Staff changes hinder school's improvement

Staff changes have hindered a school's efforts to improve, according to an Ofsted report.
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Milton Mount Primary, in Pound Hill, underwent a two-day inspection in May and the findings were published on June 24.

In his report, inspector Lee Selby praised school leaders’ “relentless focus on improving pupils’ progress” but said: “Frequent changes in staffing have hindered the ability of school leaders to improve the quality of teaching quickly enough.”

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He added: “School leaders have spent too much of their time dealing with a growing school and the continuous challenge of recruitment.”

Of the teachers currently at Milton Mount, 16 had joined the school since it was last inspected, in February 2014.

Describing teaching as “not yet good”, Mr Selby said some teachers did not challenge pupils enough and some did not have the subject knowledge needed to teach all areas of the curriculum sufficiently well.

He confirmed the school was improving and said children’s attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 was above the national average in 2015.

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But he said the progress made by those pupils in reading, writing and maths in recent years had not been good enough.

When it came to improving the school, Mr Selby recognised the efforts made by headteacher Anne Holmes, who recently employed a second deputy headteacher and strengthened the role of year-group team leaders.

He said: “These team leaders are passionate and capable teachers who are able to show the impact they have had in the short term in terms of helping their colleagues, especially newly qualified teachers, improve aspects of their teaching.

“However, these improvements have not yet been sustained enough to have a real impact on improving pupils’ outcomes over time.”

Milton Mount School has been approached for comment.

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