Setting

Sharon Reynolds Headteacher St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School Arundel Road Angmering West Sussex BN16 4JR

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Requires improvement: monitoring inspection visit to St Wilfrid’s Catholic

Following my visit to your school on 26 March 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the monitoring 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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Requires improvement: monitoring inspection visit to St Wilfrid’s Catholic

The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 and has taken place because the school has received two successive judgements of requires improvement at its previous section 5 inspections.

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Requires improvement: monitoring inspection visit to St Wilfrid’s Catholic

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

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Requires improvement: monitoring inspection visit to St Wilfrid’s Catholic

The school should take further action to:

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Requires improvement: monitoring inspection visit to St Wilfrid’s Catholic

 accelerate the progress of the most able and middle-achieving pupils in writing.

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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher and other senior leaders, the governing body and a representative of the local authority to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. The school improvement and action plans were evaluated. I read a range of other documents, including governing body minutes, monitoring visit reports and assessment information. I reviewed a selection of pupils’ work with subject leaders. Together, we observed teaching and learning in a range of different classrooms. I scrutinised the register of recruitment checks made on staff joining the school. Ofsted

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Evidence

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

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Context

Since the previous inspection there have been changes to the leadership team of the school. The deputy headteacher left last year and was replaced by the current acting deputy headteacher and acting assistant headteacher. The governing body has been restructured and reconsitituted.

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Main findings

You and your team have been focused and determined to improve the school since the previous inspection. The recently appointed deputy and assistant headteachers have wasted no time in making the changes needed to secure improvements. Senior leaders, the governing body and the local authority have worked collaboratively to successfully address the areas of weakness in the school identified at the last inspection.

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Main findings

The teaching of phonics has improved across the early years and key stage 1. Staff have received useful training to ensure that phonics teaching is delivered in a consistently effective way. Leaders make regular checks on pupils to ensure that they are making strong progress. When progress dips, leaders, rightly, put in place useful interventions to ensure that pupils catch up. As a result, pupils across the school make strong progress in phonics.

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Main findings

You have reviewed and changed the way that writing is taught across the school. This has ensured that sequences of work are carefully planned, allowing pupils to develop and apply their strong grammar and punctuation skills in their writing. As a result, the quality of pupils’ writing has improved. Leaders now aim to accelerate the progress of pupils so that a higher proportion write at a high standard.

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Main findings

You have reviewed the way you train staff to identify and report concerns about pupils’ welfare and safeguarding. All staff receive useful annual training in safeguarding to ensure that they have a strong understanding of the different signs of abuse, and are familiar with statutory guidance and documentation. Your weekly quizzes ensure that safeguarding is at the forefront of your colleagues’ minds. As a result, staff are well trained and take appropriate action when concerns arise.

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Main findings

Your plans for improvement are fit for purpose. You have identified the right areas for development, and have put in place sufficient funding, time and expertise to achieve these. Governors use the clear milestones to check the progress of plans and to ensure that targets are met. When plans are made, there is evidence of clear improvement. For example, since changes to the teaching of phonics were made last year, there has been a clear and sustained improvement in pupils’ phonics outcomes.

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External support

The school has received useful support from local school leaders, who have helped to train middle leaders and have offered external moderation to help leaders and governors to gain an independent view of the quality of education the school provides.

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External support

The recent review of governance helped governors to place a sharper focus on pupils’ outcomes. Governors have also developed a clearer understanding of how to check the efficacy of leaders’ actions and share their findings with the wider governing body. As a result, governors’ evaluations of the school’s performance have improved.

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External support

The external review of the school’s pupil premium use has resulted in changes to the way pupils’ achievements are tracked and resources are deployed. Disadvantaged pupils are monitored carefully by leaders who check that pupils are making the progress they should. Additional teaching and support are provided to help these pupils achieve their best. As a result, disadvantaged pupils make strong progress.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for West Sussex local authority. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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