Goring Church of England Aided Primary School

School report Goring Church of England Aided Primary School Wallingford Road, Goring-on-Thames, Berkshire, RG8 0BG

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Standards at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 are above national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. All groups of pupils, including the most able, make good progress in their learning.  Teachers are knowledgeable and skilful. They provide high quality marking. As a result, pupils have a clear understanding of how to improve their work.  Pupils’ behaviour is good and they feel safe in the school. They want to learn and have positive attitudes to learning. Pupils are polite, friendly and show respect for each other and adults at all times.  Provision for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is good. Throughout the school they make good progress.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher are ably supported by aneffective governing body. They are fully committed to providing a high standard of education for all pupils. Their actions are having a positive impact on raising standards and improving

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

teaching.  Children get off to a good start to school life in the early years because teaching is good.  The way the school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is particularly good. It underpins all that the school does.  The school is well prepared for changes in the way pupils’ progress is checked and for the implementation of the new National Curriculum.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Too few pupils make outstanding progress in reading when compared with writing and mathematics.  Although the school has a wealth of data in the early years, it is not always easy to show the progress that children make.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 17 lessons, three of which were seen together with the headteacher. They also listened to pupils read.  Discussions were held with pupils, the headteacher and the deputy headteacher, subject leaders, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority. Inspectors also spoke informally to pupils at lunchtime and playtime, observed them in assemblies and around the school.  In addition, inspectors looked at pupils’ books and a range of documents, including: the school’s evaluation of its performance; the school development plan; the school’s information about the progress of pupils; checks on teachers’ effectiveness; reports from the local authority consultant; records relating to behaviour and attendance; and safeguarding documents.  The inspectors took account of the 78 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and also 15 responses to the staff questionnaire. Inspectors met informally with parents at the beginning of the school

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Inspection team

Gay Whent, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Goring Church of England Aided Primary School is smaller than most primary schools. The number of pupils on roll has increased year-on-year since the previous inspection.  There have been several changes in teaching staff since the previous inspection. Owing to the increasing numbers, the school has created the post of deputy headteacher. This has now been in place for almost a year.  Pupils in Years 1 and 2 are taught in mixed-age classes.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are supported by the pupil premium is 3.4%. This is much lower than the national average. The pupil premium is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and looked-after children.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is 3.4%. This is below average. There are no pupils supported through school action plus or with a

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Information about this school

statement of special educational needs.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The school works closely with its cluster of seven local primary schools and one secondary school. The headteacher was the chair of this partnership.  The school meets the current government floor standards which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  There is a privately run pre-school on the same site. It is inspected separately.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to typically outstanding so that more pupils make better than expected progress in reading, by ensuring that: - all pupils practise and develop their skills in order to accelerate their learning.  Improve the quality of leadership and management to outstanding by ensuring that early years teachers are knowledgeable about how to check children’s progress accurately.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher, ably supported by an effective governing body, provide clear, positive and decisive leadership. There is a strong sense of purpose towards excellent learning in this very friendly school. All staff share this vision, as shown by the wholly positive responses to the staff questionnaire. Parents readily share how their children are ‘flourishing here’ and many say that they are ‘very happy’ with the school.  The impact of leadership in creating a culture in which teaching and good behaviour can flourish is high on the school’s priorities for development.  The school’s view of itself is accurate. Improvement plans reflect the current priorities. Reading has been identified by school leaders as a priority in order for pupils to make as much rapid progress as they do in mathematics and writing. Pupils are very well prepared for their move to secondary education.

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The leadership and management are good

 Observations of teaching are checked closely with work in pupils’ books together with assessment information to ensure judgements are accurate. As a result, the leadership of teaching is strong. Where systems for checking pupils’ progress are rigorously and effectively applied, tracking information is used effectively. It clearly identifies any individuals who are at risk of falling behind. Not all staff are confident in assessment routines. A current school priority for improvement is for early years’ staff to provide an accurate picture of the progress of the youngest children.  Subject and other leaders have a secure grasp of their areas of responsibility. Those who are new to leadership have identified precisely how they will carry out their roles. All leaders have a clear view of what needs to be done to raise standards further. This has already been seen in achievement in writing and mathematics. They focus sharply on ensuring that all pupils fulfil their potential, that they have equal

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The leadership and management are good

opportunities to prosper and that there is no discrimination. Fostering good relationships is an important focus for the school.  The pupil premium is used effectively to support the very small numbers of pupils who are eligible to receive it. Funds are allocated according to each pupil’s progress and needs. As a result these pupils achieve in line with or above all pupils nationally and their peers in all year groups and all subjects. This means that there are no gaps between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and the others in the school or nationally.  The leadership of pupils who are disabled and those who have special educational needs is very effective. This is because their needs are accurately identified and their progress is assessed regularly at six weekly intervals to check they are keeping up with their peers.  The school’s mentoring of those who are new to teaching is exemplary. This is due to the careful planning

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The leadership and management are good

of regular meetings each with a specific purpose focused on pupils’ achievement.  The school is making very effective use of the primary physical education and sport premium. A specialist coordinator is introducing more variety to the range of competitive sports. Pupils spoke highly of the opportunities to participate in competitive sports. They really enjoy learning mathematics in weekly dance lessons. This has helped to spur their achievement in calculation. A wide range of lessons focus on pupils’ understanding of the importance of keeping healthy and improving their well-being.  Provision for promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Pupils are very well prepared for life in modern Britain. This is shown in their curriculum, policies and on display throughout the school. Pupils are able to participate in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. They enjoy running, boys’ and girls’ football as well as a construction club.

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The leadership and management are good

 Good practice is shared through partnerships with other schools. The impact of this is evident in the increased range and quality of learning opportunities for staff as well as pupils.  The school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements and are effective. All paperwork and policies are accurate and up to date.  The local authority provides an appropriately light touch support to this good school. It has provided external assessments to validate the school’s judgements.  The governance of the school:  The effectiveness of governors is a strength of the school. They are well organised and very well informed. They have an accurate understanding of what needs to be done in order to move the school further forward. They are committed to carrying out their strategic role in supporting and challenging leaders. They know about the quality of teaching, how any underperformance is dealt with and how

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The leadership and management are good

good teaching is rewarded. Governors are fully aware of how well the school is performing compared to other schools nationally. They have a good knowledge of performance management. They are aware that pay is linked to performance and that awards are not automatic. Governors keep a tight rein on the budget; they ensure that the pupil premium directly benefits the learning of those pupils for whom it is intended, as seen in the achievement of those pupils compared to their peers. Governors have taken full advantage of professional training to increase their effectiveness. As a result they are able to support and strengthen the school leadership with confidence.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good throughout the school. Pupils say that ‘generally behaviour is always good like this’.  Pupils are polite and friendly and welcoming to visitors. They move sensibly when moving around the school, in lessons, or on the playground. In assembly, behaviour is exemplary. At lunchtimes, Year 5 pupils enjoy their roles as ‘dinner monitors’ looking after the youngest children while they eat their meals.  Pupils of all ages play and learn together well. A parent shared how they were particularly impressed when older pupils had been involved in writing positive comments for improvement in their younger child’s exercise book.  Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and are eager to do well. Occasionally, when they are not sufficiently engaged by the work in class, they lose their concentration.  Pupils enjoy coming to school and their attendance is above national figures. There have been no

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Almost all parents agree that their child is safe at school.  Pupils have a clear understanding of safety. They say they feel very safe and well cared for by all the adults in the school. They say how impressed they were when a hole in the school fence was immediately repaired after a dog entered the playground earlier this term.  Pupils are well informed about different types of bullying including cyber-bullying. They say that ‘there is no bullying here’. They know what to do if this should happen. They would go ‘straight to our teacher’.

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The quality of teaching is good

 There are very warm relationships between staff and pupils. As a result, pupils want to do well and are prepared to work hard. This creates a positive atmosphere in classrooms and promotes mutual respect.  Teachers have high expectations. They plan interesting and exciting lessons that motivate and enthuse pupils to do well. Children make good progress across the whole school in all subjects, particularly in their reading, writing and mathematics. Good teaching has a direct impact on the high standards of literacy, reading and mathematics attained. Older pupils make faster progress in their mathematics and writing. The school is focusing on more pupils making faster progress in reading.  Teachers provide a variety of work to match the capabilities of different groups of pupils. Very occasionally, lessons are planned that are too hard for some pupils so they do not achieve as well as they could and lose their concentration.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school has very good systems for checking and improving pupils’ progress. Teachers’ marking is exemplary. Pupils receive clear guidance on how to improve their work. They have dedicated times to reflect upon and respond to teachers’ marking comments. This is a key factor in their improved progress in both writing and mathematics.  Both writing and mathematics are celebrated imaginatively in classrooms. The oldest pupils in the school put forward their reasons ‘why the pen is mightier than the sword’ following a whole-class debate. A Year 3 boy wrote ‘my pebble is shiny as a crystal laying at peace, smelling like the salty sea’. Mathematics displays celebrate different methods of working. Pupils in Year 5 have enjoyed creating ways for the Anglo-Saxon character Beowulf to be a mathematics hero and provided different pieces of advice for him to answer a question using column subtraction.  The oldest pupils say that they find their targets effective. They say: ‘Lessons are very interesting.

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The quality of teaching is good

Teachers push us harder if we don’t find the work difficult.’  Teachers are keen to improve reading so that progress is faster across the school particularly for the older pupils. Pupils enjoy reading and younger pupils apply their knowledge of phonics (the sounds that letters make) well when they read unfamiliar words. Older pupils in the school enjoy books by a wide range of authors.

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is good

 Pupils in each year group make consistently good progress across all subjects.  From each different starting point, the proportions of all groups of pupils who made outstanding progress in writing and mathematics were higher than national figures in 2014. The school is now ensuring that pupils have as many opportunities as possible to apply the school’s new guided approaches to the teaching of reading across all subjects. As a result, the aim is for progress in reading to accelerate so that it is as good as that made in mathematics and writing.  Pupils learn phonics very well. This is seen in the above average results in the phonics screening check in Year 1. Teachers carefully show pupils how to link sounds to letters during any writing activity. This was applied when younger pupils wrote thank you letters following a visit to the local church.  Children in Reception are making good progress; a higher number each year are reaching a good level of

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is good

development.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress from their different starting points because teachers and teaching assistants plan their work at just the right level of difficulty for their needs.  Disadvantaged pupils are supported very effectively alongside other pupils by teachers and teaching assistants within classrooms. The very small number of eligible pupils for the pupil premium in Year 6 in 2013 and 2014 means that their attainment cannot be reported without the risk of identifying individual pupils. However the school’s data indicate that pupils supported through the pupil premium make the same or faster progress compared with other pupils in the school and any gaps between their attainment and that of other pupils have closed.  The most able pupils in the school make at least good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Their attainment is high. This is because teachers prepare a range of well-matched activities for them to

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is good

carry out which extend their learning effectively. They readily say they enjoy a challenge and actively seek work that is increasingly difficult.

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is good

 Children get off to a good start because they are well looked after in a caring and stimulating learning environment, both indoors and outside. Parents are happy with the way in which their children quickly settle into school life. Most children have previously been to the on-site private pre-school which is next to the classroom.  Children make good progress from their starting points. Over the year they develop the key skills that they need so that they are ready for Year 1. They enjoy ‘writing’ in little books in their role-play sukkah, the Jewish hut used during the festival of Sukkoth, as much as constructing buildings together or counting bricks outside. Boys and girls happily play and share together. They enjoy working by themselves or being led by either their teacher or the teaching assistant.  Teaching is consistently good. Planning ensures that the unique nature of early years' education is

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is good

recognised as of supreme importance. Large paintings by every child adorn the walls. Each child has had the chance to comment about bread and what they say is there for all of them to read and see. ‘All about me’ books include their drawings and photographs together with comments by their parents.  Phonics are taught well and children become confident early readers.  The teacher and teaching assistant work well together as a team. They both know the children very well. The school’s leadership has the training and development of the early years’ staff at the forefront of current school improvement. Currently, it is not clear what progress children make over the Reception year because assessments are not always accurate. Leadership and management are good owing to the accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement.  Routines are already well established and the children are fully involved in the life of the school. They

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is good

particularly enjoy eating their lunch in the hall with the rest of the school. Their behaviour and safety are good at all times.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 123201 Local authority Oxfordshire Inspection number 444263

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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 Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 237 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Iain Alexander Headteacher Angela Wheatcroft Date of previous school inspection 24–25 November 2009 Telephone number 01491 872289 Fax number 01491 872289 Email address head.3803@goring.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 and 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

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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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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