Dorney School

Inspection of Dorney School Harcourt Close, Dorney Reach, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 0DY

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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

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The headteacher of this school is Sharifah Lee. This school is part of the Beeches Learning and Development Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Andy Gillespie, who is also the executive headteacher. The trust is overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Andrew Frith. 1 and 2 July 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly and nurturing school, where pupils feel safe and happy. Pupils enjoy learning and quickly develop their confidence due to the high-quality pastoral care provided. Staff model the behaviours they expect, and pupils are polite and courteous to adults. Pupils form positive relationships with staff and know that they are well cared for.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils follow a broad and balanced curriculum. This includes the school’s outdoor woodland provision to supplement their learning. The school has high expectations of pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils make good progress through the curriculum and achieve successfully.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from lots of activities to enrich their learning. For example, the school provides workshops, talks from a range of speakers, including a popular inter-faith day, and performance opportunities. Pupils embark on a range of trips to museums, parks and different places of worship. There is also a comprehensive offering of clubs in the arts, music and sports. These ensure pupils gain valuable life experiences.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is building a strong community, where they seek to work with parents and carers to foster a welcoming ethos. They learn about citizenship and service to others.

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

The school has revised its curriculum so that it is ambitious. The curriculum is carefully designed to build on pupils’ previous learning and secure their understanding over time. Teachers have strong subject knowledge and present information clearly. Wherever possible, teachers provide trips that help make learning memorable for pupils. The school uses the local area particularly well, including their own grounds, as well as inviting in local historians and authors.

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

Most of the time, pupils can remember and recall their learning well. For example, pupils can explain the religious significance of the River Ganges and describe the process of reproduction in plants. Teachers check pupils’ understanding and provide opportunities for pupils to practise and apply their knowledge. At times, activities that pupils undertake do not help them to achieve the aims of the ambitious curriculum consistently. Consequently, pupils’ knowledge is not as secure as it could be.

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

The school identifies pupils with SEND quickly. They are supported effectively with targeted help when needed. Staff are skilled at guiding pupils to learn from their mistakes and consolidate their knowledge.

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

The school has established a love of reading. The phonics programme is set out logically and pupils practise reading with books that match the sounds taught in class. Pupils who need additional support are swiftly given the help they need to read fluently and accurately. The school has ensured that pupils read ambitious texts that are diverse and engaging. Reading for pleasure is promoted through events, such as ‘book in a box’ and poetry baskets. Pupils are excited about reading and become avid readers. 1 and 2 July 2025

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English lessons are thoughtfully designed, and pupils write imaginatively. Here, they demonstrate control over their handwriting, grammar and composition. However, these high standards are not consistently applied across different subjects. Consequently, some of the work that pupils produce is not the high quality of which they are capable. Similarly, while pupils use ambitious vocabulary in their English lessons, they do not routinely apply the subject terminology they learn across the curriculum.

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Pupils attend school well and the school is calm and orderly. Children in Reception learn to play cooperatively and kindly in an inviting space. They learn to sustain their concentration when engaged with staff. Staff interactions are meaningful, and they expertly develop children’s language skills and wider learning. For example, staff play number grid games to help children understand concepts like ‘greater’ and ‘less’ and identify odd and even numbers.

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Pupils learn how to stay healthy and keep themselves safe, including online. The school works with local secondary schools to effectively prepare pupils for their next steps through mentoring and buddy schemes. Pupils take various leadership roles to learn responsibility. Many also tend to the garden areas and help look after the chickens, fish and guinea pigs. The school is renewing its focus on compassion and empathy. Grandparents are invited into the school to promote intergenerational respect, and pupils work with local charities. Most pupils embody the values of the school but, on occasion, some pupils fall short and their relationships with peers suffer as a result.

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Staff are dedicated to the school. Leaders prioritise their professional development and well-being. Governors and trustees are proactive and committed to driving further improvement. They work effectively with leaders and share their vision for an inclusive school, where pupils can flourish.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some activities are not sharply focused on the key aims of the curriculum. When this is the case, pupils do not learn the curriculum in the depth or speed that they could. The school should ensure that teachers adapt their pedagogical methods as needed, so that pupils achieve well across the curriculum.  Expectations of pupils’ writing varies across the curriculum. While subject-specific vocabulary is taught, it is not applied consistently by pupils and, at times, both grammatical accuracy and the quality of work produced is not to the standard that they are capable of. The school should ensure that consistently high expectations enable 1 and 2 July 2025

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pupils to develop their writing in line with the same high standards across the curriculum and apply new terminology accurately.  On occasion, pupils do not appreciate difference or strongly understand and apply values in line with the school ethos. When this is the case, relationships between pupils are not as positive and inclusive as they could be. The school should redouble its efforts to ensure that mutual respect and tolerance are consistently embedded, and the values of the school are tangible across the school community.

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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). 1 and 2 July 2025

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 27 and 28 September 2022, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school is part of the Beeches Learning and Development Trust, a multi-academy trust, which it joined in June 2017.  The school provides breakfast and after-school clubs.

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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. 1 and 2 July 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, representatives from the governing body, trustees, teachers and support staff.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, religious 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. Other subjects were also considered as part of this inspection.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the school and priorities for school improvement.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text

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comments. They also spoke to pupils, parents and carers and staff and took into consideration Ofsted’s online staff and pupil surveys.  Inspectors checked the school’s policies and records, including those related to behaviour and pupils’ wider development.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour across the school, including as they arrived and left the school.  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.

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Inspection team

Sarah Saunders, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Clive Close His Majesty’s Inspector 1 and 2 July 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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