Setting

Mrs Dawn Solla The Headteacher Beaumont Lodge Primary School Astill Lodge Road Beaumont Leys Leicester Leicestershire LE4 1DT

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

Following my visit with Karin Heap, Additional Inspector, to your school on 24 and 25 June 2008, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector to confirm the inspection findings.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

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

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

Progress since being subject to special measures – satisfactory.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

Progress since previous monitoring inspection – satisfactory.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

Newly qualified teachers (NQT) may be appointed subject to the following conditions. The NQT should be mentored in school by a teacher of proven high quality, and all NQT entitlements must be met in full. Appropriate internal and external development, support and induction must be provided.

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PRIMARY SCHOOL

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

I am copying this letter and the monitoring inspection report to the Secretary of State, the chair of governors and the Director of Children and Young People’s Services for Leicester City.

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H M 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 met with the headteacher, executive headteacher, senior staff, a group of pupils, the chair of governors, and a representative from the local authority (LA).

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Context

There have been further changes to the leadership team since the last visit. Following advertisement and interview, the acting headteacher has been appointed to the permanent post. A new deputy headteacher has been appointed and will take up her post in September 2008. The executive headteacher continues to provide support for the school. The Reception teacher has resigned, there are temporary arrangements in place until the newly appointed teacher takes up her post in September 2008.

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Achievement and standards

The school now has accurate assessments that show the levels at which pupils are working in reading, writing and mathematics. It has continued to develop its thorough tracking system and is able to demonstrate the progress made during the year in each class across all year groups. This evidence shows that progress is still erratic and is not yet satisfactory overall. Nevertheless, there are encouraging signs of better progress in some areas and year groups. In particular, progress for pupils in Years 1 and 2 has accelerated in reading and mathematics. The whole school focus on improving writing has brought about satisfactory progress in this subject. However, standards in all year groups remain low. While better progress has been made in English and mathematics this year, the legacy of underachievement is too great to make up the lost ground. This is particularly the case in Years 5 and 6 where progress is still slow and standards remain inadequate. The pupils in Year 6

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Achievement and standards

have considerable gaps in their knowledge and understanding which have been identified and are being tackled. Teachers are more aware of the standards of groups of pupils and increasingly set work at different levels, particularly in mathematics. However, this is not consistent in all classes and where teaching remains satisfactory it is often because the challenge is too low for the most able pupils. Children enter Foundation 1 with skills and abilities which are lower than expected for their age; this is particularly evident in their communication and language development. Following an unsettled period in the Foundation Stage, teaching is now satisfactory and this has resulted in the children making broadly expected progress from their low starting points. However, there is still work to do to improve the children’s spoken and written language.

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Personal development and well-being

Pupils are keen to learn and they comment that they enjoy most lessons, where they concentrate and work hard. Behaviour in school is good and pupils are polite and courteous, showing increased confidence and pride in their work. Strong relationships between adults and pupils are evident throughout school. Pupils comment that they have trust in their teachers who help them wherever possible. The pupils report that the school is much better now.

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Quality of provision

Teaching has improved since the last visit. The school has used very focused and clear monitoring strategies to develop teaching across the school and teachers now have a shared understanding of good teaching. As a consequence, all lessons seen during the visit were at least satisfactory and over half were good. In the best lessons, good use is made of pupil assessment and the learning activities are carefully matched to meet the needs of all learners, including higher achieving pupils. Teaching assistants are well placed to support a range of learning needs, including intervention programmes, and resources are well used. When teachers’ expectations are high, lessons proceed at a brisk pace. As a result, pupils behave well, their attitudes to learning are positive and the pace of their learning increases. Staff are beginning to share this good practice. However, it is not yet consistent in all areas of the school. Where planning does not clearly address the different abilities

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Quality of provision

and skills of the pupils, the pace of learning is slower and less effective. Teachers use pupil targets consistently when planning, some refer to these targets in lessons and this supports pupils’ learning well. Most pupils understand their purpose but some do not know their targets without checking in their books, and they are often not clear what they need to do to achieve them. Although marking has improved, especially in English, the system is not being implemented consistently. The good examples seen in pupils’ books in Years 3 and 4 identify the next steps in learning and provide helpful guidance. Some examples of marking in Year 6 demonstrate the use of key points for learning, this is effective in helping pupils to review and improve their work. The school has recently introduced the ‘marking stamps’ system to ensure consistent practice. Marking seen in pupils’ books indicates that this is in

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Quality of provision

the early stages and the majority of pupils are not always clear about what the symbols mean. Pupils’ presentation skills have improved overall and pupils are beginning to show increasing pride in their work. The work done by the school to improve the learning environment has resulted in pupils using the learning walls and key vocabulary in lessons more effectively. Pupils comment that this helps their learning and that lessons are more fun and they are ‘doing more things’. The curriculum is now adequately meeting the needs of most pupils. However, literacy skills are not taught systematically across all subjects. Opportunities for pupils to read and write for a purpose and develop key skills within a wider range of contexts are lost. The school has recognised that science is not planned effectively in all year groups and has sensibly prioritised a curriculum review to address this issue. Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in May 2007:

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Quality of provision

 improve teaching throughout the school, raise achievement and accelerate the progress of all pupils, especially the more able, and particularly in writing – satisfactory  ensure pupils understand their targets and improve the quality of teachers’ marking, ensuring that it shows pupils how to improve their own learning – satisfactory.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher has created a positive climate where staff are responding well to new initiatives and successfully tackling the issues raised in the last inspection. She has successfully paced the improvements to ensure that all staff understand what is expected of them. The leadership team has been strengthened by the appointments of a substantive headteacher and deputy headteacher. Consequently, there is greater stability and confidence in the leadership and management of the school. The executive headteacher continues to provide timely and well focused support for the headteacher and staff. Rigorous systems for monitoring the work of the school are in place and the school has a thorough and accurate understanding of its strengths and areas for development. Subject leaders are more systematically involved in contributing towards school self-evaluation through their monitoring and evaluation of pupils’ progress, particularly in English and mathematics. The recently

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Leadership and management

appointed subject leaders in science have begun to review teaching and learning, but development in this subject is in the early stages. The subject action plans identify longer term priorities and the middle managers are taking a more dynamic approach to strategic planning. The more consistent approach to improvement has resulted in more coherence and teamwork among the staff. There is, however, a continued need to focus strongly on, and carefully monitor, the precise classroom strategies that enable pupils to learn most effectively and improve their achievement. Leadership in the Foundation Stage is effective in organising the day to day running of the unit but does not provide a long term strategic plan to systematically improve provision for both year groups. The governing body, under the clear direction of the chair of governors, has undertaken a programme of paired visits to the school, interviewed pupils and looked at samples of their work. The more rigorous approach

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Leadership and management

to monitoring has resulted in governors having an accurate and realistic view of what has been achieved and what still needs to be done. This is an improved picture since the last visit and demonstrates that governors are now beginning to hold the school to account.

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Leadership and management

Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in May 2007:  strengthen senior management, build the leadership and management skills of all teachers, and adopt a robust approach to ensuring accurate self-evaluation and school improvement – good  make effective use of assessment information to track pupils’ progress, set meaningful targets for them and plan learning that properly meets their learning needs – satisfactory.

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External support

The local authority (LA) continues to provide valuable support to the school in successfully tackling its action points from the last inspection. There has been good support for the appointment of senior leadership staff, and governors have welcomed the LA advice and guidance. The support for teachers, provided by LA consultants, has focused well on the issues to be improved in literacy, numeracy and the Foundation Stage. The impact of this work is evident in the improved quality of teaching but has yet to be seen in raised standards, particularly for the older pupils.

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Priorities for further improvement

 Ensure that the improvement in target setting and marking is consistent in all classes and subjects.  Provide pupils with greater opportunities to practise their writing across subjects other than just English.  Ensure that leadership in the Foundation Stage builds effective team planning and working so that all children’s learning needs are met.

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