Setting

Mr Chris Duhig The Headteacher Durdans Park Primary School King George's Drive Lady Margaret Road Southall UB1 2PQ

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

Thank you for the help which you and your staff gave when I inspected your school on 16 October 2007, for the time you gave to our phone discussions and for the information which you provided before and during my visit. Please convey my thanks to members of the school council, those staff, the chair of governors and the school improvement partner who provided me with valuable information about the school’s work.

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

This letter will be posted on the Ofsted website. Please inform the Regional Inspection Service Provider of any factual inaccuracies within 24 hours of the receipt of this letter.

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

As a result of the inspection in January 2007, the school was asked to: raise standards in English, mathematics and science at Key Stage 2; ensure that teaching and learning are consistently good or better throughout the school and further develop curriculum planning and the assessment of pupil progress in information and communication technology (ICT). Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that, at this time, the school is making satisfactory progress on these issues.

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

Since the appointment of the new headteacher the school has made sound progress by improving the capacity of the senior team through restructuring and delegating responsibility, setting clear priorities and galvanising the support of the staff. These key changes have contributed to the school developing a greater awareness of using assessment information systematically to identify areas for improving teaching and learning in English maths and science.

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

Provisional results in the 2007 national tests at the end of Key Stage 2 in English, maths and science, were significantly higher than those achieved in the previous year. This upward trend in improvement was notable in the proportion of pupils reaching Level 5 which improved by about one third in all subjects, and in the numbers reaching Level 4 in mathematics and science. The school is aware that Prospects Learning Services Ltd 132-138 High Street Bromley Kent BR1 1EZ T 08456 40 40 40 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 020 8313 7760 Direct F 020 8464 3393 more needs to be done in English, particularly in writing, and has started to take rigorous actions to improve this area of pupils’ work. For example, the programme of improvement includes developing phonic skills from Foundation Stage through Key Stage 2 and introducing the Big Write, an intensive writing programme, as a whole school project later on in the term. Assessment data is well managed and analysed,

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

so that the performance is interpreted very carefully by gender, ethnicity and ability and all pupils can have equal access to appropriate support to achieve well. Assessment information is now linked to target setting and the school has worked well with pupils to increase their grasp of how to reach their targets. The school assessment information also showed significant improvements in Years 4 and 5.

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

The quality of teaching remains satisfactory with an increase in the amount of good teaching. Senior and subject leaders have an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching through the systematic approach to monitoring and evaluating practice and working alongside consultants. At this stage, there has been a tendency to focus on teaching without evaluating the impact on learning. The school’s monitoring and evaluation show that it knows the areas for improvement, in particular pace and challenge. The school’s improvement programme includes a good range of guidelines to increase the proportion of good teaching.

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

Improvements have been made to the ICT curriculum. A good start has been made to teaching ICT as a discrete subject, developing a wide range of resources and assessment procedures. A detailed plan of improvement has been drawn up and includes appropriate areas of work such as networking with local schools to develop good practice, analysing assessment information and evaluating the impact of using ICT as a learning tool, in particular. The school is currently collecting assessment information and piloting resources. Although it is too early to evaluate the full impact of the changes, pupils were emphatic that they make better progress when they use ICT to do their work.

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

Following the last inspection, the level of support from the local authority was satisfactory. Since the start of the current term, more resources have been available which has led to better support for the school. The local authority has yet to re- evaluate the statement of action for the school to ensure that it is fully compliant with requirements.

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Ofsted monitoring of schools with a notice to improve

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

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