Staff ambitious for school to improve its grade quickly

Langford Lower School was graded by Ofsted as ‘requires improvement’ after its inspection in November.

An inspector returning to the school in January wrote: “The head, staff and governors have taken recommendations on board fully from the previous inspection and are ambitious for the school to move to ‘good’ quickly.”

Staff have increased the frequency of their assessments from three to six times a year, enabling them to collect more information about pupils’ progress.

The report says: “Staff are all familiar with filtering the data so that they are able to extract valuable information about the achievement of individuals and groups.

“The head is extremely knowledgeable about the circumstances, performance and needs of every pupil and uses this effectively to intervene quickly should any pupils fall behind.”

The school has invested in staff training and makes effective use of external support, for example from other schools and advisers.

Central Beds Council also supports the school well.

The report letter adds: “Governors support and challenge the school confidently.

“They know the school well and are able to form an independent view of how well pupils are learning because they visit regularly and know how to interpret data.”

To improve further the school should improve the provision of outdoor learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage and keep progress data on pupils who have been removed from the special needs register.

The school should also make a more obvious link between actions in its development plan and the difference it will make to pupils’ learning as well as making better use of Ofsted’s online publications.