Ofsted & SIAMS Reports
Dear Parents,
Ofsted report following our full inspection on 8th - 9th May 2019
As you know, we had a return visit from Ofsted last month, just six months after the publication of the report from the October inspection.
The October one-day inspection concluded that although the school retained its ‘Good’ rating, there were key areas of improvement for the school to address if it was to remain so at the next full inspection.
Although much progress has been made, we haven’t been able, in this timescale, to demonstrate the impact of our actions. As a result, we have received an overall judgement of ‘Requires Improvement’, although the separate areas of Early Years Provision and Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare remain ‘Good’. In Ofsted terms, ‘Requires Improvement’ means ‘not yet good’; this grading used to be called ‘Satisfactory’.
Once again, the feedback you gave to the inspector about our school was very positive and this means a great deal to us. We are pleased that the report celebrates all the areas in which we are doing well – it is much more detailed this time. In fact, there are three times as many positive judgements in the main body of the report as negative ones. The breadth of our curriculum and range of extra opportunities is particularly noted, as is the excellent behaviour and values which our children display. Our children make a very good start at school and we work hard to ensure they are happy and safe.
However, the areas in which we must improve are key ones, hence the overall judgement. In summary, there is too much variability and inconsistency in the quality of our teaching. We need to work harder to enable children who are falling behind to catch up enough. We also need to raise our expectations of how our children present and take pride in their work and how we mark it, to ensure that they improve.
As Headteacher, this is ultimately my responsibility and I shoulder it fully, with the support of staff and governors.
The report acknowledges that we are already making the right steps towards improvement and the inspector told me personally that it was a shame we hadn’t had more time. Some schools in a similar position to ours have had a whole calendar year between inspections.
We are determined and committed to getting back to ‘Good’ very quickly; our staff and governors have every confidence that we are doing the right things to achieve this, including our Pitton 2.0 plans from September.
We are also receiving support from the Local Authority in the form of additional advisory visits and checks. Experts will work alongside us as we implement:
• tighter monitoring of teaching and book scrutinies to address inconsistencies (across subjects, quality of teaching and marking)
• a new tracking system (introduced earlier this year)
• better targeted interventions and extra ‘small-steps’ tracking for pupils who need to catch up
• consistently strong Mathematics teaching and best use of resources
• consistency in writing standards (i.e. high!) across the curriculum
• a ‘presentation of work’ code, with the involvement of the pupils
• more sharply defined collective and individual roles and responsibilities of our governors.
Ofsted will return again in 2-2 ½ years and we will be ready to demonstrate how these actions are impacting on every child in the school. In the meantime, we will give you regular updates through meetings and presentations, to assure you of our resolve.
I ask you to keep faith in us and continue to support us in all the wonderful ways you already are. Those of you who came to the meeting this morning gave us a lot of encouragement, which is so appreciated!
You can find the full inspection report below. Please read and digest it and if you have particular concerns about your child in relation to the report’s comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.