Charlbury Primary School

Charlbury Primary School Crawborough, Charlbury, Oxfordshire OX7 3TX

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Safeguarding is not effective. Leaders do not fulfil their statutory responsibilities. Governors do not check the systems in place effectively enough.  Leaders do not have systematic procedures for staff to record safeguarding concerns. When concerns are raised, leaders cannot demonstrate that they always take effective action to keep pupils safe. This includes reporting concerns to other agencies, when appropriate.  Staff do not receive regular safeguarding training. Teachers are not adequately trained to spot the signs of abuse.  Incidents of poor behaviour and bullying are not tracked systematically. As a result, issues are not always tackled satisfactorily.  School development plans are not focused on the things that make a difference to learning. They do not provide any means of measuring how effective planned work is.  Leaders do not provide suitable opportunities to develop the capacity of staff who have

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

middle leadership roles.  Leaders are not doing enough to improve the frequent absence of some pupils. Some disadvantaged pupils do not attend regularly enough.  Statutory welfare requirements are not in place in the early years. Safeguarding is, therefore, not effective.  Pupil premium funding is not used effectively to improve rates of progress for those pupils it is intended to support.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The effectiveness of teaching and learning in the school is good.  Most pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics.  Pupils develop a wide variety of knowledge and skills through the carefully planned curriculum.

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Full report

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Urgently review safeguarding arrangements to ensure that: – the school’s designated safeguarding lead acts on reported concerns – staff receive up-to-date safeguarding training to improve their understanding of potential risks that pupils face – chronologies of adults’ concerns are maintained and acted upon – record-keeping is systematic and methodical – the welfare requirements of the early years foundation stage are met – governors keep sharp oversight of the school’s safeguarding policies and procedures.  Improve the quality of leadership and management, including governance, by: – strengthening school improvement planning and leaders’ self-evaluation – improving leaders’ analysis of how well pupils are learning – ensuring that pupil premium plans focus on providing effective support so that disadvantaged pupils make better progress – reducing the number of pupils who are frequently absent from school

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

– developing the effectiveness of middle leaders – tracking incidents of behaviour more closely and taking swift action in response to any issues, including any instances of bullying.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of the school’s use of pupil premium funding should be undertaken in order to assess how well this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Leaders and governors have not ensured that pupils are kept safe. They have not made sure that safeguarding concerns are recorded in a systematic way. Furthermore, concerns are not followed up or referred on to the appropriate agencies, when needed. As a result, leaders have potentially placed pupils at significant risk.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher know the community they serve well. They work hard to create a stimulating and rich learning environment. However, at times, their efforts are misdirected and they have failed to focus on the things that have the greatest impact on pupils’ safety.  Leaders’ plans for school improvement are not sharply focused or clear enough about when leaders expect to have made the improvements they seek. They do not tackle some of the key issues the school faces, for example the persistent absence of disadvantaged pupils.  Leaders do not monitor the progress of groups of pupils closely enough. They are

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

unclear about the progress that pupils make.  Leaders do not systematically keep records of any incidents of poor behaviour and episodes of bullying. Therefore, they are not able to spot trends or patterns in pupils’ behaviour. For example, leaders are unable to quantify the level of bullying in school. As a result, any incidents of bullying are not dealt with effectively.  Leaders have not taken timely action to respond to one of the areas for improvement set at the last inspection. Enthusiastic middle leaders are not effectively developed. They are not held to account or coached sufficiently well. As a result, they are unclear about their roles in school.  Pupil premium funding is not used well. Leaders do not evaluate what has worked and what has not. Planning for this small but important group of pupils lacks clarity and precision.  Physical education (PE) and sport premium is used appropriately to develop the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

capacity of staff and the sporting interests of pupils. Although governors have oversight of this, the impact of this spending has not been reviewed or analysed in sufficient detail.  Leaders are clear on their intent to provide a curriculum which gives pupils a range of opportunities. Pupils enjoy learning through themes which are supplemented through a variety of experiential learning, for example when undertaking outdoor activities. These are further enhanced by the wide after-school curriculum offer.  The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is effective. There is a planned programme of visits, visitors and residential trips to enrich and stimulate pupils’ thinking and develop their wider interests and talents. For example, pupils take part in fundraising for charities and in the ‘battle of the bands’, where pupils practise and perform together at a community event.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Parents and carers who responded to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, are mainly positive about the school, with all but a few saying that they would recommend the school to other parents. Nevertheless, there were some who thought their concerns about pupils’ poor behaviour could be addressed by leaders more quickly.

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Governance of the school

 Governors provide a balance of challenge and support. They gain some first-hand knowledge from seeking the views of parents and pupils during their visits to school. Governors have some understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.  Safeguarding audits are completed and checked by governors. However, governors are over reliant on the information provided by school leaders. As a result, their understanding of safeguarding information is not accurate. Some important gaps in the school’s recruitment processes have been overlooked.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.  The leadership of safeguarding is weak. Confusion prevails and leaders are unclear about roles and responsibilities. Some staff are not trained to a sufficient level. Statutory duties are not carried out.  Systems to keep pupils safe are unsatisfactory. The school’s written policy and procedures do not match the practice within school. Record-keeping is not sharp enough. Leaders do not keep chronologies of concerns raised. Therefore, they are unable to identify those pupils who are potentially at risk of harm.  Referrals to other agencies are not made in a timely manner and records are not passed on to schools in cases where pupils move. As a result, pupils are not kept safe.  Staff do not receive appropriate and up-to-date training. Some staff are not aware of the school’s safeguarding procedures and do not know how to identify any pupils who

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Pupils enjoy learning. One pupil told inspectors that, ‘Teachers make learning fun!’ There is a tangible buzz of excitement in classrooms.  Teachers create positive environments for learning in which most pupils are keen to learn, work well together and with good levels of effort. The work they produce is generally of a high standard.  Teachers use their secure subject knowledge to plan learning that is well matched to the needs and interests of the pupils in their class. They use questioning judiciously to check pupils’ understanding. Teachers demonstrate tasks competently to help pupils understand what is required of them. As a result, most pupils make strong progress.  Pupils develop and make links between their skills and knowledge across a range of subjects. For instance, in Year 2, pupils learn about the Great Fire of London in history and use this knowledge to produce high-quality pieces of writing.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Teachers use practical resources well to model concepts, and to shape and support pupils’ learning in mathematics lessons. Learning is carefully planned, building on pupils’ prior knowledge.  Teachers do not always challenge pupils to strive to attain the highest standards. Some parents who responded to Parent View agree that there could be greater ambition from leaders for some pupils’ achievement.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is inadequate.  Pupils’ welfare is not secure because arrangements for safeguarding are ineffective.  Pupils have some understanding of equality. When asked about making friends with pupils who have different characteristics to themselves, they immediately said they would. However, some pupils felt that such pupils might be subjected to teasing by others.  Pupils are confident and take an active role in the life of the school. They relish the opportunities to take on responsibilities through election to leadership roles. Such roles include being a member of the school council and the eco-committee, and becoming a healthy school leader. As a result, pupils understand the importance of leadership, the processes of democracy and decision-making.  Pupils learn to live healthy lifestyles. They are taught to look after their bodies through

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Personal development and welfare

healthy eating and maintaining high levels of physical activity. They enjoy participating in a range of sporting activities.  Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, for example while out and about on the local roads through the cycling proficiency course and while using the internet.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Pupils typically behave well in lessons. Most pupils are keen to share their ideas and opinions with one another. They are largely polite and engage well in discussions. They generally respect and listen attentively to each other’s views. However, some pupils disrupt the learning of others.  While most pupils show respect for each other and readily help others in school, at times some pupils can be unkind to one another. For example, while the majority of pupils play well together during breaktimes and lunchtimes, pupils told inspectors that arguing, teasing and laughing unkindly at one another occur on occasion.  Leaders do not deal with any incidents of poor behaviour, including bullying, swiftly enough.  Most pupils attend school regularly. Overall attendance is similar to the national figure. However, the absence rates for disadvantaged pupils are higher than those for other

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Behaviour

pupils within school and nationally. The number of pupils who are persistently absent from school is increasing. Leaders have not established effective ways of working with parents to secure improvements.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Pupils with low prior attainment develop fluency in reading, using skills to link letters and sounds to tackle unfamiliar words. They are encouraged to read both at home and at school, and some use their reading diaries well. This contributes well to the development of their reading skills.  Pupils’ performance in the Year 1 phonics check is consistently above that seen nationally. This is because staff are skilled at teaching pupils to blend and segment the sounds in words. Staff model this skilfully, encouraging practice and repetition.  Pupils read widely and fluently. Texts are well matched to their reading ability. Pupils demonstrate strong knowledge of the reading skills needed to be successful. One pupil said, ‘Reading makes me calm and puts me in another world.’  The proportions of pupils who attain the expected standards at the end of key stage 1 are above the national averages for reading, writing and mathematics. However, fewer

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Outcomes for pupils Good

boys than girls reach the expected standard in writing, and too few work at greater depth.  The proportions of pupils who attain the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 are above the national averages. However, some most-able boys have not been routinely challenged to think deeply enough in their reading and writing. As a result, in the past lower-than-average proportions of boys have attained the higher standards in both.  Teachers have recognised that girls make stronger progress than boys in reading and writing by the end of key stage 2. Teachers have worked hard to reduce this gap. Pupils’ current work shows most boys make good progress from their starting points and an increasing number are achieving higher standards, particularly in reading.  Pupils’ books show that they make similar rates of progress in all subjects as they do in English and mathematics. Teachers have high expectations across the curriculum. This

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Outcomes for pupils Good

is evident in the work that pupils produce.  Some disadvantaged pupils and some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make less progress than other pupils. Where this is the case, pupils’ individual needs are not carefully linked to the provision that they receive. The impact of specific interventions is not analysed to check the effectiveness of this provision.

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Early years provision Inadequate

 The early years leader has established a caring environment. However, as in the rest of the school, staff knowledge about safeguarding in the early years is not secure. Training, including for paediatric first aid, has not been updated in a timely manner. Therefore, the statutory welfare requirements in the early years are not met.  Children get off to a good start in early years. They enter the school with skills and understanding typical for their age. By the time they leave Reception, a high proportion of the children attain or exceed a good level of development. This represents strong progress from their starting points and prepares them well for Year 1.  The early years leader is knowledgeable about children’s development and the progress they are making. She has correctly identified and tackled an attainment gap that existed between the boys and girls, especially in writing. The curriculum has been

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Early years provision Inadequate

adapted and boys are now more engaged in their learning. As a result, they are now making similar rates of progress to girls.  Children are well supported by adults who offer additional help to those who need it, for instance, for the development of their reading, writing and physical skills. This means children make good progress.  The curriculum is well thought out, with activities matched to children’s needs. These activities build on children’s prior knowledge and link with their interests. For example, children are currently learning about dinosaurs and were excited to watch a ‘dinosaur egg’ hatch. This piqued their curiosity and led them to write about their experience.  Children recognise individual letters and letter blends, and know the sounds they represent. This is because adults model these sounds and encourage children to imitate. However, adults do not always check that the sounds children are making are

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Early years provision Inadequate

correct and this slows children’s progress.  Children are confident. They are beginning to show good levels of independence because of the well-established early years routines, for example when changing their shoes and washing hands.  Parents contribute to children’s learning through an online assessment tool. They are encouraged to support their children’s learning and development at home. Parents who spoke to inspectors were pleased with the progress their children are making and feel well informed about children’s learning and development. One parent commented, ‘My son would never pick up a pen before and now he just loves writing.’

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Email address office.2100@charlbury.oxon.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 24–25 March 2015

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller than average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is lower than the national average.  The vast majority of pupils who attend the school are White British. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is very low.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is slightly lower than the national average.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed learning in all classrooms. Some observations were carried out with the headteacher.  In addition to discussions with parents, 82 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, were taken into account, including 49 free-text comments.  Five responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and 29 responses to the pupil survey were considered.  To gather information, a range of the school’s documentation was scrutinised, including: the school’s information on how well pupils are learning; pupils’ attendance records; and leaders’ self-evaluation of the school’s effectiveness.  The lead inspector scrutinised the school’s website to evaluate the quality of information for parents and to check that the school meets statutory publishing requirements.  Inspectors spoke to pupils to gather their views about the school, and heard pupils read.  Inspectors met with senior leaders, governors, including the chair of the governing

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Information about this inspection

body, and officers from the local authority, including the designated officer.

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Inspection team

Clare Haines, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Sarah Hubbard Her Majesty’s Inspector guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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Inspection team

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted .

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Inspection team

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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