Ombersley Endowed First School

Inspection of a good school: Ombersley Endowed First School School Bank, Ombersley, Worcestershire WR9 0DR

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Outcome

Ombersley Endowed First School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff, parents, carers and governors describe their school as a happy family. That is exactly what it feels like to be in this school. The headteacher has high expectations of pupils and staff. Pupils rise to this challenge and many achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are well cared for and happy. Relationships are strong and nurturing. In lessons, pupils enjoy learning, work hard and listen well to their teachers. Parents are extremely positive about the school. They spoke about the confidence they have in the staff to look after their children. Parents say teachers are approachable and listen to their concerns.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is an inclusive school that works hard to ensure that every child feels valued. The support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is particularly strong. Parents speak highly of the support provided by the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand and can talk about the ‘high 5’ approach the school uses to teach about bullying. Pupils say that staff take their concerns and worries seriously. They say they feel comfortable approaching any member of staff with their concerns.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school environment is attractive and welcoming. Displays celebrate pupils’ work and show the range of inspiring and practical experiences they participate in.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders know the school and the pupils well. Leaders’ knowledge of what the school needs to do in order to improve is accurate. The governors support the work of the school and are proud of the education it provides for the pupils. The headteacher and governors take staff well-being seriously and staff morale is very high. Staff are dedicated and speak highly of the school. Staff told me that they feel valued and well supported and that they have a voice in the direction of the school.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders provide a broad and balanced curriculum which develops pupils as well-rounded 26 November 2019

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individuals. The school curriculum is taught through exciting class topics. Curriculum plans follow the national curriculum and identify what should be taught and when. Staff are eager that learning is memorable. The ‘Wow’ experiences at the beginning and end of each topic support this. For example, when learning about the Second World War, key stage 2 pupils had the opportunity to visit the Severn Valley railway and relive the experience of a child evacuee. However, curriculum plans lack the detail to ensure that pupils’ learning is sufficiently sequenced.

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The curriculum is enriched with a variety of experiences, such as singing at regional concerts, for example Young Voices, author visits and many others. Pupils are involved with the local community and take part in activities such as singing at the local church. Pupils also take part in charitable work and fundraising.

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Pupils have visited places of worship as part of their learning in religious education. They speak confidently about the range of world religions they have learned about. Pupils have a good basic knowledge and understanding of world faiths. The school’s partnership with a school in Kenya provides further opportunities for pupils to work with children from another country and culture. This helps to broaden pupils’ understanding of the world.

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Phonics is taught daily from Reception to Year 2. There is a clear structure to the teaching of phonics and pupils learn the letter sounds well. Pupils who find learning the sounds difficult are given extra support. Therefore, the majority of pupils learn to read well by the end of Year 1.

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Pupils with SEND achieve well. Teachers provide challenging work for pupils with SEND and the extra classroom support enables pupils to keep up with the pace of the lesson. This area is a strength of the school. But, in some lessons, the most able pupils do not achieve as well as they could. This is because, in some subjects, the work set is too easy for them.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils’ safety and well-being are taken very seriously by leaders and staff. Leaders keep oversight of all pupils and they act quickly when pupils need extra help. All the required safeguarding training is up to date. Therefore, teachers know what to do if they have a concern about a child.

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Safeguarding

All statutory policies and procedures are in place and meet the needs of the pupils. All relevant checks on staff before they take up employment are made.

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Safeguarding

Staff teach pupils how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet and around personal safety.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some classes, pupils are given work that is too easy for them. As a result, the most able pupils do not make as much progress as they could. Leaders need to ensure that the most able pupils, in all classes, receive work that is better matched to their needs.  While the school has a broad and balanced curriculum in place, the curriculum plans are not yet detailed enough. This means that, in some subjects, pupils’ learning is not sufficiently well sequenced. Leaders need to ensure that curriculum plans are further developed in order that pupils’ learning is more sequentially planned.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good/outstanding. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since the school was judged to be good on 3 March 2011.

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How can I feed back my views?

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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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. 26 November 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10111762 Type of school First

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School details

School category Maintained, voluntary aided

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 December 2015

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized first school.  Most pupils are from White British backgrounds. Few pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils in the school is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils with SEND in the school is above average.

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Information about this inspection

 We visited reading, phonics, writing, and design and technology lessons. We spoke with subject leaders, teachers and pupils about their work and other aspects of life in the school. We also reviewed pupils’ work in their books.  We also met with the headteacher, school leaders, the special educational needs coordinator, governors and the school improvement adviser. We looked at a range of documents, including curriculum plans, school development plans, and pupils’ attendance, behaviour and safeguarding records.  We met with pupils to discuss reading and listen to them read.  We looked at the 25 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 26 November 2019

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23 free-text responses. There were no responses to the staff or pupil questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Mel Davies, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Mark Hinton Ofsted Inspector 26 November 2019

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