Winslow Church of England School

Inspection of Winslow Church of England School Lowndes Way, Winslow, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire MK18 3EN

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 7 and 8 January 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils relish coming to this warm and friendly school. Pupils enjoy shining brightly as learners. They benefit from the school’s high ambitions and expectations. They show motivation to learn new things and are eager to share their knowledge. Most pupils achieve well, as they remember much of what they have been taught.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. The school is a happy place to be. Pupils feel safe and that staff know them well. Pupils have warm, mutually respectful relationships with everyone in the school. Staff help pupils to recognise their emotions so that they can manage them successfully. Pupils show consideration for each other. At lunchtime, pupils care for peers who may be hurt or sad.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a wide range of opportunities to take on responsibility and support each other. This helps them to think about how they communicate with others. For example, ‘road safety officers’ educate their peers on how to cross the roads near the school safely. Pupils also fundraise for local, national and global charities. They are proud of how they have helped to buy sanitary equipment for a school in Africa. This helps pupils to develop empathy for others.

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

The school is coming out of a period of transition. There have been many changes to leadership and teaching roles recently. Nevertheless, the school has taken decisive action to further improve the curriculum. There is a clear ambition for all pupils to achieve well. Across all subjects, the school has now established the most important knowledge pupils need to know and remember. The school sequences this knowledge in a logical order from early years to Year 6.

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

The school identifies most pupils’ individual needs accurately. Adaptations for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are strongest in reading, writing and mathematics. These adaptations help pupils with SEND achieve well in these subjects. However, in some wider curriculum subjects, pupils’ individual needs are not identified precisely enough. Consequently, adaptations are not as sharply focused as they could be. Therefore, pupils with SEND achieve less well in these subjects.

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

The school prioritises developing pupils’ knowledge so that they can read, write and use key mathematical facts confidently. This begins in the early years where pupils make a strong start. Well-trained staff help pupils to build their communication and language skills. Key vocabulary is introduced in all lessons. Pupils get opportunities to practise using these words in different ways. This practice continues throughout the school. Extra daily support for pupils who need help enables them to become more fluent readers, writers and mathematicians.

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

Most staff display strong subject knowledge. This helps them to explain and model ideas well to pupils. In most lessons, teachers check pupils have understood what is being taught. They support pupils to address any mistakes or misunderstandings that they may 7 and 8 January 2025

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have. However, in a few subjects, the school has not established strong systems for checking if pupils have remembered previously taught knowledge. This means that staff do not always have the strategies to build pupils’ understanding over time as well as they could.

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Pupils focus well on their learning. This starts in the early years, where pupils learn and use agreed routines. Most staff apply the school routines and procedures consistently, based around the school’s values. The school works effectively with parents and carers and external agencies. This helps pupils who need support to improve their behaviour. For example, pupils learn how to adapt their behaviour in different situations effectively. The school checks pupils’ attendance rigorously. When attendance dips, it acts swiftly to address this. As a result, pupils’ attendance has improved, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.

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The school considers pupils’ personal development carefully. Pastoral support in the school is very strong, especially for the number of pupils who are young carers. The school gives pupils many opportunities to think about and discuss people’s similarities and differences. As a result, pupils show tolerance towards each other. Pupils develop a strong understanding of how to work as part of a team by taking part in the many different sporting competitions on offer against other schools. These include the alternative summer sports festival. Pupils also benefit from trying different sports, such as lacrosse.

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The school continues to improve standards in all areas of its work and embed the necessary changes made. Governors ensure that they hold leaders to account and carry out their statutory duties effectively. Staff are positive about the school, the journey of improvement and the way that they are looked after and supported. Everyone works well together to make sure that changes impact positively on pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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What does the school need to do to improve?

 In some subjects in the wider curriculum, learning is not adapted well enough to meet pupils’ specific needs. This means that some pupils with SEND are not achieving as well as they could. The school should develop the expertise of staff in being able to adapt their teaching to meet pupils’ needs in these subjects.  In a few subjects, where the curriculum is still being embedded, assessment does not support pupils’ learning sufficiently well. This means that pupils develop gaps in their learning that have not been identified or addressed swiftly enough. The school should support staff to routinely check pupils’ understanding of the key content and then use this information to inform future teaching so these gaps in learning are closed. 7 and 8 January 2025

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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). 7 and 8 January 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 28 and 29 June 2022, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this school

 The school uses one alternative provision.  This Church of England school is part of the Diocese of Oxford. The last section 48 inspection, for schools of a religious character, took place in April 2023. The next section 48 inspection will be within five years of the previous section 48 inspection.  The headteacher started her post in September 2022.

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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 provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024, will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 7 and 8 January 2025

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 met with senior leaders, staff and pupils. The lead inspector also met with representatives of the school’s governing board, a representative of the local authority and a representative of the diocese.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history, physical education and science. 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 considered the responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. They also took account of the responses to the

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confidential online staff survey and gathered the views of staff and pupils throughout the inspection.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, 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.  Inspectors reviewed a range of the school’s documentation, including leaders’ plans for improving the school, minutes from governing board meetings and records of attendance and behaviour incidents.

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Inspection team

Neil Pilsworth, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Julie Hiddleston Ofsted Inspector 7 and 8 January 2025

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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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