Warfield Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Warfield Church of England Primary School All Saints Rise & Sopwith Road, Warfield, Bracknell, Berkshire RG42 3SS

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Outcome

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

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff are ambitious for pupils to do well. Pupils respond positively to being encouraged to work hard. They like learning a range of subjects and try their best. Pupils especially enjoy and value reading. As one pupil commented, ‘Books make us learn!’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are positive relationships between pupils and staff. Pupils find staff easy to talk to about any worries, which helps them to feel safe. They relish the friendships they make. This reflects the school’s aim for pupils to be ‘friends on a learning journey’. They learn to include each other in games at playtime. This means that when pupils join the school, they feel warmly welcomed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations for how pupils will behave. This helps pupils to develop the right attitudes to be ready to learn. They say that bullying does occasionally happen but almost all were confident that teachers deal with this well. A few pupils would like staff to deal with bullying behaviour more swiftly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils talk with enthusiasm about different opportunities. They like representing the school at sporting events and taking on leadership roles, such as school councillors. Year 6 pupils enjoy a residential at Culmington Manor which involves an exciting night walk.

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

The pandemic and staffing changes have hampered leaders’ work on the curriculum across the two sites. During this period, staff have maintained a focus on pupils’ reading and number work. In most subjects, new content was planned before the pandemic, and teachers are delivering it for the first time.

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

The teaching of early reading is effective. Staff have received high-quality training. From the start of Nursery, staff place great emphasis on developing children’s speaking and listening skills in preparation for learning to read. Children learn to recognise rhymes and songs. From Reception, staff follow the phonics programme and check children’s 16 and 17 March 2022

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understanding diligently. They insist that pupils blend words correctly. Struggling readers receive swift support which helps them to keep up. Pupils love adults sharing books with them. This includes texts that focus on important issues such as different emotions and how to manage them.

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Pupils enjoy being challenged in mathematics. Staff follow the curriculum closely to help pupils build on prior learning. At the start of each lesson, pupils briefly revisit learning from previous weeks and terms. This helps to improve their accuracy and confidence. Staff precisely model strategies before giving pupils the opportunity to practise independently. Pupils are supported to develop their fluency with number and use this knowledge to solve problems. On occasion, a few teachers do not always check pupils’ learning in lessons accurately enough.

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Curriculum thinking in some other subjects is at an earlier stage and several leaders are new. In every subject from Nursery onwards, leaders have carefully sequenced the broad content they want pupils to learn. This helps pupils to link new learning to what they have studied before. In many subjects, the key knowledge and skills are precisely identified. This helps staff to carefully check during lessons that pupils have understood and remembered the essential learning. This is not as well developed in every subject. Consequently, pupils sometimes struggle to remember the knowledge they have been taught in some subjects.

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The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities has increased during the pandemic. Leaders have prioritised giving the special educational needs coordinator more time to support teachers, pupils and parents. Staff adapt their teaching using amended tasks, different resources and adult support to help pupils to learn the curriculum.

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From Nursery onwards, staff skilfully help children to understand the routines. The youngest children are keen to learn and generously share resources. This continues up the school. Pupils listen carefully to teachers and concentrate well in lessons. This leads to a calm and orderly environment.

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Leaders prioritise developing pupils’ respect for others. Pupils learn to value other peoples’ beliefs, including in religious education lessons. They enjoy visiting the local church to enrich this learning. They appreciate other pupils’ contributions such as during the science day when they worked in teams to complete experiments.

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Some opportunities for pupils to develop their own talents and interests have been paused during the pandemic. Leaders and parents are keen for these to be swiftly restarted. Some parents would also welcome clearer and more timely communication about events.

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Governors have a strong understanding of their role and how well pupils are learning in English and mathematics. They have begun strengthening their knowledge about how well pupils learn in other subjects. 16 and 17 March 2022

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and staff take safeguarding seriously. Staff receive high-quality training so that they know what signs to be alert to. They know about safeguarding issues in the local area and report any concerns promptly. Safeguarding records are detailed. They show that leaders work well with external agencies to help keep children safe from the risk of harm.

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Safeguarding

The curriculum helps pupils learn how to spot potential risks and how to keep themselves safe. Children in the early years are helped to manage risk safely in the outside area.

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Safeguarding

Governors ensure that statutory safeguarding checks are made before new staff begin employment.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Curriculum thinking in some subjects other than mathematics and English is underdeveloped. Staff do not always build on pupils’ previous learning. Leaders should ensure that in every subject, they have precisely identified the most important knowledge and skills they intend pupils to learn and remember from Nursery onwards. Leaders have already taken action to remedy this. For this reason, the transitional arrangements have been applied.  Not all staff consistently check during lessons that pupils have learned the most important content. This means that learning time is sometimes wasted. Leaders should ensure that all teachers accurately check pupils’ understanding of the key knowledge and skills and use this information to inform their teaching.

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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 outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as 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 July 2012. 16 and 17 March 2022

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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 .

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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. 16 and 17 March 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.warfieldprimary.co.uk Date of previous inspection 8 December 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Warfield Primary Church of England School is on two sites about a mile apart. Both sites have one class in each year group from Nursery to Year 6.  There is currently a consultation about moving both sites onto one location at Woodhurst.  The headteacher has been in post since July 2017. Prior to that, she was the co- headteacher.  About half of the staff have joined the school since the previous inspection. Several foundation subject leaders started leading their subjects in September 2021.  The chair of governors started in her post in September 2020. Most governors have joined since the previous inspection.  The governing body manages a nursery for three- and four-year-olds and before- and after-school childcare provision on both school sites.  This school is a voluntary controlled Church of England school in the Diocese of Oxford. Its last section 48 inspection took place in November 2017.

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use any alternative provision. 16 and 17 March 2022

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher and other school staff.  She also met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors, and spoke to a representative from the local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and design technology. For each deep dive, the inspector met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum planning, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector also looked at curriculum planning and spoke to leaders about some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector spoke with staff and pupils.

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Information about this inspection

The inspector met with the designated safeguarding leads to review their knowledge, records and actions and also reviewed information about the safer recruitment of staff.  The inspector spoke to staff and groups of pupils from different year groups and observed behaviour in classrooms and at lunchtime.  The views of staff and pupils, including responses to Ofsted’s online staff and pupil surveys, were considered.  The responses to Ofsted Parent View, including written responses and one telephone call, were also taken into account.

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Inspection team

Laurie Anderson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 16 and 17 March 2022

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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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