Oxspring Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Oxspring Primary School Sheffield Road, Oxspring, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S36 8YW

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Outcome

Oxspring Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is an inviting and inclusive environment. Pupils and staff enjoy being part of the harmonious school community. Pupils are polite and welcoming to visitors. Relationships between adults and pupils are grounded in respect.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils attend school regularly. They enjoy learning and playing in the company of their peers. In lessons, pupils are attentive and work hard. At social times, they enjoy playing games with friends or using the range of equipment available to them. Adults model how to join in with games and activities as well as modelling positive behaviours for pupils. Pupils respond well to this and reflect these positive examples in their own interactions.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has undergone a period of change since the previous inspection. A number of staff, including leaders, are new to school or have changed roles. Following a period of transition, the school is a stable environment for pupils. Staff have high aspirations for pupils’ achievement. Typically, pupils achieve well in the school. In areas where this is less true, the school are taking appropriate steps to strengthen the provision that pupils receive.

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

The school has worked to strengthen the quality of the curriculum that pupils study. In subjects such as mathematics and physical education, the curriculum is clearly defined. New learning builds on what pupils have learned before. Teachers are clear about what pupils need to learn from a sequence of lessons. The work that pupils complete is well matched to these aims. Some foundation subjects, such as history, continue to be refined by the school. These subject curriculums lack the clarity and detail of the school’s strongest subjects. In these subjects, assessment of what pupils know is not consistently well matched to what leaders intend for pupils to learn. Pupils’ knowledge in these subjects lacks the detail that they develop in the school’s strongest subjects. 12 April 2024

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Staff know the pupils they work with well. Teachers understand the needs of particular pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) who are in their class. The school works to ensure that pupils with SEND are included effectively in lessons and the wider life of the school. Adults who support these pupils in lessons do this effectively. Most parents of children with SEND have a favourable view of the support school offers.

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The teaching of reading is clearly prioritised. Staff have received updated training in how to teach the school’s phonics scheme. This supports them to teach the scheme well. Leaders identify pupils who are not yet able to read fluently. The school provides additional support that enables these pupils to catch up with their peers. Pupils are encouraged to read widely and for pleasure as they progress through the school. Pupils value the rewards that they receive linked to their efforts in reading. Many pupils talk enthusiastically about books that they enjoy reading.

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The school provides pupils with a range of opportunities that enhance the curriculum. This includes personal, social and health education lessons but extends beyond these. Pupils experience a number of enrichments to their academic studies. For example, pupils visited Eden Camp to strengthen their understanding of what they were learning about the Second World War in history. The school also makes effective links between subject curriculums and some of the texts that pupils read together as a class.

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Pupils from the school engage in a range of activities to support their wider development. Many pupils participate in sporting fixtures. Others enjoy taking part in the range of music and performing arts opportunities available to them. The school attempts to ensure that parents and carers are able to play a full part in this area of school life. Some parents support the school’s running event, the Oxspring mile. Others attend events such as those the school has delivered on supporting pupils’ mental health. This helps families to feel involved and informs their positive view of the school.

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Leaders are mindful of the workload challenges that staff can face working in a small school. Staff report that they are well supported by leaders to manage these. When changes to policies are made, the impact of these on staff is carefully considered. Those with responsibility for governance receive detailed information about the school. They understand their roles and are reflective about how they can further strengthen their oversight of the school. Governors share leaders’ ambition for the school to be a ‘core part of the local community’.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some foundation subjects, the curriculum is not as carefully structured as it is in the school’s strongest subjects. Disciplinary knowledge is not consistently well integrated. 12 April 2024

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Assessment of what pupils know and remember over time is not consistently closely matched to the curriculum in these subjects. This limits how well pupils learn these curriculums. The school should ensure that the curriculum is precisely defined in each subject.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2015.

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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). 12 April 2024

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provision

Appropriate authority The governing body

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provision

Chair of governing body Gemma Mahoney and Colin Gratton-Rayson (Co-chairs of governing body) Headteacher Lee McClure (Executive headteacher)

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provision

Date of previous inspection 6 March 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher has changed since the previous inspection. The school now has an executive headteacher who leads this school and another local school. They are supported by a head of school, who is based at this school.  The proportion of pupils eligible for support through pupil premium funding is below the national average.  The school does not use any alternative provisions.

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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. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 12 April 2024

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: 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 lead inspector met with members of the governing body during the inspection.  During the inspection, inspectors met with the executive headteacher and head of school. They also held discussions with leaders about areas of the school’s work including safeguarding, behaviour, attendance and personal development.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, inspectors 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 pupils’ work.  Inspectors also reviewed curriculum documentation and samples of pupils’ work for

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physical education and art and design.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation regarding the support pupils with SEND receive. They looked at the quality of the provision for pupils with SEND in lessons.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including minutes from governing body meetings as well as the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans.  The lead inspector spoke to the school’s local authority improvement partner as part of the inspection.  Inspectors looked at a range of information regarding behaviour. They observed the behaviour of pupils in classrooms and at social times.  The views of pupils and staff who responded to Ofsted’s surveys were considered.  Inspectors considered the views of parents through the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents, Ofsted Parent View.

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Inspection team

Thomas Wraith, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Pritiben Patel Ofsted Inspector 12 April 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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