12 July 2007 Mrs Karen Pemberton Acting Headteacher ... - icNetwork

Nord Anglia Inspections
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Cheadle
Stockport
SK8 2LA
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12 July 2007
Mrs Karen Pemberton
Acting Headteacher
St Mary's CE Voluntary Aided Primary School
Whitehead Street
South Shields
Tyne and Wear
NE33 5LZ
Dear Mrs Pemberton
Special Measures: Monitoring Inspection of St Mary's CE Voluntary Aided
Primary School
Introduction
Following my visit with Ann Wallis, Additional Inspector, to your school on 9-10 July
2007, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector to confirm the inspection
findings.
The visit was the fourth monitoring inspection since the school became subject to
special measures in January 2006.
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.
Evidence
Inspectors visited all classrooms and observed all teachers at least once. We saw all
or part of eight lessons and observed registration, break and lunchtimes. Documents
provided by the school and local authority were read. These included local authority’s
consultation papers relating to the future of the school. A sample of pupils’ literacy
work was analysed and other examples of pupils’ work were examined during
lessons. Discussions were held with the headteacher, members of the senior
management team, senior representatives of the local authority and diocese and the
chair of the governing body. Informal conversations were held with many members
of staff and pupils. The opportunity was taken to talk to a few parents attending a
parents’ evening.
Version 1 – April 2007
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Context
Key staff, absent at the time of the last visit, have returned to work. The school is
now mainly staffed with teachers who have permanent contracts. The next school
year should start with all teachers on permanent contracts. The school remains
involved in a local authority review of primary places. Proposals for its possible
closure have been made public and consultation procedures have started. The school
roll has risen to 128, including 22 children in the Nursery but numbers will fall when
26 Year 6 pupils leave at the end of this term, to be replaced by 11 entering the
Reception year. Pupil mobility is increasing. All recent admissions have been pupils
with learning difficulties.
Achievement and standards
Most pupils are now making satisfactory progress because teaching has improved.
The pupils made at least satisfactory progress in all the lessons seen. This
corresponds with the findings of monitoring by the headteacher and local authority.
In English, this is because teachers are using the results of improved assessment
procedures to match work more closely to individual ability and allow pupils to build
more effectively on previous learning. Subject leadership in English has also
improved. There remains the legacy of inadequate teaching in the past and, as a
result, standards remain well below national expectations and are inadequate. Year 6
pupils narrowly missed projected targets for English this year, by the equivalent of
one pupil failing to reach Level 4. Provisional results show that targets for
mathematics and science have also been missed. The interpretation of data provided
by the school indicates that Year 5 pupils are achieving satisfactorily and are on
course to meet higher targets next year. Over recent years there has been no clear
trend in standards in English. Value added data, however tend, to show a slightly
upward trend in achievement in English.
Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in January 2006:
Raise standards in English by matching the work pupils do more closely to their
prior learning – satisfactory
Personal development and well-being
There have been satisfactory improvements in pupils’ personal development and
well-being since the previous visit. This is most marked in attendance, where there
has been good improvement. Attendance is now very close to the national average.
With more stability in staffing, pupils’ behaviour has improved and is satisfactory.
Pupils are increasingly being taught by familiar figures, who are more consistent in
implementing the school’s system for managing behaviour. There have been no
exclusions since the previous visit and there are fewer lessons where misbehaviour
interferes with learning. Better teaching, with a wider range of learning activities to
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capture pupils’ interest, has contributed to this. A few pupils have short attention
spans and quickly become restless when asked to listen for long periods in lessons
and assemblies. Pupils of all age groups share play equipment sensibly at breaks and
lunchtimes. The acquisition of a substantial amount of new play resources has
contributed well to this.
Quality of provision
The return of established teachers and a much-diminished reliance on temporary
staff have contributed to satisfactory improvements in teaching. This is helping pupils
to make better progress in lessons. Sixteen lessons have been monitored by the
headteacher or the local authority since the previous visit and in all of them teaching
was judged to be at least satisfactory. This was also the case in lessons seen by
inspectors. An increasing amount of teaching across the whole school is good, but
only the Year 2 class is consistently well taught. Support from an early years
consultant is leading to improvements in teaching in the Foundation Stage. This is
characterised by better planning and assessment and has been greatly helped by
redesign and refurbishment of the accommodation to create an environment much
better suited to the learning needs of young children.
Teachers are becoming increasingly effective in interpreting the planned curriculum.
This is helping them to plan and teach lessons which build more effectively upon
pupils’ previous learning. More accurate and reliable assessment information is
helping teachers to set pupils work that is better matched to their individual ability,
and often with a higher degree of challenge than previously. The quality of academic
guidance offered to pupils through the marking of their work is very variable. That
for Year 2 sets a good example to be more widely followed. Here, the teacher offers
pupils supportive advice, explaining clearly what they have done well and how they
could improve their work. In some other classes, intermittent marking tends to
congratulate or admonish without explaining why.
With more consistent teaching, the reorganised and improved curriculum is now
being taught more effectively than previously. As a result, pupils are increasingly
motivated, helped in some cases by interesting topic work, which straddles many
subjects. Most pupils say learning has become more enjoyable. Pupils continue to be
well cared for, and improved behaviour contributes to the school becoming a more
settled and safer place. Inspectors brought one health-and-safety issue, relating to
the nursery, to the attention of the headteacher. Aside from teachers’ marking of
pupils’ work, the assessment and tracking of pupils’ progress continue to improve,
giving staff the information they need to help pupils to improve their work and to set
increasingly challenging and realistic targets for future achievement.
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Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in January 2006:
• Tackle underachievement through improvements to the quality of
teaching and learning, the establishment of higher expectations, the
consistent implementation of assessment procedures, and by giving
clear guidance to the pupils – satisfactory
Leadership and management
The acting headteacher remains resolute in addressing the school’s weaknesses and
maintaining the drive to raise standards. Satisfactory progress has been made in
strengthening leadership and management since the previous visit, and a sense of
teamwork is emerging. The momentum of improvement is picking up, following
serious decline at the time of the previous visit. Key senior staff have returned to the
school following lengthy periods of absence. They are contributing to school
improvement by accepting increasing responsibility for their duties. They have been
supported through the part-time secondment of an experienced deputy headteacher,
who has contributed to professional development in assessment and subject
leadership. Sufficient progress has been made for the acting headteacher to view this
arrangement as no longer necessary. Subject leadership of English, in particular, has
improved and this has contributed to pupils’ faster progress. The acting
headteacher’s monitoring of teaching remains good and has contributed significantly
to improvement. Senior staff have also started to contribute a little to the monitoring
process. Most importantly, with stability returning to staffing, it is permanent, rather
than temporary teachers who are benefiting from good advice. This is increasing the
school’s capacity to improve further.
Progress on the areas for improvement identified by the inspection in January 2006:
• Strengthen the school’s leadership and management, and establish
strong teamwork and a clear sense of direction for improvement –
satisfactory
External support
Support from the local authority has been reduced in line with the school’s increasing
capacity to manage its own improvement. The external support that remains has
been well targeted and has been effective; for example by bringing about
improvements in Foundation Stage provision and through considerable support in
resolving personnel issues. Furthermore, matters regarding the future of the school
have been clarified and meetings for parents regarding the proposed re-organisation,
involving a neighbouring faith school, are under way.
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Additional issues
Take urgent action with the local authority and diocese to resolve high levels of staff
absence and ensure that the school has access to a good, secure staff team –
satisfactory progress
Ensure that a reliable leadership team is in place to offer support to the headteacher
by contributing more to school improvement – satisfactory progress
Main Judgements
Progress since being subject to special measures– satisfactory
Progress since previous monitoring inspection – satisfactory
Newly qualified teachers may not be appointed.
I am copying this letter to the Secretary of State, the chair of governors, the Diocese
of Durham and the Director of Lifelong Learning & Leisure for South Tyneside Local
Authority.
Yours sincerely
Alastair Younger
Additional Inspector
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