Shenington Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Shenington Church of England Primary School Stocking Lane, Shenington, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 6NF

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Outcome

Shenington Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in this friendly village school. They are enthusiastic to learn and they develop positive attitudes. Pupils like everything about their school, including the many clubs that take place outside of the school day. They find the topics they study interesting, especially when visits and events help bring learning to life.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders make it clear that they want all pupils to do as well as they can. Staff put pupils’ well-being above all else. Because pupils know that the staff want them to succeed, they try hard. Classrooms are busy places where everyone behaves well and works hard to do their very best.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils like the fact that they know everyone in the school so well. It makes for a caring community. Pupils of all ages play together cooperatively. In key stage 2, they take turns at breaktime to make sure that no one is ever left out. Pupils say that the adults in school keep them safe. They insist that there is no bullying and ‘no meanness’. If any incident did occur, they know they can talk to any adult or leave a message in their class ‘worry monster’.

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

This is a school with many strengths. Leaders ably meet their vision for all pupils to develop a love of learning. Teachers help pupils to learn about interesting things. This makes pupils want to find out more. The school’s strong focus on pupils’ personal development ensures that they become confident and thoughtful individuals.

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

Leaders have recently reviewed the school’s curriculum for a wide range of subjects. They want pupils to do as well in all subjects as they do in reading, writing and mathematics. Curriculum planning uses topics to make links between subjects, particularly history, geography and science. Pupils engage well with learning through their topics. They enjoy writing about the information they discover.

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

In most subjects, pupils are building effective knowledge over time. For example, in 10 December 2019

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science, key stage 2 pupils learn what a fair test is. They know that it is an important idea. This helps when in Year 6, pupils are required to design their own scientific fair test. However, pupils have not developed a similarly well-sequenced understanding of important ideas in all subjects.

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Pupils are successful in English and mathematics. Younger pupils successfully develop into fluent readers. From the time children start in Reception, they learn phonics. Pupils build upon this secure start so that, by the end of key stage 1, they read with confidence. Pupils read regularly to well-trained adults. The adults help pupils to read with fluency, expression and understanding and promptly help those who may fall behind. Older pupils use their reading skills in different subjects to help them find things out. They talk with passion about their favourite types of books.

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In key stage 1, pupils develop strong mathematical skills. Teaching helps pupils to understand numbers well. Real-life number problems challenge pupils’ thinking. Reception children saw that placing numbers in tens and units helped them to count how many were present for that day’s register. Children recognised and knew the names of the shapes that they see around them every day. By the time pupils are in Year 2, they record their calculations with confidence.

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A high proportion of pupils join the school during key stage 2. They are warmly welcomed. Staff and pupils help them to settle in. Many of them have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Almost all new pupils have gaps in their learning. Teachers support these pupils to catch up quickly. Pupils with SEND achieve particular success. All pupils move on to secondary school well prepared for their future education.

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Pupils live up to teachers’ high expectations for behaviour. Throughout the school, pupils listen to the adults and concentrate well on their learning. Older pupils take on posts of responsibility, either by volunteering or through election. They are proud of their school and they like to be helpful. Leaders care about pupils’ personal development and promote it well. Teachers ensure that pupils understand about bullying, including online, and it is not tolerated. Older pupils know that it can have a serious impact. They used World Mental Health Day to reflect upon the importance of good mental health.

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There are many clubs. Often, as many as half of the school pupils remain on site at the end of the afternoon. The clubs support pupils to develop sports and hobbies, such as film and photography.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The designated leader ensures that safeguarding is everyone’s priority. Teachers know pupils and their families well. This helps staff to be alert to small changes that might cause any concern. Teachers and other adults look out for their vulnerable pupils. Staff know whom to go to if they have a concern. The designated safeguarding leader helps 10 December 2019

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Leaders follow up any safeguarding concerns rapidly. Systems for recruiting and training staff, governors and volunteers are robust. Pupils feel safe and they learn how to keep themselves safe, including when they are online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 As a result of leaders’ work to develop the curriculum, pupils are learning and remembering more in science and in many of the foundation subjects. In a few subjects, pupils have not yet built on their prior learning to develop enough depth of knowledge. Leaders need to continue their checks to ensure that all topics enable pupils to build enough subject-specific knowledge, skills and understanding as they progress through the school. This will ensure that pupils learn even more effectively.

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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. 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 we judged the school to be good in 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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You can search for published performance information about the school.

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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. 10 December 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10111328 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Catherine Kimmins

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School details

Date of previous inspection 8 March 2016

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Information about this school

 Shenington Primary is a Church of England voluntary-aided school. It was last inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 in April 2016.  There is a much higher proportion of pupils with SEND than in other primary schools nationally.  The proportion of pupils that join the school at times other than what is usual is higher than the national average.  The governing body runs a breakfast club.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, we met with the headteacher, the assistant headteacher and other leaders. Leaders were involved with some inspection activities. We also talked to teachers and support staff.  We did deep dives in three subjects: geography, reading and science. We discussed the curriculum design with leaders, looked at pupils’ work and spoke to them about their learning. We visited lessons and spoke to teachers about the curriculum.  The lead inspector met with two members of the governing body, including the chair. 10 December 2019

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She also spoke on the telephone to a representative of the local authority.  A wide range of school documents were scrutinised, including those published on the school’s website.  The school’s safeguarding processes were considered. We checked how the school makes recruitment checks on staff, governors and volunteers. In addition, we discussed safeguarding with leaders, discussed a sample of current cases, reviewed record keeping and documentation, and spoke to pupils and staff.  To gain their views of the school, we spoke with pupils during breaktimes. We also met mixed groups of key stage 2 pupils to talk about their learning and experiences at school.  In addition to speaking to parents at the end of the school day, we considered 70 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including two letters and 47 free-text comments. We also considered survey responses from 72 pupils and 14 staff.

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Inspection team

Linda Jacobs, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Kevin Burrell Ofsted Inspector 10 December 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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