All Saints Bedworth C/E Primary School & Nursery

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

p.1

Mrs Fallon Executive Headteacher All Saints Bedworth CofE Primary School & Nursery The Priors Off Mitchell Road Bedworth Warwickshire CV12 9HP

p.1

Short inspection of All Saints Bedworth CofE Primary School & Nursery

Following my visit to the school on 2 October 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in December 2014.

p.1

Short inspection of All Saints Bedworth CofE Primary School & Nursery

Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I have identified some priorities for improvement which I advise the school to address. In light of these priorities, the school’s next inspection will be a full section 5 inspection. There is

p.1

no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Since your appointment as executive headteacher in February 2018, you have taken action to address the issues that had led to a decline in outcomes for pupils. You have introduced a new curriculum and precise systems for monitoring pupils’ progress. You have set high expectations for pupils and staff. You have also started to restructure the leadership of the school.

p.1

no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

All Saints Bedworth CofE Primary School and Nursery was a successful infant school at the time of the previous inspection. In 2015, the school started to expand to become an all-through primary school. Poor planning, a lack of key stage 2 expertise and its accommodation on a separate site impeded this expansion. A number of staffing issues, including the substantive headteacher being on long-term sick leave, compounded the situation. As a result, the introduction of key stage 2 was less effective than it should have been and outcomes in the early years and key stage 1 declined. The governors, with the support of the diocese and the local authority, asked you as the headteacher of a large and successful neighbouring primary school, to address this decline in standards.

p.1

no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

You appointed a number of new staff and arranged for the successful leaders and teachers in your school to provide support for the staff at All Saints. This allowed you to instil a new sense of urgency in the school and to establish quickly your improvement agenda. The head of school you appointed at the start of this academic year makes sure that pupils’ well-being and their personal development are well catered for. As the school’s special educational needs coordinator, she provides effective support to pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities.

p.1

no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Some parents, because of the staffing issues that affected the school and the decline in pupils’ outcomes in recent years, still have concerns about the school. These were expressed in some of the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. However, the majority of parents interviewed during the inspection were positive about the changes you have introduced and expressed their renewed confidence in the school. In spite of the turbulence experienced in the recent past, the school has retained a strong sense of community. You are building upon this strength. The school provides a safe environment where pupils and staff enjoy harmonious relationships.

p.2

no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

The broad and balanced curriculum you introduced has reinvigorated teaching and learning in the school. Pupils talk enthusiastically about the trips, visits and the range of extra-curricular activities that enrich the curriculum. The majority of pupils enjoy school. Lesson time is used productively and pupils have positive attitudes to learning.

p.2

no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

The actions you have taken are having a positive impact on the quality of education the school provides. However, the school currently relies too heavily on the expertise and leadership capacity of the other school you lead. For the current improvements to be sustained, All Saints needs to build its own leadership capacity to secure better outcomes for pupils.

p.2

no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

You share the responsibility for safeguarding with the head of school and the business manager. As a team, you ensure that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. All members of staff have been trained and are up to date with the latest statutory requirements. In addition, leaders regularly check that all adults who work at the school are able to identify and report pupils who may be at risk. Staff are fully familiar with the systems in place to protect and support vulnerable children.

p.2

no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Pupils are taught about risks and how to keep safe at school and in a range of situations in their daily life. For example, in lessons and in assemblies they are made aware about the need to be vigilant when using the internet or social media.

p.2

no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

The school provides effective support for vulnerable pupils. Leaders work well with families, the local authority and other external agencies to ensure that pupils who need it are provided with help.

p.2

Inspection findings

 Many children who join the early years have a level of development which is below what is typical for their age. While teaching in the early years used to be a strength, systems to identify the learning needs of children and approaches to support their development had become outdated. As a result, children were not making enough progress. Too many were not reaching a good level of development and were not ready for Year 1.  You have built upon the existing strengths of the early years, such as parental involvement and the well-organised, safe and engaging learning environment. You appointed new staff to lead the Nursery and Reception classes. You introduced a new assessment system to make accurate evaluations of children’s development and track their progress. Some of the actions you took last term, with the support of staff from your other school, led to an improvement in the proportion of children reaching a good level of development. However, as staff

p.3

Inspection findings

are only starting to familiarise themselves with the new systems and approaches, it is too early yet to evaluate the full impact of the changes on pupils’ outcomes.  To improve the teaching of phonics you introduced a new scheme when you joined the school. With support from the staff in your other school, the quality of phonics teaching started to improve in the summer term with support in place for pupils who are not making the expected progress. As a result, the proportion of pupils who reached the required standard by the end of Year 1 last summer increased significantly. The teaching of phonics is now well structured and inspection evidence shows that this is starting to have a positive impact on pupils’ progress in reading across key stage 1.  You have made extensive use of the expertise developed in your other school to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment at All Saints. You have

p.3

Inspection findings

introduced a new curriculum for key stages 1 and 2 with a new assessment system that matches the requirements of the national curriculum. You have provided extensive training to support the teaching of the new curriculum through pairing up the staff of both schools. This means teachers meet regularly to compare their assessment of pupils’ progress and to validate their judgements. This allows leaders to gather accurate information on the progress made by pupils across the curriculum.  Inspection evidence shows that, at this early stage, pupils are benefiting from the new approaches and are making progress. To ensure that progress is sustained, you are developing a new system to improve pupils’ transition between years and key stages. One of your priorities is to develop further and embed all the changes you introduced so that the school continues to improve.  Attendance in recent years has been below national averages and the proportion

p.3

Inspection findings

of persistent absences was very high for some pupils. Leaders are now taking effective action and new systems to follow up absence allow staff to identify quickly issues that need to be addressed. Leaders work well with the local authority and other external agencies to provide support for pupils in difficult circumstances. Current records show that attendance is improving and getting closer to national averages.

p.3

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

p.4

Next steps for the school

 the quality of teaching continues to improve so that it is consistently good or better across the school  the new assessment systems are embedded to allow teachers to identify and address the needs of their pupils  attainment and progress from the early years to the end of key stage 2 continue to improve and are at least in line with national averages  they consolidate further the leadership of the school, especially at middle leadership level, so that the school is not over-reliant on external support.

p.4

Next steps for the school

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

p.4

Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, the head of school and SENCo as well the school’s subject leader for English and the literacy lead and deputy headteacher from The Canons CofE Primary School. I met with the chair of governors and two other governors. I also met with the director of education for the Diocese of Coventry and a representative from the local authority. I had a discussion with a group of pupils and spoke to other pupils informally. I looked at pupils’ work in books. I observed teaching with you and the head of school across the early years, key stage 1 and key stage 2. I had a discussion with a group of teachers and teaching assistants. I spoke to parents at the start and end of the day and considered 23 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. I scrutinised various documents including summaries of the school’s self-evaluation and its improvement plan as well as the current data on pupils’ attainment and

p.4

Information about the inspection

progress. We discussed the national test results and assessments undertaken by pupils in 2017 and 2018. I also looked at the school’s published information on the website, as well as minutes of governing body meetings and information about attendance, behaviour and safety.

p.4