Wroxton Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Wroxton Church of England Primary School Lampitts Green, Wroxton, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 6QJ

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Outcome

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

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a welcoming and nurturing school where teachers have high expectations. Pupils are proud to attend Wroxton and enjoy their school experience. They feel happy and safe. Staff develop warm and caring relationships with pupils. One pupil told inspectors, ‘We are more of a family than a school.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s Christian motto of ‘care, share, learn and worship together’ can be seen in the way both staff and pupils work together. Pupils behave well and are polite and kind to each other. They have a clear understanding about what bullying is and say that it hardly ever happens at school. Pupils told us that adults are always on hand should they need them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the activities available to them. These include well-considered trips and interesting visitors. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about theatre trips, attending Young Voices and the residential trip to Manor Adventure. These opportunities deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding further.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils contribute well to the life of the school, helping to develop their close-knit community. Some recently helped to design the ‘reflection area’. This is an outdoor space to allow them to enjoy the natural surroundings. Pupils described this place as a ‘place for everyone’.

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

Leaders have maintained the good standard of education since the previous inspection. The school’s vision of ‘fostering a sense of hope, aspiration and respect’ underpins the work of all. Leaders have thought carefully about how to further develop the curriculum. The new plans they have recently put in place help pupils to learn more and remember more across a wide range of subjects. 4 March 2020

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Pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics. This has happened because teachers have thought carefully about what pupils need to know and the order in which they should learn it. Leaders have been focusing on improving the planning of some subjects, for example history, so that it is coherently sequenced. However, they know that some subjects are not as well planned as others. It is clear that leaders have a firm strategy to develop the curriculum in an organised and manageable way.

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Early reading is taught well. From the moment children start at the school they are encouraged to learn letters and sounds. All the children we spoke with said that they love to read. They enjoy sharing books with each other and with adults. Last year, leaders reviewed their approach to teaching reading to help children secure their early reading skills. Teachers use the school’s phonics scheme consistently well. Staff provide extra support for pupils who start to fall behind. Teachers choose books to read to pupils that are relevant to what they are studying. Older pupils told us they enjoy reading a range of novels and were able to discuss their favourite authors and stories.

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Mathematics is taught well. Teachers are well trained and knowledgeable. They plan lessons so that pupils can build on what they have learned before. Practical tasks and investigations help to deepen pupils’ understanding. There is a strong focus on the teaching of early mathematics. Children in the early years enjoy well-planned activities that focus on arithmetic and the use of apparatus. For example, children were practising counting up to 20 while playing a game using play dough.

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Staff are skilled at supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This group of pupils are fully included in all aspects of school life. Staff work closely with families to identify pupils’ needs and find ways to help them learn. Teachers adapt the curriculum and use appropriate resources effectively to support this vulnerable group’s learning and well-being.

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Pupils’ education goes beyond curriculum subjects. Pupils enjoy their visits to a range of places such as Trinity College Oxford and the local church. This helps to bring their learning to life. Pupils also enjoy a range of sports, including tag rugby and basketball. They take on positions of responsibility within the school, such as on the school council and as play leaders. Pupils told us they enjoy these activities.

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Children are safe and happy in the early years. They develop positive attitudes to learning and behave well. They play alongside each other happily. Staff assess children well and support any who may be at risk of falling behind.

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The headteacher supports staff well. Staff say she carefully considers their workload and well-being. They are very positive and passionate about their work. As a result, staff morale in this small school is high.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 4 March 2020

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Pupils feel safe in school. They know what to do if they have any worries and say there is always someone to talk to if they need help. They understand how to keep themselves safe on the internet.

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Staff are well trained to keep pupils safe. They know what to do if they have concerns. They work effectively with outside agencies to help and support vulnerable children and families. The overwhelming majority of parents agree that their children feel safe in school. One parent said, ‘My child is well looked after and loves coming to school.’

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s curriculum is not yet coherently planned and sequenced enough in some subjects. However, it is clear from the actions that leaders have already taken that they are in the process of bringing this about. For this reason, Ofsted’s transition arrangements have been applied. Leaders should further refine the curriculum so that they identify the most important knowledge that pupils should acquire in each subject and consider the order in which it should be taught. This will help pupils know more and remember more over time.

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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 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 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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Wroxton Church of England Primary School, to be good on October 2015.

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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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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted . 4 March 2020

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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. 4 March 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122242 Type of school Primary

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School details

Website https://wroxtonceprimaryschool.co.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller-than-average-sized primary school. There are four classes: three classes are mixed-age groups, with one class having just Year 2 pupils.  The school has a distinctive Christian ethos and is part of the Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust. The Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust is a multi-academy trust which comprises 36 academies. The school joined the trust in April 2017.  Wroxton Church of England Primary School converted to become an academy school on 1 April 2017. When its predecessor school of the same name was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, we met with the headteacher, assistant headteacher, the chief executive officer of the trust and the chair of the local governing body.  We did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. We discussed curriculum design with subject leaders, carried out a series of lesson visits, scrutinised pupils’ work and spoke to pupils and teachers about the curriculum. 4 March 2020

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 We took account of the 26 responses to the Ofsted Parent View survey and the additional 16 free-text responses.  We spoke to staff to gather their views of the school and considered the views of 11 members of staff who responded to Ofsted’s staff survey.  We looked at the school’s training records, spoke with pupils and checked staff’s safeguarding knowledge to ensure that pupils are safe. We held meetings with the designated safeguarding lead and the school’s special educational needs coordinator.

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Inspection team

David Harris, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Lizzie Jeanes Ofsted Inspector 4 March 2020

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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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