Welcome and Agenda
Shirley Ward
Chair of Governors
Roselands Primary School
Ofsted Parent Meeting – 23rd February 2012
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Agenda
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Welcome and introductions
Shirley Ward Chair of Governors
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Background
Marc Boucherat –
Head of Achievement, Primary
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Summary of Inspection
Jane Carson
Headteacher
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Governors’ response
Shirley Ward Chair of Governors
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Key Issues and LEA support
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Opportunity for questions
Geraldine Louch
Hertfordshire Improvement Partner
Marc Boucherat Head of Achievement, Primary
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Background
Marc Boucherat
Head of Achievement, Primary
Hertfordshire
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Background
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A challenging overall outcome and a serious
message for the school and community
This meeting as the next step in a positive
and shared response and a rapid exit
The LA role in supporting and working with
the school, its experience and expertise
An unusual position, a new framework with a
different emphasis
Some challenging circumstances for the
school to manage
A lot of very positive aspects recognised.
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Background
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BUT… a significant decline in attainment and
progress in core subjects at KS2 over a three
year period and an identified need for a very
robust leadership response
Before the inspection and since, the
Headteacher, governors and senior leaders
have been working closely with the Local
Authority to address improvements
The team identified that improvements had
started but they were critical of the pace and
rigour of actions given the pace of the decline
in achievement. They will want to see rapid
impact and improvement
Many initiatives are already underway, or
have already been started or enhanced.
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Background
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During the last year the school has commissioned
increased LA support including;
 Advice and guidance on assessment
 Support on setting up the new EYFS
provision
 Teaching and learning support in literacy
As well as undertaking its own training and
development on marking and feedback,
calculation and SEN.
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Since the inspection the school has already;
 Reviewed and changed its development plan
and some key leadership roles
 Focussed more strongly on applying more
rigorous judgements to monitoring,
evaluation and observation
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Summary of Inspection Visit
Jane Carson
Headteacher
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The Inspection
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The Ofsted team came into the school for
two days on 12th and 13th February, 2012,
to make their first inspection under the
new framework
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Inspectors spoke with governors, staff,
and children
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Inspectors analysed questionnaires
completed by all key stage 2 pupils, all
staff and the majority of our parents and
carers
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The Inspection
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Inspectors observed lessons or parts of lessons
taught by different teachers and support staff
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Some pupils workbooks and additional paperwork
were scrutinised
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The team also reviewed the actions being taken,
how well teachers use assessment to plan
teaching, the extent to which leaders and
managers evaluate performance and take action
to improve provision and the school’s strategies to
improve attendance.
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The Report
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We are disappointed with the outcome of
the inspection but as you would expect
we are determined to rapidly and
professionally address the issues it raises.
However, as you read the report, you will
have seen the inspectors found many
strengths and good qualities within the
school.
What the school does well
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The school provides pupils with a calm, well-ordered and
harmonious environment.
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Pupils are very positive that they feel safe in school, which
is a view echoed by their parents and carers
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The governing body is rigorous in ensuring that
safeguarding policies are fully implemented
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The pupils’ behaviour around the school is often exemplary
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What the school does well
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Bullying and other forms of harassment are very rare because of the
school’s focus on dealing swiftly and sensitively with any incidents that do
occur
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School leaders are strongly committed to promoting equality of
opportunity
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Music and art make a major contribution to school life
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Assemblies are used well to foster the pupils’ spiritual development and
to encourage them to aspire to greater heights
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What the school does well
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In the Early Years pupils basic skills in literacy and
numeracy are now developing at a good pace because
teaching is sharply focused on their individual needs.
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Successful practices in reading have been recognised –
including focused phonics teaching and inspiring visits by
authors
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Marking of written work in English has improved and pupils
are much clearer about how well they are doing and how to
improve their work
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Successful attention is paid to promoting the pupils’ social
and moral development.
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The Report
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Under the new framework, the inspection team
identified a significant need for us to raise
attainment, particularly in mathematics, and that
we need to accelerate pupils’ progress in lessons so
that it is consistently good.
As a result of the combination of a dip in recent SAT
results and the other three main inspection
judgments the overall judgment for the school is
inadequate. The inspectors have highlighted areas
that need to improve.
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The Report
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To ensure that we make the necessary progress against the areas
identified HMI will visit on a termly basis to give advice and support
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We would like to reassure all our families that our whole school
team is fully committed to the action identified in the report, which
will enable us to make these improvements rapidly
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We have evidence indicating that this is already happening in all
areas and that children are now making expected progress
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Our intention is that all our children will make accelerated progress
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Governors’ Response
Shirley Ward
Chair of Governors
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Governors Response
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Governors recognise the significance of the outcome for our school
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We fully acknowledge the paramount importance of a systematic
approach for monitoring the achievements of pupils
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We are fully committed to addressing the actions identified in the
report and will become more rigorously involved in the systematic
evaluation of the schools performance
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Governors remain committed to supporting our school and
recognise the ethos in providing a safe environment and ensuring
an attitude of respect for all
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Governors
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Governors are working closely with school leaders and the
LA and we have already begun work on a focused plan of
actions to secure the necessary improvements
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Governors are supportive of the school and have a strong
determination that improvements will be made quickly
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Governors are also determined to ensure that we work with
stakeholders and keep parents/carers fully informed about
the school’s progress
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We will continue our regular visits with a priority focus taken
from the revised action plan to enable effective monitoring
and evaluation, raising our level of challenge
Key issues and LA support
Geraldine Louch
Hertfordshire Improvement Partner
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Improvement 1
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Increase the proportion of good and better teaching, in order to accelerate
progress, by:
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developing the staff’s expertise in teaching mathematics
developing teachers’ questioning skills
consistently challenging the more able pupils so that they achieve to the
best of their ability
ensuring that support staff are deployed to maximise learning throughout
each lesson
ensuring marking provides more effective feedback on the steps pupils
need to take to meet their targets.
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Improvement 2
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Develop the curriculum so that pupils improve their basic
skills by:
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introducing a coherent plan to link learning between
subjects more closely
providing more interesting and engaging contexts for pupils
to write in different subjects
giving pupils more opportunities to work independently
planning for pupils to solve problems and undertake
investigations in mathematics and to develop their
numeracy skills through topics and themes.
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Improvement 3
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Extend the capacity of the school’s leaders to drive improvement
by:
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sharpening the accuracy of self-evaluation
ensuring that planning to tackle key priorities is based on
challenging targets for improving the pupils’ achievement
providing structured training in order to develop teachers’ skills
and expertise
developing the role played by the governing body in holding the
school to account.
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What happens next ?
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The school plan will be amended by the school, in
conjunction with the Governors and the Local
Authority (LA) to address the issues raised by the
Ofsted report
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The LA will submit a statement of action to Ofsted,
which will outline how it intends to support the school
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Action starts straight away in fact it has already started
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LA support and monitoring
A programme will be devised involving:
 Additional training for all staff
 Regular support from the school effectiveness
adviser dedicated to helping remove the school from
‘Special Measures’
 In addition the Local Authority (LA) creates an Action
Group which meets half termly to co-ordinate the
additional support the school receives and monitors
the school’s progress
 Visits by LA subject advisers and consultants
 Leadership support
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Questions
Marc Boucherat
Head of Achievement, Primary
Hertfordshire
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Monitoring progress
For schools in ‘Special Measures’
monitoring includes
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The Way Forward
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Staff, governors and Local Authority (LA) are
committed to improving standards and to sustaining
the best possible education for all the children
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Experienced District School Effectiveness Adviser to
visit the school regularly
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We are already taking action to respond to the issues.
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