Setting

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

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Miss Sally Warrington Lake View Primary and Nursery School Rainworth Water Road Rainworth Mansfield Nottinghamshire NG21 0DU

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and Nursery School

Following my visit to your school on 12 May 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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and Nursery School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in September 2016. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. At its section 5 inspection before the one that took place in September 2016, the school was also judged to require improvement.

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and Nursery School

Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the recent section 5 inspection in order to become a good school.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, other senior leaders and members of the governing body to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I also met with a representative of the local authority and the headteacher of your partner school. I spoke with pupils informally in lessons and in a meeting. I evaluated the school’s improvement plan and looked at a range of other documentation, including the schools’ analysis of incidents of poor behaviour, of which there were few. We visited classrooms to observe lessons and looked at a range of pupils’ books to evaluate how well pupils are doing.

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Context

The school has experienced staff absence because of ill health. Finding additional teachers for these classes has proved to be challenging. You were determined to secure good teaching, however, and, with the support of your team, found suitable solutions.

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Main findings

You have a clear school improvement plan that is focused on the areas identified at the last section 5 inspection. You have shared your plan with the staff and the governing body and you are working well as a team to improve the achievement of all pupils.

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Main findings

Other leaders have worked with you to raise teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve. Teachers understand their professional responsibility to ensure that the pupils in their class make the best possible progress. You and the other leaders hold teachers to account for the progress pupils make and are now seeing pupils making better gains in their learning. You take effective steps to address staff underperformance, if it occurs. Teachers are challenged professionally but are also given support and guidance to help them do their job.

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Main findings

You and other leaders have also worked hard to raise pupils’ expectations of what they can achieve. For example, you have planned a University Opportunity Day to raise pupils’ and parents’ aspirations. As a result, all pupils, including the most able pupils, have a positive and enthusiastic view about responding to challenge. The pupils I spoke with discussed how much they like to be challenged and shared with me a number of examples. They are very proud of their work and were keen to share their achievements with me.

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Main findings

The pupils were delightful during my visit and were very eager to tell me what they liked about their school and how hard they worked to do their best. They clearly have good relationships with the adults in the school, describing them as ‘super- duper kind’.

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Main findings

Pupils behave well in school and this is recorded in the school’s behaviour logs. You have set out clear standards for behaviour and established a set of rules for pupils to follow. During our visits to classrooms, I observed pupils working purposefully and independently. I did not observe any incidents of poor behaviour and the atmosphere in the school was warm and friendly. You have introduced an effective system for recording and analysing incidents of poor behaviour. You and the other leaders monitor pupils’ behaviour closely and swiftly tackle any issues as they arise. You have a robust assessment system that teachers use well to help them plan lessons that meet the needs of the pupils in their class. Work in pupils’ books, including those of the most able pupils, shows the good progress that pupils are making. You and other leaders regularly analyse information about pupils’ attainment and progress, and give teachers precise feedback about what they must

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Main findings

do to raise pupils’ achievement. Leaders check that teachers are taking effective action towards reaching their targets. They also focus well on tackling staff underperformance.

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Main findings

Governors ask leaders challenging questions about the progress of individuals and groups of pupils. You have made your expectations clear to the governing body that it must not rely too heavily on you to provide them with all of the information they require. You have provided training on how to use the school’s assessment system and, consequently, governors find information for themselves on the progress that pupils are making.

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Main findings

Governors with specific responsibility for standards in English and mathematics meet with the relevant subject leaders for a full monitoring day once a term. During this time, they visit classrooms to look at learning, look at pupils’ books and talk to pupils about their work. Governors use their knowledge of pupil performance information to ask questions about pupils’ achievement. Consequently, the governing body has an accurate view of the performance of the school. It knows what the school needs to do next to improve and is aware of the further work needed to improve provision in the early years.

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Main findings

You have already secured improvements to the assessments in the early years. The early years staff work collaboratively with other teachers in your local cluster of schools to share their assessments of children’s achievements. The professional discussions about what children can do provide useful staff development. Consequently, teachers’ confidence and skills in assessment have improved.

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Main findings

The early years leader has worked with staff from the local authority and from your partner school to provide a stimulating environment for children to explore, learn and develop. You have recognised that, while improvements have been made, they are not yet sufficient to ensure that children in the early years are making the progress of which they are capable.

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External support

The school receives support from the local authority and from your partner school, Abbey Gates Primary School. Leaders, including governors, find this support helpful. They acknowledge that this external support is contributing to your successes in tackling the areas for improvement that were identified at the last section 5 inspection. The local authority’s staff arranged the partnership between Lake View Primary School and Abbey Gates Primary School. Leaders welcomed the challenge and the guidance the partnership brings and you recognise how it is helping them to improve the school. The local authority’s school improvement adviser conducts termly reviews to evaluate the impact of the local authority’s support and he has formed a positive working relationship with the school.

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External support

Staff from the partner school have also supported the school with improvements to the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. The headteacher from the partner school visited classrooms to look at pupils’ learning and provided teachers with clear areas in which they could improve their practice. She found staff very eager to take on board her advice. She noted that staff had a determination to do well and were keen for further guidance. More recently, staff from your partner school have provided support to the early years. The local authority’s school improvement adviser and the headteacher from the partner school both agree that the school is taking effective action to improve provision in the early years, but changes have not yet had time to become fully effective.

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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 Nottinghamshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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