Wootton St Peter's Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

develop pupils’ skills and knowledge well.

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that leaders continue to support all teaching staff to develop their skills as subject leaders further.
• Increase the level of challenge for pupils, particularly the most able, by:
  • ensuring that pupils move in a timely manner from mathematical calculation to applying their skills to solve problems or explain their mathematical reasoning
  • providing more opportunities for pupils to demonstrate their subject-specific understanding in foundation subjects through their writing
  • developing more precise assessments of what skills children are demonstrating in Reception Year to inform their next steps.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher, supported by the local authority and diocese, has taken effective action to secure the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. The headteacher has ensured that accurate information about pupils’ progress is gathered regularly and used well to hold teachers to account. Pupils’ progress, including that of disadvantaged pupils, is improving across the school.
• Leaders have ensured that the quality of teaching has been raised. Inconsistencies in teaching quality have been addressed, and teaching is now good across the school. Staff have welcomed the professional development provided to support them. All staff who completed the Ofsted questionnaire feel that the school has improved since the previous inspection. All are proud to work at the school.
• Leadership of SEND is highly effective. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has worked with the headteacher to help raise the quality of teaching for both pupils with SEND and other pupils. She ensures that pupils with SEND receive the right support so that they can make good progress from their starting points. Learning for this group of pupils is meticulously planned and incorporates the views of parents, teachers, the pupils themselves and other professionals.
• Leaders have ensured that the school’s core values of ‘perseverance, compassion and generosity’ help pupils become effective learners and model citizens. For instance, during the inspection, pupils demonstrated their generosity of spirit in their genuine delight at the achievements of others.
• Leaders show their determination to ensure that disadvantaged pupils achieve well. They evaluate carefully individual pupils’ needs and use the pupil premium effectively to provide extra help to improve outcomes. Disadvantaged pupils make strong progress in a range of subjects because of the highly appropriate, tailored support they receive.
• Additional sports funding is used well by leaders to inspire pupils to participate in physical activities. Pupils are particularly proud of their recent sporting successes. Leaders’ commitment to providing a wealth of enjoyable sporting activities ensures that pupils develop positive attitudes to physical activity, both in lessons and during playtimes.
• Leaders have ensured that the curriculum is enjoyable and meaningful for pupils. Links with the community, for instance the church, are developed well to involve pupils.
• Parents and carers are very supportive of Wootton St Peter’s. They like the high levels of care demonstrated by staff and the welcoming atmosphere. One comment, typical of many, was, ‘My child is very happy and thriving. A great school!’
• Middle leaders have benefited from support from the local network of schools as well as guidance from the local authority to help them hone their leadership skills. The English and mathematics leaders have implemented actions to raise standards and are beginning to evaluate the impact of their work. Nevertheless, all subject leaders acknowledge that they would benefit from ongoing professional development to help them drive improvements more effectively across the curriculum.

Governance of the school

• Governors know the school well. They visit regularly and organise themselves effectively to ensure that all statutory responsibilities are met and that improvements are well targeted. Governors have made good use of the support offered by the diocese and local authority to develop their skills.
• Governors have good financial oversight. For example, they check carefully to ensure that the additional pupil premium received for disadvantaged pupils is being well used to improve outcomes for these pupils.
• Governors have exercised good strategic planning to secure the leadership of the school after the imminent retirement of the current headteacher, at the end of this academic year. They have acted swiftly and decisively to manage the recruitment process.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have created a strong safeguarding culture that permeates all layers of the school. When new staff are recruited, all the appropriate background checks are made. This information is logged meticulously on the school’s single central record. The school’s safeguarding practices meet the statutory requirements.
• Leaders provide appropriate training to ensure that staff know how to identify pupils at risk, and what actions to take to keep them safe. As a result, staff are suitably knowledgeable in protecting pupils from harm. Whenever necessary, the school works effectively with other agencies, including the local authority, to ensure that pupils are kept safe. Records of all such work are clear, and information is shared appropriately.
• All parents and staff who completed the Ofsted surveys feel that pupils are safe at the school. Pupils told the inspector that they feel safe and trust in adults’ actions to keep them safe. For instance, leaders have responded to one pupil’s request to provide a ‘worry box’ for those pupils who are reticent about directly sharing their concerns. The box will allow them to do so confidentially.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good throughout the school. Current pupils learn well across a range of subjects, including reading, writing and mathematics.
• Teachers have good subject knowledge. They use this to plan well-structured sequences of learning. They ask probing questions, to which pupils respond keenly. This helps teachers to identify any misconceptions and remedy misunderstandings swiftly. As a result, teaching helps pupils to extend their skills, knowledge and understanding effectively.
• The support provided by teaching assistants is of high quality. They build good relationships with pupils, who they know well. They listen carefully to responses to guide and extend pupils’ thinking effectively. When a little help is needed from time to time, they are on hand with a reassuring word or a helpful prompt.
• The teaching of writing is characterised by high expectations and engaging tasks. Pupils write well. Staff skilfully interweave high-quality texts into the teaching of writing, so that pupils’ reading skills are honed as they develop their writing skills. For example, pupils use their awareness of audience, gleaned from their reading, to help shape their writing. Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ application of their spelling, grammar and punctuation skills within writing tasks.
• Reading is taught effectively. Teachers ensure that pupils are stretched and motivated by their reading choices. Pupils told me how teachers provide them with other books from a series, if they particularly enjoy the work of an author. During the inspection, a teacher skilfully identified the challenging vocabulary in a class text, developing pupils’ understanding of the language well. As a result, pupils are enthusiastic and proficient readers.
• Teaching is structured well for pupils with SEND. Careful planning and adaptation ensure that these pupils learn through tasks that are appropriate to their needs and level of ability. Leaders, teachers and other adults work together to ensure that pupils with SEND learn well across the curriculum.
• Teachers plan careful series of lessons that build pupils’ knowledge sequentially across the wider curriculum. For example, in a geography lesson, pupils used facts they had learned at home and school about volcanoes, weighing up the advantages or otherwise of living in certain places. However, pupils do not have enough opportunities to write using their subject-specific understanding, for example in recording their scientific experiments.
• The teaching of mathematics supports pupils well in developing computational skills. Teachers ensure that pupils’ understanding is developed effectively. Pupils use a range of methods and concrete or pictorial supports to help them, when needed. Sometimes, pupils, particularly the most able, are not moved on quickly enough to further develop or apply their knowledge by solving problems or explaining their mathematical reasoning. When this happens, their progress slows.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The school is a welcoming and purposeful environment. Pupils are polite, kind and industrious. They take pride in their work and their school and strive to embody its values. Pupils told the inspector that: ‘All the teachers and children are genuinely lovely. It makes me enjoy school and want to learn.’
• Vulnerable pupils receive high-quality care which is coordinated and planned by skilled staff. This supports their well-being, reduces anxiety and boosts their self-esteem effectively. As a result, pupils are happy and confident. All parents who completed the Ofsted survey Parent View feel that their children are well cared for at the school. Leaders take great care to listen to the ‘pupil voice’ through the democratic council. They value pupils’ perspectives and respond quickly to useful suggestions, for instance by installing the suggested worry box to help the more reticent pupils communicate their concerns.
• Pupils state confidently that they feel safe at the school. They enjoy a well-planned programme of personal development that, for example, teaches them how to keep themselves safe, including when online. Pupils relish the myriad of opportunities available to take on additional responsibility, for example helping in assembly or organising lunchtime activities. In this way, they develop independence skills that prepare them well for the next stage of their education.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils behave well. They are effectively supported by a clear system of rewards and sanctions. Pupils are motivated to strive for the various awards. During the inspection, pupils proudly told the inspector which awards they had gained. Regular celebration assemblies help pupils to enjoy each other’s achievements and reflect on core values and skills, such as perseverance, necessary for success.
• Pupils enjoy learning. They listen attentively to their teachers and to their peers. They enjoy sharing their thoughts and ideas in lessons. Consequently, lessons are calm and purposeful, and pupils participate keenly and with interest.
• Pupils attend well. Leaders ensure that pupils and their families understand the importance of not missing school. For example, attendance profiles for each class are shared regularly in newsletters.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Leaders’ actions have led to a rise in pupils’ outcomes. Across the school, current pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, are achieving well in a range of subjects, including reading, writing and mathematics.
• Pupils achieve well in phonics. They develop secure phonics skills because of the systematic teaching of letters and the sounds they represent, and the regular opportunities to apply and extend their learning.
• Across the school, pupils make good progress in developing their reading skills. Pupils who read to the inspector demonstrated a high degree of fluency and awareness of the range of devices used by authors.
• Pupils with SEND are supported very effectively. As a result, they learn well and make strong progress in a range of subjects from their starting points. Pupils with SEND are making strong progress in mathematics. They are particularly well supported by teaching which helps them to develop a secure understanding of computational processes.
• Pupils develop good knowledge and skills across the wider curriculum. They learn facts quickly and keenly, sometimes extending their study at home. Pupils enjoy the variety offered by the broad curriculum. They develop impressive artistic skills, using a range of media and studying various artistic styles. For instance, during the inspection pupils were carefully developing their drawing skills, using a variety of carefully selected pencil strokes to good effect.
• Pupils’ writing demonstrates a secure understanding of age-appropriate conventions of spelling, punctuation and grammar. Pupils write convincingly, using a rich vocabulary. While pupils write for a range of purposes in their English lessons, their writing opportunities across the wider curriculum sometimes lack challenge. As a result, their subject-specific writing, for example to record their scientific conclusions, sometimes lacks the quality of their other work. This is particularly the case for the most able pupils.
• Pupils across the school have secure computational skills. They work confidently and competently with basic number operations, including multiplication tables. Sometimes pupils do not move on quickly enough to more complex problems to utilise and build on these skills. When this happens, their progress slows.

Early years provision Good

• Pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, get off to a good start in the Reception Year. They make good progress from their starting points and, as a result, are well prepared for Year 1.
• The early years leader provides effective leadership. She works closely with her highly skilled team to ensure that children’s needs are met well. Since joining the school in September, she has benefited from a range of appropriate professional development to further support her in this role.
• Staff ensure that regular risk assessments of the learning and play areas help to keep children safe. Children are involved in this process, for instance by assessing the playground’s safety in icy weather. As a result, their ability to recognise and begin to manage risks is developed effectively.
• Staff are adept at leading children’s learning. When appropriate, adults participate in activities and deepen children’s knowledge and understanding through effective questioning. At other times, they stand back to ensure that children learn independently. This careful balance nurtures both personal and academic development.
• Children’s emerging skills are supported well. A suitable range of activities provide experiences across the curriculum. For instance, during the inspection, children were excitedly learning how to hold a tennis racket in the ‘ready position’. Well-planned teaching in phonics ensures that children develop the early skills they need for their reading and writing.
• Children with SEND make good progress in the Reception Year. The identification of their needs is early, thorough and detailed. Where appropriate, outside advice is carefully considered to help staff meet children’s needs. As a result, children with SEND thrive and settle well into school life.
• Staff make accurate assessments of children’s abilities. However, sometimes these assessments lack the precision and detail needed to tailor experiences and build in the next challenge for children, particularly the most able.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 123223 Oxfordshire 10054392 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary aided 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 86 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Andrew Morgan Fiona Rose 01865 735643 www.wootton-school.co.uk/ office.3854@wootton-abingdon.oxon.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 6 March 2018

Information about this school

• This is a smaller-than-average-sized Church of England primary school. The school’s last statutory inspection of Anglican and Methodist schools (SIAMS) took place in May 2014.
• The headteacher is retiring and will be leaving at the end of the school year. The governing body has started the process of headteacher recruitment.
• Since the previous inspection, two teachers have left the school. These teachers have been replaced and the school currently has a full teaching team.
• Following the previous inspection, support for the school has been provided by the local authority, the diocese and the local partnership of Abingdon schools.
• Most pupils are from White British backgrounds. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is smaller than that seen nationally.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection took place following a recommendation from the section 8 short inspection of the school in March 2018.
• The inspector, accompanied by the headteacher, visited lessons across the school. Pupils’ behaviour was observed around the school, including during breaktimes.
• The inspector looked at pupils’ work in lessons and checked a selection of pupils’ books with subject leaders.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, governors and teachers.
• The inspector met with representatives of the local authority.
• The inspector spoke formally to a group of pupils and informally to other pupils during lessons and around the school. A number of pupils read to the inspector.
• A wide range of documentation was considered, including: the school’s self-evaluation and development plan; minutes of the governing body’s meetings; reports from the headteacher, diocese and local authority; information on pupils’ progress and attainment; and records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance. The inspector scrutinised records related to safeguarding.
• The inspector took account of parents’ views through 44 responses to the Ofsted survey Parent View, including 27 free-text comments, and through informal discussions with parents. Staff’s views were considered through 13 confidential survey responses.

Inspection team

Deborah Gordon, lead inspector

Ofsted Inspector