Central CE Academy

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

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Mr Richard Hall Headteacher Central CE Academy Orchard Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1DQ

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Central CE Academy

Following my visit to your school on 19 and 20 June 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions that have been taken since the school’s previous monitoring inspection.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Central CE Academy

The inspection was the third monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection that took place in May 2017. The full list of the areas for improvement that were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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Special measures monitoring inspection of Central CE Academy

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of

Having considered all the evidence I strongly recommend that the school does not seek to appoint newly qualified teachers.

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Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of

I am copying this letter to the chair of the local governing body, the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the director of education for the Diocese of Chichester, 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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place in May 2017

 Create a culture that keeps all pupils safe by ensuring that: – the trust and leaders understand and fulfil their statutory responsibilities – leaders systematically record all concerns and communications about pupils’ well-being and document their decisions and actions – all adults know what to do if they have a concern about a pupil.  Leaders and governors need to ensure that: – the trust fully understands the weaknesses in the school and then holds leaders to account for school improvement – they have accurate information about the progress that groups of pupils are making – parents have access to a website that contains all the required information – middle leaders have a positive impact on teaching and learning – pupils access a broad and balanced curriculum – bullying and poor behaviour are properly recorded, and appropriate actions are taken to resolve issues and promote improvements.  Improve teaching and learning and pupils’ progress by ensuring that:

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place in May 2017

– teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve and how they present their work – planned learning takes account of pupils’ starting points, including the most able – teachers recognise and address pupils’ misconceptions and poor spelling – pupils get more opportunities to develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills in mathematics.  Improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare, by: – increasing the number of pupils who come to school regularly – improving the moral and social development of pupils, so that they are kinder to each other and more respectful to each other and adults – ensuring that there are clear policies and procedures for managing pupils’ behaviour and that staff understand and follow these consistently. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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place in May 2017

An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Evidence

During my visit, I observed the school’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the headteacher and other members of the senior leadership team. I also had discussions with a group of teachers, seven pupils, two members of the local governing body and the academy improvement partner. Additionally, I met with the chief executive officer, chief operating officer and senior education leader of the multi-academy trust (MAT).

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Evidence

I visited 11 lessons and observed pupils around the school and at breaktimes. I had informal conversations with parents and considered the 37 responses to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire.

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Context

Since my last visit, the new permanent headteacher has started in the school. He has been joined by one new assistant headteacher and an intervention lead teacher. Both members of staff also started in April 2018.

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Context

The two classes in Year 3 have been joined together for the rest of the summer term. The three classes in Year 4 have become two classes.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Leadership continues to improve. The new headteacher and two assistant headteachers have quickly established themselves in the school. Parents report that improvements have continued during the changes in senior leaders. Many parents and pupils reported that children’s behaviour has improved since the arrival of the new senior team. Parents have more confidence in leaders. Over 80% of parents now say that their children are safe and happy at school.  Systems and procedures to ensure that pupils are safe are now well established. All concerns are well considered and carefully recorded. Staff, who understand their part in keeping children safe, and leaders deal with referrals appropriately. Records are clear and well kept. Staff engage well with other agencies to ensure that pupils’ needs are met. Although safeguarding is now regularly monitored by both governors and members of the MAT, it is not yet clear how or when this

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

important work will transfer to the governing body. It is also not yet clear how the MAT intends to monitor the effectiveness of the governing body.  Parents are particularly pleased with the recent improvements to pupils’ behaviour in and around the school. The new senior team has further strengthened the school’s approach to behaviour management. Staff say that they feel well supported by senior leaders. Leaders are rightly ensuring that all staff follow the agreed approach to managing pupils’ behaviour. Staff are clear that senior leaders listen to their concerns. They say that leaders work with them to solve any problems they may have. As a result, staff are becoming more skilled in tackling poor behaviour. This work is also building a culture of teamwork and shared responsibility, which is greatly valued by staff.  The appointment of the new assistant headteacher and intervention lead teacher

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

has improved the extra help that pupils receive. Pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, and those who need help to catch up, are now beginning to receive the support they need. These leaders are making sure that teachers have the information they need to meet the needs of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. The impact of these changes is clear in the support for pupils who have behavioural difficulties. The more consistent help from teachers is leading to calmer lessons.  An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium was undertaken to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. The review identified that some disadvantaged pupils were further behind than other pupils. The measures introduced at the time of my last visit are beginning to improve this situation. Disadvantaged pupils now make the same rates of progress as other pupils in the school.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

 Leaders are ambitious for the pupils and want all teaching to be good. They are determined that the quality of teaching in the school should continue to rise. However, detailed plans for how this will be achieved are not yet in place.  The executive board is currently providing strong oversight of the progress of the school. However, the local governing body is not currently effective enough to take on this role. Although plans are in place for the local governing body to take on the oversight of the school by July 2019, these plans are not sufficiently detailed or yet understood.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

 Pupils are making better headway in their learning because teaching, learning and assessment are becoming stronger. This means that most pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are now making expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Information about what pupils know and can do is becoming more accurate. Leaders rightly use this information to spot where progress is stronger and to identify areas that need to improve. Currently, pupils make more progress in reading than in writing and mathematics.  Behaviour in lessons has continued to improve. Low-level disruption and off-task behaviour are reducing. Teachers and pupils say that this is because the new leadership team is on the ball and responds quickly to changing needs. Pupils report that distractions are less frequent and that they are able to get on with more work. Consequently, pupils feel safe and happy.  Pupils are making more progress in lessons because new ways of teaching are

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

being more consistently followed by teachers. Staff now regularly plan lessons with a clear learning purpose. Teachers also routinely provide pupils with information before they start their work to help them succeed. Although pupils receive feedback after they have finished their work, teachers do not always follow this up. This means that some pupils repeat simple mistakes frequently and do not make the progress they should or could.  Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are not making sufficient progress. Although leaders have recently improved the help these pupils receive, these activities are still not tailored to meet their needs.  Leaders regularly monitor teaching and assessment. However, activities are not sufficiently focused on the learning that individual pupils make. Leaders do not yet look at teaching frequently enough to ensure that agreed policies and procedures are being effective. This means that policies that are intended to

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

increase pupils’ progress are not effective. A good example of this is the inconsistent written feedback in pupils’ books.  Teachers’ expectations of presentation and accuracy are sometimes too low. Some pupils’ work is hard to read and contains basic errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Teachers are not successfully promoting accuracy in writing across the curriculum.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

 Leaders and staff have worked hard to improve pupils’ behaviour and personal development. Senior managers are more involved in dealing with poor behaviour. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are beginning to have the support they need to succeed in lessons. Teachers are more skilled in ensuring that pupils work hard in lessons. As a result, personal development, behaviour and welfare are no longer inadequate.  Pupils are safe and happy in school. They are confident that staff will take their concerns seriously and will always help them if they need it. Pupils are very happy that behaviour has improved. They believe that the new headteacher deals fairly with them and sorts out problems. One pupil summed this up when saying that pupils now feel that the headteacher trusts them.  Parents are increasingly happy with the school. Two thirds of parents now feel that behaviour is good in the school. Many parents believe that the new senior

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

leaders are open and deal effectively with any concerns they might have.  A third of parents who responded to the Parent View questionnaire were not confident that the school deals effectively with bullying. There are now very effective systems to monitor pupils’ behaviour. Also, improvements to the support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are dramatically reducing incidents of challenging behaviour. Consequently, parents should feel reassured that bullying is dealt with effectively by leaders.  Attendance is slowly improving for all pupils. The proportion of pupils who are persistently absent has halved. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils has increased slightly.

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External support

The support provided by the MAT is leading to significant improvements in the school. MAT leaders have ensured that the pace of change has been maintained during the changeover to the new headteacher. The new senior leaders have been very successful since arriving at the school. Much of this success has been the result of the strong support provided by the MAT.

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External support

The executive board, chaired by the chief executive at the MAT, is providing fruitful support and challenge to school leaders. Good use is made of the impartial information this executive body receives. Important areas, such as safeguarding, are now regularly discussed at executive board meetings.

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