Moving beyond the floor target – White's Wood Lane Junior School, Lincolnshire

Date of issue: Jan. 2008

Theme: Schools Causing Concern (SCC)

School context and profile

White's Wood Lane Junior School is sited in the most deprived ward in Lincolnshire, and serves an area of high social deprivation.

Number on roll: 186. Age range: seven to 11
Almost 100% of the learners are white British, no child has English as an Additional Language
Above average percentage of the school population is eligible for free school meals. A high proportion are on the register of Special Educational Needs, of these the proportion with a statement is very high
On entry attainment is below national expectations.

The school was inspected in June 2004 and was removed from the category of 'serious weaknesses'. It was judged to be a satisfactory and improving school. It was noted that there had been 'an effective
response to the previous report'.

Issues identified were:

to raise standards further in English, mathematics and science
to review the afternoon timetable, so that it addresses the current difficulties with pupils' behaviour and concentration.

2006 Key Stage 2 results: English L4 59%; mathematics L4 59%
2007 Key Stage 2 results: English L4 79%; mathematics L4 74%

Barriers to improvement

Quality of teaching and ineffective deployment of support staff
Difficulty in involving parents to improve attendance
Recruitment issues
Ineffective tracking and targeting systems
Low standards and lack of progress across the school. Children working at below age-related expectations
Behaviour issues

Go to top

The school-based issues – what needed to change?

Refocusing of staff on achievement, challenging underperformance
Development and embedding of robust behaviour policy and positive strategies
Development of effective systems for monitoring and tracking of pupil progress
Involving staff in consultation at all levels – team building and empowering
Revision of curriculum to reflect Excellence and Enjoyment. (Excellence and Enjoyment: learning and teaching in the primary years Ref DfES 0518-2004 G.)

What was done?

Introduction of new leadership structure to drive school improvement
Appointment of teaching and learning mentor
The involvement of the school in the ISP underpinned a refocusing of staff/children on achievement
Commitment to Quality First Teaching
Audit of support and effective provision mapping in place
Adoption of social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) throughout the school to raise expectations, and support behaviour and attendance policy
Revision of four year framework to take account of Excellence and Enjoyment. Creative curriculum developed to ensure pupil's engagement with the learning, including introduction of themed
weeks linked to strands of Every Child Matters agenda
Skills-based curriculum and assessments in place
Provision of resources to enable staff to deliver the enriched curriculum more effectively
Development and nurturing of staff to promote effective distributed leadership model, through staff teams led by two teaching and learning responsibility staff
Effective support for and deployment of support staff
Partnership with LA, SIP and peer head mentor has supported the development of robust systems for tracking pupil progress, which are used to ensure that all pupils across the school are working at or beyond age-related expectations
Investment in professional development of all staff and robust performance management systems which are focused on school improvement and are founded in reliable data

Monitoring and evaluation

Success criteria for the RAP included:

teaching and learning mentor in an established role
effective provision mapping involves all teachers and is effective. Includes gifted and talented children
adults deployed effectively
new tracking systems are informing planning for mathematics and English
teachers planning for opportunities for target setting.

The school has been well supported by the LA throughout, and continues to be. This included support for the leadership of the school, both at a strategic and operational level. The work of the peer head mentor, School Improvement Partner (SIP), LA advisers, ISP team and the consultants who work with the school is greatly valued.

Quote from the headteacher: LA and SIP have provided ongoing support and wise counsel… They challenged me all the time, and I needed that. I needed someone to say, "why?".'

What has been the overall impact?

'I know we are building a very skilled team, and when they move on, they will take that practice with them.'

'I know that I have key staff I can totally rely on.'

'Everyone is 'on message' and the standard of professional dialogue now taking place within school is impressive.'

'There is always a tension between the need to track children for age-related expectation targets and the need to track each child for their individual progress – the ISP has helped us to focus on the right groups.'

Go to top

Local authority support and challenge

LA identified key priorities for the school:

whole-school attainment and progress in literacy and mathematics
acceleration of target children
development of skills and key aspects of learning
appointment of key staff and deployment of teachers to ensure Quality First Teaching
to ensure that all staff work as a team and have a shared agenda through ownership of the RAP
support the development of effective tracking and monitoring systems
development of transition between the feeder infant school and the junior school.

What was done?

Role of SIP, LA adviser, consultants and peer mentor head:

LA provided very good support and advice and has been involved in the termly review and writing of the RAP
ISP/literacy consultant spent 23 days in the school, working with staff and offering continuity of support
Introduction of Hard to Shift agenda
Development of SEAL and pupil voice
Mathematics consultant has offered a range of support, including leading professional development meetings, coaching and one-to-one support for staff
Training for subject leaders on monitoring, evaluation and effective assessment
LA consultants and advisers work alongside staff in developing effective monitoring and evaluation procedures
Role of SIP seen as crucial to school improvement. Links between the school and the SIP school are developing, as are those with the peer mentor head
Effective LA systems in place to coordinate support, communicate actions and review progress

Monitoring and evaluation

Provision of RAISE online, FFT and LA data which provided local and national comparisons for specific categories of learners
ISP consultant working closely with staff, and monitors pupil progress meetings
Additional support for monitoring and evaluation through Hard to Shift classification. Core group meetings, LA reviews
LA working directly with the staff to monitor and evaluate progress against targets at all levels. To achieve green ISP judgements
To ensure that by 2008 the percentage of children achieving Level 4 and above shows measurable value added over and above expectations for Year 6 cohort.

Information and data used to measure progress included:

teaching observations
outcomes from pupil progress meetings
Individual Development Plans
Key Stage 2 test data
environment audits
peer observations
children’s self-evaluation against curricular targets
optional National Curriculum test information
visual provision mapping data for all year groups
Ofsted inspection report
Hard to Shift external consultant monitoring information

What has been the overall impact?

Impact has been that the school has moved from 59% L4+ in English in 2006 to 79% in 2007 giving a 20% gain. In mathematics figures have moved from L4 59% to 74%, showing a 15% gain. 37/45 children made three sub levels progress in writing and 33/45 made three sub levels progress in mathematics.

'The outcomes of the 2007 end of key stage tests exemplify the profound impact changes in the organisation of staffing in Year 6 have had.'

Children are more actively involved in knowing how well they are doing, and are increasingly able to articulate what they need to do to improve
Impact of support from the ISP team across the school can be seen in greater security of teacher assessments
Children are being more accurately and effectively identified for targeted intervention
The school is acquiring an 'achievement culture.'

Sustainability – what next?

What will the school do?

The school remains as an ISP school, and uses the processes as an effective tool for school improvement
The monitoring and evaluation systems are now embedded in the culture of the school
The recruitment and retention of key staff and the new staffing structure takes a leading role in ensuring that the focus remains firmly on teaching and learning
The crucial role of the teaching and learning mentor will continue to develop to drive school improvement
SEAL is integral to the way in which the school operates and will continue to support good behaviour and attendance
Links with the peer mentor head and the SIP will continue to support the leadership of the school
Increased involvement of the governors and their ability to challenge the implementation of the RAP and its outcomes will support the improvement agenda
Further work on transition with the feeder infant school will support the continuity of learning

Go to top