Edward Feild Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Edward Feild Primary School Bicester Road, Kidlington, Oxfordshire OX5 2LG

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Outcome

Edward Feild Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and families gather each morning on the playground before school and talk excitedly about the day ahead. Pupils are happy to attend this school. They are polite and courteous. From the moment children join the school they learn the importance of good manners. Pupils live out the school rules, which includes the mission to ‘Do and say kind things’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe at school. They say that bullying is very rare. Pupils trust staff completely to deal with bullying on the rare occasions it does occur. Pupils value the fact that staff support those children who sometimes make mistakes in their behaviour. They understand right from wrong. One pupil explained, ‘I wouldn’t say they are naughty people, but they just sometimes do naughty behaviour.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that staff have high expectations for them. The school values underpin these expectations. Pupils earn house points for perseverance, and they wear their stickers with pride. Pupils cherish opportunities to act, sing and dance. Recently, over 100 pupils took part in the school production of the Tempest. This taught them about classical literature and staging a musical performance. One pupil said, ‘I loved it – the costumes, the makeup and the props. It was amazing!’

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

Leaders have created an ambitious curriculum for all pupils, which begins in the early years. The underpinning principle of ‘Learning for life, caring for all’ is obvious around the school and in the interactions between staff and pupils. Pupils consider aspirational careers from the minute they find subjects they enjoy. For example, one pupil told the inspector she wants to be a pathologist after dissecting a heart in science.

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

Leaders have ensured that staff are well trained to deliver the curriculum. In many subjects, including English and mathematics, leaders have identified the key knowledge they want pupils to learn and remember. In the early years, the teaching of early 5 and 6 July 2022

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mathematics is strong. Children learn to be fluent with numbers through cross-curricular links with other subjects. For example, children learn in design technology about measuring and use this to compare volumes of liquids.

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Staff appreciate the recent developments designed to reduce their workload. For example, co-planning ensures that teachers teach the lessons that will best support the pupils in their class, and it reduces teacher workload. In some subjects, for example design technology and reading, teachers check what pupils know and can remember before moving on. This supports pupils to achieve well in these subjects.

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Early reading and phonics are curriculum priorities. Staff who teach the phonics scheme are skilfully trained. Leaders plan to train all other staff in the new academic year. Children in the early years love practising their phonics. Older pupils relish taking home their reading books, which have been precisely matched to the sounds that they have been learning that week in class. Everyone works hard to develop reading fluency and accuracy. Fiction and non-fiction books are common in classrooms and inspire the pupils to love reading. Story time is a favourite activity among many pupils.

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Leaders have ensured that staff are aware of the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Learning activities chosen by teachers are not yet designed to support these pupils to achieve to the best of their ability. The curriculum in some subjects does not yet challenge all pupils to achieve as well as they could. Sometimes, the focus is too much on task completion, rather than careful consideration of the specific learning that the pupils need to complete.

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Pupils’ behaviour in the school is exemplary. They are eager to learn. Sometimes, pupils work quietly, concentrating on the work in hand. At other times, there is a vibrant buzz in the classroom. Pupils engage enthusiastically with their ‘talk partners’, and in doing so, they learn to share ideas respectfully. They help each other learn by exploring ideas and deepening their own thinking about their learning. Personal, social and health education lessons teach pupils what it is like to grow up in modern Britain. Pupils learn to respect the views and beliefs of others. Pupils also learn to celebrate similarities and differences in each other’s emotions. This helps them learn how to respond to challenges and conflicts.

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There are a wide range of activities designed to promote pupils’ wider personal development. The wider range of clubs and trips paused by the pandemic are gradually restarting. Many pupils represent the school in sporting activities. Singing and music are popular. Pupils learn the importance of being inclusive. For example, they learn sign language in assembly to help communicate with family members who are deaf. Leaders focus on providing activities in the local environment. Pupils can learn to canoe in the nearby lakes so they can gain new skills and learn how to be safe in the water. They recently learned how to be safe when meeting dogs during the school holidays.

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Staff feel that leaders, including governors, care about their well-being. They value the opportunities given to them for professional and personal development. They have a strong sense of pride working at Edward Feild. Staff value the inclusive nature of the school. Leaders and governors provide strong leadership. Governors support and 5 and 6 July 2022

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challenge leaders appropriately to get the best out of the resources available to the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding. Leaders ensure that staff receive regular training. Staff know how to raise concerns, and they use the school reporting system to ensure that no information about a potential risk, no matter how small, is missed.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and governors are vigilant in dealing with safeguarding concerns. They follow up concerns diligently. Leaders work in close partnership with local services. They provide appropriate support for vulnerable pupils and their families.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe. Some pupils learn road safety through the cycling proficiency scheme. All pupils learn how to keep themselves safe online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum across all subjects is not always closely matched to the needs of all pupils. Curriculum thinking does not enable all pupils to achieve as well as they can. Leaders need to provide training to staff to ensure that the implementation of the curriculum enables all pupils to achieve their very best outcomes.  Assessment of what pupils learn is not yet used accurately across the school, apart from in the teaching of early reading and design technology. Teaching is not always informed by what pupils reveal they know and can remember. Evidence that teachers collect from checking what pupils understand in lessons should be used consistently, across all subjects, to plan the next steps of 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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in May 2017. 5 and 6 July 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. 5 and 6 July 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10227911 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 4 and 5 May 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspector carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, science and design technology. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, 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 heard pupils read.  The inspector considered the curriculum, visited other lessons and looked at samples of pupils’ work in art, mathematics and the wider curriculum. 5 and 6 July 2022

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 The inspector held meetings with senior leaders of the school, members of staff, pupils and parents. The inspector also met with governors and spoke to a representative of the local authority.  To inspect safeguarding, the inspector reviewed a wide range of safeguarding documents and records, including the school’s record of recruitment checks. The inspector also talked to a range of parents, staff and pupils about safeguarding.  The inspector spoke with staff, pupils and parents to gather their views. They considered 114 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including 73 free-text comments. The inspector also took account of 22 responses to the staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey, so the inspector spoke to as many pupils as possible to gather their views.

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Inspection team

Linda Culling, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 5 and 6 July 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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