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15 July 2016
Karen Ridett
St Francis Catholic and Church of England (Aided) Primary School
Newport Road
Ventnor
Isle of Wight
PO38 1BQ
Dear Karen Ridett
Special measures monitoring inspection of St Francis Catholic and Church
of England (Aided) Primary School
Following my visit with Catherine Old, Her Majesty’s Inspector, to your school on 29
and 30 June 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education,
Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. Thank you for the
help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss
the actions that have been taken since the school’s recent section 5 inspection.
The inspection was the first monitoring inspection since the school became subject
to special measures following the inspection that took place in January 2016.
Having considered all the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time:
Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of
special measures.
The local authority’s statement of action is fit for purpose.
The school’s improvement plan is fit for purpose.
The school may appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring
inspection following consultation with Her Majesty’s Inspector.

 I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education
for the diocese of Portsmouth (Anglican) and the director of education for the
diocese of Portsmouth (Catholic), the regional schools commissioner and the
director of children’s services for the Isle of Wight. This letter will be published on
the Ofsted website.
Yours sincerely
Theresa Phillips
Her Majesty’s Inspector

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 Annex
The areas for improvement identified during the inspection that took
place in January 2016
 Urgently improve safeguarding arrangements, including in the early years, by:
- ensuring the safeguarding policy meets statutory requirements
- training all staff in the required areas of safeguarding, including the
prevention of extremism and radicalisation
- improving the effectiveness of monitoring of safeguarding information and
procedures.
 Improve the impact of leaders and governors by:
- accurately identifying the school’s strengths and weaknesses
- ensuring additional funds are being used effectively to meet pupils’ needs
- ensuring the school’s website meets statutory requirements
- raising staff awareness of the needs of disadvantaged pupils and how to
meet pupils’ needs effectively
- monitoring the attendance of all groups of pupils
- developing the role of middle leaders
- raising staff expectations of pupils’ behaviour in lessons.
 Improve the quality of teaching so that all pupils, including disadvantaged
pupils, achieve well in all subjects by:
- making sure teachers are held to account for the progress of groups of
pupils
- ensuring activities build more effectively on what pupils already know
- improving the standard of pupils’ handwriting and pride in the
presentation of their work
- ensuring time is well used in lessons and that pupils are engaged by their
learning
- improving the quality of phonics teaching in early years.
An external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in
order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.
An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this
aspect of leadership and management may be improved.
The school may appoint one newly qualified teacher.

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 Report on the first monitoring inspection on 29 June 2016 to 30 June
2016
Evidence
Inspectors observed the school’s work, scrutinised a range of documents and met
with staff and a group of pupils. Inspectors visited seven lessons, several jointly
with the acting headteacher, looked at a sample of pupils’ work and observed
pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school.
Inspectors met with four governors, including the chair of the governing body, two
representative of the local authority and a representative from the Portsmouth and
Winchester Diocesan Academies Trust.
Inspectors reviewed the school’s website, and scrutinised the single central record
and a range of documents related to safeguarding. The lead inspector spoke to a
few parents during the course of the inspection to seek their views about the
school. Inspectors took account of the school’s own information about pupils and
evaluated the local authority’s statement of action and the school improvement
plan.
Context
Since the inspection, three governors have left and four have joined the governing
body.
Effectiveness of leadership and management
The acting headteacher is leading the school with determination and high levels of
commitment. She shows steadiness, resilience and quiet authority in bringing about
improvements and managing the school through its transition to academy status.
She commands the confidence of the governors, the local authority, parents and
staff and is building leadership capacity at the school. The acting deputy
headteacher, inclusion leader, mathematics subject leader, early years coordinator
and family liaison officer are all contributing to leading improvement at the school.
Since the inspection, officers from the local authority and both the Anglican and
Catholic dioceses have worked together to improve governance. The
recommendations of the review of governance, conducted in 2015, have now been
enacted. The chair of the governing body has been steadfast throughout a
challenging period and provided stability. The four governors who have recently
joined the governing body bring welcome experience and expertise. They display a
secure knowledge and understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the
school. Following a review of pupil premium expenditure, they know how this
additional funding is spent and are clear that there needs to be a greater evaluation
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 of its impact. Governors are now challenging school leaders more rigorously and
this is leading to a sharper focus on monitoring actions to check they are being
effective.
However, governors’ ability to hold leaders firmly to account is limited by the lack of
fully aspirational targets and milestones in the school improvement plan and
statement of action from the local authority. Both plans describe many appropriate
actions required to raise standards rapidly. However, the success indicators for each
year group against which progress can be judged at clear stages are currently too
low, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. Governors and school leaders have
recognised this and have plans to address this shortcoming.
Plans that focus on improving outcomes in early years and in English and
mathematics underpin the school improvement plan. They are being used
effectively to improve teaching and learning and share good practice. Senior and
middle leaders responsible for writing and delivering these plans have benefited
from coaching by local authority advisers and are challenging and supporting
teachers confidently and effectively. Lesson plans and pupils’ work are now checked
more regularly to see how well pupils’ learning needs are being met. In common
with strategic school plans, these operational plans would benefit from success
criteria that describe high expectations of pupils’ progress.
Safeguarding is now effective. There has been a marked improvements in this
aspect of the school’s work. Arrangements for recruiting and training staff have
been strengthened and the policy has been updated to meet the most recent
guidance. Staff show high levels of care for pupils and maintain a good culture of
safeguarding in the school.
The school’s website has been updated but does not yet meet requirements on the
publication of specified information because it lacks some of the required
information about governance.
Officers from the local authority and both the Anglican and Catholic dioceses have
worked together well to prepare for transition to academy status. Plans are
proceeding steadily.
Quality of teaching, learning and assessment
Teaching is improving because leaders are providing support and useful guidance
for staff. Leaders have devised a more sophisticated way of assessing what pupils
can do using more regular informal assessments. For example, in English pupils are
set work based on their different starting points, which is then assessed by
teachers. Pupils improve their initial attempts based on feedback they receive.
Teachers use the information they gain about what pupils now know, understand
and can do, to plan the next steps in learning. Pupils like this form of assessment as
they were able to explain how they had made progress. Regular meetings between
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 leaders and teachers check how well each pupil in the class is progressing and this
holds teachers to account more robustly. This detailed information is used to plan
the next stages in pupils’ learning, including steps to improve attendance, if
necessary.
Teachers have ensured that pupils have improved their learning habits and are
engaged by the activities offered. Pupils are now able to self-reflect and self-correct
because teachers explain what they are learning clearly. Inspectors saw Year 6
pupils voluntarily using a dictionary to make sure that their writing was accurate,
while a group of boys worked cooperatively to help each other find more interesting
words to use. In Year 4 mathematics, pupils were intrigued by their exploration of
symmetry and tasks set were well matched to pupils’ different starting points.
Although generally pupils are working purposefully during lessons, sometimes
teachers do not consistently check when pupils are ready to move on, and this is
slowing the progress of some, especially the most able.
In Reception Year, teachers and support staff questioned children skilfully to explain
their thinking as they pursued their project on superheroes. This included
investigating which materials would make a good cloak, finding the best words to
describe their favourite heroes and using different senses to identify objects.
Children regularly sounded out the words they were writing to check they had
spelled them correctly. This confident use of phonics to guide their writing was also
used by pupils in Year 1.
Most teachers have higher expectations and have improved their practice as a result
of implementing recent training led by middle leaders. Teachers have been
evaluating each other’s marking, and books show that written feedback is often now
linked more precisely to learning aims, in accordance with the school’s policy. When
pupils are given the opportunity to respond to the advice in a timely way, this is
helping them to improve their work. Year 4 pupils told inspectors that teachers had
been making them improve their spelling and handwriting, and some evidence of
this was seen in books.
Personal development, behaviour and welfare
Pupils’ behaviour has improved since the inspection and they have become more
engaged with their learning. Pupils say that they enjoy coming to school and feel
safe. They behave cooperatively in lessons and move around school in a calm and
orderly way. Incidents of disruptive behaviour during lessons are rare and, if they
do occur, they are managed increasingly successfully. This improved behaviour is
due to raised expectations, as seen in lessons and reported by pupils, who told
inspectors ‘we get more learning done’ because ‘teachers sort it out’.
Some vulnerable pupils are being supported and managed very well, which is
helping to increase their rates of progress. The family liaison officer (FLO) and
emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) work closely with families and other
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 agencies to enable pupils to receive the necessary support. Some older pupils told
inspectors how much they appreciated the work done by the FLO and ELSA to help
them overcome difficulties. As a result of the effective work of the FLO and ELSA,
over half of the pupils whose attendance was poor at the last inspection are now
attending more regularly. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils has improved.
Outcomes for pupils
Pupils’ achievement has risen in some areas. The proportion of children in Reception
who are on course to achieve a good level of development in 2016 is higher than in
2015. More pupils in key stage 1 are reaching the standards expected for their age
in phonics.
In Year 2, work moderated by the local authority shows that attainment at the end
of key stage 1 is higher than last year. Since the inspection, there has been a rapid
improvement in pupils’ progress, particularly by disadvantaged pupils. There is now
no difference between their attainment and that of other pupils in reading and
writing, but a small gap remains in mathematics.
In all year groups, pupils’ rates of progress are increasing because teaching is
improving. In Years 5 and 6, the focus on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils
during lessons and the provision of effective interventions have helped this group
catch up and progress rapidly. However, in Year 3 and Year 4, not enough
disadvantaged pupils are making sufficient progress, partly due to significant gaps
in their knowledge that have not yet been filled. In key stage 2, pupils’ attainment
in writing is lower than in reading and mathematics. A new approach to writing
introduced throughout the school at the beginning of the year is beginning to show
a positive impact and has contributed to improved outcomes in Year 2. In all year
groups, there needs to be more challenge for the most able pupils.
External support
The local authority has provided effective challenge and support to the school. Local
authority advisers have improved the skills of school leaders and made a positive
difference to the quality of teaching. The acting headteacher has benefited from the
support of a local learning partner. The school receives helpful and accurate
feedback from local authority officers about aspects of leadership, teaching and
learning. This contributes well to the development of senior leaders’ ability to help
the school to improve.
Local authority governor services helpfully contributed to the reformed governing
body. There has been most welcome cooperation between the local authority and
both the Anglican and Catholic dioceses to steer the school on its journey of
improvement and also towards becoming an academy. A revised specification for
the role of headteacher is about to be applied to the imminent search for a
substantive post holder.

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 Plans are in place for the school to join the Portsmouth and Winchester Diocesan
Academies Trust. An officer from the trust has been working closely and effectively
with the acting headteacher to support the transition to academy status, including
chairing a parent’s forum to inform families and respond to concerns they may
have.

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