Marsh School

Inspection of Marsh School Abbey Barn Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP11 1RW

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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 24 and 25 June 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive at this exceptionally inclusive and nurturing school. Strong, caring relationships help them to feel safe and valued. Regardless of when pupils start their time at Marsh they are welcomed. They quickly feel that they belong. Pupils talk about their school with pride and enjoy their time here.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Routines are well established and pupils have a deep understanding of how to behave. The school has an orderly and purposeful atmosphere. Pupils display a positive attitude to learning. On the playground, they play happily with the wide range of equipment and are quick to help anyone who is sitting on ‘The Kindness Bench’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of pupils. Pupils meet these expectations and engage enthusiastically in their learning. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language, are well supported to access all areas of the curriculum and succeed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a rich range of opportunities that support their personal development and further their aspiration. Parents are positive about the care and provision their children receive, especially for those with SEND. As one parent shared, ‘staff create a safe, nurturing environment, where children are gently challenged to do their best.’

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

The school has designed a broad and ambitious curriculum that supports all pupils. In mathematics, the curriculum builds logically from early number work to more complex ideas. Pupils are confident and can explain their thinking. They use subject-specific vocabulary with accuracy. They develop strong fluency due to consistently effective teaching.

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

The wider curriculum is thoughtfully planned and builds in small steps from the early years to Year 2. Learning is well organised and pupils refine their skills over time. Teachers have strong subject knowledge. Adults adapt teaching to enable pupils with SEND to learn the same curriculum as their peers. Teachers regularly check for pupils who need extra support. However, in some subjects, teachers’ methods for checking understanding are less precise and some pupils are unable to remember key knowledge.

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

The school prioritises early reading from when pupils join the school. The phonics programme is taught daily with growing consistency. Pupils read books matched to the sounds they know and practise tricky words regularly. Historical results in the Year 1 phonics screening check remain below national averages. However, pupils are now making progress in their reading from often low starting points. Staff promote a love of reading throughout the school day.

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

Teachers weave writing and spelling through phonics learning. This continues in English, where exciting activities help introduce new ideas, such as poetic forms. Most pupils write with fluency and stamina by the end of key stage 1. However, there is some inconsistency 24 and 25 June 2025

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in the design of the writing curriculum. This means that there are fewer meaningful opportunities for pupils to practise their skills consistently throughout key stage 1. This has led to some variation in the quality of writing across the school.

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The school has high expectations for pupils’ behaviour and the vast majority of pupils meet these. Pupils know they need to be ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’ and this is embedded into the daily life of the school. When needed, staff reinforce these expectations in a positive and supportive manner. Where behaviour falls below the school’s expectations, the school acts to ensure that the small number of pupils are supported to meet the high expectations. As a result, some pupils show sustained improvement in their behaviour.

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The school has established a rigorous, structured approach to improving attendance. Although attendance is still below national average the school is doing all it can and attendance is improving. The school tackles persistent absence empathically. Focused meetings consider individual circumstances. Positive relationships between staff and families have supported this.

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The school’s well-structured and responsive personal development curriculum effectively promotes pupils’ well-being. A strong personal, social and health education programme is adapted to meet the diverse needs of pupils and address events in the community. Pupils’ experience at school is further enriched through the wide-ranging clubs and opportunities. These include outdoor learning, performances, visits and community projects. Leaders ensure all pupils can access these opportunities.

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School leaders and those responsible for governance are passionate about the school and the community it serves. They know the school’s strengths and development areas well. Leaders work collaboratively to provide high-quality education for all pupils. Staff are positive about working at the school, they feel the school values their time and effort. They show dedication and determination, working hard to support each other and pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school has not ensured that pupils remember key knowledge across some foundation subjects as well as they could. This limits how securely some pupils build on their learning. The school should make sure it checks effectively how well pupils can recall their learning in the long term and then act on any gaps staff identify.  The school has not provided some pupils with enough opportunities to consistently practise and embed their writing skills. This means that some pupils do not achieve as highly in their writing as they could. The school should continue to develop and review 24 and 25 June 2025

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its writing curriculum to ensure that it results in improvements in pupils’ writing across the school.

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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). 24 and 25 June 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 6 and 7 December 2022, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use alternative provision.  The school has a before- and after-school club.  The school is currently undertaking a staffing restructure.

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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.

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Information about this inspection

 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. 24 and 25 June 2025

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 During the inspection, meetings were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher and a range of school staff. The inspectors also spoke with members of the local governing body and representatives of the local authority.  The inspection team carried out deep dives in the following subjects: reading, mathematics, geography and physical education. For each deep dive, the inspector 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 sampled pupils writing.  A wide range of documents were scrutinised, including those relating to behaviour, attendance, governance and leaders’ evaluation of the school and priorities for improvement.  Meetings were held with groups of pupils to discuss their views about many different aspects of their school and to talk about their work. The inspectors also held informal

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conversations with pupils.  The inspectors considered the views of parents submitted via the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. The inspectors also reviewed the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for school staff.  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.

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Inspection team

Tracy Good, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Deirdre Crutchley Ofsted Inspector 24 and 25 June 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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