Setting

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

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Mrs Rachael Peacock Headteacher North Wingfield Primary and Nursery School 80 Chesterfield Road North Wingfield Chesterfield Derbyshire S42 5LE

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Primary and Nursery School

Following my visit to your school on 15 July 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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Primary and Nursery School

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

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Primary and Nursery School

Senior leaders and governors are not taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection in order to become a good school.

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Evidence

During the visit, I held meetings with you and the deputy headteacher, three members of the governing body and two representatives of the local authority. You and I looked at the work in a sample of pupils’ books and I considered a range of documentation, including the school improvement plan, the latest self-evaluation of the school’s performance, documents relating to the performance management of teachers and a number of records relating to the safeguarding of children.

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Context

Since I visited the school in June 2015, the previous headteacher has retired. The deputy headteacher, supported by a headteacher from another school, became the acting headteacher for the term before your arrival in January 2016. Four teaching staff and two teaching assistants have resigned during the last year and a further teacher is leaving in the summer.

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Main findings

At the time of the last monitoring visit in June 2015, senior leaders and governors were judged to be taking effective action to tackle the areas for improvement following the section 5 inspection in February 2015. However, continuing inconsistencies in the quality of teaching and learning have resulted in pupils’ progress and attainment not improving quickly enough.

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Main findings

Your arrival at the school has injected additional energy into the drive to secure school improvement. You are determined to improve the outcomes for every child at the school and work single-mindedly to achieve this. You know that there is a need for urgency to undo the legacy of pupils’ underachievement.

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Main findings

You and the deputy headteacher have correctly identified areas of underperformance within the school. You have continued the work started by the deputy headteacher to address weak teaching and this has resulted in a number of staff leaving the school. Although this has led to a number of temporary teachers this year, you have now secured permanent staff for September 2016. You monitor teachers’ performance very closely, linking it to the detailed pupils’ assessment and tracking system you have introduced. Consequently, teachers are now held regularly to account for their work and they can be in no doubt about the professional expectations placed upon them.

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Main findings

There is evidence that your actions are beginning to have a positive effect on improving the quality of teaching and learning. In line with the school’s expectations, there are large quantities of work in pupils’ writing and mathematics books, with teachers often linking different subjects to encourage pupils to practise their writing skills more often. However, teachers are not sharp enough at identifying the next steps in pupils’ learning and too many pupils are not being challenged enough, as a result.

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Main findings

Teachers mark pupils’ books regularly, in accordance with the school’s policy, and there is consistency in pupils’ handwriting and the presentation of their work. However, the feedback teachers give is not precise enough to inform the next steps in pupils’ learning. Consequently, the same errors recur in pupils’ work too often. In addition, although pupils write regularly, there is little evidence of pupils undertaking extended pieces of writing to develop their independent writing skills further.

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Main findings

From their below-average starting points, an increased proportion of children in the early years have achieved a good level of development in 2016, compared with previous years. This reflects improved teaching and learning in the early years and improved planning to address gaps in children’s development, for example in children’s fine and gross motor skills. The outcomes for boys showed a very strong improvement, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Main findings

The proportion of pupils achieving the expected level in the Year 1 national phonics screening assessment declined in 2016. Following improvements over the previous three years, the figure for 2016 is well below the national average for 2015. Unvalidated data for key stage 1 shows that fewer than half of pupils have achieved the standard expected for their age in reading, writing and mathematics. The proportion of boys and disadvantaged pupils reaching age-related expectations is well below that of girls. You have identified the reason for these poor outcomes as historic inconsistencies in the quality of teaching and staff mobility in key stage 1.

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Main findings

Unvalidated key stage 2 information for 2016 shows that the proportion of pupils achieving the standard expected of pupils their age was below the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. Despite this, you believe that pupils’ outcomes represent an improving picture, especially for boys, who performed much better than girls in reading and mathematics. Pupils have benefited from improvements in the quality of additional support provided by staff and greater consistency in the quality of teaching and learning, particularly since January 2016.

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Main findings

Governors are full of good intent and believe they have supported you in your efforts to bring about the rapid changes necessary for the school to improve. Despite this, they are still too reliant on you to lead them. They do not shoulder enough of the responsibility, and continue to justify reasons, for why there has been poor performance of pupils over a prolonged period.

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Main findings

Despite a review of the use of the pupil premium following the last inspection, outcomes for the school’s most disadvantaged pupils continue to be too low and are not improving quickly enough. Governors have continued to be ineffective in monitoring the impact of the pupil premium additional funding the school receives for almost half of the pupils in the school.

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Main findings

The school’s arrangements for the safeguarding of pupils continue to be effective. Records are detailed and there is evidence of a well-planned and thorough programme of staff and governor training on safeguarding and child protection.

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External support

The local authority has provided significant levels of support since the last inspection. This has enabled school leaders to address poor teaching and staff underperformance.

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External support

Ofsted may carry out further monitoring inspections and, where necessary, provide further support and challenge to the school until its next section 5 inspection. I have recommended to Ofsted that I stay in contact with the school. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Derbyshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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