Setting

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

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Miss Bailey Headteacher Manor Field Primary School Junction Road Burgess Hill West Sussex RH15 0PZ

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School

Following my visit to your school on 10 November 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 June 2016. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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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 for the school to become a good school. As a result, Ofsted may carry out further monitoring visits to evaluate the school’s progress.

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School

The school should take further action to:

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School

 develop and implement an effective strategy for spending pupil premium funding and ensure that this is published on the school’s website.

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher, other leaders, representatives of the governing body, and a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. The school improvement plans were evaluated. I reviewed pupil progress information and a sample of work in pupils’ books. I spoke to pupils at breaktime and parents at the beginning of the day. I considered local authority visit reports and leaders’ monitoring records.

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Context

The school had two different interim leadership arrangements in the autumn term of 2016. The new headteacher joined the school in January 2017 and the assistant headteacher joined in September 2017. Five new teachers have joined key stage 2 since the last inspection. There has been a restructuring of support staff and a number of significant changes in the office team including a new school business manager and a new personal assistant to the headteacher. The school has reorganised key stage 2 classes into mixed-age classes.

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Main findings

There has been significant staff change since the last inspection, including at senior leadership level. Leaders, governors and the local authority are aware that working relationships between some senior leaders have not been conducive to school improvement. The new headteacher has a clear vision for the school. However, tensions between senior leaders are clear and known by all.

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Main findings

Pupils’ behaviour deteriorated significantly in key stage 2 after the last inspection. The senior leaders who left the school in July 2016 were those who had spent significant time managing the behaviour of the most vulnerable pupils. Leaders worked hard in the autumn term of 2016 to improve pupils’ behaviour. As a result, Manor Field is now a safe and calm place to learn. Parents have mixed views about the new systems to manage pupils’ behaviour. Some like the new behaviour management strategies and some do not.

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Main findings

Members of the governing body know their school very well. Governors are very clear about the barriers to school improvement. They have conducted thorough interviews with all staff who have left the school to better understand what is working well in the school and what is not.

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Main findings

Plans to improve the school are developing but are not as clear and coherent as they need to be. For example, the aspect of the plan relating to pupil premium spending is not focused enough on the positive difference the additional funding will have on all disadvantaged pupils. Current plans only focus on pupils’ outcomes at the end of Years 2 and 6. Leaders were asked to improve the quality of their strategic plans at the time of the last inspection.

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Main findings

Leaders and governors have only recently got pupil progress information in a format that they are happy with. This information is helpful to identify which pupils have not made good enough progress over time, including the most able and the disadvantaged pupils. However, leaders do not yet have clarity about the progress that current pupils have been making since September. Leaders’ monitoring of teaching and learning requires improvement. Senior and middle leaders do not have enough insight into how well current pupils are learning. This was an area for improvement during the last inspection.

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Main findings

Key stage 2 pupils continue to make inconsistent progress across the curriculum. Some pupils have had poor teaching and as a result have made little or no progress. Leaders have been effective at eradicating the weakest teaching in the school. Planned learning can still be too easy or too difficult for pupils. As a result, the most able pupils and those who need to catch up do not make the progress they are capable of. Leaders were asked to improve outcomes for these groups of pupils at the last inspection.

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Main findings

Leaders have recently introduced new, whole-school approaches to improve the teaching of reading and writing. Middle leaders have played an important role in training staff. However, it is too soon to see the impact of these initiatives on pupils’ progress.

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Main findings

Disadvantaged pupils do not make good enough progress in key stage 2. The leadership of pupil premium funding has not been strong over time. As a result, leaders have neither had, nor currently have, clear plans for spending additional funding. There are no evaluations of what is working well and what is not. Parents have not had up-to-date information regarding the school’s use of additional funding since the last inspection.

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External support

The local authority has an accurate view of the school. Visit reports provide leaders and governors with a clear external view of what the school needs to do to improve. The local authority shared leaders’ concerns regarding pupils’ behaviour in the autumn term of 2016. As a result, a review of pupils’ safety and well-being has taken place. Leaders valued this work. The local authority recognises that various interim support arrangements straight after the last inspection were not effective. The local authority has been endeavouring to support better working relationships between senior leaders. It recognises that this has not always been the best use of their resources.

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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 West Sussex. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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