Setting

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

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Claira Salter Principal XP East Middle Bank Doncaster South Yorkshire DN4 5NG

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Monitoring inspection of a school not in a category of concern of XP East

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on Wednesday 7 May, 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 took place because the school meets the monitoring threshold as set out in the Monitoring Inspection Handbook .

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Monitoring inspection of a school not in a category of concern of XP East

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school’s key and (where applicable) provision judgements, but to identify and report on the school’s progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school’s previous graded inspection.

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Monitoring inspection of a school not in a category of concern of XP East

During the inspection, I discussed with you and your executive leadership team the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. I also spoke with governors, trustees and colleagues from external support partners. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also visited lessons, spoke with pupils, teachers and trust and school subject leaders. I considered documentation related to curriculum planning and school improvement. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Main findings

Since the inspection, in June 2024, there has been significant work completed to the curriculum. Trust subject leader positions have been created to ensure rigour and oversight of this work. The school has created ‘planning for progression’ documents for each subject that outline the specific knowledge that pupils must learn. You have also carefully considered the focus for assessments. Explicit curriculum links and ‘guiding questions’ enable pupils to connect learning between subjects and apply their learning. This has benefited subject leaders and teachers, especially those who teach outside their specialism, by ensuring that there is clarity about the sequence of learning in every subject.

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Main findings

With support from an external trust, you have refined the reading programme in school so that the books and texts pupils read are carefully chosen. Use of commercial reading programmes is allowing the school to accurately identify the types of support that pupils need. You are aware that there is more work to do to ensure that the school can appropriately support those pupils who need help to decode texts. Work around this is in the early stages. There has been a focus on developing pupils’ vocabulary. Visits to lessons show that this is helping pupils to express their ideas with clarity. In lessons, pupils are challenged to explain and justify their thinking by teachers whose confidence is growing because of the training they receive. Pupils also speak positively about their experiences in lessons, the relationships they have with teachers and the help they get so that they can succeed. Teachers’ checks on what pupils are learning mean that pupils

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Main findings

receive improving support to help them do well. Also, modelled answers and clear explanations are helping pupils to understand what is expected of them.

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Main findings

To ensure that the curriculum is implemented appropriately, you have introduced a new system of quality assurance and a comprehensive programme of professional development. Staff have been trained in the school’s ‘ACDC’ lesson approaches, and this is consistently delivered across different subjects. Frequent ‘staff days’ and ‘expedition days’ allow staff to share best practice. The school provides significant time and resources to ensure that staff fully understand what is expected of them. This is enhancing pupils’ experiences in lessons. Lesson drop-ins and ‘walkthroughs’ mean that staff receive targeted feedback and support on different elements of the school’s ‘ACDC’ approach. Collegiality is fostered through the ‘crew’ approach, which means that staff welcome and appreciate the feedback they receive.

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Main findings

Governors and trustees have a clear view of the developments in the school and have supported curriculum changes where needed. For example, mathematics now sits outside the ‘expeditions’ and has more curriculum time to support pupils’ progress in this subject. You are refining the school’s approach to the curriculum to ensure that pupils do well in external examinations while also benefiting from the wider experiences that your curriculum provides. The trust has enlisted external support to provide capacity for subject leaders and to embed changes in the approach to reading. The changes, support and progress made since the last inspection are beginning to benefit pupils. While work remains, external results are improving. I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, the CEO of the XP Trust, the Department for Education’s regional director and the director of children’s services for

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Main findings

Doncaster. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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