Setting

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

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Mayleen Atima Headteacher Beaumont Community Primary School Durrant Road Hadleigh Ipswich Suffolk IP7 6GD

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Community Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 12 January 2017, 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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Community Primary School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in May 2016. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Community Primary School

At its section 5 inspection before the one that took place in May 2016, the school was also judged to require improvement.

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Community Primary School

Senior leaders and governors are 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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Community Primary School

The school should take further action to:

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Community Primary School

 ensure that governors develop the skills and knowledge necessary to enable them to hold leaders to account more precisely and robustly  make sure that, in classes where the quality of teaching, learning and assessment remains less strong, it improves rapidly and that all teachers consistently apply the school’s new assessment and feedback processes  improve the provision for most-able pupils by providing clarity as to what is expected of each member of staff and then carefully monitoring the progress that these pupils make across all subjects  update the school website so that it accurately reflects the work taking place in the school.

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with you; other senior and middle leaders; a group of 10 pupils; five members of the governing body; and a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions taken since the previous inspection. Documents including those relating to safeguarding; the school’s self- evaluation and improvement plans; the curriculum; staff training; pupil achievement; and minutes of governor meetings were evaluated. During two tours of the school with you, I observed pupils at work in lessons. I also carried out a scrutiny of pupils’ work in books and folders. I took account of the views of parents who spoke with me over the course of the inspection.

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Context

There have been significant changes at Beaumont Community Primary School since the previous inspection. You took up your position as headteacher in September 2016. The deputy headteacher left the school in December 2016. You have quickly increased the size of the senior leadership team with the appointment of an assistant headteacher and by including the lead teachers for key stages 1 and 2 on this team. Since the previous inspection, two teachers have left the school and three have joined. A new chair of governors took up her role in late November 2016.

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Main findings

Since taking up your post as headteacher you have made clear your high expectations of leaders, teachers and pupils. You have also brought a sense of urgency to school improvement and are correctly challenging areas where there has been a history of inconsistent practice. Most staff welcome your enthusiasm and passion for the academic and social well-being of each child. Staff told me that they appreciate the clarity of communication and shared sense of direction you are instilling across the school.

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Main findings

You have quickly set about improving the quality of leadership and management. You have made appointments that have increased the school’s capacity to make the rapid improvements that are necessary. As a result, staff morale is improving, as is the quality of education being provided at the school. Parents, who spoke with me at the start of the school day, appreciate the changes that you are making. They explained that communication is good, that you are approachable and, in the words of one parent, ‘the headteacher does what she says she will do’. However, your accurate self-evaluation and improvement planning correctly recognises that significant challenges remain and much needs to be done for the school to be judged good at its next section 5 inspection.

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Main findings

You rightly are ensuring that subject leaders play a more significant role in improving the school. For example, subject leaders are developing new programmes of study, leading teacher training and making regular visits to lessons. These leaders explained to me that they feel empowered to carry out their roles and are increasingly effective in their work. As a result of subject leaders’ actions, the quantity and quality of pupils’ work in science is already improving, as is the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in phonics and in the early years.

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Main findings

Under the leadership of your assistant headteacher, provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is improving. Leaders are supporting teachers and teaching assistants to plan and implement learning that more closely aligns to individual pupils’ needs. Pupils are developing greater confidence in their learning and play as a result. One parent explained that the school ‘has the interests of my child at heart’, while another commented that they are ‘really well supported’ by the school. Inspection evidence, including leaders’ detailed assessment information, indicates that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are now making improved progress academically and socially.

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Main findings

The previous report noted that governors need to be more rigorous in their monitoring of the impact of additional government funding. There is evidence that the experienced governing body is scrutinising this aspect of the school’s work more closely. Governors are more regular visitors to school and have re-organised their committee structures to provide a sharper focus for their work. However, governors acknowledge that they have not undergone the training they need to enable them to hold leaders precisely to account for the impact of this funding and other aspects of pupil achievement. Similarly, governors have not ensured that information available for parents on the school website accurately reflects the work currently being done in school. You and the newly appointed chair of the governing body rightly recognise that these are areas in need of swift action.

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Main findings

The newly appointed teacher of early years has an accurate understanding of the action he needs to take to ensure that children improve their skills more quickly. Parents who spoke with me on the day of the inspection explained that they can already see the impact of his work. Children are responding well to the early years leader’s chosen ‘golden rules’ of behaviour as they work with enthusiasm on tasks that are well matched to their capabilities. Evidence in children’s folders demonstrates that they have not, until very recently, been provided with enough opportunity to improve their writing or number skills. While you can demonstrate that you are taking action to rectify this, it remains a priority for the school, as does making more effective use of the outdoor area to support the different areas of learning. You are making sure that leaders and teachers are more accountable for improving the progress pupils make across each year group. You monitor the quality of

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Main findings

teaching, learning and assessment carefully and are making good use of the information gathered to offer appropriate support and training to teachers. You are also raising adults’ expectations through more robust performance management systems and processes. Through your regular pupil progress meetings, you are ensuring that teachers are more clearly focused on the progress different groups of pupils make.

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Main findings

You accurately judge that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment remains variable. You are working hard, and with some success, to raise teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve. Teachers have had the opportunity to visit other schools, learn from other colleagues and examine examples of high-quality pupil work. You have also made improvements to the accuracy and consistency with which teachers assess, and provide feedback on, pupils’ work. While some teachers are using the skills and techniques they have acquired through these activities to develop learning that is better matched to pupils’ capabilities, this is not consistently the case. For example, in key stage 1 teachers are not using information about what pupils know and can do to consistently plan suitably demanding work. As a result, pupils’ progress in writing is too slow.

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Main findings

In several classes, teachers are still not challenging pupils enough to produce high- quality work in subjects such as art and geography. Consequently, the quantity and standard of work in these subjects are not what they should be. Work in pupils’ books demonstrates that where you have already amended the curriculum, expectations are higher and pupils are responding well. This is particularly evident in key stage 2 science. You have firm plans in place to ensure that these high expectations are commonplace in each year group and across the curriculum.

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Main findings

Where teaching practice is strongest, pupils show what they are capable of achieving. In these lessons, expectations are high, learning is well matched to pupils’ capabilities and activities are interesting. For example, this was the case in phonics groups seen, where pupils responded very well to clearly communicated activities which helped them to develop their confidence in both speaking and writing.

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Main findings

The most able pupils are still not achieving as well as they should. This is because some teachers do not have high enough expectations of what these pupils can achieve. Evidence seen in the most able pupils’ books and folders demonstrates that they are not provided with enough guidance or opportunities to enable them to excel. As a consequence, while some of these pupils work diligently and produce work of a high standard, others are allowed to work at a slower rate than they should. This is particularly the case in writing activities.

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External support

In the short time that you have been in post you have begun to develop effective partnerships with other agencies and schools. Teachers and leaders have benefited from visiting other schools to see examples of good practice. You have also welcomed the support and guidance of the headteacher from a nearby school. The local authority provides support through the work of the allocated standards and excellence officer.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Suffolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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