All Saints Church of England (Aided) Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management, including governance, by:
  • ensuring that leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses
  • sharpening action plans with precise, measurable targets so leaders and governors can check that their actions are having a positive impact
  • ensuring that monitoring activities focus on the most urgent areas for improvement and always offer clear guidance to staff on how to accelerate progress
  • improving the effectiveness of the governing body so that it is able to offer stringent challenge to the school.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that all groups of pupils make good progress over time by:
  • providing teachers with clear, incisive feedback so that they understand how to improve their teaching
  • making sure that teachers use assessment information to plan lessons that enable all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and the most able, to make at least good progress
  • ensuring that pupils have regular opportunities to learn from their mistakes and can make the most of the advice and guidance that teachers offer.
• Improve attainment and rates of progress in writing and mathematics, by ensuring that:
  • teachers have consistently high expectations of what pupils are able to achieve, especially the most able
  • pupils have more opportunities to write at length, so that they can develop their skills as writers
  • pupils have more opportunities to secure and deepen their understanding in mathematics. Pupils who do not quickly understand new concepts should have time to grasp them, while most able pupils have time to deepen their understanding. An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Senior leaders and governors are ambitious for the school. However, their overly positive view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses prevents them from recognising areas that require improvement.
• Senior leaders have not responded with enough urgency to the recent sharp decline in standards in writing and mathematics. Leaders feel that the school’s overly harsh assessments of pupils’ attainment were the reason for this drop, especially in writing. Consequently, leaders have been slow to accept that progress is not good. This is because they have not evaluated the evidence in pupils’ books and in lessons with sufficient rigour.
• Monitoring undertaken by leaders does not focus clearly enough on the most urgent priorities for improvement. Since the start of the academic year, leaders have not made writing a priority when undertaking lesson observations or looking at children’s work. As a result, progress in writing is not yet good.
• Leaders have plans in place to improve teaching and accelerate pupils’ progress. However, these plans are not sharp enough, and nor do they focus on the most important things that need to be done to help teachers to improve. Leaders rely too much on teachers helping each other to improve. Feedback provided by senior leaders is overly positive and does not provide incisive advice on what will enable pupils to make more rapid progress.
• There is a wide range of opportunities for teachers and support staff to develop and extend their skills. However, leaders have not evaluated the effectiveness of these and as a result the impact has been limited.
• The leader with responsibility for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is highly effective, making sure that the needs of these pupils are met. She uses the support and advice of external agencies to provide these pupils with good support. As a result, those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making at least as good progress as other pupils with similar starting points. Many make better progress.
• The pupil premium funding is used well. Differences in the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and that of other pupils in school are diminishing. However, the difference between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and that of other pupils nationally is still large.
• The physical education and sport premium funding is used well. More pupils have now taken up sports and there is increased involvement in sporting competitions beyond the school day.
• Staff are loyal to the school. They enjoy working at All Saints and are committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for the pupils. Those who completed the staff survey are overwhelmingly positive about all aspects of the school and its leadership.
• The school curriculum is broad and balanced, although it is heavily focused on English and mathematics. There are many opportunities for pupils to take part in sports, music and other activities outside the school day.
• The local authority has not provided effective support for the school. Until the recent decline in attainment and progress, the school was not regarded as needing support.
• The headteacher and senior leaders have cultivated a community where pupils are happy, safe and well looked after. Parents and children take pride in the school and value being a part of it.
• Parents who responded to the Parent View online survey are positive about the school, with all but a few saying that they would recommend the school to another parent. One parent wrote: ‘The school has such a good feeling of order and professionalism, mixed with a real sense of encouragement, support and inclusion.’

Governance of the school

• The governing body underwent significant change in the last year. Both the chair and the vice-chair of the governing body are new to their roles.
• Governors are restricted in their ability to challenge the school, as improvement plans do not include measurable targets by which governors can hold leaders to account. Governors accept what they are told without asking searching questions or asking for further evidence. However, most governors visit the school regularly, know it well and are keen to achieve the best for its pupils.
• While governors make sure that the school undertakes all the proper checks on new members of staff, they do not regularly check the single central record.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. All adults in the school understand what to do if they have any concerns about a pupil and take the responsibility for this seriously.
• The school works well to support and safeguard the most vulnerable pupils. It works with external agencies to ensure that these pupils receive the help and support that they need to flourish.
• Leaders ensure that safeguarding checks are carried out thoroughly. Although there were two minor errors in the school’s single central record, these were quickly put right during the inspection.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

• The quality of teaching, while strong in some classes, is not consistently good across all subjects or across the school. Pupils say that while teaching is mostly interesting and challenging, this is not always the case. Examples in pupils’ writing books show that when teaching does not interest them, they write much less and to a lower standard.

Requires improvement

• Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not high enough. Pupils are not routinely held to account for work that is careless or untidy. As a result, pupils’ progress, especially in writing and mathematics, is not good.
• Senior leaders encourage the professional development of staff and are committed to helping teachers to improve the quality of their teaching. However, leaders do not evaluate the impact of these opportunities and, as a result, the training has had a limited positive effect.
• Leaders have introduced a system that allows teachers to record themselves teaching, to help them improve. Senior leaders have not monitored the effectiveness of this system and, as a result, there has not been a significantly positive impact on the quality of teaching in the school. Teachers are left too much to rely on the advice of colleagues. Senior leaders have not provided individual teachers with incisive guidance about how to improve the quality of their teaching.
• Teachers give feedback to pupils in line with the school’s marking and feedback policy. However, teachers do not regularly give time for pupils to go back and learn from their mistakes or respond to teachers’ guidance on how to improve their work. As a result, some pupils’ progress is limited as they struggle to understand new ideas, while others miss the opportunity to deepen their understanding.
• There are too few opportunities provided for pupils to write at length. This means that pupils do not have the chance to develop and extend their writing skills enough and their progress is slower than it should be.
• Inconsistencies in the quality of teaching of mathematics result in some lessons that interest pupils and spark their interest while other lessons do not motivate pupils. The tasks in some lesson are too easy or too hard, with the most able pupils not being appropriately challenged.
• Leaders have introduced a system for tracking the progress of pupils. This is relatively new to the school and teachers have worked hard to implement it. However, teachers are not yet able to use this assessment information to track the progress of groups of pupils accurately, and accelerate their progress.
• Teachers’ assessments of what pupils achieve are not precise enough. Teachers do not always use this assessment information to plan lessons that will enable pupils to make good progress. Although in some classes there is a good match of ability and challenge, there is inconsistent practice across the school.
• Good-quality phonics teaching is started in the early years and continues into key stage 1. Pupils learn to read well and most become confident readers. Pupils read widely and often. They make good progress and develop an enjoyment of reading. Many pupils are able to talk about authors that they like and their preference for specific books. However, for younger readers, teachers do not always provide the guidance and help that pupils need to choose a book suitable to their ability.
• There are very positive relationships in classes between adults and pupils, and between pupils and their peers. This leads to a positive culture for learning in which pupils are keen to learn and work hard. Only when pupils become stuck or find the work too easy do they drift off task.
• Pupils are well taught about fundamental British values and are able to explain how these apply to them.
• Parents are provided with useful information about how their child is progressing. Most parents say that this is helpful and sufficient, but a minority say that they would like to receive more information.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are confident, keen to do well and mostly enjoy their learning. They value the opportunity to learn and are able to offer support and help to their peers.
• Teachers have taught older pupils how to explain things, so they can act as a learning coach to others in the class. As well as helping the pupil who receives this support, it enables the ‘coach’ to deepen their understanding by explaining the skills or concept to someone else.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe in a range of situations, including when they are online. Pupils appreciate that people they might meet online may not be who they say they are. Pupils know how to protect their own identity.
• Pupils say that bullying is rare and inspectors found no evidence of it. One boy reflected that, while no school can claim to be entirely free from bullying, ‘this school is helping it not to happen’.
• Pupils are self-assured and take an active role in the life of the school. They relish the opportunities to take responsibility. Two peer mentors explained that their role was to sort out any arguments that might happen on the playground. However, they added that they rarely had anything much to do, as pupils get on so well together.
• Pupils have a good understanding of equality. When asked about making friends with a person who has different characteristics to them, pupils all immediately agreed that they would. They explained that even though people can be very different on the surface, humans all share so many similarities.
• Pupils who attend the school’s breakfast and after-school clubs are safe and well looked after by well-trained adults. Pupils play happily together and take good care of each other. Healthy food choices are always on offer and pupils often choose to eat healthily.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils behave well in lessons, at breaktimes and as they move around the school. Although the hall is extremely busy at lunchtimes, pupils’ behaviour is still good, as they show patience, kindness and respect to each other and to adults.
• Pupils appreciate the reward system built around the school’s golden rules. Even the youngest pupils understand these rules and take pride in keeping them.
• Parents have a positive view of behaviour and the way the school helps pupils to behave well. All but a small handful agree that the school deals well with any incidents of bullying that happen.
• Levels of absence are low. Few pupils are persistently absent. The attendance of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities has been lower than national figures but, over time, it has improved as a result of the school’s work to engage with parents.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils’ progress is inconsistent across year groups and classes. This reflects the variability of the quality of teaching in the school. This is especially true for writing and mathematics. Progress in reading is stronger.
• In 2016, pupils’ attainment was below the national average in all subjects in key stage 1, but particularly in writing and mathematics. In key stage 2, pupils’ attainment and progress in writing were well below national standards. Progress was also below national figures in mathematics. This represents a dip in standards for a school whose outcomes have been close to the national figures in recent years.
• In some year groups, pupils are not making enough progress in writing and mathematics and as a result they are not achieving as well as they should. However, pupils in Years 5 and 6 are making better progress and their achievement reflects this. Pupils in Year 3 are also starting to catch up after last year’s low levels of attainment at the end of key stage 1, although there is still much work to do.
• Pupils achieve well in reading and make good progress. In particular, pupils achieve consistently well in the Year 1 phonics screening check. In contrast, too few pupils who do not achieve the expected standard in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 go on to make good progress in phonics in Year 2.
• The progress of disadvantaged pupils has improved as a result of the well-thought-out use of the pupil premium funding. In most year groups, these pupils are making faster progress in reading and writing than other pupils. As a result, the difference between the attainment of disadvantaged and that of other pupils is diminishing. Inspectors saw the writing of a most able disadvantaged pupil in Year 5, which showed rapid, recent progress.
• The majority of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making progress as good as, or better than, that of other pupils with the same starting points. This is as a result of the strong provision that they receive from the school.

Early years provision Good

• Children get off to a good start in the Nursery, where they are taught well and make good progress. By the time they leave Reception, they are well prepared to start Year 1.
• Adults know the children well and use children’s interests to draw them into learning. Adults often look for ways to enrich activities for children, so that no opportunities are wasted. An example of this was when a teacher saw a boy daydreaming and, knowing his love of cars, started playing with some cars close to him. He quickly joined her, along with some other children, and before long they were experimenting with cars, seeing whether six wheels made a car go faster than one with two wheels. Adults are constantly on the lookout to make activities meaningful to the children so that they are fully engaged in learning.
• Teachers and other adults keep detailed records of the progress children make and to inform decisions about the next steps to provide for children’s learning. Parents are not yet regularly invited to contribute to these records, but the school has plans to address this.
• There is a rich and carefully resourced environment that provides children with a wide range of opportunities to learn through play. The outdoor area is well resourced and used to good effect to draw children into learning. For example, boys enjoy using the ‘trikes and bikes’ to ride to the role-play area to deliver orders for burgers. Reading and writing are all part of this skilfully planned activity.
• There are plentiful opportunities for children to write and develop their fine motor skills, which helps them to write well. Evidence in books shows that most children are making good progress in writing.
• Teachers help children to learn phonics well. In one Reception class activity, children were being encouraged to use the sounds that they already know to write words to label pictures. Most-able children write short stories using sentences.
• Children’s behaviour is good. They are kind and polite to each other and listen well to adults and their peers. Nursery and Reception classes alike are happy, harmonious places for children to play and learn.
• Children are kept safe. Well-thought-out procedures and policies make sure that they are kept safe from harm.
• The leader of the early years is new to the role. She has a clear vision for further improvement and is already having a positive impact.
• There are no disadvantaged pupils in the early years this year, but historically, disadvantaged pupils have achieved well and made good progress.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 123228 Oxfordshire 10024573 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary aided 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 469 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mrs Tracey Timms-Wilson Mr John Myers 01235 819143 www.all-saints.oxon.sch.uk office.3859@all-saints.oxon.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 15 March 2012

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of specified information on its website about the content of the school curriculum in each academic year for every subject.
• All Saints Church of England (Aided) Primary School is much larger than the average primary school. It has two classes in all year groups.
• The majority of pupils are of White British heritage, although there is an increasing proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is in line with the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• The school runs a breakfast club and after-school club for pupils.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes across the school. A range of lesson observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. In addition, inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work and listened to some pupils read.
• Meetings were held with pupils, the chair of the governing body and four other governors, the headteacher and other senior leaders. The inspectors also held meetings with a representative from the local authority and a representative from the local diocese.
• Inspectors undertook a check of the school’s policies and procedures for the safeguarding of pupils, including the statutory checks made during the recruitment of new staff.
• Inspectors looked at a range of information produced by the school, including information on pupils’ progress and attainment, behaviour and attendance, and the school’s own evaluation of its work. They considered reports to the governing body, minutes of its meetings and the school’s plans for further improvement.
• Inspectors considered the 104 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 87 parents who expressed their views using the free-text facility. Inspectors also spoke to parents in the playground at the start of the day.
• Inspectors also took account of the 36 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire and the 220 responses to the pupil questionnaire.

Inspection team

Bruce Waelend, lead inspector Clare Haines Robert Howell Kusum Trikha Peter Dunmall

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector