Long Furlong Primary School

Inspection of Long Furlong Primary School Boulter Drive, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 1XP

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 13 and 14 March 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a happy and welcoming school where the characteristics of resilience and respect are carefully cultivated. Pupils are responsible and caring. Older pupils enjoy being trusted with additional responsibilities, such as helping the youngest children and serving as house captains. School councillors enjoy organising fundraising activities for charities.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They meet leaders’ high expectations. Pupils know the school’s values of respect, compassion, responsibility, courage and resilience, and they link these values to the choices they make. Bullying is not tolerated by staff, who deal with it effectively when it occurs. Pupils are safe and they are well cared for.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are keen to learn, and most pupils work hard. They appreciate the teachers and teaching assistants who help them. Leaders ensure that pupils study a full range of curriculum subjects. However, pupils do not always achieve as well as they should because the curriculum, in some subjects, is still being developed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils realise their talents and interests through extracurricular activities. Pupils can compete in sporting activities, including football and running. Pupils enjoyed opportunities to practise sewing, art and singing in the past and are keen for these clubs to restart.

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better?

Most pupils learn to read well. Leaders have made learning to read a priority. As soon as children join Nursery, teachers focus on developing their language through the sharing of songs, rhymes and stories. This development of language skills extends into Reception Year, where children delight in retelling well-known stories. Staff provide pupils with books that are carefully matched to their stages of reading. Leaders have provided effective training for all staff on the new phonics programme. They make sure that there is additional support for pupils who need extra teaching. Leaders are currently working to develop and improve pupils’ understanding and enjoyment of reading.

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better?

The extent to which the curriculum is developed varies across subjects. Leaders are in the process of constructing an ambitious curriculum for all pupils. This broadly matches the aims of the national curriculum. In some subjects, such as mathematics and reading, leaders have clearly set out what pupils will learn from Nursery to Year 6. In others, such as religious education and geography, this work is not complete. Leaders have not identified the small steps of knowledge that should be taught and how these link together.

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better?

Leaders have begun to address the weaknesses that exist in the curriculum. For example, they have recently improved their systems for supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders are quick to identify pupils’ needs and have already devised finely tuned support in English and 13 and 14 March 2023

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mathematics. Nevertheless, there is still more to do so that all pupils benefit from a consistently good-quality education. In some subjects, where teachers have not had recent training, they do not always have sufficient subject knowledge to present information clearly to pupils. Subject leaders have not received enough support to equip them with the skills to lead their subject. As a result, they do not have a secure overview of their subject.

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Assessment of what pupils know and remember in some subjects is still being developed. Some teachers do not consistently use what they know about how well pupils are achieving to plan new learning accurately. As a result, they do not provide pupils with work that enables them to build on their prior learning. Leaders know that they need to extend the provision for pupils with SEND across the full range of subjects.

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The school has a broad offer for pupils’ wider development. Pupils build a greater appreciation of different topics through trips to castles, zoos and rivers as well as visiting the prayer space, which is organised by a local church. Leaders ensure that pupils receive effective personal, social and health education that incorporates relationships and sex education. Right from early years, children learn about giving consent in age-appropriate ways. Pupils understand ways in which they can stay healthy, and visits from experts, such as the local fire service, help pupils understand how to stay safe.

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Governors have recently improved their understanding of their roles and responsibilities. They have undertaken training so that they meet their statutory obligations. Staff are proud to work at the school and appreciate the concern that leaders have for them while bringing about necessary improvements to the curriculum.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders take their responsibilities seriously. All staff receive regular training. This helps them to spot any risks to pupils quickly. Leaders work well with external agencies to ensure that concerns are well managed. This means that pupils and their families get the support they need as early as possible. Leaders adapt the curriculum to address issues that arise. For example, they recently arranged a visit from a local police officer to advise pupils about the safe use of social media.

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Safeguarding

During the inspection, some minor administrative issues with record-keeping were identified. These did not put pupils at risk. Leaders rectified these straightaway. 13 and 14 March 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some leaders do not have a strong enough overview of their subject. They do not have the expertise to support staff to improve pupils’ learning. Senior leaders should ensure that subject leaders have the necessary knowledge and skills to develop curriculum thinking.  The foundation subjects are not taught as well as English and mathematics. As a result, pupils are not achieving well enough in a broad range of subjects. Leaders need to ensure that teachers have the subject knowledge and skills to meet the learning needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, across the whole curriculum.  Teachers do not always check pupils’ learning precisely enough in the foundation subjects. Consequently, they are not sure how secure pupils are in their understanding of key knowledge. Leaders should make sure that staff assess what pupils know and remember carefully and use the information to plan future learning effectively.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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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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. 13 and 14 March 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.longfurlongprimaryschool.org.uk

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Date of previous inspection

2 November 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been no significant changes since the previous inspection.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 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.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. The lead inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. The lead inspector also met with a local authority representative.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, religious education and history. For each deep dive, inspectors spoke with curriculum 13 and 14 March 2023

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leaders, held discussions with pupils and looked at their work, visited lessons where possible, and spoke to teachers and other staff about the curriculum.  To inspect safeguarding, inspectors reviewed a wide range of safeguarding documentation, including the school’s record of recruitment checks. The lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding lead. Inspectors also spoke with pupils and staff.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View and the written comments. An inspector also spoke to parents on the morning of the second day of the inspection.  Inspectors gathered pupils’ views throughout the day, including during lesson visits and at breaktimes.  Inspectors met with a range of staff to gather their views about the school and took account of staff’s responses to Ofsted’s confidential staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Clare Morgan, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Ian Elkington Ofsted Inspector 13 and 14 March 2023

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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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