Sidemoor First School and Nursery Post Ofsted Parents’ Update Meeting 1st November 2017 Housekeeping notes fire alarm and exits Welcome

Welcome Mari Jones: Headteacher Tony Kinsella: Chair of Governors Irene Punt: Area Schools’ Manager Richard Watkins: Deputy head Governors Sidemoor Staff

The Purpose of this Meeting is to: Share Local Authority Action Plan and Monitoring, Evaluation and Training schedule (MET) Share actions that have been taken since the inspection Share impact of those actions Share future actions

Key Improvement Points Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment to accelerate pupils’ progress Improve effectiveness of leadership and management Improve assessment processes to ensure accuracy in tracking and swift intervention Improve the quality and impact of provision for pupils who have special educational needs and disadvantaged Strengthening Governance 5 Key Improvement Points are from the Ofsted Action Plan. The copy we have is still draft but I understand that it has just been approved by Ofsted. I will go through each of these KIPs, the actions taken so far and then show the impact of the actions

Improve Quality of Teaching Audit carried out of provision across the school Monitoring and feedback across the school by Leadership Team and mentor headteacher of: Teaching Work in pupils’ books Planning and policies Training for teachers and teaching assistants We have had a rigorous focus on the quality of teaching and have carried out almost weekly learning walks with feedback and review. Different people have been involved in these – Senior and middle leaders, Paul Gibbs (mentor headteacher) and School Improvement Advisors. We have also had regular book trawls to look at the progress being made. We have carried out several planning scrutinies and have put in place clear guidance about what is expected in planning in order to improve the learning. We have reviewed our assessment policy and marking guidance to ensure that marking moves learning forward and that it is consistent across the school. We had positive comments from many parents about the progress they feel their child has made this term.

Impact of work towards KIP 1 Raised expectations of what pupils can achieve; Improved consistency of planning, teaching, marking and feedback; Teaching is more focused on meeting the needs of all children; Leaders have a sharper focus on improving the above; Improved progress and presentation evidenced in books.

Improve Effectiveness of Leadership and Management A clear plan is in place for development; Pupil attainment and progress targets, together with performance management targets for teachers, are closely aligned to the plan; Joint monitoring activities have taken place with mentor headteacher; A curriculum review has taken place; Training has been implemented to update safeguarding knowledge of all staff and governors. 1. Using the Action Plan as our journey map 2.Project Board, Irene Punt, SIA Performance management targets linked to the plan 3. HT, DHT, Middle Leaders 4. Curriculum changes as appropriate and also a scrutiny of timetables to ensure the best use of time 5. Annual safeguarding training has taken place and also weekly updates

Impact of KIP 2 There is a whole school focus on the areas for improvement; Increased levels of accountability; Leaders at all levels sharpening their monitoring and evaluation skills – with validation of these; Curriculum better meets the needs of pupils; Knowledge of safeguarding policy and procedures is consistent across the school. Tightened up on subject leadership with all curriculum leaders having action plans and monitoring schedules Challenging targets set for children – know their next steps to take learning forward

Improve assessment and tracking processes New electronic tracking system in place with training; Marking policy and procedures reviewed and improved; Progress of pupils checked more regularly and rigorously; Interventions are implemented promptly to address any issues.

Impact of KIP 3 Teachers are more readily able to track progress and meet the needs of all groups of learners; Pupils know how to make their work better in response to feedback; Leaders have higher expectations of what pupils can achieve; Interventions are closely monitored for their success in helping children who are at risk of falling behind. New SPTO tracking system purchased, which allows teachers and leaders to gain a clear picture of children’s progress and attainment, as well as rapidly picking up on groups of children who are not making expected progress; Training in the new tracking system given to all teachers during the September Teacher Education Day; Classes all set up on the SPTO tracking and staff have baselined pupils according to last year’s attainment; Pupil Progress meetings planned in for this half term, to allow teachers to identify children at risk of falling behind and actions to take; Next step feedback used so that children are aware of what they need to do to improve their learning; Book trawls are being carried out for all groups of children to ensure that provision is leading to progress being made

Improve the Quality of Provision for Pupils with SEND or Disadvantaged SEN information report, provision map and parent leaflet updated; SENCo meetings held with teachers and parents to discuss children with additional needs, questionnaires for children carried out; Individual pupil profiles created for children with additional needs to track their targets; Progress of children with additional needs tracked carefully using new SPTO tracker; LA audit of provision carried out.

Impact of KIP 4 Parents and other stakeholders more informed about provision for vulnerable learners; Teachers, parents and children are informed of targets; Targets are tracked closely to inform interventions; LA audit celebrated achievements to date and provided further actions going forward.

Strengthen Governance Consultancy from Governor Services commissioned; Skills audit carried out to inform the appointment of new governors to vacancies; Annual calendar developed to include a schedule of monitoring and evaluation; Committee structure reviewed, Scrutiny Committee established with clear roles and responsibilities; Meeting structure tightened with increased challenge and evaluation of actions.

Impact of KIP 5 Procedures are more effective and governors have a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities; New governors appointed match the skills needed; Meetings are more efficient with a challenging focus on impact of actions taken so far; Governors use assessment data to ask probing questions; Governors hold leaders and staff to account over performance. Still have a vacancy for a finance governor

Future Plans Spelling programme to be introduced with training; Sequences of Learning training booked; Strategic School Improvement Fund launch; Beyond Monitoring training; Early Years training; Excellent Teacher programme; Half termly Pupil Progress meetings planned; Further governor appointments made with induction and training; Continue to monitor and improve standards across the school. No-nonsense spelling training in a few weeks and SoL is next week. SSIF launch- explain today’s meeting. Teaming up with S B H S- action plan - they will meet with us and see where support meets our need. Beyond monitoring- MFJ maximise outcomes from monitoring activities. EYFS training. Every Monday. EX teacher programme- KS leaders with intention of cascading. PP Meetings- mention - Already huge improvements. Areas we still want to improve, but marathon not sprint.

Additional Support Training programmes – Aiming for Outstanding with a range of courses. Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF) to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged and others. National drive for ‘School to School Support’; schools working together to share their expertise. Continued monitoring with mentor head teacher with experience of supporting a range of different schools.

Monitoring and Evaluation Feedback Project Board Meetings – Irene Punt said that we are a model team, with very tight action planning and very tight MET; School Improvement Advisor Learning and Teaching Advisor HMI monitoring visits WCC: Schools Causing Concern Panel Irene apologised for not being able to be with us tonight but said that the Project Board Meeting was very positive with the school taking very effective action, monitoring robustly and showing impact. She has been impressed with the pace of improvement. Geraldine Tidy – SIA – visited yesterday and said that she saw good progress and a very purposeful atmosphere. The SEND Learning and teaching advisor, Helen Pretty, met with Rebecca Rowley and carried out a learning walk. She said that you usually sees big gaps in provision in a school in our situation but she said that this just isn’t the case in our school and she saw a lot of really good practice. We may have our first monitoring visit at the end of this term or next term, but some schools have been waiting since February.

What happens next? The School Improvement Team will continue to work closely with governors and senior leaders to provide external support and challenge as is necessary until a sponsor is found by the Department for Education. On behalf of the LA, the statement of action was written and sent to Ofsted for approval. This sets out the key steps the school needs to take in relation to the Ofsted areas for improvement. The report is approved by HMI.

Thank you for attending and for your on-going support, which is evident in the comments you have made to staff. As always, we have an open door and you are more than welcome to speak to any of us with any questions or feedback. I will send out another update letter later this term.