Setting

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

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Mrs Margaret Clarke Headteacher King William Street Church of England Primary School King William Street Swindon Wiltshire SN1 3LB

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Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 6 July 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 in June 2017.

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Church of England Primary School

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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Church of England Primary School

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

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Church of England Primary School

The school should take further action to ensure that:

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Church of England Primary School

 across the school, teachers focus on developing pupils’ basic English skills, such as spelling, grammar and letter formation  in mathematics, teachers enable the most able pupils to move more quickly on to activities that provide the greatest challenge.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I met with you and your senior leadership team to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. We also discussed the impact that the school improvement plan is having on pupils’ outcomes. Together, we observed pupils in classrooms and spoke with them about their learning. I analysed work in pupils’ writing and mathematics books alongside the leaders for English and mathematics. I met with the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) to discuss provision for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities.

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Evidence

I had a meeting with five governors, including the acting chair of the governing body. I also spoke with the chief executive officer for the Executive Strategic Partnership (ESP) and the school’s improvement partner. I looked at a range of written evidence, including documents relating to your evaluation of staff performance. I met with pupils during the day, and at lunchtime, and gathered their views on various aspects of the school. I also spoke with parents during the day and took account of the views expressed by parents who completed Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.

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Context

Since the previous inspection, there has been a small number of changes in teaching staff, mostly due to maternity leave starting or ending. This has included a new leader of mathematics, who took up this role in September 2017. There have also been changes in the school’s governance, with a number of new governors joining the governing body. For the past few months, the governing body has had an acting chair.

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Context

From the beginning of this academic year, the school has been part of the ESP. This is a collaboration with nine other local schools, including two secondary schools and four pre-school settings.

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Main findings

Along with other senior leaders, staff and governors, you are determined that pupils receive the best possible education while in the school. There is a shared focus on school improvement and what the school needs to do in order to be good at its next inspection. Pupils talk positively about the school. Older pupils, in particular, recognise the improvements that have been made and how these help them in their learning.

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Main findings

The school’s development planning is proving effective in mapping out what needs to be done and how this will be achieved. You have made improvements to systems for monitoring the implementation of actions, as well as for measuring and recording success. This additional precision is providing you with a clearer picture of the impact actions are having on pupils’ outcomes.

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Main findings

Minutes of governing body meetings show that governors are now holding leaders to account with greater rigour. This is especially the case around assessment information. At the time of the previous inspection, monitoring systems introduced by governors were too new to be having the desired impact. These are now more embedded and are providing governors with the information they require. For example, a strategic programme of visits, which are focused on the school improvement plan, is resulting in governors having a more secure understanding of the school’s strengths and areas that require continued improvement.

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Main findings

Together with other leaders, you are holding teachers and teaching assistants to account for both their performance and the impact they are having on pupils’ outcomes. You encourage all staff to be actively involved in their own professional development, for example through sharing best practice with teachers across the ESP. Focused monitoring and a greater emphasis on professional dialogue are leading to a greater consistency in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.

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Main findings

The leaders of English and mathematics are more established in their roles and have an increased understanding of their subjects. As such, they can demonstrate the impact they are having on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and, consequently, pupils’ outcomes. These leaders, along with the SENCo, have benefited from the leadership training they have received, as well as the opportunities you have provided for them to work alongside external consultants. Together, they are playing an increasingly significant role in the strategic leadership of the school and are providing you and your deputy headteacher with effective support.

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Main findings

Following the previous inspection, you put in place robust plans to raise the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. The primary focus of these was to raise teachers’ expectations so they were more in line with the higher standards of the national curriculum.

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Main findings

In mathematics, teachers have a more secure subject knowledge and provide pupils with work which is well matched to their needs. The school’s approach of ‘do it, use it, own it’ is now embedded across the school. Well-planned activities are proving effective at providing pupils with tasks which support, reinforce and deepen their conceptual understanding. In the majority of cases, teachers are guiding pupils to choose the most appropriate task. However, at times the most able pupils are held back by having to complete tasks they already feel confident in.

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Main findings

The school’s revised approach to the teaching of reading is leading to greater proportions of pupils working at and above the expectations for their age. This has been achieved by increasing pupils’ understanding of complex vocabulary, raising levels of comprehension and developing pupils’ higher-order reading skills. Additionally, there is evidence in pupils’ books that an increased vocabulary is having a positive impact on their writing.

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Main findings

An increase in staff subject knowledge and raised expectations are leading to pupils writing with good technical ability and an increasing amount of flair. Pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of a range of different language devices and the effect these can have on the reader. Older pupils have a mature approach to their writing. They talk with precision about their writing choices, such as punctuation, sentence structure, and the different ways they can add cohesion to their writing.

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Main findings

Work in pupils’ books does, however, demonstrate that, across the school, pupils have gaps in their understanding of basic skills. For example, some older, most-able writers do not use capital letters for people’s names or days of the week consistently. Younger pupils are over-reliant on their phonics and do not have a sufficient understanding of the common exception words for their year group. Additionally, across key stage 1, a number of pupils have weak letter formation. These inaccuracies in basic skills are detracting from the quality of pupils’ writing.

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Main findings

Higher quality teaching is benefiting all pupils, and in particular disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities. Leaders and staff have a detailed understanding of pupils’ individual needs and are ensuring that the barriers that pupils face to their learning are reduced as much as possible. You have ensured that progress meetings focus on disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities. The SENCo has established a system for monitoring the quality of provision, as well as the impact that planned interventions are having on pupils’ outcomes. This is enabling leaders to ensure that support is effective in raising outcomes for the school’s most vulnerable pupils.

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External support

You are making effective use of external support and challenge to aid the school’s improvement journey. Membership of the ESP is enabling staff and governors to access bespoke training, as well as providing opportunities for them to share best practice. You have been proactive in commissioning a range of external consultants to provide additional support and scrutiny. Collectively, this support is continuing to raise the effectiveness of leadership and management, as well as the quality of teaching and, consequently, pupils’ outcomes.

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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 Bristol, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Swindon. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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