Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.1

Gill Gooch Headteacher Iver Village Infant School Grange Way Iver Buckinghamshire SL0 9NT

p.1

Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Iver Village Infant School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection of your school that took place on 14 December 2022, on behalf of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to have serious weaknesses following the graded (section 5) inspection that took place in March 2022.

p.1

Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Iver Village Infant School

During the inspection, I discussed with you, other staff, governors and the local authority the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also visited lessons, met with pupils, reviewed pupils’ work and scrutinised school documents. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

p.1

Serious weaknesses monitoring inspection of Iver Village Infant School

Iver Village Infant School remains inadequate and has serious weaknesses.

p.1

Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is

necessary for the category of concern to be removed.

p.1

Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is

The school should take further action to:

p.1

Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is

 Improve the inconsistent provision for pupils with special educational needs/and or disabilities (SEND). Leaders should ensure that all staff are equipped with the knowledge and skills to support pupils with SEND effectively.  Improve pupils’ attendance as some do not attend school regularly enough. This means they are missing out on important learning. Leaders should ensure that they strengthen work with parents and carers to improve pupils’ attendance.

p.1

designation

There has been staffing turbulence and changes to the governing body since the previous inspection. Almost all teaching staff had left their posts by August 2022. This included the early years leader. A large number of new teachers joined the school in September 2022. There are currently no subject leaders other than for English and mathematics. A special educational needs coordinator from another school has supported the school since September 2021, but this arrangement is stopping in December 2022. The caretaker retired in June 2022 and you are covering this role. The governing body recruited four new governors following the previous inspection. During this visit, I looked closely at safeguarding arrangements and the quality of education.

p.2

designation

You have strengthened the safeguarding culture but there is more work to do. You have prioritised high-quality training for all staff to ensure that everyone understands the signs to be alert to that might indicate that a pupil is at risk of harm. Leaders support teachers effectively to update their safeguarding knowledge and check their understanding throughout the year. You have plans to provide this same guidance for support staff from January 2023. Staff have not yet been trained to be alert to the signs of and know how to report harmful sexual behaviour, but this is planned for the spring term.

p.2

designation

You, along with your staff, have made strong improvements to the safeguarding record- keeping. Staff are quick to record concerns using the new online system. Leaders are increasingly vigilant to act on these concerns and now usually involve external agencies when appropriate to get pupils the help that they may need. There are still a few incidents when record-keeping by staff lacks sufficient detail and when leaders have not acted quickly enough when concerns are raised.

p.2

designation

You have strengthened wider aspects of safeguarding practice. You and your staff complete appropriate checks to ensure the safety of pupils attending education away from the school site. You ensure that medicines and cleaning products are securely locked away from pupils. Following a health and safety review earlier this term, you have acted swiftly to address a large number of concerns, although a few remaining actions are not yet complete. Pupils’ attendance has dropped since the time of the previous inspection. Too many pupils are not attending school regularly enough. You are supporting families to improve this, but this work needs further attention.

p.2

designation

Governors have taken some action to assure themselves that the safeguarding culture is improving, for example by completing one safeguarding visit to the school in November 2022. However, they need to sharpen this aspect of their work. Very few governors have completed safeguarding training. Consequently, they do not have sufficient knowledge to provide effective challenge to leaders about the different aspects of safeguarding. As a result, their oversight of safeguarding is not strong enough.

p.2

designation

You recognise that the quality of education is not as effective as it was at the time of the previous inspection, particularly for pupils with SEND. This is because many teachers are new and they do not have a consistently strong understanding of how to meet pupils’ needs. You are currently prioritising training for staff to teach reading, writing and mathematics to ensure that these subjects are taught effectively. Governors have a clear understanding of how well pupils are learning in English and mathematics. Their work to hold leaders to account about wider subjects is at an early stage of development.

p.2

designation

You say that you have valued the leadership and early years support from the local authority and the guidance from the English and mathematics hubs. This has enabled you to evaluate teaching, provide training for staff and helped early years staff to improve the learning environment. It has also helped the effective English leader to provide bespoke coaching for staff to develop their skills to teach early reading.

p.3

designation

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the Department for Education’s regional director and the director of children’s services for Buckinghamshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

p.3