Windmill Primary School

Windmill Primary School Margaret Road, Headington, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX3 8NG

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Early years provision Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher, extremely well supported by all governors and staff, leads a school where ‘Achievement through Community, Creativity and Challenge’ is the vision.  Pupils make excellent progress throughout the school. When they leave in Year 6, pupils reach standards that are well above those found nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.  Leaders monitor the quality of teaching and learning rigorously. As a result, there is continual improvement and teachers value the support to help them improve their skills.  Teachers plan lessons that excite learners so that they are keen to engage in their tasks. Pupils produce high-level pieces of work that are often displayed in classrooms and around school.  Teaching assistants are valued members of the team and give a strong contribution to the progress made by all pupils.  Pupils feel very safe. They have a strong understanding of how to keep themselves and

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

each other safe.  Pupils are extremely polite and well mannered. They are really good friends with each other across the age groups. They look out for each other and understand the difficulties that some of their friends may sometimes encounter. Pupils have excellent attitudes to learning and are keen to talk about their work.  Children in the early years make excellent progress. They have a rich variety of experiences so that they are very well prepared for Year 1.  The school is rightly proud of the music opportunities that pupils can take part in, including working with professional musicians. They perform on a regular basis to parents and the wider community.  Subject and year leaders have an in-depth understanding of their area of responsibility and give highly effective leadership to make further improvements.  Governors monitor the work of the school very thoroughly. They ensure that they have the full

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

picture because they ask searching questions of leaders and talk to the pupils about their experience of the school.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strong feature of all the school does. Pupils are reflective and very aware of the world around them.  British values are at the heart of the school’s ethos and pupils live these out as they respect and tolerate each other’s similarities and differences.  The school develops mature and sensible pupils who are very well prepared for their move to secondary school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed pupil’s learning in 20 lessons and part-lessons. They were accompanied by the headteacher and deputy headteacher in seven of the observations.  Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders, teaching staff, members of the governing body and with pupils. The lead inspector met with a representative of the local authority.  The inspectors listened to pupils from Years 2 and 6 read.  Inspectors looked at the school’s development plans and monitoring files, the headteacher’s leadership files, and arrangements for the management of staff performance. They also looked at safeguarding documentation and the governing body minutes. They looked at the school’s records of pupils’ progress and evaluated work in pupils’ books.  Inspectors considered the 40 staff questionnaires that were returned.  Inspectors took account of the 168 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. They also

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Information about this inspection

talked to parents as families arrived at school and considered a letter from parents.

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Inspection team

Jenny Batelen, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Windmill is a larger-than-average-sized primary school.  Children attend the Reception classes full time.  Just over half of all pupils come from a White British background, which is less than the national average. The rest of the pupils come from a wide range of other ethnic heritages.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is just above the national average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or who are looked after) is below the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The governors manage a breakfast club.  The headteacher provides support to a local school and the leader of the Early Years works with other

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Information about this school

Early Years settings in an advisory capacity.  Windmill Primary After School Club operates from a classroom in a school. This is run by a private contractor and was not part of this inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that pupils’ work in books always reflects the high standard of learning evident across the school.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The entire school community shares the passion and vision of the headteacher to ensure that pupils can achieve the very best they can and that teaching is of the highest standard.  The school is very inclusive, committed to ensuring equal opportunities for all and promoting the sense of community across the school. This ensures that pupils and adults look out for each other, understand some difficulties that pupils may have and are extremely caring of each other at all times. Leaders ensure that all pupils can access all that the school offers and that there is no discrimination.  Leaders, including the governors, are highly effective at evaluating the work of the school and identifying further areas to improve. As a result, the achievement of pupils is continually improving.  Middle leaders who have responsibility for subjects and year groups have a thorough understanding of the strengths and areas to develop. They know how well the pupils are doing and they monitor rigorously the

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The leadership and management are outstanding

quality of teaching in their area. They provide very effective support through training and mentoring to help teachers make improvements.  Teachers value this support greatly; they are proud to work in the school and want to continually improve. They value the rigorous checks made on their teaching by middle and senior leaders, and the targets set for them based on national teaching standards and school improvement priorities. Teachers understand the link between their pay and the achievement of their pupils.  Pupil premium funding is used very effectively to ensure that these pupils are able to make the best possible progress. Small group and one-to-one support, working with the learning mentor and strategies to support good attendance and punctuality means that the gaps in learning are rapidly closing.  The curriculum is rich and exciting. Pupils have many different opportunities to deepen their

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The leadership and management are outstanding

understanding of the subjects they are studying. Visits and visitors, themed days and creative opportunities through art, drama, and music mean pupils are fully engaged and excited by what they are learning. As a result, they make very good progress across a range of subjects. The high standard of writing is apparent in many displays of work across all subjects. Musical performance is of a very high standard.  The curriculum contributes to pupils’ strong spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. There are frequent opportunities for pupils to think about and reflect on what they are learning. They have an excellent understanding of life outside Britain because of the close link with a school in India. The responsibilities which pupils take on, such as school council and LAW (Learning at Windmill), help pupils understand about British values such as democracy and equip them well for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The primary physical education (PE) and sport funding is used very effectively to develop teachers’ skills, increase the activity of pupils in PE lessons and at playtimes, and enhance the links with other schools and the opportunity for competitive sport. Pupils enjoy being active and reach high levels of skill in the PE and sports lessons.  Safeguarding is a high priority and fully meets the current requirements. All adults completely understand their responsibilities, are well trained and vigilant. As a result, pupils are very safe in school, and parents agree.  Parents are overwhelmingly very positive about the school. They feel their children are happy and safe, and making good progress. Leaders are developing more effective systems to communicate with parents, especially about how teachers are checking how well their children are making progress in the new National Curriculum.  The local authority gives light-touch support to this outstanding school. An annual check ensures that the

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The leadership and management are outstanding

school is maintaining its effectiveness.  The governance of the school:  Governors are highly skilled and knowledgeable. New governors value the induction training from the local authority and the support from fellow governors as they settle into their roles. Governors have a thorough understanding of the work of the school and how well it compares with other schools nationally. They visit classrooms, ask questions of leaders and teachers, and talk to pupils about the work they are doing. This helps them understand the reports given them about the quality of teaching and how teachers are helped to improve their skills through the performance management process. They understand how any weaknesses in teaching are tackled. Governors’ understanding of the information about pupils’ progress means that they have an excellent understanding of how well different groups of pupils are making progress and whether, for instance, the gaps for disadvantaged

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The leadership and management are outstanding

pupils are closing. This allows them to monitor the effectiveness of how the funding is spent. Governors fully understand their responsibilities; they ensure policies are regularly reviewed and are vigilant about the safeguarding of pupils and staff.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. They are very polite and talk proudly of their school and the opportunities they have.  Relationships across the school are very strong. Pupils from different age groups mix very well; friendships made in the breakfast and after-school clubs are reflected as pupils greet each other in corridors regardless of their age. Older pupils read to younger ones and form friendships that maintain the positive and nurturing environment.  Pupils are very keen to work; they enjoy learning and are proud to share what they are doing with each other and with adults. They quickly settle to learning when coming into class or moving from whole- class to group or individual work. They concentrate diligently for long periods of time.  Pupils who may find this difficult are helped to manage their feelings and emotions, and as a result, no disruption to learning was seen on inspection and the school has very few records of such occurrences.

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Behaviour

These records indicate how well the school has supported such pupils and has helped them manage their feelings, and to be able to settle and work well in class. Pupils understand how some of their friends may have difficult days and are very supportive and tolerant.  Pupils move around the school very sensibly. They come into assemblies quietly and listen to the music playing; they line up for lunch very sensibly and quietly.  Pupils readily take on a range of different responsibilities, for example democratically elected ‘sunshine leaders’ help make playtime a happy time.  Behaviour in the playground is excellent. Pupils make very good use of the spacious grounds and enjoy a wide range of games and activities, and relish each other’s’ company.  Pupils are adamant that there is no bullying of any kind. Pupils in the LAW group have taken the lead in ensuring that all pupils have a complete understanding of what constitutes bullying. Pupils are very

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Behaviour

confident about what they should do if it should arise. School records show that the very few incidents recorded have been effectively dealt with.  The school has worked with families to improve attendance and punctuality. As a result, attendance has been rising and is now in line with the national average. Support for disadvantaged pupils to attend breakfast club has helped many of these pupils be punctual to school and ready for learning.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Adults are rigorous in ensuring pupils are safe at all times and especially during the building works currently in place. Stringent checks are carried out on all adults working with the pupils.  Pupils feel very safe at all times; they know that adults will help them if they have any worries or concerns.  Pupils are very clear about how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations, such as being safe when using the internet and awareness of strangers. Volunteer parents give strong and effective leadership in helping pupils understand how to keep themselves safe when out and about on the roads. The school is strengthening the teaching about e-safety in order to ensure that all pupils are completely confident about how to keep themselves safe when using the latest technologies and devices.  Parents overwhelmingly believe that their children behave well in school and are kept very safe.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching over time and during the inspection is consistently good, and much is outstanding. As a result, pupils achieve very well in reading, writing and mathematics in all year groups.  Teachers have a very thorough understanding of how well their pupils are achieving. They have very high expectations and, as a result, plan lessons that fully meet the needs of different pupils and ensure that they make excellent progress in the lesson. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are extremely well supported to tackle the tasks set for them and the most able are always challenged to deepen their understanding and to achieve the best they can.  Teachers quickly adjust the learning during lessons, making sure that all pupils are progressing well. Strong subject knowledge, coupled with effective questioning, enables teachers to check how well pupils understand their work. Adults are very skilled at helping pupils to explain what they are learning and how

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

they can make further improvements.  Adults often give pupils the responsibility of explaining the task and what teachers can expect to their classmates. This results in confident pupils, able to talk about their work – current and past - and explain how well they have done. Pupils in Year 3 confidently explained, using mature vocabulary, what would make their sentences more interesting. Year 5 and 6 pupils talked about their work during the year, how they had improved and the aspirational targets they have been set.  The strong links made across different subjects means that pupils are highly motivated to succeed and produce work to a high standard. This is particularly effective in writing and the work is often displayed around the classroom and the school. Some pupils’ books do not always reflect all the work done or the high standards reached.  Information and communication technology is used very effectively across the curriculum and pupils are

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

highly confident users of a range of devices.  Reading is taught very effectively, especially through well-planned guided reading sessions that pupils say help them improve their reading skills.  Teachers are developing highly effective mathematics skills in pupils, based on the new curriculum. There is a strong development of pupils’ reasoning skills and the accompanying ability to explain how they have solved the given problem.  Teachers give feedback that shows what has been successful and gives a challenge to improve it further. Consequently, pupils have a clear understanding of how they can improve their work and accelerate learning further.  Teaching assistants work well as a team with the teacher. As a result, they are highly effective in helping pupils to make progress, whether working in small groups or with individuals. They often work alongside the teacher when delivering a lesson, interjecting with their own questions that will move learning on.

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is outstanding

 All groups of pupils, including those from the range of ethnic heritages and those who speak English as an additional language, make exceptional progress across the school. They learn very well at all key stages and, as a result, achieve high standards.  Current school information, and work in books and displayed around school, indicates that all pupils have continued to make at least the progress that is expected of them this year, with a high proportion making more than expected progress. The progress of pupils across Key Stage 2 is high compared to the national average. Pupils who achieved lower levels at the end of Key Stage 1 make rapid progress so that they achieve higher levels at the end of Key Stage 2.  Standards at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 in 2014 in reading, writing and mathematics were well above the national and the most recent assessments indicate that these high standards are being

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is outstanding

maintained this year.  Reading standards are high. Pupils in Year 1 achieve standards that are above the national average in the phonics (the sounds letters make) screening check. Pupils use these skills well to help them develop a love of reading. Older pupils talked of enjoying being able to ‘escape into a book’ and read a range of authors and genres for pleasure.  Writing skills are well developed because pupils are helped to understand how to improve their work by constructing interesting and well-punctuated sentences. They develop a range of high-level vocabulary which they learn to spell accurately. They enjoy working together to create descriptive and informative texts which they share and improve further.  Pupils are responding very well to the challenge of deepening their understanding of mathematics. They are becoming skilled at explaining their reasoning and taking on further challenging tasks.

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is outstanding

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make very good progress. Their needs are very clearly identified so that work in class is planned to meet these needs. Individual and group support helps tackle some of the more specific needs and the school has evidence of rapid progress made by some of these pupils.  Disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium make very good progress from their different starting points. In the 2014 national tests, the gap in disadvantaged pupils’ attainment compared with other pupils nationally was equivalent to one term in mathematics and writing, and there was no gap in reading. Compared to other pupils in the school, the equivalent gaps were two and a half terms in mathematics, one term in reading, and three terms for writing. School information shows that these pupils make at least good progress across the school and that gaps in their learning are closing rapidly.

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is outstanding

 The most-able pupils achieve very well. They are challenged to achieve the best they can, and at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, the proportion reaching the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics was above the national average in 2014. School information shows that this is likely to be maintained this year.

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is outstanding

 Strong leadership of the early years provision ensures that children have an excellent start to school and make exceptional progress in all areas of learning. They are well prepared for Year 1 with well-developed skills to help them continue to make at least good progress.  The provision focuses on developing personal, social, and emotional and physical skills as these are identified as being slightly less well developed than typically seen as children enter the Reception class. The large, spacious outside areas ensure that children have plenty of opportunity to develop a range of physical skills such as riding trikes and scooters, balancing and running. Strong relationships are developed among the children and adults so that children play and work exceptionally well together.  Teaching is outstanding. Teachers plan a range of very exciting and interesting activities that are based on children’s interests. As a result, children quickly learn and develop skills such as writing stories about

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an animal’s adventure, using sentences and punctuation.  The leader gives strong support to new staff to enable them to quickly develop the necessary skills to teach and work with the children so that excellent progress is ensured.  Children are helped to understand and appreciate world around them. They were quick to identify different herbs and talk about their smells. They are very proud of their garden and how they look after it.  Children behave exceptionally well. They listen carefully to each other and work well in small groups and with a partner. They are quick to respond to an adult’s requests.  Adults ensure that the early years provision is a very safe place. Children are taught how to keep themselves safe – understanding risk and learning to use tools and resources safely. Their excellent behaviour means that they are very safe when moving around the spaces.  All adults work effectively together and complement each other’s’ skills. Children respond equally well to

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is outstanding

teachers, teaching assistants and nursery nurses. The non-teaching adults have the confidence and skill to participate in sessions, to question children and develop activities to enhance the learning.  Adults check how well children are making progress. These checks are recorded and analysed carefully so that any gaps in learning can be identified and activities provided to help children improve their skills. Learning journeys provide a snapshot of this learning and progress.  Parents are very welcome. They are able to read with their child every morning and to look at the learning journeys. They share the successes their children have had at home and this is celebrated in class. Parents praised the provision, the teachers and their involvement in their child’s education.

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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 123047 Local authority Oxfordshire Inspection number 449764

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 540 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mayte Siswick Headteacher Lynn Knapp Date of previous school inspection 22–23 March 2010 Telephone number 01865 762509 Fax number 01865 742614 Email address head.2527@windmill.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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