Englefield C.E. Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Andrew Ind Headteacher Englefield C.E. Primary School The Street Englefield Reading Berkshire RG7 5ER

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Short inspection of Englefield C.E. Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 15 March 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in November 2010.

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Short inspection of Englefield C.E. Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have made a strong start in your first year as headteacher. You have set a clear aim to secure excellence in all aspects of the school’s work. Governors and staff share this ambition and support your work well. You are determined to raise standards further in teaching and learning and have already begun to enhance the skills of the staff to achieve this. Staff are all motivated because they feel trusted and well supported.

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Short inspection of Englefield C.E. Primary School

Pupils continue to achieve well. Most children reach a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year and are well prepared for Year 1. The large majority of pupils meet the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check. At the end of key stage 1, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is well above the national average. You know that by the end of key stage 2, pupils’ achievement in mathematics is not as strong as it is in reading and writing. Your school improvement plan is carefully focused to address this.

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Short inspection of Englefield C.E. Primary School

The school is a small and friendly community. Some pupils described it as ‘cosy’ because they know everyone and try to look out for each other. When pupils join the school late, they say that it is easy to make friends of all ages. There are plenty of extra-curricular activities available. Pupils were keen to share the delights of pottery, cross-country running, French and performers club. They also appreciate the increasing number of competitions and sporting activities, such as dodgeball and rugby, on offer. The broad curriculum effectively promotes pupils’ personal development. For example, Year 3 and Year 4 pupils were making the final touches to their performance of ‘Splash’ during the inspection. They sang with great gusto, confidence and obvious enjoyment. Older pupils in Year 6 have opportunities to lead projects and develop leadership skills. The ‘sports ambassadors’ are taking an active role in planning a ‘try-athlon’ day to provide everyone with a chance to try new

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Short inspection of Englefield C.E. Primary School

sports. This supports your work to enable pupils to believe in what they can achieve and aim high.

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Short inspection of Englefield C.E. Primary School

At the last inspection, inspectors identified two areas of improvement. You have effectively addressed these. You have quickly made important changes to the assessment system to track the progress that pupils are making in the new curriculum. The quality of teaching has also improved.

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Short inspection of Englefield C.E. Primary School

There are clear policies and procedures in place to help to keep pupils safe. You carry out a regular audit of your approach and make changes to ensure that your work conforms to the most recent guidance. For example, all staff have recently received training about radicalisation. You work closely with other professionals to ensure that pupils’ welfare is promoted. Staff know what to do if they are worried about a pupil because they have regular training and the induction process includes safeguarding. Pupils’ attendance continues to be above the national average. Nevertheless, you provide appropriate challenge and support to families to reduce absence and improve punctuality. Pupils appreciate lessons that address topics such as road safety and using the internet safely, as well as visits from the police and the fire service. Through events such as anti-bullying week, and by working with parents and pupils, you are committed to tackling the rare occurrences of bullying.

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Inspection findings

 You have rightly recognised the need to distribute leadership more widely to achieve your ambitious aims. Therefore, you have secured effective support from the local authority to build the leadership skills of teachers. These middle leaders are increasingly active in carrying out checks on and making improvements to teaching and learning. For example, the English leader has made some changes to phonics lessons because three pupils did not meet the expected standard last year. She is frequently monitoring pupils’ progress carefully and refining arrangements to ensure that pupils achieve well this year. Your expectations of middle leaders are high and they have risen well to the challenge. Nevertheless, middle leaders are not yet able to describe the impact of their work on pupils’ achievement.  Governors and other leaders share your accurate understanding of the school’s effectiveness. Your school development plan is sharply focused on

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Inspection findings

the areas that you know you need to improve. All leaders and governors are actively involved in driving these improvements. Each leader is linked with a governor and they regularly meet so that governors can evaluate progress against their part of the development plan. This is then shared more widely at the governors’ development committee. There are rigorous systems in place to support your drive to realise your ambitious aims for the school.  Governors are highly effective. They maintain a close eye on all aspects of the school’s work, including safeguarding. Governors use their skills astutely to ensure that they provide the right level of challenge and support. They are not afraid to make changes or seek advice from you, the diocese or the local authority. For example, governors requested and received training to enable them to better understand information relating to pupils’ outcomes. As a result, governors use pupils’ progress information

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Inspection findings

well to hold leaders to account.  You have implemented a new assessment system to enable you to check the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning. This provides leaders and teachers with detailed information about pupils’ achievements in reading, writing and mathematics in key stage 1 and key stage 2. You have plans to develop this to include other subjects. The assessment system records children’s attainment in the Reception class; however, it does not enable you to measure the progress that they are making. Consequently, you are not able to accurately judge the impact of teaching on children’s learning in the early years.  The quality of teaching has risen since the last inspection. Lessons are better matched to pupils’ needs and teachers make good use of teaching assistants to help them deliver learning in your mixed age classes. For example, in the Year 3 and Year 4 class, the teacher continued to work

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Inspection findings

with a group to teach them an efficient method to multiply while teaching assistants ensured that other pupils promptly set about completing their tasks. Teachers all follow the school’s marking policy. Pupils value the feedback that they receive from teachers, saying that it helps them improve their work. As a result of improved teaching, all groups of pupils are making good progress across the curriculum.  Teachers are starting to provide pupils with more opportunities to develop their mathematical language, reasoning and problem-solving skills. In some classes, this practice is particularly effective. For example, in Year 2 the teacher asked pupils to explain the relationship between multiplication and division. The teacher encouraged pupils to talk about their ideas and select their own equipment to ‘prove it’. Pupils rose well to this challenge and applied their knowledge of times tables and draw groups to show their

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Inspection findings

understanding. Consequently, pupils are making better progress in mathematics.  Lessons are more challenging for pupils. Teachers are providing the most- able pupils with demanding activities to extend their knowledge and understanding. For example, some children in the Reception class delighted in being the ‘teacher’ to check their friends could read words spelled with a ‘magic e’. Across the school, pupils are enthusiastic about solving problems. One pupil said, ‘My favourite subject is maths. I like it tricky!’ The large majority of pupils think that their work is challenging. This is because teachers have high expectations of pupils. As a result, the most-able pupils are making strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics. 

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 work continues to ensure that all pupils, including those in the early years, achieve well in mathematics  middle leaders are able to demonstrate the impact that they are having on pupils’ outcomes  they refine the assessment system to measure the impact of teaching on children’s progress in the Reception Year.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Oxford, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for West Berkshire Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I met with you to discuss your evaluation of the school’s effectiveness. I also met with middle leaders, governors, pupils and a representative of the local authority. I spoke on the telephone to a representative of the diocese. I observed pupils’ learning in all four classes and looked at pupils’ mathematics books. I considered one letter and 24 responses to the parent questionnaire, Parent View. I met with five parents on the playground and observed pupils’ behaviour. I also considered six responses to the staff questionnaire and 31 responses to the pupils’ survey.

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