Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Georgina Maclennan Head of school Woolavington Village Primary School Higher Road Woolavington Bridgwater Somerset TA7 8EA

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Village Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 20 May 2021, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the monitoring inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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Village Primary School

The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and has taken place because the school has two received successive judgements of requires improvement at its previous section 5 inspections.

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Village Primary School

This was the second routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic began. I discussed the impact of the pandemic with you and have taken that into account in my evaluation.

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Village Primary School

Having considered the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time:

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Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action

in order for the school to become a good school.

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Context

There have been many staffing changes since December 2018 when the last full inspection took place. New teachers and teaching assistants have been recruited. The assistant headteacher also took up the post of special educational needs coordinator. Subject leaders for English, geography, design and technology, computing, history and phonics have been appointed. A new chair of governors has also been appointed.

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Main findings

School and trust leaders have high aspirations and expectations of pupils. Their vision for a curriculum that develops pupils academically, socially and emotionally drives improvement across the school. This vision is shared by staff and they are proud to work at the school. Pupils are enthusiastic learners and relish learning different subjects. Many pupils told me how much they valued the pastoral and academic support of staff.

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Main findings

Leaders have implemented a very effective phonics programme. Children in early years and pupils in key stage 1 learn to read well. They are able to make strong links between sounds and the letters they represent. Pupils are eager to read. Staff and leaders have planned many challenging activities to enable pupils to practise their reading.

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Main findings

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities study the same curriculum as other pupils. They receive effective support which meets their needs. Teaching assistants support pupils well.

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Main findings

The writing curriculum is well structured. It enables pupils to apply their knowledge of grammar to improve their writing. Through carefully planned editing and redrafting lessons, pupils review their word and sentence choices. Consequently, pupils craft their writing well and are proud of their work. Leaders have prioritised reading across the curriculum. Pupils have many opportunities daily to listen to and read high-quality texts. Leaders have recently adapted the teaching of comprehension, particularly in key stage 2. However, leaders have not planned the reading curriculum as well as the approach to writing. Pupils do not explicitly use their knowledge of words and grammar in their reading comprehension. Leaders have identified the importance of broadening pupils’ vocabulary so that they can read more complex texts. However, this is still in its infancy.

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Main findings

Leaders have revised the mathematics curriculum to ensure that pupils have secure knowledge before moving on to new topics. Pupils practise daily their fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This helps pupils to solve more complex problems. Assessment information is used accurately to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge. Staff provide appropriate support. However, leaders acknowledge that some pupils over-rely on additional resources, which at times slows their fluency in arithmetic.

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Main findings

Leaders have worked hard to develop subject-specific curriculums that sequence the knowledge that pupils learn. They are ambitious to drive improvements to the curriculum. The role of the curriculum leader has been prioritised in all subject areas. Trust and school leaders have provided training and time to review the quality of teaching and learning in all subjects. However, some subjects are more established than others. For example, the science curriculum outlines clearly the knowledge that pupils learn from early years to Year 6. In history and in French, the planned curriculum does not outline clearly enough the content and sequence of what pupils need to learn in each subject.

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Main findings

Leaders have established a robust monitoring system. This enables them to measure the impact of improvements and identify areas for further support. Governors have worked closely with school and trust leaders to check the impact of training in all areas of the curriculum. Governors ask challenging questions and hold school leaders to account.

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Additional support

The Clevedon Learning Trust has provided effective subject-specific training alongside support for leadership. This has enabled the school to improve the quality of education. The English hub has been instrumental in sharpening the early reading curriculum.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I held meetings with the head of school, other senior leaders, pupils, staff, the chief executive officer and director of primary school improvement at the Clevedon Learning Trust, and the chair of governors and the governor for safeguarding to discuss the actions taken since the last inspection.

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Evidence

I visited lessons in some year groups, looked at pupils’ work, listened to pupils read and reviewed school documentation, including governor minutes. I looked at 31 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 32 free-text responses, as well as 20 staff questionnaires.

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Evidence

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the chair of the board of trustees and the chief executive officer or equivalent of the Clevedon Learning multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Somerset. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website. Yours sincerely

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