Setting

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404045 F 020 7421 6644 www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mr M Wildman Headteacher Wicor Primary School Hatherley Crescent Portchester Hampshire PO16 9DL

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the School Workforce

Thank you for your hospitality and co-operation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 26 September 2006 to evaluate the impact of reforming and developing the workforce.

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the School Workforce

The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the names of the contributing institutions but individual institutions will not be identified in the main text. All feedback letters will be published on the Ofsted website at the end of each half-term.

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the School Workforce

The evidence used to inform the judgements made included: interviews with staff and pupils, scrutiny of documentation, analysis of pupils’ work and observation of five parts of lessons.

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the School Workforce

The overall effectiveness of work to reform and develop the school workforce in your school was judged to be satisfactory.

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Impact on standards and the outcomes of Every Child Matters (ECM)

Achievement and standards are satisfactory. The impact on the five ECM outcomes is satisfactory. There are clear benefits although the school has not always made explicit links between changes to the workforce and improvements in a particular outcome; for example, the learning mentors have made the school a safer environment for some of the vulnerable pupils. The summer term trial of improving the role of learning support assistants in raising standards in reading was successful.

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Impact on the quality of teaching and learning

The impact of the strategy on the quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. The recent reorganisation of teachers’ planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time has been well-received and is starting to have an improved impact on teaching and learning. It has ensured better continuity in the curriculum and the pupils’ learning experience. The more detailed assessment of pupils’ abilities enables teachers to better target their short- term planning and organise relevant intervention groups.

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Impact on the quality of curriculum

The impact of the strategy on the quality of the curriculum is satisfactory. The specialist teaching of French and music by the main PPA cover teacher has helped the pupils’ enjoyment in these subjects.

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workforce

Leadership and management of the strategy is satisfactory overall with some elements that are good. The school leadership is committed to the principles of the remodelling agenda. They have a clear understanding of how it can have a positive impact on the staff’s workload and enable teachers to focus on the quality of teaching and learning and so raise standards. All phases of the reforms are securely in place. A well considered staff structure exists that appropriately reflects the needs of the school and training to put into place a suitable performance management system is in hand.

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workforce

The implementation of the reforms have been monitored leading to action by school leaders as necessary; for example, changes to the timing of teachers’ planning preparation and assessment (PPA) time following feedback from the class teachers, the PPA cover teachers, pupils and parents. However, although there is monitoring, there is no overall, shared understanding of precisely what the reforms are aiming to achieve and, with clearer criteria, the monitoring could be more focused.

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workforce

The headteacher is very aware of issues surrounding the financial sustainability of staffing issues; for example, the need to monitor the impact of PPA cover, if any, on leadership and management time and the peer monitoring staff development programme.

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Impact on inclusion

The impact of the strategy on provision for inclusion is good. The restructuring of the wider workforce that supports the pupils with additional needs has been well thought through to ensure more effective use of all staff. The learning support assistant’s work is carefully targeted. The learning mentors are a highly valued team. A lovely session was observed in which staff interacted and questioned the pupils thoughtfully while carrying out enjoyable activities, ensuring that the experience had relevance to the needs of each of the individuals. While each pupil has appropriate short-term targets to monitor the success of the six week intervention programme, longer-term success criteria for this team would assist the school in determining its value for money.

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Areas for improvement

Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

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Areas for improvement

 ensuring there are clear success criteria against which to evaluate the impact of the workforce reforms  establishing links between workforce remodelling and the ‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes  continuing to train staff and implement the performance management arrangements to reflect the new workforce structure.

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Areas for improvement

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to reform and develop the school workforce.

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Areas for improvement

As I explained in my previous letter, a copy of this letter will be sent to your local authority and will be published on Ofsted’s website. It will also be available to the team for your next institutional inspection.

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