Setting

Mrs S Kaminski-Gaze The Headteacher All Saints C of E Primary School and Nursery, Nuneaton Knebley Crescent Nuneaton Warwickshire CV10 7AT

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PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY, NUNEATON

Following my visit with Rodney Braithwaite, Additional Inspector, to your school on 26 and 27 February 2008, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector to confirm the inspection findings.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY, NUNEATON

The visit was the second monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures in April 2007. The monitoring inspection report is attached and the main judgements are set out below.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY, NUNEATON

Progress since being subject to special measures – inadequate.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY, NUNEATON

Progress since previous monitoring inspection – satisfactory.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY, NUNEATON

Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY, NUNEATON

This letter and monitoring inspection report 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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PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY, NUNEATON

I am copying this letter and the monitoring inspection report to the Secretary of State, the chair of governors, the Director of Education for the Diocese of Coventry and the Director for Children, Young People and Families for Warwickshire.

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Additional Inspector

Tribal Group 1-4 Portland Square Bristol BS2 8RR T 0845 123 6001 F 0845 123 6002 T 08456 40 40 40 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Evidence

Inspectors observed the school’s work, scrutinised documents and pupils’ work, and met with the headteacher, nominated staff, six governors including the chair, the local authority school intervention inspector and groups of pupils.

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Context

During the visit, three classes were being covered by temporary and supply teachers because of staff absence. The school has a new literacy coordinator who has joined the school leadership team.

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Achievement and standards

Pupils’ achievement is improving in the majority of classes. Despite this positive picture, standards remain well below average as a result of underachievement in the past. Children continue to make good progress in the Foundation Stage. They do particularly well with the personal and social development. Staff working in the Foundation Stage have high expectations, provide a good balance of child led and independent activities, and the children’s progress is monitored thoroughly. All of these factors contribute well to the children’s good progress.

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Achievement and standards

School data indicates that pupils are now making better progress at Key Stage 1. The school’s challenging targets for the Year 2 pupils indicate that standards are likely to improve on last year’s which were exceptionally low. Despite these improvements, standards in reading, writing and mathematics are still well below average. At Key Stage 2, lesson observations and scrutiny of pupils’ work show that there are considerable inconsistencies in pupils’ progress between year groups. There are pupils who are doing well and making good progress and catching up on their previous underachievement. However, there are still a number of pupils who are making inadequate progress as a result of ineffective teaching. Overall, pupils’ rates of progress are not rapid enough to ensure that all pupils in this part of the school achieve the standards of which they are capable. Throughout the school, pupils’ writing is much weaker than reading and mathematics and a particular focus for

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Achievement and standards

continued improvement. Despite an improving picture overall, higher attaining pupils are still not always challenged sufficiently which was an issue at the time of the last visit. Lesson observations show that teachers’ expectations of what these pupils can achieve should be higher in some lessons and there are still pupils who say that they find their work too easy.

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Achievement and standards

The school has continued to improve its systems for monitoring pupils’ progress and the use of targets for learning. However, the effectiveness of these systems is being thwarted by less effective teaching that prevents pupils from learning rapidly. Equally, staff absence, for a variety of reasons, makes continuity of learning and improvement difficult in some classes.

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Achievement and standards

Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in April 2007:  improve progress and the standards attained by pupils throughout Years 1 to 6 – inadequate.

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Personal development and well-being

The school has continued to improve punctuality since the visit. Rates of attendance have improved despite being still below average. This is the result of the school’s effective work with parents and successfully promoting the importance of regular attendance throughout the school.

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Personal development and well-being

Pupils’ personal development continues to be satisfactory. Most pupils are well behaved in classrooms and around the school. They have positive attitudes to learning and are friendly and helpful to visitors. The school has recently introduced a new strategy to promote good behaviour that the children contributed ideas to and is encompassed in the slogan its ‘Good to be Green’. Older pupils feel that the new strategy has already had an impact on improving behaviour and reducing bullying. In spite of these improvements, there are still a high number of exclusions. Most pupils enjoy their work and relationships in the school are good. However, pupils can lose concentration when lessons are unexciting or teaching is mundane. Pupils are now taking more pride in their work and in most classes presentation of work has improved since the last visit. Pupils are keen to take on jobs and responsibilities around the school but the school council is currently making a limited contribution to

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Personal development and well-being

Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in April 2007:  work closely with parents to improve pupils’ attendance – satisfactory.

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Quality of provision

Children in the Nursery and Reception class continue to make a good start in school because of consistently good teaching, which clearly understands the learning and social needs of every child. The quality of teaching and learning in the rest of the school has improved but in some classes remains inconsistent. Most lessons are now satisfactory, and a few occasionally good, but there is still insufficient good teaching to move pupils quickly towards better achievement especially in the first two years of Key Stage 2. More consistent planning is helping teachers to be clearer in identifying their learning objectives for pupils. Planning does not, though, include sufficient emphasis on the needs of higher attainers. Tasks are usually differentiated. However, challenge to higher attainers, who still frequently find their work easy, remains as an area for development. Teachers’ expectations for pupil achievement

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Quality of provision

are not always high enough and targets for completion of work are not set consistently, so some pupils show a lack of urgency to finish their activities. During the visit, teachers managed pupils well and there were very few instances of lesson disruption. Many activities were more exciting than at the time of the last visit. Teaching assistants make a satisfactory, and sometimes good, contribution to learning. As reported at the last monitoring inspection, this depends on how much guidance they receive from teachers. There are some positive signs of improvement since the last visit, but there is still not enough good teaching.

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Quality of provision

The curriculum in the Nursery and Reception class remains clearly aligned to the needs of the children, and helps their good progress in all areas of learning. Literacy and numeracy are still the main priorities for curriculum development in the rest of the school. There are now indications that teachers are, for example, encouraging much more speaking in lessons, which is leading to improved skills. However, there are still missed opportunities to reinforce literacy and numeracy skills across the wider curriculum. A new initiative is being trialled in Year 6 by the deputy headteacher to link cross curricular activities to pupils’ own experiences, and encourage a broader approach to the curriculum. Enrichment through clubs and other extra-curricular activities is still less than that seen in most schools, and has not yet been a major priority for improvement. Additional activities make a minimal contribution to the pupils’ personal development.

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Quality of provision

Safeguarding procedures meet statutory requirements and are regularly and accurately updated, including those required for the care of looked after children.

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Quality of provision

The school has worked hard to improve academic guidance, which has led to satisfactory improvement. Assessment and tracking data is more detailed and now more widely used and understood by teachers. It is not always used effectively enough in planning for the needs of all pupils, particularly the higher attainers, so that some pupils are not always given targets for improvement that are challenging enough. Most pupils are aware of their learning targets for academic progress, although occasionally some do not understand them and are confused as to what they have to improve. Marking also shows satisfactory improvement since the last visit. There is a better balance now of encouragement and guidance, and older pupils are consistent in saying that marking is helping them to understand their progress and targets. Some written comments for younger pupils are overlong, and cannot always be read or understood by them.

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Quality of provision

Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in April 2007:  ensure that teaching and the curriculum are closely matched to the needs of all pupils so that they do as well as they should – inadequate  make sure that pupils are given clear information on how well they are doing and about what they need to do next to improve their performance – satisfactory.

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Leadership and management

Although there is still a long way to go, there have been improvements since the school’s last inspection. The headteacher, who has been well supported by the deputy, is providing clearer direction than at the time of the last visit. Leadership and management are more systematic and strategic development more coherent. Staff morale still remains high and there is a collective will to succeed. There have been changes to the school leadership team since the last visit and staffing at this level is still relatively inexperienced and leadership capacity requires further development. There are appropriate plans in place to do this. School self-evaluation has improved. Staff and governors have been involved in this process and judgements are accurate. Governors report that they are now provided with more information on how the school is performing and are in a better position to challenge the school and hold it

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Leadership and management

to account for the standards that the pupils achieve.

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Leadership and management

Monitoring and evaluation have improved and there is now more rigour to the monitoring of teaching. Pupils’ progress is being tracked regularly. Staff at all levels have been receiving relevant professional development to improve their practice and the quality of provision overall. Improvements in teaching and pupils’ progress overall since the last inspection indicate some successes in leadership and management. However, many of the new practices and strategies still need to be embedded more fully in the school along with further improvements in leadership capacity at all levels.

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Leadership and management

Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in April 2007:  rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of provision in each class and take swift action to rectify weaknesses – inadequate.

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External support

The local authority has continued to provide good support to the school through the school intervention inspector, advisory staff and other professionals. They have continued to visit regularly and have undertaken work, especially in literacy and numeracy, that the school has found helpful. Other professionals have been particularly useful in helping the school to evaluate the teaching and learning. The involvement of external support is helping most teachers to develop and improve their practice, although there is still considerable work to be done in a small minority of classes.

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