ESTYN REPORT: Saltney Ferry Primary School damning report published.

UPDATED:

The Estyn report for Saltney Ferry primary school has been published today in full, the school has been placed into ‘Special Measures’ due to its current performance level which is deemed unsatisfactory.

The report says the school’s prospects of improving are ‘unsatisfactory’ and has made little progress in implementing most of the recommendations from an inspection in March 2008.

Its goes onto say there is no shared understanding among the staff and governing body of how the school is developing in relation to the vision for the school, while improvement plans do not focus on raising pupils standards of achievement.

Leadership has been judged as unsatisfactory, some of the staff are unaware of their job descriptions or the areas for improvement for which they are responsible.

Senior leaders do not communicate expectations to staff clearly enough, and do not have systems in place to manage the performance of the staff.

The quality of the teaching comes in for criticism, the report says teaching is inconsistent across the school, pupils skills in listening, ICT, thinking and independent learning are underdeveloped while many of them are judged to have poor concentration and social skills, which is hindering their learning.

The report says that many pupils do not achieve high standards in writing because they do not write enough in different styles and that they do not understand how to improve their own work.

The school has recently introduced an electronic system to track pupil progress yet teachers are not using the system effectively, this means that teachers’ are not matching learning activities closely enough to pupils learning needs.

The report does say ‘While pupils levels of achievement at the end of the key stages have risen in the last year, for many pupils progress remains too slow’

As a result of the inspection in January the school has been placed into ‘special measures’ and will be monitored by Estyn on a termly basis. 

Recommendations include:

• Improve pupils standards in English and mathematics, particularly at key stage 2
• Improve pupils communication and social skills to support their learning effectively
• Ensure that pupils have meaningful opportunities to use their writing, numeracy and ICT skills in all subjects
• Improve the quality and consistency of teaching across the school
• Improve the use of assessment outcomes to meet pupils’ needs appropriately
• Define clearly the roles and responsibilities for all staff and governors to ensure that the school delivers the school improvement plan effectively.
• Implement effective self-evaluation procedures based on first-hand evidence so that leaders have a secure knowledge of the standards in the school and what needs to improve.
• Implement rigorous performance management procedures to ensure appropriate access for staff to professional development opportunities linked to school improvement priorities.

The acting head of Saltney Ferry C.P, Charlotte Luke and Chair of Governors, Louise Harris issued a joint statement today in repose to the published report: 

“We acknowledge that during the recent Estyn Inspection in January 2014 that Saltney Ferry C.P.School was judged to be unsatisfactory and has therefore been categorised as needing Special Measures. 

“Saltney Ferry C.P. School has happy and settled children. The wellbeing of learners will remain a key priority, alongside giving our children the structure and direction they need and deserve to fulfil their potential. Responses from the Learner Questionnaires show that 100% of our children feel safe in the school and that teachers and other adults in the school help them to learn and make progress. 

“There has been a journey of improvement within the school community over recent years. We firmly believe that we are able to make the necessary improvements to guarantee success for all of our children. This drive for future improvement will not end after this report. We have a number of recommendations to follow and are already working on the Post Inspection Action Plan which will clearly set out the actions for improvement. There is a continued commitment from staff and governors to raise standards in all areas and we are working closely with the Local Authority who are providing practical support and guidance. “

The Deputy Leader of Flintshire County Council Bernie Attridge said on twitter;

@DeesideDotCom Urgent action needed maybe join the school with the High School to make an all through School.

— bernie attridge (@bernieatto) March 18, 2014

@DeesideDotCom Governors and the Leadership of the School need to face up to there responsibilities and act swiftly.

— bernie attridge (@bernieatto) March 18, 2014

You can read the full report HERE…