Woodborough Church of England Primary School

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

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Mrs Sarah Brewis Headteacher Woodborough Church of England Aided Primary School Broad Street Pewsey Wiltshire SN9 5PL

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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 February 2013.

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School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. As headteacher, you provide clear-sighted and purposeful leadership to drive forward improvements. Leaders at all levels have an accurate understanding of the school’s overall performance and the standards achieved by pupils. This is because you have a range of well-understood processes for checking what is happening in school. Where strengths are identified, they are celebrated. Where weaknesses are noted, decisive action is taken to remedy them.

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School

The staff share your drive to ensure that every child receives the very best in terms of learning opportunities and pastoral care. Together, you have worked hard to ensure that the school’s vision of ‘ C hristian caring, H appiness, I nspiring, L earning together, D iversity, R ewarding, E nabling, N urturing’ underpins the work of the school. The school has a warm, friendly and caring atmosphere which makes it a happy place to learn. Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning continue to be a strength of the school. This positive approach, combined with teachers’ secure subject knowledge and high expectations, ensures that pupils thrive and make strong progress from their various starting points.

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School

The vast majority of parents who responded to the online survey would recommend this school to other parents. One parent, summing up the view of many, wrote, ‘Our children love Woodborough School. The school is amazing and the energy, effort and dedication that all the staff show is exemplary’. The governing body has a clear understanding of its role and provides an appropriate balance of challenge and support. Governors are knowledgeable about the school’s strengths and weaknesses and can articulate the impact of initiatives that have been put in place, for example to improve pupils’ spelling. Governors receive detailed information about pupils’ outcomes which has been tailored so that all governors can understand what the data is telling them. This has greatly improved their ability to support you in maintaining the school’s strong provision for all pupils.

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School

At the previous inspection, the school was asked to raise achievement in reading. There is now a greater focus on guided reading and ensuring that activities planned for pupils build upon their previous learning. The school has raised the profile of reading across the school and developed in pupils a love of reading and books. Work has been done with parents to encourage and develop home/school links and teachers are proactive in checking that pupils read regularly both inside and outside of school. The impact of this work is that the vast majority of pupils across the school are reading at the level expected for their age with many possessing higher- level comprehension and inference skills.

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School

There is a strong culture of promoting pupils’ well-being and safety in the school. All staff take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously and are vigilant in checking for signs that additional support may be required. Training for staff is up to date and in line with the latest statutory guidance. This includes the prevention of extremism, radicalisation and female genital mutilation. Leaders have a detailed understanding of the needs of pupils and their families. This includes local risks, for example the nearby road, canals and railway line. Pupils have received specific information on how to stay safe outside of school.

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School

Checks to help keep children safe are carried out thoroughly. For example, the recruitment checks on staff’s suitability to work with children are detailed and rigorous. The site is safe and secure. The school works effectively with outside agencies, including the local authority, to safeguard its pupils. Where necessary, referrals are made effectively and in a timely manner.

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Inspection findings

 The assessment information provided by the school showed that, in the 2017 national tests at the end of Year 2, a number of pupils did not do as well as expected given their end of Reception outcomes. Therefore, my first line of enquiry was to check how these pupils are being supported in Year 3. I also wanted to explore the actions the school had taken in ensuring that current Year 2 pupils reach the standards they are capable of.  Along with other leaders and governors, you quickly identified and remedied the factors affecting the progress made by Year 2 pupils during the last academic year. Actions taken include revisions to the key stage 1 curriculum. There is now a greater focus on giving pupils opportunities to apply their mathematical skills across a range of contexts. Plans have also been put in place to share best practice from across the school and, in particular, instil into key stage 1 what is

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Inspection findings

proven to be working well in key stage 2. Although these plans are still in their early stages, work in Year 2 books indicates that these actions are having an effect with a large number of pupils already having made progress in their conceptual understanding since the beginning of term. Pupils spoken to were able to explain what they were doing and justify their answers. Similarly, current Year 3 pupils are making gains in their skills and understanding.  Disadvantaged pupils did not do as well as their peers in the 2017 Year 6 national tests. Therefore, my second line of enquiry was to explore how you are using additional funding to ensure that these pupils make the progress required to bring them in line with other pupils.  From your deep understanding of the pupils, you have identified the barriers affecting their learning and put in place a range of initiatives to address these. Additional provision is supporting pupils and their families in a variety of ways,

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Inspection findings

for example, developing emotional literacy, providing assistance in improving attendance and enabling participation in extra-curricular activities and residentials. Work in books from last year shows that disadvantaged pupils made good progress from their starting points. Many are working at, or close to, the standards expected for their age in reading, writing and mathematics. Some are exceeding these standards.  Although it is clear that additional spending is having an impact on the outcomes of disadvantaged pupils, leaders including governors are less clear about the impact each individual initiative is having towards this improvement. This is limiting the school’s ability to evaluate the success of each initiative in order to inform future planning and expenditure.  In 2017, the proportions of early years children achieving a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year were lower than in previous years

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Inspection findings

and are likely to be below the national average. My next line of enquiry was to investigate whether this represents good progress for these children from their starting points into school.  Evidence gathered during the inspection supports the view of leaders and governors that baseline assessments for this cohort were lower than in previous years. Early years staff had accurately identified a range of additional needs and put in place support for these children. This enabled children to make good progress from their entry points into school. Current provision is strong. Although only having been in school for a few mornings, children seen in the Reception class had quickly settled in and adapted to new routines and adults’ expectations. The early years environment is lively and exciting both inside and outside. There is a range of activities to engage all children and promote early reading and writing skills.

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Inspection findings

 My final line of enquiry was to explore how leaders are ensuring that pupils’ progress in writing is more in line with the strong progress being made in reading and mathematics.  The development of a new writing programme is having a good impact on the quality of pupils’ writing, particularly in key stage 2. Pupils have a secure understanding of basic skills and are able to use these in a range of different contexts, for example when writing explanation texts in science or for their class ‘blogs’. Teachers have secure subject knowledge and high expectations of what pupils can achieve. High-quality texts and effective modelling is being used to increase pupils’ exposure to good-quality writing. This is leading to greater proportions of pupils across key stage 2 writing at a standard above that expected for their age.

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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

 recent changes to key stage 1 provision become fully embedded in everyday practice so that greater proportions of pupils are assessed as working at greater depth in writing and mathematics  systems are put in place to enable leaders and governors to make precise evaluations of the impact individual initiatives are having towards improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

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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 Salisbury, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Wiltshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you, the deputy headteacher and other members of the leadership team. We discussed the school’s self-evaluation, information about pupils’ progress and improvements made since the previous inspection. Together, we observed pupils in classrooms and spoke to them about their learning. Work in books from both the current and previous academic years was analysed.

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Information about the inspection

I had meetings with middle leaders, six governors, including the chair of governors, and a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority. I looked at a range of written evidence, including documents relating to safeguarding and attendance information. I took account of the views expressed by 58 parents who completed the online survey as well as their written comments. I also considered the views of staff and pupils who returned their questionnaires.

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