East Oxford Primary School

East Oxford Primary School Union Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX4 1JP

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Inspection dates 28 February–1 March 2013

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Require improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Pupils’ progress requires improvement because it is not consistently strong across the school. After a dip in 2011, pupils’ attainment is improving again but it remains low by the end of Year 6.  Teachers do not always expect enough of their pupils and they sometimes plan work that is too hard or too easy for some. When this happens, skills do not improve quickly enough.  In Year 1, pupils spend too much time playing without support rather than being taught directly by the teacher.  Although senior leaders know what still needs to be done to improve pupils’ achievement, plans for improvement lack detail and do not show how success is to be measured.  Teachers in charge of subjects do not have enough time to visit lessons and to check provision so that they can play a bigger role in securing improvement and checking that recent initiatives are applied consistently.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage and in Years 2 and 6.  Additional government funding (the pupil premium) is used well in Years 2 and 6 to accelerate the progress of all those eligible for funding. This was a key factor in last year’s improvements in national test results.  Pupils behave well and develop a love of learning. They have good relationships with adults and thoroughly enjoy coming to school.  The headteacher and other senior leaders are ensuring that recent improvements in the quality of teaching and pupils’ learning are being built on in the current year. They are supported well by the governing body, which provides good challenge and support.  Members of staff provide high quality pastoral care to all members of the school community, reflecting their commitment to providing a secure and happy haven for all pupils whatever their background or need.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 24 lessons, of which four were joint observations with the headteacher. In addition, the inspectors made a number of short visits to lessons.  Meetings were held with pupils, with members of the governing body, with members of staff and with a representative from the local authority.  The inspectors took account of the views of 23 parents who responded to the online questionnaire (Parent View). The inspectors also talked to some parents at the end of the school day.  The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the school’s own information about pupils’ learning and progress, planning and monitoring documents, the school development plan, records relating to behaviour and attendance and safeguarding documents.  The inspectors analysed 22 questionnaires from staff.

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Inspection team

Mike Capper, Lead inspector Additional inspector Jacqueline Lawson Additional inspector Philip Scull Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a larger-than-average-sized primary school.  Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. Around 70% of pupils speak English as an additional language, with many having limited spoken English when they start school.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in the Foundation Stage Unit in a Nursery and two Reception classes.  The proportion of disabled pupils or those with special educational needs who are supported at school action is well above average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also well above average.  The proportion of the pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils in this school who are known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after by the local authority) is above average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations

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Information about this school

for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The breakfast and after-school clubs are managed by the governing body.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that it is good or better by:  ensuring that teachers plan work that provides the right challenge for all pupils and is not too hard for some or too easy for the most able pupils  ensuring that teachers always expect pupils to work quickly and do not accept work that is not presented well enough.  Improve the provision for pupils in Year 1 by ensuring that: -there is a good balance between teacher-led activities and purposeful play -adults intervene appropriately to develop pupils’ thinking when engaged in play activities.  Strengthen the quality of leadership and management by:  ensuring that development planning is closely linked to securing more evenly good progress across the school and shows how the success of initiatives will be measured  develop the role of teachers who are in charge of subjects in visiting lessons so that they can play a bigger part in driving improvement, especially in teaching and learning.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ achievement requires improvement. Although pupils’ progress is good in some parts of the school, it is not consistently strong in all year groups.  Pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 rose again in 2012, after a dip in 2011, but it remains low. The rise in 2012 was due to the effective use of the pupil premium as well as other funding to provide individual tuition in English and mathematics for every pupil in Year 6. This, along with good teaching in Year 6, had a positive effect on progress. However, leaders know that progress is not yet consistently good across the school and that there continues, in the current year, to be too much reliance on providing additional support in Year 2 and Year 6 to help pupils to catch up and to compensate for slower progress elsewhere.  In most year groups, pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills develop steadily rather than rapidly. Pupils do not always write using accurate spelling and their written work is not always presented

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

neatly enough. Pupils enjoy mathematics lessons but older pupils find it hard to solve problems and are not always confident in carrying out calculations.  In Year 1, the curriculum does not support pupils’ learning well enough, as they do not work often enough with the class teacher. In the rest of the school, progress slows when teaching does not meet all needs in lessons and does not build well enough on pupils’ differing starting points. This means that there are missed opportunities to move pupils’ learning on more quickly.  While the school promotes equality by ensuring that no group, including those from minority ethnic backgrounds, does less well than others, progress for all groups is not rapid enough. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make the same uneven progress as others over time. They make good progress when being supported outside lessons because work is more closely matched to their needs.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school successfully closes the gap between the attainment of pupils eligible for the pupil premium and others by the time they leave school. Sharply focused spending of the pupil premium has a good effect on learning in Years 2 and 6 but not in all year groups. There is no difference between the attainment of all groups of eligible pupils and others by the end of Year 6 in English and mathematics, as measured by their average point scores in national tests.  In the Early Years Foundation Stage, good teaching means that children’s skills improve quickly. When children start school, very few are working at the expected levels for their age. From these low starting points, progress is good, especially in developing early language skills. This is because adults constantly promote ‘talk’, ensuring that all children, including those with English as an additional language, quickly become confident speakers for their age.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because there are too many occasions in lessons when pupils do not learn quickly enough. This happens most often when work is too hard or too easy for some pupils. For example, there is not enough challenge in some lessons for the most able. The less able, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, sometimes become over-reliant on adult help to finish their work.  Teachers do not always expect enough of pupils. They sometimes accept work which is too untidy and do not always encourage pupils to work quickly enough. There are missed opportunities, especially in Year 1, for pupils to talk about their work so that learning can be moved on more quickly. While there are some good examples of pupils being able to use their writing and numeracy skills in different subjects, some teachers do it better than others.  The school has recently focused on improving the quality of marking and target setting. There is

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

now some good practice, especially in Year 6, where pupils are clear about their next steps, but this is not consistently so in all classes and some pupils do not yet have targets to help them improve.  There are good features to teaching across the school. Relationships between adults and pupils are good. Teachers manage pupils’ behaviour very successfully. They ensure that pupils with English as an additional language understand new vocabulary so that language barriers do not slow learning.  Teaching assistants make a good contribution to pupils’ learning, especially when working outside lessons with those who are disabled or who have special educational needs. These pupils learn quickly at these times because new skills are introduced systematically.  Teaching is especially strong in the Early Years Foundation Stage and in Year 6. In the Nursery and Reception classes, adults work together well to check children’s learning and to plan what to

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

teach next. They provide sensitive and calm support at all times. They focus well on developing early literacy skills by giving children plentiful opportunities to speak, make marks on paper and share books. Children with English as an additional language receive support in developing speaking skills before they join the Nursery and this, along with good support in lessons, has a good effect on learning.  In Year 6, teaching provides good challenge, with good questioning encouraging pupils to think for themselves. For example, in a literacy lesson, pupils developed skills quickly as they evaluated their writing and made suggestions for how to improve it.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils love coming to school and are well mannered and polite. The school fosters good relationships between pupils. They play together happily at playtimes and support each other well in lessons. Good use is made of the pupil premium to ensure that eligible pupils can participate fully in activities.  Pupils behave well most of the time, although just occasionally in Years 1 and 2, they become inattentive and do not concentrate when not being directly supervised by an adult.  The school has successfully improved pupils’ attendance since the previous inspection. It is now broadly average and has improved so much because of the excellent work of the school’s ‘attendance team’ who continue to work closely with outside agencies to support the very small number of pupils who still do not attend school regularly enough.  Pupils are proud of their school. The school council is very involved in making decisions and

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

provides good challenge to the governing body in their regular meetings together.  Pupils feel very safe and say that there is always someone to turn to if they have a worry. They have a good understanding of different types of bullying and are very clear about what they need to do to avoid dangers both in and out of school.  The well-attended breakfast and after-school clubs are enjoyed by pupils. As one pupil said, ‘Every day is different.’

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The leadership and management require improvement

 Leaders have brought about steady improvement since the previous inspection two years ago, but not rapidly enough to become a good school. They are identifying the right priorities, but this is not always reflected well enough in improvement planning, which does not set clear targets for pupils’ progress across the school. This makes it difficult for school leaders and governors to check whether initiatives are having the desired effect.  Teachers in charge of subjects are keen and enthusiastic but are insufficiently involved in visiting lessons so that responsibility for ensuring improvement is shared more widely.  Leaders do not tackle all weaknesses quickly enough. For example, there is a general consensus amongst leaders and class teachers that provision in Year 1, which has changed this year, is not working well enough, but this weakness has not yet been satisfactorily resolved.  The headteacher checks teaching regularly and there is an improving picture across the school.

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The leadership and management require improvement

Nevertheless, leaders know that more needs to be done to iron out inconsistencies in the quality of teaching and learning across the school. The process for reviewing teachers’ performance holds them to account for their work. The headteacher ensures that salary progression is appropriately linked to the progress made by pupils and is tied to the meeting of agreed targets.  The school ensures that the pupil premium helps to close the gap between the attainment of eligible pupils and others, although the progress of these pupils is not yet consistently good across the school because of variations in the quality of teaching. The school closely tracks the progress of these pupils and funding has been used to especially good effect in Years 2 and 6. The success in Years 2 and 6 has been due to additional small group or individual support to accelerate progress. Pupils in other year groups have also benefited from additional support in

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The leadership and management require improvement

small groups and good use is also made of additional funding to partly fund a home–school worker. This has helped to improve pupils’ attendance.  The local authority has provided helpful support over the last two years, including securing links with another school that have enabled staff to become more reflective about their own practice. This has helped to improve teaching.  Although there are weaknesses in Year 1, elsewhere the curriculum is rich and varied. It successfully promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. Specific lessons help pupils to develop a wide range of social and moral skills. Pupils respect others because discrimination is tackled firmly, and they learn about other cultures.  The school works well with parents and most are very happy with the work of the school. Their views are summed up by one who wrote that, ‘I feel quite privileged that my children have been

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The leadership and management require improvement

able to grow up in an environment that celebrates the diversity of the children’s backgrounds.’  The governance of the school:  Following a local authority audit in 2012, the governing body has taken good steps to improve its effectiveness. Since then, training has helped to improve skills. Consequently, this inspection does not recommend an external audit of governance. Governors are providing increasingly good support and challenge to school leaders. They have a good understanding of where teaching is stronger or weaker as well as how the school’s performance compares with others both locally and nationally. The governing body checks the use of the pupil premium very closely to check how well it is being used successfully to close the gap for eligible groups. Governors rigorously check the management of teachers’ performance, ensuring that it is used to recognise and reward good teaching. Governors ensure that safeguarding arrangements

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 123046 Local authority Oxfordshire Inspection number 406133

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 321 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Gareth Prior Headteacher Sue Widgery Date of previous school inspection 8–9 November 2010 Telephone number 01865 240219 Fax number 01865 240219 Email address office.2525@east-oxford.oxon.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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School details

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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