Woodfield School

Inspection of Woodfield School Glenwood Avenue, Kingsbury, London NW9 7LY

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Inspection dates: 13 and 14 September 2023

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Sixth-form provision Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Nicholas Cooper. This school is part of Compass Learning Partnership, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Hermann Farrington, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Helena Morris. 13 and 14 September 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is an aspirational school, which aims to prepare pupils for life beyond school. Staff listen to what pupils, and students in the sixth form, say they want to do in the future and personalise learning and opportunities towards these goals.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their learning. Students in the sixth form spoke proudly about their work experience at the farm, local library and café. Students understand how their vocational studies help them to prepare for future employment.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Behaviour across the school is settled, calm and orderly. Pupils are friendly and confident in their interactions with one another. Working relationships between pupils and staff are positive and respectful. Pupils feel safe and like coming to school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides an exceptional range of experiences to nurture and develop pupils’ confidence and resilience. This includes cricket competitions, overnight stays and residential outings, where pupils experience raft building, canoeing and treetop rope courses.

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better?

The school’s curriculum is ambitious. Pupils learn a broad range of subjects. Teachers adapt their teaching to support pupils with their learning. Staff take pupils’ interests into account to inform activity choices.

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better?

The curriculum, including in the sixth form, is carefully designed to enable personalised learning goals to be taught alongside subject-specific knowledge. The sequencing of the curriculum ensures that key skills and knowledge are repeated across other subjects, to reinforce learning and to help pupils to remember it long term. However, the school’s approach to checks on what pupils know and remember is not understood by all staff or carried out routinely in some subjects. This means that, sometimes, it is not clear what each pupil knows and remembers, can do, or needs to learn next.

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better?

The school prioritises reading, and ensures that staff know the importance of reading and how it strengthens communication. Reading pathways for individual pupils have been developed in collaboration with teaching staff and therapists. These pathways identify the steps that pupils need to take to build up the important skills they need to become fluent and functional readers.

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better?

There is a systematic approach to teaching phonics, including in the sixth form when needed. However, this approach is not implemented as rigorously as it could be. Some staff do not know precisely the phonic sounds that pupils know or what they need to learn next. For pupils who are developing their phonic knowledge, sometimes the books they read do not closely match their phonic knowledge. As a 13 and 14 September 2023

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result, sounds are not embedded into some pupils’ long-term memory as securely as they could be to help them quickly become fluent readers.

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The school has a clear personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education programme that includes relationships and sex education. Pupils are taught important life skills that strengthen and encourage their independence. Many aspects of the PSHE curriculum are incorporated and reinforced throughout the school day and in all pupils’ learning.

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Weekly outings in the community, such as to a local public lending library by bus, help pupils to practise what they have learned in real-life situations. In the sixth form, vocational lessons teach functional skills, such as interview preparation and writing job applications as well as learning employment rights. Students work towards accreditations recognised by employers.

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All staff have high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. They work calmly and celebrate when pupils conduct themselves appropriately. Staff, including the leadership team, work together to support pupils to manage their emotions and feelings. Pupils trust adults in the school to help them. Pupils learn ways to communicate their needs and to ask for help. Typically, pupils attend school regularly, and leaders have robust procedures in place to improve attendance.

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The school works in close partnership with other settings and organisations to evaluate and improve the school’s work. Trustees’ range of knowledge and skills equips them to hold leaders to account.

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Staff enjoy working at the school. They feel that leaders and the whole school community are supportive of one another. They value the training they receive, which helps them to fulfil their roles.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils who are developing their phonic knowledge are not routinely given books that match the sounds they are learning. This means that they are not developing fluency in their reading as quickly as they might. The school should ensure that the books pupils read match the phonic sounds they know and are learning.  Assessment in some areas of the curriculum, including phonics, is not coherently embedded. Systems for checking pupils’ recall of prior learning and understanding do not routinely inform the sequencing of next steps in learning. The school 13 and 14 September 2023

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should ensure that checks on pupils’ learning identify what each pupil knows and can do and what pupils need to learn next.

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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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 13 and 14 September 2023

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School details

School category Academy special converter

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sixth form

Dates of previous inspection 29 and 30 March 2022, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school caters for pupils with a range of special educational needs. All pupils have an education, health and care plan.  The school is part of the Compass Learning Partnership trust.  Leaders do not make use of alternative provision.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships. 13 and 14 September 2023

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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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in reading and communication, PSHE, mathematics and physical education. To do this, they met with subject leaders to discuss the curriculum, had discussions with staff and pupils, visited lessons and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also considered the curriculum in other subjects as part of this inspection.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the school and priorities for improvement.  Inspectors met with senior leaders and with a selection of subject leaders, teachers and the wider school team.  Inspectors met with the chief executive officer of the Compass Learning Partnership and spoke with the chair of the trust, a trustee.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection team reviewed the arrangements for safeguarding by scrutinising records and through discussions with leaders, staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Kieran Bird, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Lorraine Slee Ofsted Inspector 13 and 14 September 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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