Readers may remember that back in July, Newport’s Barton Primary school was placed in Special Measures after receiving an Inadequate rating from Ofsted.
As is usual, a follow-up visit, known as a Section 8 inspection, took place in September. The results of that inspection have been made public today.
The Ofsted inspector has expressed concern about the statement of action produced by the local authority as well as the school’s current improvement plans.
In summary the inspector found:
- Leaders and managers are not well placed to tackle the key priorities of the school because plans and actions are not sufficiently focused on improving the quality of teaching.
- Although there is evidence that the headteacher has led some improvements, other senior members of staff have yet to demonstrate their role in improving the quality of teaching.
- The Interim Executive Board is newly appointed and will need to take urgent action to ensure it is able to monitor the impact of the school’s initiatives to improve teaching and pupils’ progress.
- The school’s current improvement plans cover too many areas. Insufficient time has been allowed for initiatives to be implemented successfully. They lack a logical approach and the sequence of actions and priorities is not clear.
- The statement of action produced by the Isle of Wight Local authority does not contain sufficient information explaining how the Interim Executive Board will be supported and how the progress of the school will be monitored.
Other changes
The inspector pointed out other changes that had taken place:
- Three teachers have decided to leave the school and two have just returned from long-term absence.
- Two new teachers have been appointed and took up their posts one week before this visit, one of whom has whole-school responsibility for mathematics.
- The previous governing body has disbanded and a new Interim Executive Board has been formed by the local authority.
- Changes have been made to the timetable to increase the length of lessons, thereby increasing pupils’ learning time.
- A number of building works have been carried out to secure the site and improve access.
- In addition, some internal alterations have been made to improve teaching spaces.
Who was statement of action produced by?
It’s not clear whether the ‘statement of action’ was produced by Isle of Wight council or Hampshire officers.
As readers will remember, formal agreement was reached in June for Hampshire County Council to take over Children’s Services for the Isle of Wight. OnTheWight has asked for clarification and will update once we hear back.
Update 13.30
In response to our question about who was responsible for the ‘statement of action’ plan, Richard Priest, Isle of Wight Council cabinet member responsible for children’s services said:
“The statement of action was drawn up during the period of transition of Hampshire being involved.
“Action has already been taken to address the weaknesses raised and additional support has been put in place. This includes a new Interim Executive Board that has been established, and in excess of £200K capital investment has been made in the school building.
“Both the school’s own action plan and the local authority’s statement of action need to be developed in partnership with Hampshire, and we are confident that both plans will be judged fit for purpose by the time of the next monitoring visit.
“Whilst that work is being undertaken, school improvement advisers from both Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are already working closely with the school’s headteacher to improve the quality of education being provided.”
