Fritwell Church of England Primary School

Inspection of Fritwell Church of England Primary School East Street, Fritwell, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX27 7PX

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Inspection dates: 12 to 13 November 2024

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good

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Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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The executive head of this school is Jonathan Jeffries. He is also responsible for another school in the trust. This school is part of Eynsham Partnership Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, David Brown, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Julian Soanes. 12 and 13 November 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy here. They are kept safe. They appreciate that teachers are always there to help them and respond to any worries they may have quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

High expectations from staff and robust systems for dealing with any incidents ensure that pupils understand the importance of good behaviour. They are responsible, respectful and demonstrate high levels of self-control. Recent learning about ‘consent,’ and respecting each other’s ‘body boundaries’ contributes to the highly respectful and caring behaviour seen.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are ambitious that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), will do well. They have identified the knowledge that they want pupils to learn across all subjects. This has been carefully considered to meet the needs of the school and its context, with mixed-age classes. Pupils are typically well prepared for next stages of their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know they are listened to and appreciate the opportunities to contribute to decisions made on the school’s journey of improvement. They demonstrate maturity, and commitment to school life. Pupils readily take on the range of leadership responsibilities available, for example, with school grounds and events. Elections for these roles provide pupils with an understanding of democracy and help to prepare them well for life in modern Britain.

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

Pupils follow a broad curriculum. The size of the school, and the mixed-age classes, means that the school has had to give particular attention to the sequencing of knowledge. It has been organised with a two-year cycle to meet the needs of mixed-year groups. The school has clearly identified the knowledge to be taught across the full range of subjects from early years all the way through to Year 6. The content is organised logically. Knowledge is revisited and practised, to help pupils to remember more over time. For example, in mathematics, children in the early years practise counting and representing numbers on their fingers. This helps them with more complex calculations later on. Similarly, in history, younger pupils learn facts about the lives of significant people. This knowledge about information, and where it comes from, helps them understand the reliability of historical sources later on.

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

Teachers are knowledgeable. They know pupils well. Within lessons, they carefully adapt teaching to enable all pupils to access the learning within the mixed-year groups. Extra support helps pupils with SEND to benefit from a personalised approach tailored to their individual needs. These needs are accurately identified. Consequently, adults know which strategies are needed for each pupil to help them succeed in learning the curriculum. The curriculum, however, is still embedding. Last year was the first year of delivery, having joined the trust. As a result, only the first year of the two-year cycle has been taught. More work is needed to refine the precise year group content, and how this is delivered 12 and 13 November 2024

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within the mixed classes, to ensure pupils are learning the most important content at the right time.

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Developing early reading has been a key priority. All staff are trained, and phonics is taught consistently to all those who need it. Children start learning letter sounds from their first days in school. Those at risk of falling behind are identified quickly, and additional opportunities put in place for them to ensure that they catch up. Books used to teach reading are closely matched to the sounds pupils know. As a result, pupils are becoming fluent and confident readers.

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Pupils’ behaviour is exceptional. There is a calm, focused and respectful atmosphere in the school, where learning is the priority. There is rarely any off-task behaviour in lessons and pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive. Most pupils have good attendance and punctuality. There is highly effective support in place for those whose attendance needs to improve.

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Pupils’ personal development is well considered. The school is committed to providing pupils with opportunities to understand more about the wider world they live in. This includes developing pupils’ language, broadening vocabulary, and learning how to discuss and debate current affairs. The school’s values and ethos, promote an understanding of difference and the value of everyone within society.

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Leaders at all levels within the trust and governance know the school well and have an accurate view of the strengths and what needs further development. They have not, however, provided support as systematically as they could. As a result, in this very small school, this had led to school leaders not always being able to maintain their timetable of priorities as strictly as they would like. The trust recognises this and are putting plans in place to address it.

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Staff are overwhelmingly positive about the consideration and support they get regarding their workload and well-being. They enjoy working at the school. They value the opportunity to be part of an improving school and are fully committed to the journey they are on.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The full implementation of the school’s curriculum is not yet firmly embedded, due to changes from academisation. At this point, only the first year of the two-year cycle has been fully implemented. Further refinement is needed to ensure that the expectations for each year group within the mixed-age classes is clear. This includes in the early years. The school should continue its work to ensure that the well-planned curriculum 12 and 13 November 2024

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is fully embedded to enable pupils to deepen their knowledge and understanding over time.  Oversight at a strategic level is still developing. This means that leaders, at all levels, are not always seeing ‘the big picture’ and work to address weaknesses is, therefore, not as sharply focused as it could be. The trust should provide a more coordinated and systematic approach to supporting the school, and the school should ensure that it tracks and monitors behaviour, attendance and the curriculum more strategically, to ensure greater impact.

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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 and 13 November 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is a smaller than average-sized primary school.  The school runs a before- and after-school club.  The current executive headteacher was appointed in September 2023, as part of the school joining the trust.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  The school has a religious character. It is part of the Diocese of Oxford. The school’s last section 48 inspection was in July 2022. The next inspection is due in 2027.  Fritwell Church of England Primary School converted to become an academy in November 2023. When its predecessor school was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good for overall effectiveness. 12 and 13 November 2024

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation.  Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, assistant headteacher and members of staff. They also met with six trust members and members of the local governing board, including the chair of the local board.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector met with subject leaders, discussed the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of their work.  The inspectors also considered the curriculum in other subjects.  The inspectors considered early mathematics in the early years class.

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Information about this inspection

 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 inspector looked at a range of documents, including leaders’ priorities for improvement.  The views of pupils, parents and staff were gathered through discussions. Responses to Ofsted’s surveys were considered.

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Inspection team

Samantha Ingram, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Jason Philipsz Ofsted Inspector 12 and 13 November 2024

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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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