Moving beyond the floor target - Holway Park Community Primary School, Somerset

Date of issue: Jan. 2008

Theme: Schools Causing Concern (SCC)

School context and profile

Holway Park Community Primary School is an average-sized school, which serves a socially and economically disadvantaged area. The school is identified by Somerset local authority (LA) data as the ninth most needy in the county.

Number on roll: 231, including Foundation Stage (FS). Age range: four to 11
Most of the learners are white British, but mobility is high
Almost 50% of pupils have learning difficulties and/or disabilities
On entry attainment is well below national expectations, with particular weaknesses in communication skills and social development.

The school was inspected in June 2007 when it was judged to be a good school, which has made good improvement since the previous inspection in 2001. The headteacher has 'real drive' and together with his leadership team provides a firm steer for the school.

Issues identified were:

to improve standards in writing by providing more opportunities across the curriculum to develop skills fully
to improve the quality of marking to provide consistent advice on how to improve learning, and to encourage higher standards of presentation.

2006 Key Stage 2 results: English L4 59%; mathematics L4 56%
2007 Key Stage 2 results: English L4 70%; mathematics L4 66%

Barriers to improvement

Quality of teaching and learning
Low aspirations: 'Nobody believed we could do better.' (Headteacher)
Behaviour in and outside school
Narrow/inappropriate curriculum
The role of the subject leaders

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The school-based issues – what needed to change?

Behaviour policy and practice
The engagement of pupils and parents with the curriculum
Systems for monitoring and tracking pupil progress
Expectations of staff, pupils and parents
Staff absence

What was done?

School engaged with the Intensifying Support Programme (ISP). First year focus on phonics. Now in second year of ISP
Development of strategic planning
School/LA used a 'residency' model of support, which has been highly successful
Reorganisation of leadership into faculty model, with clear expectations, linked directly to school improvement
Appointment of parent support adviser
Development of range of strategies to improve behaviour. For example, structured play, clubs and so on at lunchtimes
Halted some of the intervention programmes that were not shown to have a positive impact on standards
High priority given to professional development of all staff
Systems put into place to ensure that coverage for absent staff did not compromise the learning
Now deployment seen as equitable and effective
Effective deployment of support staff
Focus on basic skills teaching and on how children learn, through strategic and rigorous planning, professional development and performance management
Curriculum enhancement developed to ensure pupils' engagement with the learning, for example, ukelele orchestra and chess clubs
Provision of resources to enable staff to deliver the enhanced curriculum more effectively
Development and nurturing of staff to promote effective distributed leadership model, through faculty model
Systems for promoting regular attendance by all pupils, including targets, rewards etc., developed and embedded
Recognition of need for quality first teaching
Embedding of social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) throughout the school
Working with LA consultants, school has established a rigorous system of tracking and monitoring pupil progress at all stages to ensure that each child is on track to achieve their targets.

Monitoring and evaluation

Success criteria for the Raising Attainment Plan (RAP) included:

raising standards in writing: assessing progress in writing and levelling work
raising standards in phonics (continued from previous year)
effective use of level descriptors to raise standards in reading
development of more writing across the curriculum
100% teaching to be judged good or better.

What has been the overall impact?

The percentage of children making progress towards age-related norms has increased. Evidence of pupil progress is impressive
ISP has provided a sharp focus on literacy and a good vehicle for an examination of how effectively phonics/reading is delivered throughout the school.

'The cycle of meetings, and the idea of taking a whole-school focus for the first target for all staff will continue as a pattern next year and beyond.'

The school has been well supported by the LA through involvement with the development and review of the RAPs and provision of appropriate support and intervention. Advice and support on pupil progress meetings have been firmly established, and are valued as a school improvement tool. This included support for the leadership across the school, both at a strategic level and operational level. The work of the advisers and the consultants who work with the school is highly valued. The school uses a four-term ISP model, with a lead in time in the autumn term.

Quote from the headteacher 'We do not know how far they, our children, might go, they are constantly showing us new heights, new standards they can reach.'

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Local authority support and challenge

LA identified key priorities for the school:

whole-school attainment and progress in literacy and mathematics, with phonics as a focus
reading across the school
governance
priority was to empower the leadership to make the difference
support the development of effective tracking and monitoring systems.

What was done?

Role of school improvement partner (SIP), LA adviser, consultant

LA provided very good support and advice on data and its analysis. Met to look at school data and agree targets for improvement. Produced a performance handbook and gave the framework for the RAP
A range of strategies to support the teaching of phonics and reading. This included the development of a phonics action plan, clarification of phonics progression, and a full phonics screening for pupils from Years 1 to 5
Support and advice through whole-school training days and leadership of professional development meetings
LA consultants and advisers worked alongside staff in developing effective monitoring and evaluation procedures
SIP has provided challenge and support on the priorities identified in the school development plan. Judged the capacity to improve as very good
Residency model was adopted to raise standards in literacy across the school
True alignment of support enabled effective, focused support and measurable impact.

Monitoring and evaluation

Provision of RAISE online and LA data which provided local and national comparisons for specific categories of learners
LA working directly with the staff to monitor and evaluate progress against targets at all levels:
- to ensure that all children are on track to reach age-related expectations
- to ensure that there is a whole-school approach to phonic teaching, and that challenging and achievable group targets are set for each class
- to improve quality of teaching and level of expectations so that 100% of teaching is good or better.

Information and data used to measure progress included:

teaching observations
FS Profile data
Key Stage 1/2 test and teacher assessment data
optional National Curriculum tests information
visual mapping data for all year groups
Ofsted inspection report
SIP, school improvement adviser and consultant notes of visit
pupil progress meetings response and analysis.

What has been the overall impact?

'Teachers are sharper in their planning and assessment and are clearly more ambitious about what might be achieved.'

'The ISP has been embraced by all staff, adding to the likelihood of success and has been well received by everyone. Teachers are confident in their delivery, have raised expectations and pupils are, equally, enjoying success. Teaching assistants have appreciated the input they have received and have grown in confidence.'

Sustainability – what next?

What will the school do?

'There is evidence of significant progress for pupils across the school, some children have made big gains and sustaining this is a challenge for the staff.'

The school remains an ISP school, and continues to develop the processes with rigour and enthusiasm. 'The ISP cycle has certainly had a big impact on pupil progress and staff confidence in teaching phonics. There is a residual impact on overall expectations of individual pupils and what they might achieve.' (SIP)
Ofsted judged the capacity to improve to be ‘good’. The model of distributed leadership which the school is developing will support this
The monitoring and evaluation systems are now embedded in the culture of the school
There are key staff in the school, developed through the faculty model, who take a leading role in ensuring that the focus remains firmly on teaching and learning
The SIP judged the capacity of the school to be very good
Targets for 2008 are:
- English L4 71%; mathematics L4 71%
- English L5 21%; mathematics L5 18%

What will the LA do?

Provide rich data for the school, which will enable the effective self-evaluation cycle to continue
The LA will continue to provide support, advice and challenge for the school, through the residence model and bespoke support.

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