Setting

Mr O Burcombe The Headteacher Turners Hill CofE Primary School Turners Hill Church Road Crawley West Sussex RH10 4PA

p.1

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

Thank you for the help which you and your staff gave when I inspected your school on 18 May 2010 and the time you gave to our phone discussions and for the information which you provided before and during my visit .

p.1

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

As a result of the inspection on 12 June 2008 the school was asked to:

p.1

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

 raise pupils' attainment and improve their progress, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 1  ensure that the school's monitoring and evaluation activities have greater impact on improving the quality of teaching, and on providing more balanced coverage of the curriculum  improve the rigour of the school's use of assessment and tracking information in order to ensure more effective target-setting for pupils and for the whole school.

p.1

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

Since the last inspection, a new headteacher and chair of governors have been appointed .

p.1

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

Having considered all the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time the school has made good progress in making improvements and good progress in demonstrating a better capacity for sustained improvement.

p.1

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

There has been good improvement in pupils’ attainment in reading and writing and satisfactory improvement in their attainment in mathematics. From the lesson observations, the school’s tracking data and the recent teacher assessments, pupils make good progress in class and are on course to exceed their challenging targets. More pupils this year will achieve the higher levels of attainment across all three Tribal 1-4 Portland Square BRISTOL BS2 8RR T 08456 40 40 40 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 0300 123 1231 Ofstedhelpline@ofsted.gov.uk Page 2 subjects and attainment is likely to be close to national average by the end of Key Stage 1. Pupils’ achievement across the rest of the school has improved and pupils at the end of Key Stage 2 are likely to exceed their targets. While their attainment is likely to be broadly average across all subjects, there has been an improvement in the number of pupils achieving the higher standards in English and mathematics,

p.1

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

while science has maintained the good level it reached last year. This is good progress for this group of pupils who started Year 3 with attainment below national averages.

p.2

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

The new headteacher has put in place a wide range of strategies to monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching and pupils’ learning in class. He regularly observes teachers working in their classroom and tracks their performance over time to ensure that the quality of teaching across the school improves. The School Improvement Partner has assisted with some monitoring of teaching and learning. The headteacher has introduced stronger performance targets for teachers and has put in place systems to improve the quality of teaching by having the support of an advanced skills teacher and the English coordinator working alongside teachers in their classrooms. Consequently, the quality of teaching has improved and most of it is now good. There are some outstanding features in some of the better teaching. Teachers question pupils and expect more detailed answers. Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary and pupils listen attentively and work hard when asked. This is because

p.2

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

teaching is more highly focused on the needs of the individual pupils and lessons have been made more exciting and relevant to the pupils. Pupils say they really enjoy coming to school. The curriculum is well balanced and pupils enjoy learning through a range of topics and themes. They learn Spanish as part of their partnership link with the secondary school which is a language college.

p.2

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

There is clear evidence in the school of improved rigour in the use of assessment information and tracking procedures for monitoring pupils’ progress across the school. All teachers are committed to this and teachers demonstrate their thorough knowledge of individual pupils in their class. Lesson planning is more detailed and is used as a working document so that teachers can plan the next stages in learning. In group work, tasks given to pupils are more appropriate for their ability although, at certain times, teachers still use a general sheet for recording their work instead of thinking about how they can tailor this to suit needs and to stretch the more able. Most lessons start with a clear objective for learning and pupils are reminded what will make it a successful learning experience for themselves. The use of key questions is a consistent strategy deployed by teachers and the plenary is used well

p.2

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

to assess pupils’ understanding and possible weaknesses for the next lesson. Teaching assistants are deployed well and, in the best examples, support groups following the teachers’ instructions and assess a group of pupils at work.

p.2

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

The new headteacher has successfully worked to introduce strategies to improve teaching and learning and improve standards across the school. He is committed to improving the performance of all teachers and has received additional support from the local authority and school partners. The improvement in attainment, progress Page 3 and in the rigour of monitoring all demonstrate that there is good progress towards improving the capacity for improvement by the next inspection.

p.2

Ofsted monitoring of Grade 3 schools

I hope that you have found the visit helpful in promoting improvement in your school. This letter will be posted on the Ofsted website.

p.3