Bucklebury C.E. Primary School

School report Bucklebury Church of England Primary School Blacklands Road, Upper Bucklebury, Reading, RG7 6QP

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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

 School leaders are effective in ensuring that teaching is good. Lessons are well planned and provide relevant activities for pupils of all abilities.  Pupils make good progress and attain in line with or above other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.  More-able pupils achieve particularly well in all subjects because of effective teaching.  The headteacher and staff know pupils very well. They check the progress of individuals regularly and are ambitious for what each child can achieve.  Governors provide useful challenge and support to school leaders and are keen to become even more effective.  Children in the early years are well cared for and make good progress because they are well supported in their development.  Pupils like coming to school and enjoy learning because their teachers ‘make lessons fun’. They behave well in lessons and at playtime.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and emotional

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

development is very strong; in all situations pupils demonstrate respect for adults and support for each other.  Parents and carers speak highly of the school. They recognise and appreciate the good levels of care to keep their children safe, and the hard work of staff.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 Although leaders check the achievement of individual pupils carefully, their analysis of the progress of groups in specific subjects is not as rigorous as it needs to be. This means that teaching is not always well focused on tackling issues, such as in mathematics, where achievement is not as consistently good as in reading and writing.  Middle leaders are not involved enough in checking pupils’ progress in their subjects.  The actions in the school improvement plan are too broad so governors cannot easily check they have been achieved.  Teachers’ performance targets are not always specific enough, so it is difficult to know if they have been met.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 10 lessons, two of which were joint observations with the headteacher. The inspectors also made some shorter visits to classes, listened to pupils reading and scrutinised pupils’ work.  Meetings were held with staff, members of the governing body, groups of pupils from Years 3 to 6 and representatives from the local authority and the diocese.  The inspector took account of parents’ and carers’ comments, including informal discussions, a letter and 70 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Nine staff questionnaire responses were also considered.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of school documentation, including the school’s information on pupils’ progress, the school improvement plan, minutes of governors’ meetings and documents related to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Louise Adams, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 Bucklebury Church of England Primary School is a smaller than the average-sized primary school, with five classes.  Most pupils are White British and speak English as their first language.  The proportion of pupils eligible for additional pupil premium funding is below the national average. This funding is provided for children in the care of the local authority and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of pupils who are disabled or have special educational needs is below average.  All the children in the Early Years Foundation Stage attend full time.  The school meets the current government floor standards for pupils’ achievement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve achievement by:  increasing teachers’ mathematics subject knowledge so they are more able to explain key concepts  ensuring teachers are more aware of how different groups of pupils are achieving, so they can plan appropriate support for those not making as much progress.  Further develop the leadership and governance of the school by:  developing middle leaders’ skills so they can help the school to improve further  sharpening the school improvement plan to include more easily measurable outcomes which relate to pupils’ achievement so that governors can hold leaders fully to account  make sure teachers’ performance targets are more specific and easily measurable, so their performance can be comprehensively checked.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher’s positive approach and determination have ensured that teaching is good and pupils achieve well. The staff speak highly of her dedication to the school. They are motivated to work hard under her leadership, which has resulted in improvements in writing and in teaching overall.  The headteacher and other leaders check teaching regularly, and accurately identify what teachers could do to boost pupils’ learning further. Teachers respond positively to advice and are keen to adjust their practice to become even more effective. As a result, teaching across the school is at least good and sometimes outstanding.  The headteacher and governors have an accurate picture of the school and know what needs to be done for the school to improve further. However, the actions and outcomes in the school improvement plan are too broad to help leaders identify the priorities, or for governors to easily check if progress is being made.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teachers and leaders meet regularly to discuss pupils’ progress, and they know how well individual pupils are progressing. When pupils are not making as much progress as they should, appropriate support is put in place to accelerate learning. Due to the small number of pupils in some groups, systems for checking the progress of specific groups of pupils are not as rigorous as they need to be. This means that, when some groups of pupils are not as successful as others, too little action is taken.  Since the previous inspection, middle leaders’ skills have been developed so that they now provide useful support to the headteacher by checking lessons. They use the information from the checks on teaching to identify ways in which they can improve their subjects further. However, they are not yet having as much impact on improving their subjects as they could because they do not check pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils eligible for the pupil premium are supported well through one-to-one tuition. Many of these pupils are achieving as well or better than their peers and other pupils nationally.  The curriculum provides good cross-curricular opportunities and much of the work is linked to topics, through which the pupils learn good skills in art, music, history and geography. The school is working from the New National Curriculum, but it is not yet fully embedded.  The sports funding is used effectively to improve teaching of sports and physical education. Teachers regularly observe and teach with the external sports coach. As a result teachers are more confident and enthusiastic to teach a range of sports.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and emotional development well. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on their actions and the consequences of those actions. This has led to improvements in behaviour and the strong culture of respect and care.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school promotes equality of opportunity well because it tracks the progress of pupils and uses this information to predict what they can achieve, and ensure they do so.  Pupils value each other and recognise each member of the school community as being special and different. The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain through a range of activities and opportunities, such as school council members being invited to attend a governors’ meeting and through all pupils visiting places of worship for other faiths.  Processes for staff appraisals are systematic and appropriate. However, because targets are not always specific or measurable enough, it is not always clear whether they have been met.  The school ensures that all statutory safeguarding arrangements are met. Increased rigour in record- keeping would enhance this further, for example in drawing lessons from the very few behavioural

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The leadership and management are good

incidents which occur.  Both the local authority and the diocese have demonstrated good support for the school and worked with leaders to facilitate improvements. Their on-going support will be valuable in the school’s continuing journey of improvement.  The governance of the school: Governors provide good challenge and support to school leaders. They have benefited from the Chair of the Governing Body’s work with a local school and through organising an external advisor to support their self-review. These actions have enabled them to be more effective by implementing processes to challenge the school and check progress. Governors have an overview of the performance management process and make decisions about pay awards. They check that the pupil premium grant is spent on relevant and appropriate activities, and that it makes a positive impact on achievement. The governors now need more explicit measures in the school development plan to check rigorously that targets are

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils usually behave well in lessons and around the school. At times inspectors saw outstanding behaviour, such as when pupils were gathered together as a whole school for singing practice, led by the headteacher. However, there are occasions when pupils do not regulate their behaviour well enough, such as being too noisy when going to and from break times and queuing for lunch. Pupils demonstrate respect for all adults and for their environment.  Behaviour in lessons supports learning well. Pupils are keen to listen to their teachers and to each other when explaining or sharing ideas. Pupils’ respect for one another is outstanding; the support and care they demonstrated in lessons and at playtimes was lovely to watch.  Pupils talk enthusiastically about the rewards system of ‘smilies’ and say that all staff give them regularly for trying hard and doing well.  School attendance is above average. The on-going class attendance record in the hall celebrates high

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Behaviour

attendance and is reported to parents and carers regularly.  All parents and carers who responded to the online survey agree that the school makes sure pupils are well behaved.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good; all staff know their roles and responsibilities for safety and safeguarding.  Pupils feel safe and are taught well about safety, including internet safety, Bikeability and road safety. Pupils were able to tell inspectors about the dangers of different types of bullying and knew about discrimination and homophobic and racist name calling, but were quick to say it did not occur at Bucklebury.  Almost all pupils arrive on time and are ready for their lessons.  All parents and carers who responded to the online survey agree that their children feel safe.

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The quality of teaching

 Teachers plan motivating and relevant lessons with a range of tasks that are usually well matched to the pupils’ different abilities. This means that most pupils make good progress from their different starting points.  Teachers assess accurately and record the progress of individual pupils regularly in most lessons. They use this information well to identify when additional support is required. Effective programmes to support writing and reading help pupils to catch up. The school has very recently introduced a similar programme for mathematics to accelerate learning where necessary.  More-able pupils are taught particularly well, with well-structured open-ended activities which engage and challenge them, resulting in a larger than average number of pupils achieving higher levels.  In all lessons observed, teachers explained learning well. They were clear about what pupils needed to know. In most lessons, their good subject knowledge made sure that any misunderstandings on the part

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The quality of teaching

of pupils were quickly resolved.  The school’s recent focus on what good learning looks like has led to teachers accurately reflecting on how well their lessons and teaching have enabled learning. When inspectors fed back to teachers on lessons they had observed, teachers had already identified what could be improved.  The teaching of reading has improved and is good. Pupils read every day, choosing their own books from the school’s well-stocked and attractive library area. Their focused weekly reading sessions with the teacher are developed well through relevant activities. Pupils talk enthusiastically about their texts and say how much they enjoy reading now that they do more of it. The teaching of phonics (linking sounds and letters) is not consistently strong for all year groups and the school is currently reviewing how it is taught.  Writing is taught well throughout the school. Skills are developed successfully through a range of subjects

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The quality of teaching

so that pupils have frequent opportunities to write for different purposes. In one literacy lesson the pupils were writing play scripts, adapting a story which had been read to them. In another class, pupils were planning and writing a description of a mythical creature, linked to their topic. In both lessons the pupils produced good quality writing.  While teaching in mathematics is good, it is less consistently so than in other subjects. This is because teachers’ subject knowledge is not always strong enough to ensure all pupils make as much progress as they could. Where it is best, teachers’ thorough understanding of mathematics concepts enables them to explain ideas and tackle pupils’ misconceptions. However, in a few mathematics lessons, the weaknesses in teachers’ subject knowledge mean their explanations are not quite as clear, so some pupils, notably those of lower ability, take too long to understand.

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The quality of teaching

 Teaching assistants support pupils’ learning well. Good communication between teachers and support staff enables them to ask relevant questions to help pupils of different abilities to think harder and learn more.

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The achievement of pupils

 Almost all pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics. Achievement has improved in recent years and, although there continue to be some subject variations, overall it is good.  Attainment and progress in writing is significantly above average, with all groups of pupils making expected, or better than expected progress. In reading and mathematics, pupils make at least good progress from their different starting points so that an average proportion achieve the expected level and last year a higher than average proportion of pupils exceeded the expected levels.  Most disabled pupils and those with special educational needs achieve in line with other pupils nationally. Their progress is checked regularly and, when required, effective support is provided. This enables almost all pupils to reach expected levels.  The attainment of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding fluctuates due to the very small

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The achievement of pupils

numbers of such pupils. In 2014, at the end Year 6, those pupils made more than expected progress and attained broadly in line with other pupils nationally and in the school, in reading and writing. Their attainment in mathematics was less strong, where they were working approximately five terms behind pupils nationally. Although progress of current pupils remains weaker in mathematics, it is improving and these pupils are on track to reach the expected level and to close the gap with other pupils.  Progess and attainment of more-able pupils are consistently strong in all subjects due to the good quality teaching they receive.  The work in pupils’ books demonstrates the good progress they are making in other subjects such as history and geography.

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The early years provision

 The early years provides good quality care and education for the children. Parents and carers were keen to tell inspectors how quickly the children settled in and how much they enjoy school.  The class teacher leads the early years well. She has visited other early years classes, including an outstanding setting, to develop her skills and identify areas for improvement. Her increased knowledge and the changes she has made to activities have ensured that provision is good.  Most children in the early years achieve a good level of development, make good progress and are ready for Year 1. Adults record their progress rigorously and accurately. The teacher has a strong knowledge of what each child can do and plans carefully to make sure they make good progress from where they are.  Teaching is strong and staff provide purposeful activities to support the pupils’ learning in specific subjects and when the children choose what they want to do. Adults provide good support, asking

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The early years provision

questions to help the children to make choices and extend their understanding.  Children are safe and well cared for. Since the beginning of the school year they have learned how to manage their behaviour and play well. They take turns and use good manners to ask for toys, demonstrating good behaviour.

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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 109955 Local authority West Berkshire Inspection number 449739

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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 Maintained Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 127 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Iain Davies Headteacher Philippa Rowe Date of previous school inspection 6–7 July 2010 Telephone number 01635 862965 Fax number 01635 867425 Email address headteacher@bucklebury.w-berks.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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