At St James’ CE Primary, we’re always keen to welcome professionals beyond our own school to provide an additional ‘pair of eyes’, to provide an external view on how we’re improving. This is obviously even more important following the Ofsted judgement of ‘requires improvement’ (March 2017).
One of the people who has visited throughout the year is our School Improvement Advisor (SIA). At the end of June, he visited again and we’ve received his report – it makes for really encouraging reading. Here are some extracts:
It is the view of the SIA that the school has made significant strides from the March 2017 Ofsted RI [‘requires improvement’] outcome…St James’ C of E Primary is now a good school. The Executive Headteacher communicates a clear vision for the school. He quickly and effectively [improved the quality of teaching] and the result is a more harmonious, effective and dynamic workforce. The appointment of an effective Head of School has been instrumental in improving relationships within the school, with parents and the school’s profile in the wider community.
The federation has benefited each of the three schools involved – allowing the sharing of good practices, CPD [continuing professional development], leadership development and moderation.
Since inspection in 2017, the SIA has noted dramatic improvements in the quality of teaching… Subsequently, productivity, higher levels of presentation and standards in pupil’s books have improved significantly.
As the learning walk evidenced, teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. The simple yet effective approach of teachers counting down from 3 to gain pupil’s attention is consistent across the school; subsequently, there is very little learning time lost. On this visit, even on a hot sunny day near to the end of a busy school year, pupils responded well to teacher instruction and were keen to engage in the learning activities set. Good teacher modelling of learning allied to systems of drafting and editing and peer-to-peer review and feedback all contribute to improvements in teaching and learning over time. Further to this, as evidenced at an earlier visit, pupils are able to verbalise how their school has improved over time. They are confident to talk about their learning and on how the feedback from teachers enables them to improve their work and understanding further.
Thank you to everyone who have supported and encouraged us this year as we continue to improve.