Winton Primary School

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

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Mr Neil Tarchetti Headteacher Winton Primary School Oswald Road Bournemouth Dorset BH9 2TG

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Short inspection of Winton Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 7 June 2018 with Gina Cooke, Ofsted inspector, 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 September 2013.

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Short inspection of Winton Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Winton Primary School

You and all other leaders have high expectations of the pupils. Your strong focus on improving pupils’ outcomes is continuing to raise pupils’ achievement well. Pupils’ progress at the end of key stage 2 in mathematics was in the top 14% of all schools nationally in 2017. You and your team ensure that the right priorities drive school improvement through accurate and robust self-evaluation. In particular, there is a healthy balance of support and challenge in holding others to account. For example, governors are heavily involved in checking the effectiveness of leaders’ actions. This leads to suitably tailored professional support and training for staff so that they can continually improve their practice. Staff welcome this and morale is high.

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Short inspection of Winton Primary School

Pupils, staff and parents are proud of the school. They rightly recognise the improvement of the school over time. For example, nearly all of the 200 respondents on Parent View said they would recommend Winton. Parental comments are overwhelmingly positive. These include, ‘The school is great’, and further remarks about how well pupils are motivated, such as ‘The curriculum content has been exciting, with trips both during and after school, inspirational visitors and a real purpose (for learning).’ Teachers match work well to meet the range of pupils’ needs. As a result, pupils are keen and want to learn. This is reflected in improving rates of attendance. However, despite leaders taking the right steps and actions, attendance remains below the national average, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities.

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Short inspection of Winton Primary School

You have tackled weaknesses identified at the previous inspection effectively. In particular, you have improved pupils’ writing outcomes and ensure that learning is stimulating. You have also ensured that the library is a place where pupils want to go, for example they enjoy visiting during their lunchtimes. More importantly, the library has become part of the school’s drive to improve the culture for reading where pupils enjoy picking up a book and reading for various reasons, including with others or on their own for pleasure.

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Short inspection of Winton Primary School

During the inspection we agreed some further areas for improvement. These include continuing to raise achievement of disadvantaged children by the end of the Reception Year, and to stretch and challenge the most able pupils in phonics to reach the highest standards.

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Short inspection of Winton Primary School

You have rigorous processes for ensuring that pupils are safe and protected. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Consequently, staff are well informed and vigilant in carrying out their safeguarding duties and responsibilities. You respond quickly to the needs of pupils, including working effectively with other professional agencies to keep pupils safe. Your diligence in staff recruitment and vetting procedures reflects the strong culture of safeguarding established at Winton.

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Short inspection of Winton Primary School

Pupils say that they feel safe. They have a good understanding of how to stay safe, including e-safety. Pupils have confidence in staff. Some told an inspector, ‘Adults watch us to keep us safe. They wear fluorescent jackets so we can see them.’ Pupils know that they can sometimes ‘fall out’. However, they do not consider bullying to be an issue in the school and have full confidence that adults will resolve this should it occur. Pupils also understand the behaviour management policy. They know how this keeps them safe and reinforces positive attitudes during lessons and when conducting themselves around school.

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Inspection findings

 We evaluated how well leaders promote a love of reading and the impact of leaders’ strategies to raise pupils’ achievement in key stage 2. This is because pupils’ progress in reading in the previous years has been broadly average.  You have successfully introduced a range of effective strategies to increase pupils’ enjoyment and ignite their passion to read. For example, visits from an author to open the library and rewards linked to reading have motivated pupils. They enjoy reading in whole-class sessions as well as to each other. Replenished stock and improved reading material entice and invite pupils to pick up different books and genres to support their reading.  Leaders have ensured that a systematic approach and revised strategy to the teaching of reading are improving pupils’ outcomes. For example, the introduction of longer and specific comprehension activities is improving pupils’ knowledge and awareness of how to infer and interrogate a text. In addition,

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Inspection findings

teachers’ analysis of assessment information means they are matching work and interventions accurately to meet pupils’ needs. As a result, effective support and provision are in place and standards are improving.  Reading books are generally well matched to pupils’ knowledge and abilities. However, there are a few occasions when some lower- and middle-attaining pupils are trying to read books that are too hard for them. This reduces their fluency and understanding of what they are reading.  We also evaluated the effectiveness of the school’s phonics strategy. You ensure that teachers plan work to meet pupils’ needs. For example, the use of appropriate age-related benchmarks and measures ensures that pupils make strong progress towards Year 1 phonics screening check expectations. This includes pupils who were behind at the end of the Reception Year. However, the most able pupils are not consistently challenged. This holds them back or

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Inspection findings

prevents some from making the best possible progress.  You and other leaders regard phonics and the development of early reading as a priority. You therefore allocate time, resources and staff effectively to meet the needs of pupils, including those who have SEN and/or disabilities. Teachers and teaching assistants have good subject knowledge. They use this to support and challenge pupils well, especially through a range of well-targeted interventions to help identified pupils to catch up.  Finally, a further key line of enquiry focused on how well disadvantaged children are identified and helped in the early years to rapidly catch up with their peers.  You have established a strong team in the early years with good capacity to drive improvement. Teaching, learning and assessment are well managed to ensure that children are taught in a positive and stimulating environment. As a result, children apply themselves enthusiastically and can sustain their interest when

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Inspection findings

working on a range of different tasks and activities, including disadvantaged children.  Teachers know the children well. They plan lessons and sessions with activities linking language development to other areas of the curriculum, such as number. As a result, children are gaining a secure foundation with relevant experiences across the curriculum.  However, teachers do not have consistently refined plans or ‘next steps’ for some of the lower-attaining children to overcome particular barriers quickly. Consequently, this slows some children and prevents them from reaching a good level of development by the time they leave Reception. There is a perennial difference in the good level of development achieved by disadvantaged children compared to their non-disadvantaged peers. This is a priority for you and other leaders to address.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  teachers raise achievement of disadvantaged children in the Reception Year to get them off to the best possible start, especially those who need to catch up quickly  the most able pupils are consistently stretched and challenged in phonics sessions to reach the highest standards of which they are capable.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

We agreed the timetable and related activities at the start of the inspection. Inspectors worked extensively with you and other leaders to review the quality of pupils’ work, hearing them read and checking what pupils know in lessons. Inspectors scrutinised safeguarding records and we discussed a wide range of matters related to safeguarding, including staff recruitment, training and vetting arrangements. I reviewed evidence to show how you work and liaise with multi- agency partners to keep children safe. I also met with representatives of the governing body and reviewed school documents, including the school’s self- evaluation summary and samples of governors’ visits. I took full account of the 198 responses on Parent View as well as other surveys, including free-texts received during the inspection. An inspector also met with parents. Additionally, there were 33 staff and 107 pupil responses taken into account as part of the inspection.

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