Langford Village Community Primary School

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

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Mrs Maureen Thompson Headteacher Langford Village Community School Peregrine Way Bicester Oxfordshire OX26 6SX

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Short inspection of Langford Village Community School

Following my visit to the school on 12 September 2017, 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 June 2013.

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Short inspection of Langford Village Community School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Staff at all levels work effectively together for the benefit of the pupils. You, supported ably by your leadership team, have established an expectation that everyone is accountable for the difference their actions make. Your staff value and make good use of the supportive opportunities to develop their practice. Consequently, your school is a happy place which continues to improve and where people are proud to work.

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Short inspection of Langford Village Community School

Pupils enjoy coming to your school. At this early stage in the school year, even the most recent arrivals to the early years foundation stage have settled in quickly. Routines and expectations are established and the environment is engaging and stimulating. A consistent approach to, and focus on, learning is apparent across the school. Parents recognise and appreciate the rich opportunities for their children to participate in clubs and activities that complement their learning well. One parent reflected the views of many when commenting: ‘Staff have supported my children wholeheartedly in their educational journey. My children are very happy and absolutely love learning. The school has instilled a passion and an ethos to try your best, recognise achievement and be kind.’

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Short inspection of Langford Village Community School

You and your team strive to keep improving the school. Together, you have addressed successfully the areas identified for improvement at the last inspection. Effective systems now help leaders at all levels to identify and implement next steps to improve pupils’ achievement and attendance. Useful staff training has developed how effectively mathematics is taught, with pupils’ outcomes improving over time across the school. You recognise that there is further work to do, so that pupils’ progress becomes more rapid across key stage 2, especially in writing, as you continue building on the improvements that are evident in key stage 1. In particular, those pupils who achieve highly during the early years foundation stage and key stage 1 could make even better progress during key stage 2.

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Short inspection of Langford Village Community School

The school adopts a meticulous approach to safeguarding. Staff and governors, aided by useful training, understand clearly their responsibilities for pupils’ safety and welfare, and carry them out with care and diligence. Their work is supported well by effective systems, and staff keep suitably detailed records. Where appropriate, leaders seek advice from experts beyond the school to support individual children and families who may need extra help. Governors make regular checks on safeguarding policies and practice, and ensure that staff recruitment processes are fit for purpose.

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Short inspection of Langford Village Community School

Pupils report that they feel safe. They understand how to keep themselves safe in an age-appropriate way. They are confident that adults will help them with any worries they may have. Pupils come to school regularly, and their collective attendance is routinely above the national average. Leaders have put effective support in place to encourage pupils, particularly those who are potentially vulnerable, to improve their attendance. As a result, the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent from school is well below national figures and continues to decrease over time.

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Inspection findings

 During the inspection, we focused on how well leaders and governors check the difference their actions are making. We considered how effectively teaching is helping pupils to achieve well and make good progress, particularly in writing. We reviewed how successfully additional funding is used to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and how leaders ensure that all pupils, particularly boys, are prepared sufficiently for key stage 1 learning.  Leaders throughout the school monitor closely how well pupils are learning. They have regular and challenging conversations with staff to identify promptly any pupils who may need extra help to accelerate their progress. Staff use information increasingly well to check pupils’ progress, and adapt their plans for future learning accordingly. As a result, pupils’ progress across a range of subjects is accelerating.  Governors understand their responsibilities and bring suitable skills and

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Inspection findings

experience to their roles. Useful systems help them to check regularly how well pupils, particularly the disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, are achieving. Governors visit the school regularly to check what leaders tell them about standards in the school. They recognise that, at this early stage in the term, some information required on the website is not up to date.  Since the last inspection, much work has been done to secure consistently effective teaching across the school. An initial and necessary focus on mathematics moved on to ensuring that standards in writing, particularly across key stage 1, match those achieved in reading. Starting in early years, pupils benefit from regular opportunities to develop their writing. Consequently, the proportion of pupils achieving age-related expectations in writing by the end of Year 6 has increased and is now in line with the standards achieved in reading.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders recognise that, as standards in writing improve in the lower part of the school, rates of progress are not currently sustained throughout the school. Pupils who achieve highly in early years and key stage 1 do not routinely go on to achieve a high standard in writing by the end of key stage 2. This is a focus area for the school as it continues to move forward.  Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well, both academically and pastorally. Leaders work effectively to identify individual pupils’ needs, put appropriate extra help in place and check that it is making a difference. As a result, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities now typically attend school regularly, and the proportion who are persistently absent has decreased notably. Pupils also make increasingly rapid progress in their learning over time, although this is not currently the case in

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Inspection findings

Years 5 and 6.  In the early years foundation stage, leaders focus rightly on ensuring that there are rich opportunities for boys to engage with formal learning from the outset. Work in learning journals shows how pupils, including those with very low starting points and/or those who speak English as an additional language, make rapid progress with their writing during the foundation stage. By the end of the early years, the proportion of boys achieving a good level of development is typically in line with other boys nationally. Boys’ outcomes in writing are improving rapidly over time.

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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

 the established culture of high expectations, effective teaching and accountability leads to all pupils, particularly the most able, making strong progress by the end of key stage 2.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

I visited all classrooms, along with you and your deputy headteacher, to observe learning, talk to pupils and look at their work. We met to discuss your school’s self- evaluation and plans for improvement, and looked at a range of supporting evidence. I reviewed your safeguarding procedures and records, as well as a range of policies and information on your website. I met with groups of pupils, staff and governors, and with parents informally at the start of the day. I spoke to the local authority school improvement leader and a parent on the telephone. I took a range of views into account, in the form of 27 contributions to the staff survey and 77 responses to the Parent View online questionnaire, including 72 free-text comments. I also considered the results from the school’s most recent pupil survey.

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