Plan in place to raise standards

Maidenhead: Primary accepts its ‘Inadequate’ rating

A Maidenhead school has accepted an ‘enormously disappointing’ Ofsted inspection which found it to be ‘Inadequate’.

Pupils at All Saints CE Junior School ‘do not get a good education’, according to education watchdog inspectors who visited on February 9 and 10.

The report added that ‘struggling readers do not get the help they need’, while staff ‘do not ensure that pupils learn knowledge and skills in the right order’.

Furthermore, inspectors said children with special educational needs are ‘not well supported’.

Reading has been highlighted as a weak area, as staff ‘have not been trained to teach early reading’.

As such, the ‘large number of struggling readers in Year 3 and 4’ are not being taught a ‘coherently sequenced’ reading curriculum, meaning they are unable to build on previous skills.

Furthermore, across a range of subjects, pupils experience ‘disconnected lessons’ where staff teach ‘the same content to all pupils without checking what pupils have previously learned’.

The report added the provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) does not meet their needs, and that staff ‘do not adapt their

teaching well enough’.

As such, pupils with special educational needs and disabilities ‘are not learning well’.

However, Ofsted inspectors praised the behaviour and attitudes of pupils, who ‘are happy coming to school’ and know ‘the importance of being a good friend’.

Moreover, the report highlighted a new behaviour approach to be having a positive impact on attitudes in lessons, and that leaders ‘are successful in promoting equality and diversity’.

Inspectors mentioned one pupil who said that ‘everyone is welcome, whatever you look like, whatever you believe’.

Safeguarding arrangements were also described as ‘effective’.

The inspection took place shortly after the appointment of an interim headteacher as well as new leaders in maths and English, all of whom began their new roles in January 2022.

In a statement, All Saints CE Junior School said that the report was ‘enormously disappointing’, but that it ‘fully accepts the Ofsted inspection findings’.

It added: “Our improvement journey which began after the pandemic has not happened quickly enough, and the report reflects this.

“Moving forward we are working hard and are fully committed to making rapid improvement to bring the school back to a ‘good’ rating as soon as possible.

“The school’s action plan presented to Ofsted confirmed that the current leaders had recognised the correct areas of development, however at the time of inspection the journey had just begun, and the impact could not yet be evidenced.

“To strengthen the school’s improvement journey, an interim executive headteacher has been appointed and an interim strategic management board has replaced the governing body, to hold leaders to account to deliver rapid and sustainable improvement in the quality of education at the school.

“Being placed in the category of inadequate means that an academy order will be placed on the school.

“The local authority and the interim strategic management board are proactively working with the Department for Education to find a suitable multi academy trust for the school to join and continue its journey to good.”

To view the report in full, visit tinyurl.com/yeya62ek