25th June 2024

Dear Parents / Carers,

As you may be aware, an Ofsted inspection was carried out between 27 and 28 February 2024.
We saw some positive feedback in the report which reflects the hard work and dedication of our pupils, staff and governors. This shows that recent school improvement measures have had a positive impact.
Ofsted noted that many children are polite, considerate and happy and enjoy the different clubs and activities on offer at Ivy Road. Ofsted recognised the improvements within our phonics programme and that safeguarding at Ivy Road is effective. We are proud of these achievements.
In other areas of the report we are very disappointed by the ratings. As a school, we are already on a journey of improvement and have made many changes which are now successfully embedded into everyday school life. This includes our ongoing targeted work on pupils’ attendance.
Ofsted’s overall judgement of the school is inadequate. Due to this judgement, we must now begin the process of academisation. This process only begins today when our report is made public and whilst we don’t have any further details at this point, we will, of course, share more information as soon as it becomes available.
Academies are state-funded schools which are independent from local authorities meaning they are not run by councils. They can decide on their own curriculum, term dates, school hours and more, however, they are still regulated.
Becoming an Academy should be seen as a positive change. It will give our school greater support, allowing us to focus on what really matters – teaching, learning and a curriculum that is based on what works.
We know that the outcome of the Ofsted inspection will be disappointing. We would like to reassure you that we are committed to doing everything we can to continue to improve and strengthen the school.
We take this outcome extremely seriously and we are confident that we are already on our way to addressing the issues identified. We would like to take this opportunity to outline some of the work we have already done and our immediate plans to improve on the findings of the report:
• We have purchased CPOMs - an electronic system for improved recording and management of safeguarding incidents.
• We have further embedded our phonics programme (Monster Phonics).
• We have begun to implement changes to the wider curriculum.
• We have introduced new curriculum packages for Geography, History, Art, French, and Design Technology.
• We have a new Behaviour Policy and follow three core school rules – Ready, Respectful, Safe. This has already reduced the number of behaviour related incidents in school.
• We now have two trained Thrive practitioners. Thrive is whole school approach to support children with their emotional and social development to enable them to engage with learning. Inspectors recognised the positive impact of this on behaviour in school.
• We have used internal exclusions and suspensions as appropriate to challenge unacceptable behaviour.
• Subject leads have been given allocated time within the school day to monitor the implementation and delivery of the curriculum.
• Leaders have considered the workload of staff and seek to implement procedures that promote staff wellbeing.
• We are working with an Early Years specialist to continue improve the Early Years curriculum.
• We have completed ShREC training to promote high quality interactions as a whole staff team.

For us to make rapid progress we must continue to address the areas in which improvements are required in accordance with our improvement plan. Inspectors told us we are ‘at the beginning of a journey to be proud of’ and we ask you to trust us to make further improvements to the areas identified by the report.
We understand that you may have questions about the report, and we would like to encourage everyone to attend our open evening at school on Thursday 11th July at 5pm to speak to us directly about any concerns. We will send out more information regarding the meeting next week.
At the open evening, school leaders will be joined by members of the governing body and a representative from the Local Authority. We will be sharing further details of the actions we have taken and next steps on our journey of improvement.
The Governors and school leaders would like to thank all members of our wonderful school community for their hard work and support throughout the inspection. We are very proud of our school, colleagues and the community and are eager to meet the challenges ahead.
We are jointly committed to ensuring we are constantly striving to offer the best education and supporting the wellbeing for our children.
You can find a full copy of the report attached to this email and the report will be published on our website and on Ofsted’s website from tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely

Emma Taylor,  Penny Latham and Darren Piper
Headteacher and Co-Chairs of Governors.

Please read our latest Ofsted Report: Ivy Road OFSTED

Please click here to register your views of our school with OFSTED.

At a glance Parent View Results for Ivy Road Primary School (365 days up until 22/09/2017)

On 29 & 30 November 2016 Ivy Road Primary was visited by Angela James, Chief Education Adviser; Gill Kemp, School Improvement Officer and Christine Inkster, External Consultant to conduct an Assisted Review.

The school is making good progress. The report contains many positive comments about our school and shows that we are committed to providing our children with enriching experiences.

Please click on link below for the results of our recent school review:

School and college performance tables:

Please click this link to access the school and college performance tables.

Please click this link to see our performance data.