Westrop Primary & Nursery School

Inspection of a good school: Westrop Primary & Nursery School Newburgh Place, Highworth, Swindon, Wiltshire SN6 7DN

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Inspection dates: 11 and 12 October 2022

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Outcome

Westrop Primary & Nursery School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and feel safe at Westrop. They are proud of their school’s values of ‘respect, empowerment, nurture, trust and honesty’. Pupils describe how these values inspire them to care for each other and try their best. Relationships between staff and pupils are very positive. Pupils receive strong pastoral support and care.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy school. They work hard in lessons. They benefit from the range of extra- curricular clubs, excursions and visits on offer. These include choir performances, learning musical instruments and sporting competitions. Pupils learn to be responsible citizens throughout their time at school. For example, children in Reception classes sing for residents at local care homes. Older pupils like to take on responsibilities as librarians and house captains.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in lessons and at play times. Staff have high expectations of behaviour. Pupils understand the school rules and try hard to ensure they are followed. They appreciate how staff look after them. Pupils can visit ‘The Den’ for extra support for their well-being. Bullying is very rare. Pupils are certain that if it did happen, staff would stop it immediately.

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

The curriculum is broad and ambitious. Leaders have set out the key knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn by the end of Year 6. Leaders expect pupils to achieve well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Most pupils achieve well in the core subjects. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders have begun reviewing the way the curriculum in foundation subjects is taught. Some improvements are still in their early stages. Where this is the case, pupils do not learn the curriculum as well as they should.

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

Leaders have prioritised reading. Staff inspire pupils to read widely. Pupils are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about genres and authors. Reading lessons help older pupils to 11 and 12 October 2022

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discuss and understand demanding texts. Pupils across the school enjoy hearing high- quality literature in their daily story times. This begins by joining in with rhymes, stories and songs in the early years.

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Younger children learn phonics from the start of their Reception year. Staff teach new sounds in a clear order. Pupils read books containing the sounds they know. They receive extra teaching if they have fallen behind their peers. However, some of these pupils do not get the support they need to catch up quickly. They do not always practise the knowledge and skills they need to become fluent, confident readers.

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Teachers check pupils’ understanding carefully in most areas of the curriculum. They quickly correct pupils’ misconceptions. Pupils build their understanding of important concepts over time. They enjoy the challenge of problem-solving. Children in Nursery and Reception classes secure their mathematical understanding through well-organised activities. However, in some subjects, teachers have not developed the subject knowledge they need to teach the curriculum well. Pupils do not always learn what leaders have identified as the most important knowledge.

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Leaders have high aspirations for pupils with SEND. They identify pupils’ needs. Teachers adapt their teaching so that pupils can take part alongside their peers. Staff use effective strategies to support pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.

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Leaders have clear expectations and rules for conduct. The school is a happy and harmonious place to learn. Pupils are attentive and industrious in class. Disruption to learning is rare. Pupils behave well outside in less structured times. Staff manage pupils’ behaviour consistently. Pupils love to receive ‘golden leaves’ for demonstrating good behaviour and attitudes. Leaders’ actions have improved pupils’ attendance. For pupils who have missed school too often in the past, attendance is improving.

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Pupils have a good understanding of people from different backgrounds. They speak maturely about the importance of equality and the dangers of prejudice. They learn the importance of healthy lifestyles, recognise healthy friendships and how to look after their mental health. Leaders enrich the curriculum through a range of activities such as visits to the local area and beyond. Pupils enjoy a range of extra-curricular clubs, including cookery and martial arts.

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Governors understand their responsibilities. They know the school well and provide effective challenge to school leaders. Senior leaders and governors support staff to manage their workload. Staff appreciate leaders’ support for their well-being, and staff’s morale is high.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and staff are vigilant about risks to pupils’ welfare. Staff are aware of the potential risks that pupils face. They know the signs they need to be alert to, and how to 11 and 12 October 2022

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report any concerns they have. Leaders respond quickly when pupils and their families need support. They work with other agencies to get pupils the help they need.

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Pupils learn how to keep safe, including online, and how to respond to peer pressure. Pupils feel confident to speak to adults about any concerns they have.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not ensured that all staff know how to support struggling readers to learn phonics. Teaching strategies are not always consistent or effective. As a result, some pupils who have fallen behind in reading are not catching up quickly enough. Leaders should make sure that all staff have the subject knowledge and skills to teach early reading well.  Teachers do not have consistently strong subject knowledge across all foundation subjects. Teaching does not always build pupils’ knowledge and understanding of important content. Consequently, pupils struggle to remember important knowledge over time. Leaders need to ensure that all teachers have the subject knowledge they need in order to deliver this to pupils.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2016.

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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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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. 11 and 12 October 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15 and 16 November 2016

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Information about this school

 The school uses two alternative provisions  The school has provision for two-year-olds.

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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 their evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector met 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 observed some pupils reading to a familiar adult.  The inspector spoke with pupils and leaders about the curriculum in other subjects.  The inspector met with school leaders, including the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator, the early years leader, curriculum leaders and teaching and support staff. 11 and 12 October 2022

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 The inspector reviewed documentation and spoke with leaders, staff and pupils to evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding. The inspector reviewed attendance records, records related to the use of alternative provision and the school’s behaviour and bullying records.  The inspector met with governors and spoke with representatives of Swindon local authority.  The inspector considered 45 responses to the online questionnaire, Ofsted Parent View, including 45 free-text responses. The inspector also took into account the 41 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Claire Mirams, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 11 and 12 October 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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