headteacher has used the expertise of middle leaders to support teaching and help pupils to catch up.  The new assessment system is being used effectively to check on pupils’ learning. As a result of the accurate and reliable assessments, teachers now have a better understanding of the progress pupils are making. In the majority of classes, teachers are using this information to plan lessons. However, in a small number of classes, teachers are not using the assessment of pupils’ learning in lessons well enough to challenge the most able pupils.  Relationships between adults and pupils are mainly constructive. Teaching assistants are increasingly effective. They support pupils’ learning individually and in small groups. With patience and positive approaches, teaching

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

assistants are helping pupils to overcome barriers to their learning.  Teachers’ subject knowledge generally supports pupils’ learning well. There are still pockets of weaker subject knowledge of some teachers, which limits pupils’ progress in these classes.  Teaching in the early years has improved strongly. Teachers and early years practitioners know the children well, respond quickly to their needs and have positive, encouraging relationships. Teaching is designed to capitalise on children’s interests. Adults provide individual support to disadvantaged children, which develops their confidence and helps them to make better progress.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

 Pupils are responding well to better teaching. They listen attentively and are eager to produce better-quality work. There is a calm approach to learning because pupils are quick to follow instructions and show respect for each other and the adults around them.  Most pupils are beginning to take more responsibility for their behaviour, but a small number of pupils still need support to help them to behave appropriately in lessons and around the school. Some inappropriate behaviour still exists. In lessons, this is usually where teaching is not capturing pupils’ interests well enough. School leaders are monitoring behaviour carefully and putting plans in place for individual pupils who find managing their own behaviour difficult.  Pupils are confident that if they have a problem there is always an adult to help them. They like the new arrangements to make sure they are kept safe at the end of the school day. They feel safe and understand about a range of

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

types of bullying. Pupils are clear about the boundaries set out in the behaviour policy, which was evident during the inspection, when they were unable to play outside due to stormy weather.  School leaders are monitoring attendance closely. New systems have been put in place recently to keep close checks on pupils who regularly arrive late for school. Due to the short time this new system has been in place, the impact is limited. School leaders are able to identify the pupils whose attendance is a cause for concern. They set high expectations for attendance and punctuality and are working closely with families whose children miss school too often.

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Outcomes for pupils

 Pupils’ progress continues to improve, but it is still inconsistent between classes and year groups. Pupils in Year 6 have made much better progress, and the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics is higher in than the previous two years.  The gaps in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils in reading, writing and mathematics have narrowed in Years 5 and 6, but they are still too wide in other year groups.  Boys are now making similar progress to girls. In Years 3 and 4 boys outperform girls, but in other classes boys’ progress is not rapid enough to close the gaps. There are still wide gaps in attainment between boys and girls, particularly in Years 1 and 2.  Pupils’ work in books shows steady improvement. Increasing proportions of pupils are now working more consistently at age-related expectations, including the most able. However, there are still too few of the most able

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Outcomes for pupils

pupils who are exceeding expectations. This is because they are not always challenged sufficiently well, or given work that helps them to think more deeply and reason their understanding.  Children in the early years have made rapid progress this year, in both the Nursery and Reception classes. This is because provision has improved and teachers devise interesting and stimulating activities which engage children and help them to make much better progress. A higher proportion of children in the Reception classes are well prepared for learning when they start in Year 1. More Nursery children are achieving within the expectations for their age and are well prepared to start in the Reception classes in September.

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External support

The local authority and the diocese have recently worked well together to establish the executive committee. Although the committee has only been in place since the end of May 2016, the impact of its work is evident in the sharper focus on rapidly improving pupils’ progress and raising standards throughout the school. The local authority has recently checked the accuracy of the assessment teachers have made about the standards achieved in Years 2 and 6 and in the early years. Teachers’ assessments in these year groups have been agreed as accurate.

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