Grove Church of England School

Grove Church of England School North Drive, Grove, Wantage, Oxfordshire OX12 7PW

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leadership is effective. Leaders have tackled well a historical fall in pupils’ outcomes. Current pupils are making good progress in a range of subjects.  Governance is strong. The trust and governing board know what the school does well and what could be even better. They monitor leaders’ actions regularly and are effective in holding leaders to account.  Middle leaders have successfully raised pupils’ achievement within subjects. They keep a careful watch on pupils’ progress to help ensure that their actions continue to have a positive impact on raising standards.  The quality of teaching is good. Teachers use their strong subject knowledge to structure learning well and help pupils deepen their knowledge and understanding.  A wide range of effective strategies enhances pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development successfully to ensure that pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils’ behaviour is good. They enjoy learning, listen attentively in class and work happily with their peers. Pupils develop into successful learners because provision for their personal development and welfare is good.  The early years setting is good. Children make strong progress, often from starting points that are typically lower than usual for their age, and are ready to achieve well when they start Year 1.  The curriculum is broad and interesting for pupils. However, in some subjects, pupils, particularly the most able, are not deepening and extending their knowledge sufficiently to prepare them well for the next stages of their education.  The provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) has been reviewed, and systems have been strengthened to help support pupils effectively. However, sometimes this support is not matched well enough to pupils’ needs to help them to make good progress from their

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Fully develop the wider curriculum to provide appropriate challenge for the most able pupils and those with potential to achieve the highest standards.  Ensure that the provision and support for pupils with SEND are sufficiently well matched to pupils’ needs to help them to make good progress from their various starting points.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 The headteacher has an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. She is determined to ensure that Grove Primary provides well for its pupils and equips them for future success. Leaders pursue this ambition with dedication and focus. School evaluation and development plans are rigorous and regularly reviewed to ensure that they are effective in driving necessary school improvement.  Leaders have ensured that staff have the appropriate training to continue to develop their skills. They review performance carefully and provide feedback so that everyone knows what is expected of them. This has resulted in a consistency of approach to teaching which supports pupils well and has raised achievement. Staff are supportive of leaders. Morale is high.  Most parents who responded to the Ofsted survey, Parent View, were positive about the school. Parents have a high degree of trust in the leadership of the school to keep

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

pupils safe and provide a good quality of education. One comment, typical of those received, was, ‘We feel a strong level of trust in the school staff and trust them with my child’s education’, and another was, ‘This school is doing exceptionally well for all the kids’.  The leaders of English and mathematics have successfully raised achievement in their subjects across the school. They have strong subject knowledge and have supported colleagues well in developing their plans, teaching and assessment in these two areas.  Leaders have ensured that a focus on promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development enriches school provision and prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. In addition, pupils’ understanding and tolerance are successfully developed through the regular assemblies and curriculum work. As a result, pupils are well informed and reflective about belief systems, society and themselves, both as

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

learners and citizens.  Leaders have made good use of reviews, such as that of their use of the additional funding provided through the pupil premium grant, to ensure that funds are spent appropriately. For instance, they have increased the work of the family link worker to support school attendance. As a result of this, a range of outcomes for disadvantaged pupils are improving. Additional sports funding is used well by leaders to inspire pupils to participate in physical activities.  The curriculum is broad and balanced. Capable curriculum leaders use their skills and knowledge to plan learning that engages pupils and sparks their interest. Opportunities are provided to develop pupils’ English skills further and, where appropriate, their mathematics skills, in a meaningful way. Nevertheless, in some subjects, such as geography and science, the most able pupils and those with potential do not have

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

enough opportunities to extend and apply their knowledge and understanding.  The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has revised a range of systems since taking on the role. She knows that there is more work to be done to ensure that the process of planning, implementation and review for pupils with SEND is more sharply aligned to pupils’ needs.

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Governance of the school

 Governance is effective. Governors have used information from review, training and their own audits successfully to strengthen their skillset. As a result, they use a range of information sources effectively to hold leaders to account, including for the achievement of disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils.  Governors know the school well. They visit regularly to see things for themselves and to talk to pupils and staff. They take appropriate actions to help ensure that pupils are kept safe, including monitoring bullying and behaviour logs and attendance information.  The trust has ensured that the reviews recommended following the previous inspection have taken place. These have been used to support school improvement effectively. The trust has worked closely with leaders to provide appropriate support to develop leadership and teaching. They are now wisely ensuring that the improvements this support secured are embedded and sustainable through, for instance, accreditation

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Leaders have created a strong safeguarding culture that permeates throughout the school. When recruiting new staff, all appropriate background checks are made. This information is logged accurately on the school’s single central record. The school’s safeguarding practices meet statutory government guidelines.  Staff are suitably knowledgeable in protecting pupils from harm. They receive regular training on how to identify children at risk and what actions to take to keep them safe. Appropriate actions and information-sharing protocols are understood by all. When necessary leaders work effectively with a range of outside agencies in order to help keep pupils safe. Record-keeping, including for pupils who leave the school, is meticulous. In this way leaders help to ensure that children do not go missing from education.  Parents and staff feel that pupils are safe at school. Almost all parents completing the

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Safeguarding

Ofsted survey, Parent View, were confident that their children are safe. Regular health and safety checks and fire drills help ensure pupils’ physical safety.  In school surveys and during the inspection pupils confidently articulated that they feel safe. They know the actions to take to keep themselves safe, including when playing and learning online.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good. Current pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, learn well across a range of subjects, including reading, writing and mathematics.  Teachers have good subject knowledge. They use this well to structure learning carefully so that it supports pupils well in making connections to previous learning across the curriculum. They help pupils to apply learning to their own lives, so that their learning has meaning for them. For instance, in a Year 1 history lesson pupils learning about the introduction of potatoes and tomatoes to Britain speculated on how their diets would be different without mashed potato and tomato soup!  The teaching of mathematics provides pupils with effective challenge. Teachers use questions well to assess pupils’ understanding and successfully match the level of challenge to this during lessons. For example, in a Year 6 lesson, while converting

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

fractions to decimals and percentages, pupils grappled with increasingly complex questions which were introduced as their understanding, confidence and competence steadily developed.  Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ written work, including handwriting. Teachers encourage pupils to make ambitious vocabulary choices in their writing and to apply their grammatical knowledge. As a result, pupils write evocative poetry and descriptive stories.  The teaching of reading is consistent and builds pupils’ skills sequentially. Pupils’ emerging reading skills are nurtured well so that pupils successfully develop reading fluency and understanding.  The most able pupils are making increasingly good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because teaching is sharply focused on their greater levels of understanding. However, this level of challenge is not yet consistently evident across other areas of the curriculum, for instance in science and geography. As a result, the

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

most able pupils and those with potential to achieve the highest standards do not make such good progress across the wider curriculum.  The quality of teaching and support for pupils with SEND is variable. Some pupils with SEND are engaged with lessons and are developing their skills well because adults have an accurate understanding of their needs. When this is the case adults skilfully balance an expectation for independent work with well-timed prompts and supports. However, on occasion, work is not well matched to pupils’ needs, and expectations of participation are too low. When this happens, pupils do not make consistently good progress from their starting points.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  The school is a calm and purposeful environment of which pupils are proud. Pupils enjoy nurturing, good-humoured and respectful relationships with adults and their peers. They try hard to embody the school’s values of, love, respect and resilience, in all they say and do.  Vulnerable pupils receive additional high-quality care that supports their emotional well-being and boosts their confidence and self-esteem. Staff know these pupils and their families well, and plan careful, coordinated support that ensures that they have the support they need to thrive.  Pupils state confidently that they feel safe at school. They receive a well-planned programme of personal development learning that, for example, deepens their understanding of bullying and how to keep safe, including when online. Pupils trust staff to keep them safe. They are confident that on the rare occasions that friendships

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Personal development and welfare

fall out and develop into something more serious, staff resolve things and incidents are not repeated.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils generally behave well. Clearly understood systems that support pupils in developing appropriate behaviour are fairly and consistently applied by staff. As a result, pupils know what is expected of them, and also the consequences of poor behaviour. Incidents of low-level disruption are rare and swiftly dealt with so that learning is not disrupted.  Pupils enjoy learning. They listen attentively to their teachers and to their peers. Pupils enjoy sharing their responses and ideas together in lessons. Their contributions are valued and built upon well by teachers. Consequently, lessons are interesting for pupils and they participate keenly.  Pupils attend well. Leaders ensure that families know the importance of not missing too much school. For example, the home-school link worker diligently supports and challenges pupils and parents to ensure that pupils attend punctually and regularly.

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Behaviour

Effective strategies are in place that encourage pupils not to miss school. As a result of leaders’ actions, rates of attendance have improved.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Leaders’ successful actions have led to a significant rise in pupils’ outcomes. Across the school, current pupils are achieving well in a range of subjects, including reading, writing and mathematics.  Pupils achieve well in phonics. From Reception Year upwards, pupils confidently develop and apply their phonic learning. For instance, a group of pupils learning about the trigraph (a single sound made up of three letters) ‘air’ enthusiastically explored a range of words containing the sound. On generating the word ‘pair’ they successfully explained the meaning of the word when spelled this way and the different meaning of ‘pear’.  Pupils’ progress in reading is now in line with that in writing and mathematics across the school. Pupils are keen to read, and enjoy a wide range of genres and different authors. Pupils apply the skills that they learn, including in phonics, well to their reading.  Work in pupils’ books demonstrates that pupils work hard and show determination to

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Outcomes for pupils Good

complete tasks carefully and accurately. Pupils’ progress in mathematics is supported well by their secure computational skills and the increasing opportunities provided for them to use these to solve problems and apply mathematical reasoning.  The focus on developing handwriting has successfully increased pupils’ pride in their writing. Pupils are careful in forming their joined-up letters consistently. They write accurately for a range of purposes across the curriculum.  Most pupils are making good progress across the wider curriculum. Pupils achieve well because learning is made interesting for them and builds their skills well. Nevertheless, the most able pupils are not making such good progress as they do in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because the wider curriculum work does not provide them with the same levels of challenge in all subjects.  Pupils with SEND do not consistently make good progress from their starting points.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

The support provided for them is not always matched well enough to their needs to support their progress effectively.

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Early years provision Good

 Children make good progress in the early years. Some children join the setting with starting points that are typically low for their age. However, effective teaching ensures that most catch up quickly. The majority of children, including those who are disadvantaged, reach a good level of development.  Leaders have developed provision carefully so that children benefit, both from working alongside Year 1 pupils in the morning, and from less structured provision in the afternoons. In this way children are provided with interesting opportunities to learn across the early years curriculum.  The early years leader provides effective leadership. Under her careful direction, staff make accurate assessments of children’s abilities. This information is used well by staff to devise learning activities that develop children’s emerging skills. As a result, children, including those who need to catch up from lower starting points, make good progress.

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Early years provision Good

 Staff manage children’s learning well and help them develop the necessary skills to be ready for the next stage of their education. Staff skilfully ask questions which help children to develop their language and extend their thinking well. Adults build warm relationships with children, which help them to feel safe and to thrive, both in their learning and at play.  Children with SEND are supported well in early years. Staff use advice from other agencies, for instance speech and language therapists, to help them provide children with a well-matched level of support. As a result, children with SEND make good progress from their starting points.  Staff ensure that systems to keep children safe in the early years are rigorous. For example, risk assessments are carried out carefully and accurately to ensure that the setting is a safe place in which to learn. Staff are trained well and know what actions to

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Early years provision Good

take to protect children from harm. All statutory welfare requirements are in place.

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Email address head.3228@grove.oxon.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10–11 January 2017

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Information about this school

 Grove Church of England School is smaller than the average primary school. It currently has five classes. The school’s last statutory inspection of Anglican and Methodist schools took place in July 2016.  The school is a part of the Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust following conversion in December 2013. Following the previous inspection, additional support for the school has been provided by the trust.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is above average.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection was the first reinspection since the school was judged to require improvement in January 2017.  The inspectors, sometimes accompanied by senior leaders, visited lessons across the school. Pupils’ behaviour was observed around the school, including during breaktimes.  The inspectors looked at pupils’ work in lessons and checked a selection of pupils’ books with subject leaders.  Meetings were held with senior leaders, governors and teachers.  The lead inspector met with representatives of the trust.  An inspector met formally with a group of pupils and spoke informally to other pupils during lessons and around the school. A number of pupils read to an inspector.  A wide range of documentation was considered, including: the school’s self-evaluation and school development plan; minutes of the governing body’s meetings; reports from the headteacher and trust representatives; information on pupils’ progress and

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Information about this inspection

attainment; and records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance. The lead inspector scrutinised records related to safeguarding.  The inspectors took account of parents’ views through 32 responses to the Ofsted survey, Parent View, including 13 free-text comments, and through informal discussions with parents. Inspectors also considered four responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Deborah Gordon, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Christopher Crouch Ofsted 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

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Inspection team

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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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