Longwick Church of England Combined School

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

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David Liddle Headteacher Longwick Church of England Primary School Walnut Tree Lane Longwick Princes Risborough Buckinghamshire HP27 9SJ

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Short inspection of Longwick Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 23 January 2018, 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 March 2013.

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Short inspection of Longwick Church of England Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Together with your senior leadership team, you have developed a welcoming and friendly atmosphere for pupils and staff. You have created a happy and hard-working community in a bright and orderly environment. As a result, pupils are confident and enjoy learning. You have the full support of your staff. They are proud to be associated with the school and appreciate the training opportunities and support they get from you. Parents are very enthusiastic about the school. They like its strong community spirit and the guidance you provide about how they can support their children’s learning.

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Short inspection of Longwick Church of England Primary School

Your governors are passionate about the school and share your ambitions for its success. They are determined that pupils will do well, and that you and other senior leaders continue to seek ways to improve. Governors are well trained and take their responsibilities very seriously. They offer strong support to the school, but also the necessary challenge to provide leaders with a clear strategic direction. They are very knowledgeable about the school’s performance, not only through the reports you provide, but from their own focused and well-recorded visits, such as to check on the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements.

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Short inspection of Longwick Church of England Primary School

You have, appropriately, concentrated on improving the quality of teaching through a number of effective initiatives. For example, the whole-school focus on mathematics last year resulted in a significant increase in pupils’ achievement at the end of key stage 2. In addition, the proportion of children in Reception attaining a good level of development was once again above the national average. All pupils in Year 1 reached the required standard in phonics, and attainment for pupils at the end of key stage 1 was above average in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Short inspection of Longwick Church of England Primary School

You know how well your school is performing and the areas that need further improvement. For example, you are pleased that attendance is improving but recognise that more needs to be done to improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils.

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Short inspection of Longwick Church of England Primary School

Since the last inspection, you and your senior leadership team have responded well to the areas recommended for further development. You have successfully tackled the weakness identified in mathematics, so that pupils at the ends of key stages 1 and 2 attained highly in mathematics last year. However, you recognise that even more can be done to challenge the most able pupils in this subject. You have improved the clarity of the annual targets set for each teacher, so that teachers can be in no doubt of what is expected from them. Subject leaders have improved planning in their subjects. They make sure that the skills pupils are expected to develop over time are crystal clear, and this information is shared with parents and carers.

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Short inspection of Longwick Church of England Primary School

You give the highest priority to keeping pupils in your care safe. Parents agreed that their children are highly valued, safe and secure at school, and that you and your staff have the welfare of pupils at the heart of your work.

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Short inspection of Longwick Church of England Primary School

Pupils themselves said that they feel safe and well cared for. They explained that if they were worried about something they have someone they could turn to, and they were confident that teachers would help them. They stated that bullying was extremely rare and that pupils in all years get along well together. Pupils have learned how to keep themselves safe, for example when using the internet, and how to stay healthy.

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Short inspection of Longwick Church of England Primary School

You have made sure that all adults are suitably trained in safeguarding and understand the school’s procedures to report any concerns. Staff I spoke to emphasised the need to be always vigilant. You know how to report safeguarding concerns quickly and effectively and are tenacious in ensuring that you get an adequate response. Records relating to safeguarding are well maintained and stored securely. Governors and senior leaders make regular checks to ensure that safeguarding procedures are fit for purpose.

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Inspection findings

 During this inspection I evaluated: the progress that pupils make in their writing; pupils’ attendance, including those who are disadvantaged; how well the most able pupils are challenged; and the impact of pupil premium spending.  Year 6 pupils who left the school in 2017 made stronger progress in reading and mathematics than they did in writing. Consequently, improving pupils’ writing has been one of your key strategic priorities. You have provided staff with additional training and taken opportunities to work with other schools to raise your teachers’ expectations even further. As a result, pupils are making good progress in writing. It is evident in pupils’ books that their handwriting is improving. There is a noticeable improvement in the quality and complexity of their sentences and the use of more adventurous vocabulary since the beginning of the school year.  Pupils’ levels of attendance are good. Most pupils come to school regularly. There

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Inspection findings

has been some increase in disadvantaged pupils’ levels of attendance. However, you recognise that recent improvements need to be sustained.  The most able pupils make good progress. Teachers have high expectations and pupils rise to these. In English, the most able pupils know the standards they are aiming for and they select tasks that provide appropriate challenge. However, in mathematics the level of challenge is a more variable.  Pupil premium funding is used effectively. As a result, disadvantaged pupils make good progress. Additional teaching support is well focused. Pupils say that they appreciate how much this ‘keep up, not catch up’ approach helps them in their learning.

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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 most able pupils consistently tackle work in mathematics that challenges them  the drive to ensure that all pupils attend regularly is maintained so that attendance of disadvantaged pupils is at least similar to the national average.

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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 Buckinghamshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

Meetings were held with the headteacher, the leader for literacy, administration staff, the chair of the governing body and two other governors. I also spoke to representatives of the local authority and the Diocese of Oxford. I met several parents as they arrived at school. I visited all classrooms with you to see pupils engaged in their learning and to look in their books. Together with your deputy headteacher, I looked at pupils’ written work and the school’s information about pupils’ performance. I examined school documents, including records about safeguarding, self- evaluation, attendance figures and governors’ meetings. I spoke to pupils informally in class and around the school at breaktimes, and met with a small group of Year 5 and 6 pupils. I considered 38 responses to the online survey, Parent View, including 25 written comments and one letter from a parent. I also took into account the 18

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Information about the inspection

responses to the staff survey and 84 responses to the pupil survey.

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