Setting

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

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Alison Spencer Headteacher The Brigg Infant School 39 South Street South Normanton Alfreton Derbyshire DE55 2DA

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School

Following my visit to your school on 16 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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School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in December 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 December 2016, the school was also judged to require improvement.

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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, meetings were held with you, subject and other leaders, members of the governing body, and a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. I visited classrooms to look at the pupils’ work and at the ways in which the school has been dealing with the areas for improvement identified at the recent inspection. I looked at a range of documents, including safeguarding records and the school’s action plans.

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Main findings

You and the governing body responded promptly and purposefully to the inspection. You drew up action plans that set clear priorities and focused the work of the school on making the required improvements. You were able to show me clear evidence of progress that you have made in putting the plans into action. Some of the changes that you have made are recent and not all of the necessary actions have been completed. The rate of progress at the school is steady. You and your colleagues are working effectively to secure and to build on each improvement.

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Main findings

The external review of the pupil premium funding has been completed recently. As a result, it is only now that you have been able to respond to it fully. The review has prompted a greater emphasis than previously on improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. The governing body, the senior leaders and the staff are giving more attention to the needs of those pupils. You have compiled detailed and carefully produced profiles of each of the pupils. The profiles are helping the staff to have a better understanding of the pupils’ learning and progress. That means, in turn, that you are more able now to understand the impact of the things that you are doing to support the pupils. The pupils are making better progress currently than they have in the past, and their attendance has improved as well. They still lag behind other pupils in both regards.

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Main findings

You have not at this point identified clearly the main barriers to learning for the disadvantaged pupils. Accordingly, the pupil premium strategy that you have published on the school’s website still does not comply fully with the requirements. The school is, however, better placed now in this respect than it was at the time of the inspection. The improvements that you have planned for the ways in which you assess the pupils’ progress offer a reasonable prospect that the task will be completed soon.

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Main findings

You have clarified with the staff and with parents the standards that the pupils are expected to reach. The staff have a better understanding now and have raised their expectations accordingly. For example, the staff are clearer about what is required for the pupils to demonstrate mastery in mathematics. That has helped the staff to increase the level of challenge for the pupils. The teachers are posing more-difficult questions to the pupils and prompting the pupils to think more deeply and to explain their reasoning. The pupils are responding well to these challenges. The proportion of the pupils currently exceeding the expected level is greater than it was previously.

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Main findings

You have completed work on the long-term curriculum plans very recently. The plans ensure that each subject is covered. You have increased the amount of time given each week to teaching spelling and punctuation, including for lower-attaining pupils. The improvements that you have made to the teaching of reading have had a positive effect on the pupils’ motivation for, and enjoyment of, reading. For example, I spoke with a group of boys who were enthusiastic about reading at home and using their reading diaries.

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Main findings

The role of the subject leaders is still developing. The members of staff responsible are getting to grips gradually with the main tasks. You have used the subject leaders’ files effectively as a tool for structuring and developing the subject leadership role in a coherent way.

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Main findings

You have expanded the range of communications with parents significantly, with some notable successes. For example, about 40 fathers and male family members attended a recent event at the school designed to support them in helping with their children’s learning. You showed me evidence that the proportion of parents who would recommend the school has increased since the inspection.

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External support

The local authority has sustained an appropriately high level of priority for the school. It has increased the amount of support provided to the school to good effect, for example in working with the governing body and assisting in improving the communications with parents. You are taking advantage of a range of suitable training and professional development opportunities, which are assisting with the improvements at the school.

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

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