6th July 2010

Dear Parents and Carers,

Ofsted Inspection 22nd and 23rd June 2010

I am delighted to be able to share with you the outcomes of our recent Ofsted inspection. A copy will be coming home with the children tomorrow (7th July) and you can download the report using the link below.  The report is also due to be published on the Ofsted website on Friday.

We are especially proud of the fact that Ofsted recognised the caring, inclusive and supportive ethos at this school noting that “Care, guidance and support is exceptionally strong” and judging us as ‘outstanding’ in this area. ‘The effectiveness of safeguarding procedures’ and ‘the extent to which pupils feel safe’ were also judged to be ‘outstanding’. ‘Behaviour was seen to be ‘good’, with Ofsted commenting on “pupils’ positive and responsible behaviour”. Another key strength identified was the “well directed” and “skilled learning support” which leads to pupils with identified needs making progress above national expectations.

‘Attendance’ at this school is now above national average and for this reason is now considered ‘good’. I would like to thank parents and carers for their support in improving attendance, particularly with regard to the significant reduction in requests for term time holiday.

In September 2009 the Ofsted Framework for Inspections changed, making ‘good’ judgements more difficult to achieve. Levels of attainment became a ‘limiting judgement’ which means that if the levels achieved by pupils are in line with national expectations then attainment and therefore the ‘overall effectiveness’ is deemed ‘satisfactory’. With this in mind we were extremely pleased with the overall outcome which is that “Burnham is a satisfactory school with many good features”.

Usually, the judgement for ‘capacity to improve’ will mirror the overall grade, but the Ofsted Team recognised the success that senior leaders and governors have had in driving recent school improvements and had confidence in our ability to continue to improve provision and outcomes at this school. Therefore ‘capacity to improve’ was judged as ‘good’.

Thank you to the large number of parents and carers who completed and returned the questionnaires. The inspection team commented that your responses were overwhelmingly positive indicating that your children enjoy coming to school and most importantly feel safe and secure whilst they are here. A few parents felt that we could do more to help you support your child’s learning at home and we are looking at ways to improve this such as issuing termly reports with targets.

We hope you enjoy reading the report and if you have any questions arising from it then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

Nicky Tothill

Headteacher