Setting

Mrs Winsor The Executive Headteacher Compton Church of England Primary School School Road Compton Newbury Berkshire RG20 6QU

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Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 18 and 19 May 2010, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings.

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Primary School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures in December 2009. 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

Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed.

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Primary School

This letter and monitoring inspection report will be posted on the Ofsted website.

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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’s Services for West Berkshire and the Director of Education, Diocese of Oxford.

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

Tribal Education 1-4 Portland Square Bristol BS2 8RR T 0300 1231231 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 01527 579342 Direct F 01527 579342 peter.limm@ofsted.gov.uk Page 2

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Evidence

Inspectors observed the school’s work, scrutinised documents and met with the executive headteacher, the senior leadership team, a group of pupils, the chair of governors, a representative from the local authority and the School Improvement Partner. Six lessons were observed and the work of pupils was analysed.

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Context

Since the inspection in December 2009 the school has had the support of a consultant headteacher appointed by the local authority to bolster the leadership and management capacity of the school. In March 2010 she was appointed executive headteacher on a temporary basis. She works with the substantive headteacher at the school on two days a week. A Year 1/2 teacher has left and there was a gap until a temporary appointment was made and then a permanent appointment in February 2010. A newly qualified Year 3/4 teacher left and was replaced by a supply teacher for two weeks, after which time the headteacher and another Year 3/4 teacher shared the teaching responsibilities. Since Easter, this arrangement has been replaced by a job share involving two supply teachers known to the school. Another member of staff will leave the school in July 2010. A teaching assistant has left and been replaced. Two recently appointed full time members of

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Context

staff will start from September 2010. A higher level teaching assistant appointment has been made to start in June 2010 for the Year 2 class. At the time of the monitoring inspection the substantive headteacher had been signed off work for four weeks.

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Pupils’ achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning

Pupils said that they enjoyed their lessons and thought they were making good progress to meet their more challenging targets. Evidence gathered by the School Improvement Partner and executive headteacher demonstrates that, after a good start in the Early Years Foundation Stage, attainment for all groups of pupils remains low, but progress, although still inadequate overall, shows some signs of improving. This is particularly the case where there has been well-targeted support across the school to improve reading and mathematics and where there has been more attention paid to improving pupils’ learning. Inspection of school data and observation of lessons confirmed this. Page 3

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Other relevant pupil outcomes

The behaviour of pupils is good in lessons and around the school. Attendance remains above average. The school meets all the necessary safeguarding requirements, including those for child protection. The inspection did not focus closely on other outcomes, but there was evidence that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development remains good. Pupils clearly adopt safe practices and healthy lifestyles.

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The effectiveness of provision

With considerable help and support from the local authority and the executive headteacher, the school has made satisfactory progress in addressing the four points for improvement identified by the last inspection relating to improving the quality of teaching. Good progress has been made making sure that learning is carefully sequenced through measurable steps so that the progress of individual pupils can be checked easily throughout the lesson. Satisfactory progress has been made by teachers in using data to inform lesson planning that embrace all groups of pupils. However, inconsistencies remain in how information on pupils’ progress is used by teachers to create tasks that are appropriately challenging for all groups, so the rate of progress is still not quick enough to make a dramatic impact on raising attainment. Teachers have made satisfactory progress in involving pupils more in assessing how well they are doing. Indeed, in one lesson, the teacher demonstrated

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The effectiveness of provision

her excellent expertise at recording evidence of individual progress made by pupils by noting individual outcomes on a recording sheet and by taking photographs of pupils’ activities to support her judgements. The school curriculum and the effectiveness of care, guidance and support remain satisfactory.

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The effectiveness of provision

Progress since the last inspection on the areas for improvement:  ensure that all teaching is at least good – satisfactory.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The leadership and management capacity of the school has been bolstered well by the appointment of the executive headteacher and tighter more focused deployment of local authority consultants in the core subjects. Planning for raising attainment and improving achievement has been strengthened and progress is reviewed regularly by the governors and local authority. Further good support has been provided by the School Improvement Partner who holds the school to account robustly. The effectiveness of the governing body has been strengthened by the appointment of an additional governor who is skilled in improving governors’ effectiveness. The governing body now has a much better informed picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the school and how it can be improved. As a consequence, the four points for improvement identified by the last inspection relating to introducing more rigorous and effective monitoring and evaluation have

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Page 4 been addressed satisfactorily. There has been good progress in developing a more consistent whole-school approach to recording data. There is better monitoring of the accuracy of the data and teachers have a much better grasp of what this information tells them about pupil progress. There is an improved overview of the evaluation of pupils’ progress as a result. There is more regular review of the effectiveness of strategies which have been put in place to address underachievement and other areas for development within the school. However, the amount and scope of support required to bring about many of these improvements cannot be sustained in the long term. The leadership and management capacity within the school to drive forward further improvement strategies, to embed them effectively and to sustain them, although improving, remains fragile.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Progress since the last inspection on the areas for improvement:  introduce more rigorous and effective monitoring and evaluation – satisfactory.

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External support

The school is working productively with the local authority to improve outcomes and the quality of teaching and learning. Local authority consultants are helping the school to refine strategies and initiatives so that school improvement gathers pace. The local authority statement of action, although now good, needs to be monitored carefully so that planned improvements are in place at the earliest opportunity, and reports from the school are interrogated robustly. The School Improvement Partner is helping the school sharpen its analysis of results. The timescale set for the school no longer to require special measures is realistic, but this will only occur when the school can demonstrate robustly its own capacity to sustain better outcomes and provision.

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Priorities for further improvement

 Ensure that emerging data for pupil target setting and tracking pupils’ progress are used more rigorously to create appropriately challenging tasks for accelerating the progress of all pupils.  Ensure that the leadership and management capacity of the school is enhanced so that new improvement strategies are driven forward robustly, embedded effectively, and are sustained.

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