Ryton-On-Dunsmore Provost Williams Church of England Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Provost Williams C of E Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 10 October 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in February 2014.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. In the recent past, the school has been through a period of turbulence in both leadership and staffing.

During this time, pupils' progress was not as strong as it should have been. Since your appointment in February 2017 y...ou have made a positive impact. You have raised expectations so that teachers are clear about the progress that pupils must make.

You hold regular meetings with staff to discuss pupils' progress and meet more regularly with them to discuss your most vulnerable pupils to ensure that they receive the support they need. Through your involvement with other schools and through regular moderation, you have improved the quality of teacher assessment so that this is now more accurate. You are relentless in your endeavour to ensure that outcomes for pupils improve.

Governors are well informed and have a very clear overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. They are highly involved in monitoring and evaluation activities so that they can check the work of leaders and the impact on pupils' outcomes for themselves. They meet regularly with school leaders, they analyse pupils' progress and attainment, and they carry out learning walks and look at pupils' work.

Governors are knowledgeable about the impact of additional funding on outcomes for pupils, and they hold leaders to account effectively. This year, governors helped to establish a new vision: 'Together today, for a better tomorrow.' Pupils are polite and well behaved.

They focus well in lessons and join in with enthusiasm. There are strong relationships between pupils and staff. Pupils commented that teachers were very supportive and said, 'They don't give you the answers, but help you to work it out.'

The school supports a healthy lifestyle. Pupils use bicycles and scooters to come to school. At breaktimes pupils eat fruit and are physically active on the trim trail and tyre park.

They play football and use the new running track to take daily exercise. Physical education and school sport now has a higher profile. Pupils now attend more after-school clubs and participate in more competitive sport.

After a period during which the school's football team only played friendly fixtures, this year the team became county champions. Parents I spoke to during the inspection gave me very positive views about the school. Comments like 'It is like a big family' and 'a warm, welcoming school' were typical.

A small number of parents raised concerns about bullying, but the school's records show that leaders log any incidents and respond appropriately. Pupils know their behaviour policy well and said that if there was any bullying then teachers would sort it out. Since your appointment you have addressed the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection.

You have increased the level of responsibility that subject leaders take so that they now have a better overview of their subjects. Through their monitoring, English and mathematics leaders identified areas for improvement and provided appropriate training, for example in guided reading. In response to a lack of consistency in the teaching of mathematics, the school joined the central mathematics hub and introduced new teaching programmes.

Subject leaders now lead curriculum days and have developed improvement plans for their subjects. You have developed greater links with other schools, so that your school is looking outwards to access staff training and share best practice. The school is currently involved in a two-year project to improve standards in English, mathematics and leadership.

Although you have sought to address the quality of handwriting and presentation, this remains a weakness and you recognise that this is an area that requires further work. Social, moral, spiritual and cultural development and fundamental British values are threaded throughout the curriculum, so that pupils are better prepared for life in modern Britain. You now provide work packs for pupils from Traveller families to help them continue with their learning while they are away.

You are vigilant in your approach to monitoring attendance, particularly for those pupils who only attend for part of the year. You hold attendance meetings and draw up attendance agreements with individual families. You have developed stronger relationships with your Gypsy Roma and Traveller families so that they now keep you better informed about when and where they are travelling.

A representative of the local authority visits regularly and acknowledges the strong improvements you have made. Safeguarding is effective. You have ensured that arrangements for safeguarding are fit for purpose.

Safeguarding information has a very high profile on newsletters, on the website for parents and in displays around school. The procedures and record-keeping for the recruitment of staff are exemplary. You and the safeguarding governor carry out regular checks.

You seek advice from external agencies in a timely manner and will escalate your concerns if necessary. You are vigilant in following up pupils who do not attend school and take appropriate action so that you can be sure that they are safe. Staff are clear about school procedures and know where to report concerns to.

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. They say they can talk to a teacher if they are worried. They demonstrate a good knowledge about e-safety when using the internet and about road safety.

Inspection findings ? Published information over recent years has shown that pupils at the end of key stage 2 make progress in reading that is well below the national average. You have taken positive steps to address standards in reading, and attainment has improved. Staff have received training in the teaching of reading, and you have introduced more exciting and inspiring texts to engage pupils.

You have invested in books and revamped the school library. You have introduced a new reading programme to motivate pupils. Although this is still at an early stage, it has had a positive impact on the progress that current pupils are making.

Reading has a high profile in school. Pupils read regularly and say they enjoy reading. Some reading books, however, are too easy for them and do not provide sufficient challenge.

• As a result of more effective teaching and better-quality texts, pupils' vocabulary is developing. Pupils are taught specific skills explicitly to gain a basic understanding of text and are challenged to deepen their understanding through effective questioning and comprehension activities. For example, pupils in Year 6 identified features in a biography about the Olympian Tom Daley to support their own writing.

Pupils in Year 4 extracted emotive and descriptive text from a narrative to create a poem about No Man's Land in World War 1. ? Outcomes in phonics have improved so that in 2018 they were close to the national average for 2017. You have revised the teaching of phonics so that there is now a well-structured programme and pupils are making better progress.

Routines are well established and pupils are well engaged. Teachers model sounds effectively and address misconceptions promptly. They have clear expectations for learning and behaviour.

Pupils in key stage 1 are beginning to apply their knowledge of phonics in their writing. However, generally, spelling is weak across school. ? The attendance of pupils is below the national average, and persistent absence for some groups of pupils is high.

You have taken a rigorous approach to tackling high levels of absence. You have clear strategies in place to improve attendance, such as weekly attendance awards, monthly class certificates, termly 100% awards, and an annual 100% attendance trip. You ensure that attendance has a high profile on your website, on newsletters and around school.

You analyse attendance figures regularly and follow up attendance and punctuality rigorously. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? teachers further embed the teaching of phonics so that pupils improve their ability to spell accurately ? leaders establish a consistent approach to the teaching of handwriting to improve the quality of handwriting and presentation ? teachers ensure that reading books are closely matched to pupils' ability. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Coventry, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Warwickshire.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Sue Cameron Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you, the chair of governors and other members of the governing body. I spoke by telephone to a representative of the local authority and an external consultant.

I spoke to parents at the beginning of the school day and considered the 72 responses to Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, including 45 written comments. There were no responses to Ofsted's pupil survey or the staff questionnaire. I scrutinised a range of school documentation, including the single central record, your school self-evaluation and school improvement priorities, the minutes of governing body meetings, safeguarding information, attendance information, curriculum plans, local authority reports and reports from external consultants.

I visited classrooms with you and looked at pupils' work in phonics, reading and writing. I listened to pupils read and talked to them about reading. I observed pupils' behaviour at the beginning of the school day, on the playground and in lessons.