Contact: John Clarke, Deputy Director of Children's Services, Tel 01962 846459 [email protected] or

Gerry Price, Strategic School Improvement Manager, Tel 02380 816127 [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 Ampfield Primary School was inspected by Ofsted in June 2005. In accordance with Section 13(7) of the School Inspections Act 1996, the Registered Inspector concluded that the school provided a satisfactory education but had serious weaknesses. A visit by HMI last term concluded that satisfactory progress had been made on all issues. A copy of his report is attached as an appendix.

1.2 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 achievement 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 Beverly Smith is headteacher of the school, which has 20% of its population entitled to free school meals. The number on roll is 45.

3 Progress since the last report

3.1 The school was visited by HMI on 8 February 2006 and judged to have made satisfactory progress overall in removing the causes of its serious weaknesses. The local authority (LA) is judged to be providing effective support for the school in general and for the headteacher in particular. The LA's statement of action is judged to be good at providing help for the school in removing the causes of serious weaknesses.

3.2 Staffing and training issues continue to be addressed appropriately. A new member of staff has been appointed for the Key Stage 2 class. The teacher in the Year Y1/2 class has been appointed to the vacant mathematics manager post.

3.3 At least satisfactory progress has been made on all key issues.

3.4 Numbers on roll continue to rise. Currently there are 45 pupils in total. The profile of the school is changing as the number on roll increases. Twenty percent of pupils receive free school meals and the proportion of pupils with special needs has risen to 20%. This may affect the projected attainment targets for 2006.

4 Future action

4.1 The school will receive continuing support with the action planning process and in addressing the four identified areas for improvement. Progress in achieving milestones identified in the governors' action plan will be closely monitored and action taken if this is not satisfactory.

5 Legal implications

5.1 None

6 Financial implications

6.1 None

7 Personnel implications

7.1 None

8 Impact assessment

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

9 Crime prevention issues

9.1 None

10 Views of the Local County Councillor

10.1 The local County Councillor is aware of progress to date through his contacts with the governing body but his views have not been sought in the drafting of this report.

Recommendation

1 That this report be noted.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss 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