Weston Turville Church of England School

Inspection of a good school: Weston Turville Church of England School School Approach, Weston Turville, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP22 5RW

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Inspection dates: 27 and 28 February 2024

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Outcome

Weston Turville Church of England School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their caring and welcoming school. They demonstrate the school values of kindness and respect in their attitudes towards staff and peers. Pupils meet the school’s high expectations of behaviour. They go out of their way to give others a helping hand. Every year, pupils look forward to writing manifestos in order to be elected to one of the many coveted leadership roles.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff are ambitious for all pupils to achieve well. Classrooms are hives of activity. Pupils usually achieve positively and are well prepared for their continued education. However, 2023 phonics and key stage 1 reading results were well below the national average. The school has taken swift action to address this, and strengthening early reading remains a priority.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a strong sense of citizenship and are keen to be part of the school and wider community. They value the opportunities to work with organisations from the village. Pupils look forward to activities with the local rangers in the school’s nature reserve and singing at the church carol concert. They take great delight in working with their teachers to organise an interesting range of extra-curricular activities. This enables pupils to pursue their own interests and share them with others.

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

Reading is a high priority across the school. Staff promote a love of reading by sharing a range of stories and texts, often linked to work in the rest of the curriculum. Pupils have developed an impressive knowledge of different literature from the school focus each term on a different author. Children in pre-school revel in the rhymes, stories and songs that staff share with them. Older pupils relish the books they choose to read and enjoy in the school library. Following the weak 2023 phonics and key stage 1 published results, the school has made changes to the phonics programme. It is being followed closely but, on occasion, staff subject knowledge is not yet consistently secure. Staff quickly identify 27 and 28 February 2024

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weaker readers, but the support that a few pupils receive who are at the early stages of learning to read is not as strong as it should be.

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The school’s curriculum is ambitious and interesting. It has identified the important knowledge that pupils should learn each year across every subject. The school has sequenced the essential skills, knowledge and vocabulary that pupils should learn in each year group and how these build over time. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are quickly identified and supported to access the same learning as their peers.

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Teachers have strong knowledge of the subjects they teach and appreciate the training they receive. Staff usually recap previous learning and check what pupils have remembered. If needed, staff adapt their teaching and resources to help pupils learn well. This is particularly well developed in mathematics. Pupils use secure subject knowledge to link learning across subjects. For example, they use their knowledge of number to find averages in science experiments or read coordinates in geography lessons. Children in early years focus well on their many counting activities. They enjoy the challenges of counting blocks of towers or comparing heights of robots. Occasionally, staff are less clear what knowledge pupils should be able to remember and so the recaps lack precision. This means that staff do not have an accurate understanding of pupils’ gaps in learning.

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Attendance for some pupils is too low. The school is prioritising supporting families to improve this by removing barriers to attendance. This is having some positive impact but needs to continue so that the attendance of all pupils is high.

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The provision for pupils’ wider development is a strength of the school. Pupils take their leadership roles seriously. This includes positions such as house captains, science ambassadors and school councillors. Older pupils enjoy supporting the younger children at playtimes through buddy roles and also when reading with them once a week. This creates a strong sense of community. The school ensures that pupils develop a broad understanding of healthy lifestyles and how to keep safe, including when online. Pupils can express and manage their emotions and appreciate the care and nurture they receive at school. The school provide many opportunities for external visitors to the school who inspire pupils for their future learning and careers.

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Staff feel valued and supported. They are proud to work at the school and appreciate how their well-being and workload are considered. Training is purposeful and designed to refine classroom practice. Governors fulfil their responsibilities and provide the school with appropriate challenge and support in equal measure.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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 The recent introduction of the new phonics scheme means that not all staff have acquired secure subject knowledge. This means they do not have the required expertise to support pupils to quickly become fluent and confident readers. The school should ensure that all staff are equipped with expert knowledge to teach early reading effectively.  In a few subjects, staff do not routinely recap previous learning and check what pupils have remembered. As a result, in these subjects, pupils’ achievement is less strong because staff do not identify and address pupils’ gaps in learning. The school should ensure that all staff check pupils’ understanding and adapt their teaching to support them to learn the intended curriculum securely.

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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 October 2018.

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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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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). 27 and 28 February 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 25 September 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a church of England school in the diocese of Oxford. Its last section 48 inspection took place in January 2018.  The school uses one registered and four unregistered alternative provisions.

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Information about this inspection

The inspector carried out this ungraded inspection under section 8 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.  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 early reading, mathematics and physical education. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of their work. 27 and 28 February 2024

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 The inspector met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and subject leaders.  The inspector met with members of the local governing board, a representative from the local authority and a representative from the Oxford diocese.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector reviewed a wide range of documents provided by the school and observed pupils’ behaviour around the school and in lessons.  To evaluate other areas, the inspector: spoke to pupils about their wider development; discussed with staff how leaders support their workload and well-being; considered the extent to which the school promotes good attendance; and evaluated how behaviour is

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managed in the school.  The inspector considered the views of parents shared through Ofsted Parent View.  The views of staff were gathered through surveys and discussions conducted throughout the inspection.  The inspector gathered pupils’ views throughout the inspection, including during classroom visits and at playtimes and lunchtime.

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Inspection team

Simon Woodbridge, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 27 and 28 February 2024

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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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