Chalgrove Community Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Chalgrove Community Primary School High Street, Chalgrove, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX44 7ST

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Outcome

Chalgrove Community Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Gareth Alcott. The school is part of ACER Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Nathan Thomas, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Jill Cottee.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love their school. They say that Chalgrove staff inspire them to ‘dream big’. Pupils say the staff are ‘brilliant’ because they encourage ambition and support them to meet both their academic and social goals.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is aspirational for all pupils. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) thrive. This is because the school structures academic learning and key experiences carefully to build each pupil’s confidence and resilience. The school ensures that every child is able to participate fully in both the academic curriculum and a range of enrichment activities. Consequently, pupils achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is commendable. They appreciate the school’s newly established expectations and feel proud to reflect the school’s values of being ready to learn, respectful and responsible. Pupils know the importance of getting a strong education. As a result, they work hard and attend school regularly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides many opportunities for pupils to take on positions of responsibility. This includes becoming members of the school council, and listening to younger pupils read. A range of interesting trips and a broad variety of school clubs, such as those for sports, languages and gardening, allow pupils to expand their interests. 29 and 30 April 2025

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

Reading is prioritised at Chalgrove. This begins in the Nursery Year where children relish snuggling up to listen to their trusted adult share a story. Pupils enjoy reading quietly in the many inviting book areas. ‘Mystery readers’ visit the school to excite the children’s imagination and promote their enjoyment of books. Throughout the school, staff use ambitious texts to help build pupils’ confidence and vocabulary. Consequently, pupils talk about their reading with enthusiasm. Staff deliver the phonics programme effectively. This ensures that pupils acquire reading skills quickly. The books that pupils read are matched closely to the sounds that they have learned. Staff check carefully that pupils are on track with their reading. If any pupils fall behind, they receive the support they need to become fluent and confident readers.

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

The school’s curriculum is well designed to enable pupils to gain the knowledge and skills they need in each subject. The school has identified what needs to be taught in a logical order and this starts from the early years.

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

The broad curriculum helps pupils understand a range of different topics. Staff, typically, have strong subject knowledge and they explain ideas thoughtfully and plan activities carefully. However, some of the tasks that are given to pupils in the wider curriculum subjects do not help them to remember what they have been taught over time and to connect new knowledge with what they already know.

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

Teachers regularly check pupils’ learning and usually address any misconceptions before moving on to more complex ideas. Occasionally, in some of the wider curriculum subjects, these checks are not quite as rigorous as they could be and pupils’ errors are sometimes missed.

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

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve well. The school identifies pupils’ needs promptly and staff make skilful adaptations to their teaching of the curriculum. This enables pupils with SEND to build their knowledge and skills. The school encourages and supports disadvantaged pupils, including those with SEND, to participate in every aspect of school life, such as joining clubs and taking on leadership roles. Pupils leave the school prepared for their next steps.

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

Pupils have a positive attitude to their learning. They show respect for one another. This starts in the Nursery and Reception classes where children help each other willingly. Pupils understand the importance of attending school regularly and working hard in lessons. The school’s sensitive and effective work with parents and carers is promoting and securing even better attendance than the high standards achieved in the past.

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

The school’s values are the foundation for pupils’ wider personal development. They help pupils to understand the difference between right and wrong and become kind and responsible citizens. There is a sharp focus on supporting pupils’ physical and mental health. The school has regular opportunities for pupils to explore how they can keep themselves healthy. This aligns with the school’s personal, social and emotional curriculum 29 and 30 April 2025

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as well as the assembly plan. Pupils are knowledgeable about ways to stay safe, including online safety.

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Leaders, including the school’s trustees and governors, are tenacious in their ambition to continuously improve the school. Governors and trustees provide effective support to the school. Workload and well-being are managed successfully to ensure that staff feel happy and proud to be part of the school community.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some of the tasks given to pupils in the wider curriculum subjects are not designed precisely enough to help pupils to reinforce and retain key information. As a result, there are variations in how securely pupils learn the intended curriculum. The school should make sure that the tasks given to pupils help them to remember, long term, the essential knowledge and skills that they have been taught.  In the wider curriculum subjects, there is some inconsistency in how effectively staff check that pupils have a secure understanding of the important knowledge and skills that they need. For some pupils, gaps in learning are not addressed swiftly, meaning they do not learn as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff use the school’s assessment strategies efficiently to identify and address gaps in pupils’ learning consistently.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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, 29 and 30 April 2025

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behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, also called Chalgrove Community Primary school, to be good for overall effectiveness in June 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, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 29 and 30 April 2025

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 13 and 14 November 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school currently uses one unregistered alternative provision.  The school is part of Acer Multi-Academy Trust, a group of nine schools in Oxfordshire.

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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 inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  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 29 and 30 April 2025

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the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector held discussions with school leaders, the chief executive officer, representatives from the governing body and the board of trustees.  The inspector analysed responses to the staff survey and spoke to staff about their views of the school.  The inspector met with groups of pupils and spoke to them about their views of the school.  The inspector took account of the responses to the Ofsted Parent View questionnaire and the additional free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Clare Morgan, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 29 and 30 April 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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