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28 January 2014 Mrs Kate Davies Executive Headteacher Hoyland Springwood Primary School Cloughfields Road Hoyland Barnsley South Yorkshire S74 0ER Dear Mrs Davies Special measures monitoring inspection of Hoyland Springwood Primary School Following my visit to your school on 27 January 2014, 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 which have been taken since the school's previous monitoring inspection. The inspection was the second monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection which took place in July 2013. The full list of the areas for improvement which were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached. Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time the school is making reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures. The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection. This letter and monitoring inspection report will be published on the Ofsted website. I am copying this letter and the monitoring inspection report to the Secretary of State, the Chair of the Governing Body and the Executive Director for Children, Young People and Families for Barnsley. Yours sincerely Robert Barbour Additional Inspector

Annex The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took place in July 2013 Improve the quality of teaching to at least good so that pupils make good or better progress in lessons and over time and attainment rises, by ensuring that: - teachers plan lessons to meet pupils needs, make clear the purpose of lessons, and use success criteria consistently, so that pupils know what is expected of them and how well they have achieved - marking and feedback to pupils is regular, identifies the next steps pupils need to take to improve their work and always identifies any misconceptions pupils have, especially in mathematics. Increase the effectiveness of leadership and governance to accelerate the rate at which the school improves and to ensure that the schools work is evaluated in the depth and detail required, by: - ensuring that checks on the quality of teaching are sharply focused on the impact teaching has on improving pupils learning and identifying specific points to help teachers increase pupils progress in lessons - making sure that leaders follow up on the points for improvement and show how these are being tackled. Leaders and governors must take immediate action to ensure pupils safety and improve communication with parents, by: - ensuring that the schools policies for child protection, behaviour and the use of physical restraint are accurately and consistently implemented, that details of incidents are fully recorded, actions are followed up and any resolution is clearly documented - ensuring that leaders more regularly and systematically analyse the schools records of incidents and take account of pupils and parents views and concerns when reviewing policies in order continually to improve the impact they have on promoting good behaviour and securing the safety of all children - ensuring that parents are always informed when physical restraint has been used and if their children have been injured as a result of behavioural incidents - seeking every opportunity to inform and enable parents to participate with the school in their childrens learning.

Report on the second monitoring inspection on 27 January 2014. Evidence The inspector observed the school's work, scrutinised documents and met with the executive headteacher, the acting headteacher, the Chair of the Governing Body, a group of Year 6 pupils and a representative of the local authority. The inspector observed three lessons and made short visits to two other lessons. Context Since the last monitoring inspection, the National Leader in Education who was supporting the school has been appointed as executive headteacher. An acting headteacher has also been seconded from a nearby primary school. Both of these appointments are temporary during the illness of the substantive headteacher. Achievement of pupils at the school The systems for monitoring the standards that pupils achieve have been made more rigorous and they show that the attainment of pupils is improving. Pupils in Years 5 and 6, however, still have some way to go to achieve their potential. The gap between the performance of pupils who are supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils) and other pupils is closing. The July inspection report highlighted the problem of instability in staffing last year. Pupils in a class identified in the report as having had four teachers in one year are making much better progress. This class has had one teacher this academic year and pupils have been supported with extra teaching in small groups to help them catch up in areas where they had fallen behind. Year 6 pupils had a change of teacher in December. Their progress is being monitored closely and additional one-to-one support is being provided. Currently, they are making good progress in their lessons. Assessment data show that pupils are improving their skills in reading and are much better at interpreting the sounds that letters make. Pupils are making better progress in mathematics, especially in their calculation skills, but mathematics remains the area where the most catching-up is needed. Pupils are attentive and keen in class and participate enthusiastically in activities. However, some able pupils are given work that is too easy for them and expectations for these pupils are not high enough.

The quality of teaching Teaching is improving. Teachers make the objectives of their lessons very clear and these objectives are planned systematically so that pupils can develop their skills in a coherent way from lesson to lesson. In lessons observed, however, expectations for the most able pupils were not high enough. Some teachers also did not insist on high standards of presentation and handwriting. Marking and feedback to pupils is regular and provides good advice to pupils on how they can improve their work. In mathematics, the approach to calculation has been standardised across the school, and teachers model the methods well. At times, however, techniques are presented without enough explanation. For example, in two lessons observed the reason why 30 x 50 is a hundred times bigger than 3 x 5 was not explored, with attention placed instead on the number of zeros. Behaviour and safety of pupils Serious weaknesses in the implementation of the policies for behaviour and use of physical restraint, in the quality of recording and in the information given to parents were not fully resolved by the time of the first monitoring inspection in November 2013. Since then, the local authority has commissioned a thorough review of safeguarding and the recommendations have been implemented. All policies and practices are now fully in line with expectations. The way that behaviour is recorded and the nature of each incident are monitored carefully by senior leaders. Records show a decline in the number of incidents since the start of the autumn term 2013 and the ways that incidents are handled, logged and reported to parents now fulfil the recommendations made at the July 2013 inspection. Pupils interviewed as part of this inspection described enjoying school and said they feel that it is a place where they are safe. Improvements have been made to the physical safety of the site with new fencing and this is appreciated by the pupils. Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep safe on the internet. During this visit they behaved well and their attitudes to learning were good. Pupil attitudes and behaviour have also been helped by the greater stability of staffing. Attendance of pupils over the school year to date is much higher than in the same period last year.

The quality of leadership in and management of the school The executive headteacher has provided strong strategic leadership and has been effective in securing improvement in the school. The school improvement plan was judged to be not fit for purpose at the first monitoring inspection. Under the leadership of the executive headteacher this plan has been rewritten and it is now fit for purpose. It describes clearly the actions to be taken, who is responsible, the time frames and criteria as to how success will be measured, both in the longer term and more immediately. Most importantly, the actions that have been taken so far have been effective. This is true especially for the drive to improve teaching, where the first actions have been for clear learning objectives and helpful marking and feedback to pupils. These areas are now strengths of teaching. The acting headteacher took up her temporary post in January and has led the improvement in mathematics and again the work to introduce a consistent approach to calculation has already shown positive effect. In addition, both the executive headteacher and the acting headteacher know the strengths and development needs of teachers well. Their monitoring is focused on the impact that teaching has on the progress of pupils. The points for improvement that result have helped to raise the quality of teaching. The schools self-evaluation is perceptive. Since the last monitoring inspection, the local authority has commissioned a review of the governance of the school. This showed many areas of strength, along with a number of areas for improvement. Members of the governing body have produced a draft action plan for improvement. With the executive headteacher, the governing body has made the systems for the appraisal of staff much more rigorous and the spending of the pupil premium funding more tightly linked to the progress of specific pupils for whom it is provided. Links with parents have been improved. A learning mentor has been appointed and part of her role is to develop these links further. A new web-blog is increasingly accessed by parents. Parents have been asked for their views on how the school could improve. A full analysis of this has been displayed, with areas that have been changed as a result and explanation about why some suggestions cannot be implemented. External support Barnsley local authority has provided good quality support for the school. It has brokered the appointment of, and it is funding, the temporary posts of executive headteacher and acting headteacher. It is committed to ensuring high quality leadership of the school both in the immediate future and in the longer term. It has provided further substantial support for the school budget. It has provided reviews of safeguarding and governance. The reports of the School Evaluation Officer show insight in their judgement and helpful advice.