Boxgrove Primary School

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

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Mrs Alison Fitch & Mrs Rebecca Stacey Co-Headteachers Boxgrove Primary School Boxgrove Lane Merrow Guildford Surrey GU1 2TD

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Short inspection of Boxgrove Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 7 November 2018 with Kevin Parfoot, 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 May 2015.

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Short inspection of Boxgrove Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. During this time, you have driven improvement, firmly focusing on ensuring that Boxgrove is a great place to learn, work and grow. Your efforts to improve the capacity of staff are particularly impressive. You have created clear and effective procedures for developing staff and nurturing talent. Support staff, teachers and leaders explained how they were supported and encouraged to take on new and exciting roles. The development of others is at the core of your leadership philosophy and contributes greatly to the continued improvements that the school has made.

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Short inspection of Boxgrove Primary School

Pupils enjoy the rich and varied experiences that the school offers. During the inspection, pupils in Reception enthusiastically prepared for their school play, singing with joy and gusto and thoroughly enjoying the appropriate accompanying actions. Pupils in key stage 2 recounted the trips that they have been on, such as their visit to Winchester Science Museum to experience the 3D planetarium and a life-sized version of the human digestive system. Pupils enjoy the wide variety of extra-curricular clubs on offer such as netball, hockey and ‘computer explorers’. In the latter, the pupils learn to code basic games and program robots. Standards in most subjects are high. However, there are still some inconsistencies in the quality of writing in the foundation subjects, particularly the humanities.

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Short inspection of Boxgrove Primary School

On the playground, pupils utilise the first-class space, showing great care and respect for adults and peers alike. They enjoy very positive relationships with each other and, despite the size of this large primary school, feel that they all have an adult to talk to if they are worried or need advice. Pupils state that behaviour in the school is excellent and feel that bullying is not a problem.

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Short inspection of Boxgrove Primary School

At the time of the last inspection you were asked to improve systems for developing teaching and learning. You have considered how best to do this without adding unnecessary additional workload to staff. Your work to improve feedback, for example, has helped staff to offer sharp and targeted feedback to pupils without increasing the amount of time they spend on written marking. Every member of staff has the opportunity to work with their ‘coach’, which helps them to build upon and share their strengths and to form clear and well-judged plans to address the areas that they need to develop.

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Short inspection of Boxgrove Primary School

Safeguarding documents are well maintained and fit for purpose. All staff are carefully vetted and trained before they join the school and regular checks are made to ensure that they have an up-to-date understanding of safeguarding issues. When concerns are identified, leaders react immediately and appropriately, working with external agencies and parents to get families the help that they need.

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Short inspection of Boxgrove Primary School

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. They regularly practise evacuation procedures and know what to do if a stranger approaches them. Parents explained how they have learned how to keep their children safe online by monitoring what they access and by setting appropriate parental controls. The school community is well prepared to safeguard children from current and emerging threats.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection we agreed to look at: the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements; the progress of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged; the quality of teaching of reading; and how effectively leaders and governors evaluate and improve the school.  Staff know the pupils well and work hard to ensure that support for disadvantaged pupils is bespoke and effective. Last year, leaders realised that some interventions were having too little impact on pupils’ progress. In response to this they recruited and trained an ambitious team of ‘pupil premium champions’, who work with disadvantaged pupils throughout the week to help them understand their work and correct any mistakes that they have made. This strategy helps these pupils to keep up with others in school. Nevertheless, leaders’ evaluations do not always focus sufficiently on these pupils’ outcomes. This means that less effective interventions can occasionally slip through the net.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils make a strong start to reading in the early years and develop a secure understanding of phonics. Pupils in key stage 1 and 2 build upon this in a considered and systematic way. Parents are given useful guidance to help their children at home. Pupils read interesting and challenging texts. For example, pupils in Year 5 read ‘Street Child’ by Berlie Doherty to better understand the challenges facing underprivileged children in Victorian Britain. Pupils throughout the school read well, with higher-than-average proportions attaining a high standard by the time that they finish key stage 2.  Leaders work as a cohesive and ambitious team. They thrive in their distinctive roles and have clear lines of communication, ensuring that they are able to identify and address the few remaining weaknesses in the school. The governors possess a secure and shared vision for the school and its pupils. They recognise

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Inspection findings

that the school still has areas to improve on. They work positively with the trust board and leaders, commissioning and considering appropriate external validation when required. They are well placed to drive continued improvement.

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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

 evaluations of the impact of pupil premium funding are firmly rooted in the progress that disadvantaged pupils make  the quality of pupils’ writing in the foundation subjects consistently matches the high standards in English work.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body and the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Surrey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors met with you, senior and middle leaders, and four governors, including the chair of the governing body. Inspectors observed learning in 14 classes, all jointly with leaders. Inspectors looked at pupils’ work, including the early years learning journeys and pupils’ books. Inspectors analysed a range of the school’s documentation, including information about pupils’ achievement, the school improvement plan and safeguarding checks, policies and procedures. We discussed your evaluation of the school’s effectiveness. Inspectors considered the 141 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including 139 free-text comments, and spoke to parents at the beginning of the day. Inspectors met with seven pupils from Years 2 to 6 and gathered the views of other pupils throughout the day.

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