Setting

Tribal Group 1-4 Portland Square Bristol BS2 8RR T 0845 123 6001 F 0845 123 6002 Ofsted helpline 08456 404045 edhelpline@ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs M Hufford The Headteacher Beckley Church Of England Primary School Main Street Beckley Rye East Sussex TN31 6RN

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OFSTED MONITORING OF SCHOOLS WITH NOTICE TO IMPROVE

Thank you for the help which you and your staff gave when I inspected your school on 7 December 2006, for the time you gave to our phone discussions, and for the information which you provided before and during my visit. Please pass on my particular thanks to the pupils and staff who met with me and for the time that they gave.

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OFSTED MONITORING OF SCHOOLS WITH NOTICE TO IMPROVE

As a result of the inspection on 8 June 2006 the school was asked to:  raise standards and improve pupils’ achievement in mathematics between Years 3 and 6  improve the way teachers plan and mark pupils’ work so as to support and challenge all pupils to improve  implement systems to regularly and rigorously check and evaluate the standard of the school’s work, particularly teaching and pupils’ learning and progress

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OFSTED MONITORING OF SCHOOLS WITH NOTICE TO IMPROVE

Having considered all the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time the school is making outstanding progress on the issues identified at the last inspection.

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OFSTED MONITORING OF SCHOOLS WITH NOTICE TO IMPROVE

A raft of measures have been implemented which focus on improving learning and raising achievement. Initially these centred on mathematics but the school has rightly identified a need to improve writing levels too. Good quality support has been provided by the school leadership team and by local authority consultants to help the school improve in these two areas, along with increased knowledge and use of information and communication technology by pupils and staff. The school has also benefited from their enhanced partnership with Brighton University. These relationships have facilitated the school to take effective and robust action to foster greater accountability. This has resulted in an improved rigour, frequency and accuracy of the school’s tracking and monitoring systems. A consequence of this work is that standards in mathematics have greatly improved and the school tracking records show that pupils have made significantly improved

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OFSTED MONITORING OF SCHOOLS WITH NOTICE TO IMPROVE

My visits to a sample of classrooms confirmed that the quality of teaching is at least good. Excellent relationships exist in classes and time is used well. Support staff strongly reinforce and support teaching. Through their marking, staff are now more effective in sharing the next steps in pupils’ learning. Assessment is regular, underpins teaching, and contributes to pupils’ progress. Work is increasingly better tailored to pupils needs and particularly so for those pupils with additional learning needs.

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OFSTED MONITORING OF SCHOOLS WITH NOTICE TO IMPROVE

Pupils really appreciate the changes that have been made to help them learn better. They welcomed the 'working with others' initiative as this had meant that boys and girls felt more comfortable working with each other in small groups. They also realised that the 'individual work programmes’ were helping them to focus on their learning and enabling them to do better. Some pupils in Years 5 and 6 have attended the Mathematical Association master classes. All the pupils responded well and two of them achieved the highest scores in the assessment at the end of the programme.

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OFSTED MONITORING OF SCHOOLS WITH NOTICE TO IMPROVE

Staff have worked hard and without compromise to improve their work related to mathematics. The school has not been complacent and has also worked at addressing other areas that could be improved. The use of extension and project work has demonstrated that it encourages the skills of independent learning. The school needs to continue to build on this work so that all pupils achieve the very best that they can.

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OFSTED MONITORING OF SCHOOLS WITH NOTICE TO IMPROVE

I hope that you have found the visit helpful in promoting improvement in your school.

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