Woodside Junior School

Inspection of a good school: Woodside Junior School Mitchell Walk, Amersham, Buckinghamshire HP6 6NW

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Outcome

Woodside Junior School continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Owen Lloyd. This school is part of Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Sulina Piesse, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Michael Mill.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This school places pupils’ well-being at the heart of all that it does. All pupils, including the most disadvantaged, are fully included and well cared for. Pupils feel happy and safe. The school provides rich opportunities for pupils to develop personally as well as academically. One parent summed up the views of many, saying: ‘The school consistently goes above and beyond to provide the children with fantastic learning experiences.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils achieve well. The school listens to, and then promotes, pupils’ individual ambitions. This motivates pupils to work hard. Pupils know that staff will provide the help and support that they need to succeed, saying, ‘you will always be challenged but never beyond your limits’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are kind and respectful to each other. Pupils understand the school’s high expectations. They behave well. Well-trained staff deal with any minor disruptions quickly so that no learning time is lost.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take pride in the range of leadership roles they undertake. These involve being play leaders and house captains, and serving on the school council. Pupils enjoy making positive contributions that benefit the community, such as reading to children in a local nursery school, litter picking and singing to the elderly at special events.

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

The school is justifiably proud of the ways in which it promotes pupils’ love of reading. Teachers select a range of interesting texts and books for pupils to explore. They encourage lively discussion and debate about the books pupils read in class. Visiting 19 and 20 March 2024

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authors inspire pupils to read widely and often. Staff check pupils’ reading skills carefully so that they understand their needs. The phonics programme provides staff with a secure framework for teaching early reading and staff read with the weakest readers daily. Consequently, pupils become accurate and fluent readers. This prepares them well for the next stages of their education.

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The curriculum is broad and ambitious for all pupils. It sets out the content that pupils need to learn each year. Pupils build up their knowledge and understanding of the essential ideas as they move through the year groups. The sequenced learning in most subjects includes helpful adaptations for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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In the core subjects, such as English and mathematics, pupils achieve well. Teachers use every opportunity to teach and develop pupils’ subject knowledge and skills. The work given to pupils is challenging and there is a relentless focus on ensuring that pupils use their subject knowledge and skills accurately. Staff identify any additional needs pupils may have quickly. They adapt resources effectively to support pupils with SEND. However, in some of the wider curriculum subjects, staff do not always teach and develop pupils’ subject-specific knowledge consistently well. This means that some pupils do not learn quite as much as they could.

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The school uses a range of appropriate activities to help pupils remember and connect their knowledge. Teachers check pupils’ understanding routinely. This almost always works well. However, occasionally some teachers do not identify and correct pupils’ misconceptions consistently well. This means that a few pupils may not learn key content accurately or fully.

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There is a strong emphasis on promoting pupils’ individuality and personal development. There are many opportunities to nurture pupils’ talents and interests and for pupils to display them, for example through the school choir and sports competitions. Pupils learn to be good citizens and develop an understanding of democracy through opportunities such as being school councillors. Pupils display tolerance towards each other and celebrate their differences.

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All adults work together towards improving the school further for pupils. The impact on staff of any changes is considered carefully. The trust supports school leaders to focus sharply on school improvement priorities. Governance structures are effective in challenging, supporting and checking all aspects of the school’s work. Leaders ensure that staff set ambitious goals for pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 19 and 20 March 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 At times, tasks in lessons do not enable pupils to learn the full extent of the intended curriculum. This means that some pupils do not always learn as much as they could. The school should continue its work to ensure that the delivery of the ambitious curriculum helps pupils to learn as much as the school intends.  In wider curriculum, the use of assessment does not always identify where pupils’ misconceptions lie precisely enough. Therefore, a few pupils have gaps in their knowledge. The school should ensure that the use of assessment identifies and remedies gaps in pupils’ understanding in all areas of the curriculum.

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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 predecessor school, Woodside Junior School, to be good in February 2012.

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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, 19 and 20 March 2024

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looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 19 and 20 March 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Woodside Junior School is part of a multi-academy trust called Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust.  The headteacher took up their post in September 2023.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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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 the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  During the inspection, the inspector held meetings with the headteacher, the senior leadership team, other leaders, teachers and pupils.  The inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors, and with officers of the trust. They also had a meeting with the chair of trustees and the chief executive officer. 19 and 20 March 2024

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 The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and geography. In each subject, the inspector met with subject leaders, talked to pupils, visited lessons, spoke to teachers and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector listened to some pupils read to adults. Other aspects of the school’s curriculum were also considered.  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 took account of a range of other information, including the school’s development plans, school policies and governor and trustees’ minutes of meetings.  The inspector considered the responses to the Ofsted Parent View questionnaire and the free-text comments that were submitted. They took account of the responses to

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the confidential staff survey and pupil survey. The inspector also gathered the views of both staff and pupils throughout the inspection.

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Inspection team

Clare Morgan, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 19 and 20 March 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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