Contact: John Clarke, Deputy Director of Children's Services, County Office

Tel 01962 846459 email [email protected] or

Gerry Price, Strategic School Improvement Manager, New Forest Local Office Tel 023 8081 6127 email [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 Oliver's Battery Primary School was judged to require special measures following an inspection in June 2005. Since the last report to the panel the acting headteacher has withdrawn, with effect from 18 April 2006, from his temporary two term contract due to unexpected ill health. The local authority (LA) has ensured that the school has good temporary arrangements in place for the leadership of the school during the summer term, and has supported the governing body in appointing a permanent headteacher for the school from
1 September 2006.

1.2 The visit of Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI) to the school took place in February and the school was judged to have made satisfactory progress overall since the inspection.

1.3 This report to the panel supports Aim 1 of the Corporate Strategy (maximising life opportunities) and the achievement of the 5 outcomes of the Children Act 2004. The quality of schools is clearly closely related to the educational achievements of pupils, and those educational achievements fundamentally affect each person's life chances. The purpose of this report is to inform Elected Members of the work being done to effect improvement in the school.

2 Background

2.1 Robert Carson is acting headteacher of the school, which has 13.6% of its population entitled to free school meals. The number on roll is 217. The percentage of pupils identified as having special educational needs (SEN) and receiving additional support in the form of School Action or School Action Plus is 11.2%.

3 Leadership of the school

3.1 Mr David Musty was in post as acting headteacher from the beginning of the spring term. He was able to build upon the good work started by Mrs Fyfe before Christmas in his task of ensuring a focus on pupils' progress and of restoring the confidence and morale of teaching staff. Mr Musty also began work on the school's post Ofsted action plan.

3.2 After half term, despite his determination to continue in his acting role, it became clear that Mr Musty would have to withdraw from his two term contract due to ill health. The deputy headteacher was absent from school at this time due to a physical injury.

3.3 Ten days before the end of term the LA negotiated the secondment of another experienced and effective headteacher, Mr Bob Carson from Orchard Junior School in Dibden Purlieu, to secure the leadership and management of the school for the summer term.

3.4 The deputy headteacher was able to return to work for the last week of the spring term and saw to the day to day management of the school, supported by the very experienced senior administrative officer and the chair of governors, and by the attached inspector (AI). Unexpectedly, and very sadly, the long serving caretaker, well known to the whole school community, died at home. The deputy headteacher took on the challenging and emotionally demanding task of informing staff and children and ensuring their welfare.

3.5 In the last two weeks of term the governing body appointed Mr Dean Buckland to be the permanent headteacher of the school from September 2006. This was a significant step in ensuring the long term development of Oliver's Battery Primary School.

3.6 As an immediate priority, the new acting headteacher, Mr Carson, is dealing with serious staffing issues and seeing through the staff re-structuring begun in the spring term but not able to be completed. A senior education personnel officer is providing excellent support and Mr Carson is in weekly contact with Mr Buckland about developments. Mr Carson is already making progress in re-focussing the school on the priority of ensuring that pupils make appropriate progress and on the priorities for action set out by HMI in their February visit. Every effort is being made by the school's leadership team, the governors, and LA services to retrieve any ground lost in this extraordinary and unfortunate series of events in the second half of the spring term.

4 Post Ofsted action plan

4.1 Mr Musty was making good progress in bringing coherence to the school's post Ofsted action plan. His outline plan was accepted by HMI as being appropriate to the development needs of the school. Any further progress in adding detailed actions and timings to the plan was halted by the turbulent events described above.

4.2 Mr Carson and the AI have already begun work on developing the school's plan. Once this work is completed and agreed with the governors, the LA will be in a position to revise its original plan.

5 Progress since the inspection

5.1 The HMI visit to the school on 8 and 9 February judged that there is now a significant level of good teaching in the school. Their judgements next to the areas for improvement identified by Ofsted in June 2005 were:

· ensure that pupils of all ages and abilities achieve their potential -

inadequate progress

· raise standards in science throughout the school, in writing in Key Stage 1 and in information and communication technology in Key Stage 2 - insufficient evidence on this inspection

· improve the quality of teaching, and the overall curriculum provision in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 - satisfactory progress

· ensure that child protection procedures are in place and that they are understood by all staff - satisfactory progress

· address the weaknesses in the leadership of the headteacher, and in the overall leadership and management of the school - satisfactory progress

· ensure that the behaviour management policy is agreed with staff, parents and pupils so that it is consistently implemented - satisfactory progress.

5.2 The overall judgement was that the school has made satisfactory progress

since the inspection. The priorities for further development are:

· ensure all staff are using assessment and tracking procedures to evaluate progress in all subjects

· review and evaluate the impact of arrangements for teaching groups and the impact this has on the standards of the lower and middle achieving pupils.

5.3 The judgement of satisfactory progress overall was a welcome one and gave the school a clear platform for making further progress. The events of the second half of the spring term have meant that, once again, efforts have been focussed on stabilising the leadership and management of the school.

5.4 The lead HMI for the school has been informed of recent events. She is returning to the school with two colleagues on 16 and 17 May, and has already been in contact with the acting headteacher and the school improvement manager (SIM). A verbal report of HMI judgements will be made at the panel meeting.

6 Future support

6.1 The strategy group led by the SIM is meeting each half term to co-ordinate, focus and monitor LA support for the school. The SIM will ensure that the new permanent headteacher remains fully informed. There is weekly liaison between Mr Carson and Mr Buckland and full consultation on significant issues affecting the school from September.

6.2 Once he is in post, the AI will carry out a new headteacher review with Mr Buckland.

6.3 The school is receiving support for English and mathematics through the Leadership 4 programme.

6.4 The AI is working closely with Mr Carson on the key priority areas for the school, and on the school's action plan. She and the SIM will then revise the LA's plan.

6.5 The acting headteacher will continue to receive support from the senior personnel officer in dealing with staffing issues.

6.6 The AI and the SIM will meet with the HMI team during their May visit.

7 Legal implications

7.1 None

8 Financial implications

8.1 Due to the need to tackle weaknesses and to the events described, the school currently has a relatively large budget deficit. This is being monitored closely by the acting headteacher, governors, the school's bursar and the LA's financial services. Governors are aware of the need to plan for a balanced budget over time.

9 Personnel implications

9.1 None

10 Impact assessment

10.1 Race and equality impact has been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified.

11 Crime prevention issues

11.1 None

12 Views of the Local County Councillor

12.1 The local County Councillor is aware of events and progress in the school. She has not been consulted in the writing of this report.

Recommendation

1 That this report be noted.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

None