Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

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

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Mrs Anne Normington Executive Principal Ogbourne Church of England Primary School High Street Ogbourne St George Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 1SU

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Short inspection of Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 February 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 your predecessor school was judged to be good in November 2009.

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Short inspection of Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since this inspection, the school has become a member of the Excalibur Multi-Academy Trust.

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Short inspection of Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

You know the school well and, together with your leadership team, are taking effective action on the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection. Governors challenge and support you effectively. You are supported well by expertise from the trust.

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Short inspection of Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

You provide strong leadership and commitment to improving outcomes for pupils. You were tenacious in your response to the dip in standards at the end of 2017. The quality of your leadership is recognised by governors and by the trust. As a result, you were deployed to support another school within the trust. This experience allowed other school leaders to take on more responsibility and develop their leadership skills.

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Short inspection of Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

Pupils are proud of their school. They appreciate the support that teachers give them to help them learn. Pupils are made to feel welcome, and those who arrive from other schools are helped to settle quickly.

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Short inspection of Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

Parents and carers are generally positive about the quality of education that their children receive. Parents commented on the happy nature of the school and how eager their children are to learn as result of the good provision you and your team provide.

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Short inspection of Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

School leaders, including governors, place safeguarding as the highest priority for the school. A strong culture of safety and security pervades the school as a result. Governors and leaders check the school’s work to keep children safe regularly. All staff understand the need to protect pupils from risk and know pupils extremely well.

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Short inspection of Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

Leaders and governors ensure that all the required checks and training are in place to support all staff and volunteers. A rigorous system of induction enhances staff and volunteers’ understanding of how to keep children safe in school. Records are detailed and well maintained.

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Short inspection of Ogbourne Church of England Primary School

Pupils talk confidently about how the school keeps them safe. They understand that routine procedures such as fire drills help keep them safe. They explain how staff listen and help solve problems when they occur. Pupils attend school regularly. The vast majority of parents who responded to the Parent View survey agreed that the school looks after pupils well and responds effectively to incidents of bullying.

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Inspection findings

 School leaders have worked hard to ensure that the curriculum offered throughout the school for all pupils is exciting and engaging. A range of exciting and stimulating experiences are planned for pupils and you ensure that these go beyond mathematics and English. For example, you ensure that every child in key stage 2 learns a musical instrument. You also ensure that pupils experience a wide range of visits, for example the recent trip to the Young Voices event at the O2 arena. The recent building project has ensured that the youngest children now have a larger classroom space in early years and key stage 1. This has enhanced the learning environment. The school has future plans to review the use of the outside area to further support curriculum development.  The school regularly reviews its curriculum to map out the knowledge and skills that every pupil should learn. This enables teachers to closely match activities to

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Inspection findings

pupils’ needs. There is a strong expectation that skills learned will be used and applied across all aspects of the curriculum, for example by using knowledge on how to construct a newspaper report in history.  Teachers demonstrate good subject knowledge. This enables them to adapt teaching to meet pupils’ needs swiftly. For example, in key stage 2 mathematics, teachers model effective problem-solving activities. This allows pupils to correct their work and increases their confidence to move on to try other challenges.  The school’s use of additional funding to provide specific intervention for vulnerable pupils is helping these pupils to catch up with their peers. Pupils commented that this extra support helps them to move forward with their learning. One pupil said how proud she was at the progress she has made in her writing because she could now write more and at a higher quality.  Work in pupils’ books in both key stages 1 and 2 shows that increasing numbers

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Inspection findings

of pupils are attaining the expected standard in mathematics and English. Most pupils are set work that matches their ability. Occasionally, work in mathematics does not challenge some of the younger most-able pupils sufficiently. As a result, they do not move on swiftly enough to using and applying their skills in problem- solving activities.  The school ensures that regular opportunities are provided for pupils to use and apply their writing skills in a range of contexts, and leaders check this regularly. For example, a story about Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone gave pupils the opportunity to link science, history and English skills.  Pupils in key stage 1 read confidently and explain their understanding. Pupils take pride in their learning and this is reflected by their well-presented workbooks. The errors pupils make in spelling are reducing because of the recently introduced spelling programme.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders recognised the drop in standards in the 2017 national assessments. Leaders have responded appropriately to the challenge of ensuring that pupils make the progress of which they are capable. As a consequence, an increased focus on problem solving in mathematics across the school was put in place. Mathematics leaders from across the trust share good practice and expertise. This is helping to develop further the quality of teaching in this subject.  Leaders use regular meetings with teachers to discuss every pupil’s individual progress. The school’s tracking system shows that increasing numbers of pupils are working at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics. This matches the evidence seen in pupils’ books.

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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

 they embed systems, introduced earlier this year, so that teaching fully challenges pupils in both key stages.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the chief executive officer of the Excalibur Academies Trust, 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 course of the inspection, I met with you and other leaders responsible for early years, English and mathematics. I also met with a group of governors and the chief executive officer. I scrutinised the school’s single central record with you and the designated safeguarding leader. We discussed safeguarding procedures, training and pupils’ welfare. We discussed the school’s latest assessment information and I reviewed the school’s self-evaluation summary and development plan. Together we undertook a learning walk to review learning in all classes and discussed pupils’ progress. I spoke with pupils in lessons and also had a formal meeting with several pupils from different year groups. We jointly carried out a focused scrutiny of pupils’ work in English, mathematics and other subjects in several year groups. I talked to several parents at the beginning of the school day and considered 35 responses to the online survey, Parent View. I also reviewed

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Information about the inspection

three responses to the online staff questionnaire.

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