Setting

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

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Miss Kelly Pope Head of School University Primary Academy Kidsgrove Gloucester Road Kidsgrove Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire ST7 4DJ

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Academy Kidsgrove

Following my visit to your school on 3 July 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the outcome and 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 most recent section 5 inspection.

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Academy Kidsgrove

The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses in November 2017. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Evidence

During this inspection, I held meetings with the head of school, the deputy head of school and middle leaders. I also met with the interim executive principal, the chair of the statement of action committee (the equivalent of a local governing body) and the chief executive officer of the trust. I carried out a learning walk with you and the deputy head of school in key stage 2 and looked at pupils’ work. I also observed teaching and learning and looked at pupils’ work in key stage 1. I met with parents and carers at the beginning of the school day and spoke to pupils informally on the playground and during lessons. I considered the school’s monitoring records of teaching and learning, your school self-evaluation and the school’s own assessment information. I also evaluated the trust’s statement of action and the school’s action plan.

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Context

Since the last inspection, the University of Chester Academies Trust (UCAT) has been served a ‘financial notice to improve’ by the government’s Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). The trust has decided to relinquish its responsibility for the school and the school is to be re-brokered to a new academy sponsor. An interim executive principal was appointed in April 2018. At the same time, a key stage 1/early years leader with responsibility for special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities was also appointed. During this academic year, the key stage 2 leader resigned and has not been replaced.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Currently, the school lacks the support it needs to bring about the necessary improvements in the school. The interim executive principal has recently been appointed to oversee financial arrangements and a staffing restructure. There is no support for improving teaching and learning. You have limited capacity to drive the improvements yourself. The deputy head of school has a class responsibility and is released for one day per week. The early years and key stage 1 leader is new to the role this term and is yet to have an impact. There is no key stage 2 leader and no leader for mathematics. The school’s current circumstances have prevented you from appointing a permanent teacher to a vacancy in key stage 2. You and the chair of the statement of action committee have an honest and realistic view of where the school is currently at. You acknowledge that the school is no further forward than at the last inspection.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The trust has had a limited impact on driving school improvement. It has not focused sufficiently on the areas that need to improve. In particular, you have not been helped to address and improve weak teaching in key stage 2. The trust has recently completed a behaviour review and plans to be involved on a regular basis but this is too little, too late. Following your request, you have accessed some support from local schools. You and your staff have carried out some joint moderation of pupils’ work and visited the schools. However, this arrangement was informal and did not make any significant impact on improving teaching and learning. Furthermore, it is no longer happening.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

A high level of staff absence in key stage 2 has led to a lack of consistency in teaching. Any improvements you have sought to make in teaching and learning have not been embedded. Although you carry out regular monitoring, this has had little impact on improving the quality of teaching. As a result, teaching in key stage 2 is weak, gaps in pupils’ learning are not being addressed and outcomes for pupils are poor.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Teachers in key stage 2 do not demonstrate a secure understanding of where pupils are in their learning. They do not build on pupils’ prior learning and pupils do not apply the skills they already have. The work they are given is either too hard or too easy. Pupils do not receive the right support to help them move forward in their learning. Pupils’ work shows that teachers now identify errors in spelling but this is not consistent. Pupils do not routinely respond and, on occasions when they do, spellings are still written incorrectly. Standards of handwriting and presentation in key stage 2 are weak because teachers do not have high enough expectations. This is much better in key stage 1.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Pupils in key stage 2 are given additional support to develop their comprehension skills in reading. This is at a very simple level to address the needs of the least able pupils. It is delivered outside the classroom by teaching assistants. You agree that, although support staff do their best, the programme is having a limited impact on pupils’ outcomes because there is a lack of continuity in the classroom.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

In mathematics, pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to develop their skills in problem solving and reasoning. There is a strong emphasis on completing calculations. On occasion, pupils do not understand the mathematics that sits behind a calculation. Sometimes, pupils carry out formal calculations when they could easily do them in their head. This is limiting their ability to develop fluency in mathematics.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

In key stage 1, there is greater stability in teaching and pupils do better than in key stage 2. Pupils enter Year 1 having made good progress in the early years. Provisional outcomes at the end of key stage 1 in 2018 show that standards are improving in reading and writing, including at a greater depth. In mathematics, attainment at the expected standard has dipped but is still in line with the national average. Attainment at a greater depth in mathematics has improved. Work in pupils’ books shows that teachers are building on previous learning and are developing pupils’ skills over time, especially in writing. Standards in phonics have also improved above the national averages. Pupils are applying their phonics skills well in their writing.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Following the section 5 inspection, the trust submitted a statement of action to Ofsted, to show how the identified weaknesses were to be addressed. This plan runs until July 2018 and, in January 2018, the plan was judged to be fit for purpose. The trust’s statement of action is the school’s improvement plan.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Following the monitoring inspection, the following judgements were made:

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

Leaders and managers are not taking effective action towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The school’s improvement plan is fit for purpose.

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The quality of leadership and management at the school

The trust’s statement of action is fit for purpose. I am copying this letter to the chair of the statement of action committee and the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Staffordshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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