Setting

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

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Claire Collett Swineshead St Mary’s Church of England Primary School Abbey Road Swineshead Boston Lincolnshire PE20 3EN

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Mary’s Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 20 June 2019, 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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Mary’s 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 three successive judgements of requires improvement at its previous section 5 inspections.

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Mary’s 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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Evidence

During the inspection, meetings were held with the executive headteacher, senior leaders and subject leaders. I also spoke with three members of the governing body, a representative of the local authority and the deputy diocesan director of education to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection. The school’s improvement and post-Ofsted action plans were evaluated. I observed lessons throughout the school with senior leaders, scrutinised pupils’ workbooks from all key stages and listened to pupils read. I scrutinised a range of documents provided by the school. I spoke with parents and carers at the start of the day.

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Context

Since the previous inspection, there have been several changes to the teaching staff. Some governors have left the governing body. Leaders have worked closely with the local authority, the local teaching schools’ alliance and Lincoln Anglican Academy Trust.

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Main findings

Following a decline in the outcomes for pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2018, you acted with urgency to ensure that the quality of teaching and learning rapidly improved. Leaders have made effective use of the strong support offered by the local authority and the Lincoln Anglican Academy Trust.

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Main findings

Leaders have raised expectations of what pupils can achieve. They have identified areas for improvement and have written a plan with appropriate milestones, indicating who will check that improvements have been made and when they will do this. Leaders have established a programme of professional development for all staff. They have made regular checks to measure the impact of the changes that they have made. These changes are linked to the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection. Scrutiny of pupils’ workbooks indicates that these changes are having an impact and pupils are making stronger progress in English and mathematics.

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Main findings

Governors are beginning to evaluate the improvements that are under way. For example, they have met with subject leaders to find out more about the impact of changes and have checked that the improvements that leaders are reporting are evident in pupils’ work. They have asked challenging questions to check that improvements are making a difference.

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Main findings

Leaders have raised expectations of how pupils can record their own ideas independently across the curriculum, using the writing skills that they have developed. Teachers have ensured that pupils have many interesting opportunities to write at length in different subjects. Pupils have risen to the challenge and their writing has shown strong signs of improvement. For example, older pupils have written detailed and well-researched non-chronological reports about the circulatory system. Pupils take pride in their work, which is presented to a high standard, both in English and in their topic books. Pupils’ writing has improved as they have been given the opportunity to write more independently. They are increasingly able to improve their work, identifying punctuation errors and making better choices in vocabulary.

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Main findings

There have been recent changes to the teaching of reading to provide pupils with the opportunity to engage with a wider range of texts. Pupils that I spoke with enjoyed the improved choice of books that they now have. They appreciate the chance to talk about what they are reading regularly and feel that this is developing their comprehension. Leaders monitor the progress that pupils are making. The school’s own assessment indicates that standards in reading are improving. Teachers’ use of good-quality fiction with the whole class provides pupils with the opportunity to discuss the style of different authors, which inspires the pupils to develop their writing. For example, some pupils were able to write with humour in the style of Michael Bond.

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Main findings

The school environment is organised well to support pupils so that they become independent learners. Pupils make good use of the strategies that teachers give them and they know what they need to do. Pupils evaluate how well they have understood what they have been learning. Teachers seek to deepen pupils’ understanding within the lesson so that they do not repeat work that they have already understood. However, occasionally, teachers do not spot when pupils have not grasped a concept fully.

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Main findings

Leaders have established a consistent approach to the teaching of mathematics. Successful training has improved teachers’ subject knowledge. Opportunities for pupils to deepen their knowledge are now more evident and pupils can explain their thinking more clearly. For example, younger pupils can explain how they worked out change when using money. Older pupils explain why an algebraic formula is correct when working out the area of a triangle. Pupils now have regular opportunities to solve problems in mathematics lessons.

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Main findings

Teachers have planned a curriculum which includes all subject areas. Recent professional development has increased staff knowledge about science and religious education. This has improved the quality of teaching in these subjects. Pupils’ knowledge has increased, which has enabled them to explain their opinions more effectively, for example when explaining the significance of Easter and Christmas to Christians.

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External support

The local authority and Lincoln Anglican Academies Trust have provided strong support for school leaders and governors. This has helped leaders to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning more accurately and provide better feedback to staff. This external support has strengthened leaders’ analysis of the progress that pupils are making and ensured that the judgements made by leaders are accurate.

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External support

Leaders have made good use of local teaching schools to provide appropriate professional development for staff. They have built effective links with the other schools in the federation so that the quality of pupils’ work can be moderated accurately.

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

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