Eynsham Community Primary School

Inspection of Eynsham Community Primary School Beech Road, Eynsham, Witney, Oxfordshire OX29 4LJ

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement 17–18 September 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Eynsham Community Primary School bases its school rules on three words, ‘Ready, Respectful, Responsible’. These values are successfully reflected in everything the school does. Pupils enjoy being at Eynsham because they feel safe, happy and valued. Pupils think the changes made by the new headteacher and her staff make Eynsham a better place to be. Parents and carers echo this in their many complimentary comments.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy learning at Eynsham. They work hard and achieve well. This is because lessons are carefully planned and well taught. Pupils can see clear connections between what they are currently learning and what they have learned before. There are strict routines and high expectations for conduct that help pupils act responsibly. This creates a pleasant learning environment. Pupils see all staff as trusted adults they can speak to and ask for help if they need it. Pupils thrive in this school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have lots of opportunities to take part in extra-curricular events and trips. All pupils are encouraged and helped to take part in these. This improves their school experience even further and helps them to be effective learners and members of a community.

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better?

The headteacher has employed a committed, knowledgeable and motivated team of leaders. They have worked hard to ensure staff provide pupils with an exciting curriculum. Plans and lessons cover the knowledge pupils need. In some areas, including English, mathematics and history, teachers plan activities and learning that builds on what pupils know. In other areas, teachers are more reliant on leaders to support them with subject knowledge and planning.

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better?

Leaders and staff provide all children with a wide range of experiences and opportunities. For example, music lessons engage pupils and help them develop the confidence to try new things. In art lessons, teachers make reference to both modern artists and historical work. Staff plan trips to support pupils’ learning and to give them a sense of belonging to the local community and the wider world.

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better?

All staff are ambitious for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers and teaching assistants adapt lessons and provide additional resources that help all pupils to do well. Teaching assistants know what pupils need to learn and seek ways to support pupils in lessons and in small groups. Everyone makes sure that all pupils are successful and develop independence.

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better?

Leaders prioritise reading in the school. All staff and pupils recognise the importance of this area of learning. In key stage 2, pupils are adept at answering questions about a range of texts and can discuss the significant features. The leader for English has been rigorous in developing pupils’ love of reading and story- 17–18 September 2019

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telling. Pupils enjoy listening to their teachers read from carefully chosen books. These often relate to what they are learning in other subjects. Teachers explain difficult vocabulary and pupils are beginning to use some of these words in their own writing.

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Children are taught about phonics from the beginning of Reception Year. Teachers and teaching assistants have a good understanding of how to teach early reading skills. They plan fun activities that interest children. Early in Reception, children feel success as they find rhyming words and make ‘silly soup’. Teachers quickly identify pupils who fall behind in developing their reading skills and give them extra support.

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Pupils’ behaviour had been an issue in the school for several years. The new leadership team quickly changed the approach and raised expectations. Teachers and teaching assistants received extra training on how to support pupils to manage their own behaviour better. Behaviour is much improved. Pupils are well supervised and respectful and they play together happily. Leaders are keen that pupils leave the school needing less supervision and support to behave well.

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The quality of education in early years is good and provides an ambitious and well- delivered curriculum that closely matches the individual needs of children. However, some areas of learning are not as well organised or resourced. This means that children do not always have what they need to access the ambitious curriculum, and opportunities to learn are missed. Staff listen closely to children and naturally respond to children’s verbal and non-verbal communication. The culture is safe, purposeful and kind. Staff are immediately responsive when children need comfort or encouragement as they play and explore. Staff are determined that all pupils will succeed.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff know pupils well and take their welfare and safety seriously. Staff are trained to quickly identify pupils who may be at risk of harm or need early help. Any concerns are quickly addressed and safeguarding leaders ensure timely referral to other agencies.

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Safeguarding

Teachers help pupils to look after themselves by sensitively making them aware of risks both online and in the community. This is supported by a well-planned personal , social, health and citizenship (PSHC) education curriculum and through assemblies.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that all safeguarding processes and procedures meet requirements. Leaders and governors regularly check these. 17–18 September 2019

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum is much improved and provides pupils with well-sequenced and well-delivered learning. However, teachers’ subject knowledge is still developing in some subjects and some year groups. As a result, teachers do not always challenge pupils and sometimes miss opportunities to improve pupils’ knowledge and skills. Leaders should maintain their focus on providing staff with high- quality professional development to ensure that all subjects are taught to an equally high standard.  Behaviour has improved at the school due to the changes made to practice and policy following the thorough analysis of incidents and patterns. Pupils now behave well at the school because of the high-quality input by staff. Leaders recognise that they need to further develop pupils’ self-control and positive attitudes so that they all behave well, even without supervision.  The early years teachers plan a curriculum that provides a good start to

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

children’s education. However, sometimes resources are not accessible to children when they are needed and the environment does not always support the ambitious intentions of the early years team. Leaders are keen to develop this and further improve the children’s access to resources and learning opportunities.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 17–18 September 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10111137 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The board of trustees

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School details

Date of previous inspection 23-24 May 2017

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Information about this school

 The school became part of the Eynsham Partnership Academy (EPA) in 2014. The chief executive officer (CEO) of the EPA was appointed in April 2017.  The current headteacher joined the school as acting headteacher in April 2018. With support from the EPA, she reorganised the staffing structure and senior leadership team from 1 September 2018.  The acting headteacher was appointed to the substantive role in January 2019. The senior leadership team of the school currently consists of the headteacher, deputy headteacher, two assistant headteachers and the school manager.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors evaluated the quality of education by looking in detail at the teaching of four subjects across the school: reading, mathematics, science and history. This involved discussing the curriculum design and delivery with leaders, carrying out lesson visits, looking at pupils’ work, and speaking to pupils, teachers and teaching assistants, from the lessons visited, about the subjects. 17–18 September 2019

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 Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and operational SENCo, the PSHC education curriculum leader, teaching assistants and mid-day supervisors.  Inspectors visited early years, spoke to the early years leader and listened to pupils from key stage 1 read.  Inspectors met with six members of the governing body (the rapid improvement board, or RIB) and the CEO of the Eynsham Partnership Academy.  Several documents were scrutinised, including minutes of governing body meetings, the school development plan, reviews by external consultants, records relating to behaviour and attendance, and safeguarding information.  There were 115 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, including 113 written comments. These were taken into account. Inspectors also met informally with parents at the beginning of the school day.

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 There were 26 responses to the Ofsted staff survey and 115 responses to the pupil survey. Inspectors looked at these and also spoke to pupils on the playground at breaktimes and lunchtimes.  During many of these activities, inspectors spoke to pupils and staff about the culture of safeguarding in the school and whether they felt safe and cared for. Inspectors checked that all safeguarding documentation was complete and regularly checked. Inspectors also spoke to leaders about their work with outside agencies to support pupils and families.

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Inspection team

Tracy Good, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Peter Dunmall Ofsted Inspector 17–18 September 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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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