Oldfield Primary School

Inspection Report Oldfield Primary School

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109888 Unique Reference Number Windsor and Maidenhead Local Authority 288523 Inspection number 27 °28 February 2007 Inspection dates Glynis Bradley-Peat Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Chiltern Road School address Primary Type of school Maidenhead Community School category SL6 1XA 5 °11 Age range of pupils 01628 621750 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01628 776831 Fax number 194 Number on roll (school) Mr Simon Tempest Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Richard Jarrett Headteacher 21 January 2002 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 288523 27 °28 February 2007 5°11 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

The school is smaller than average and serves an area of economic advantage; however this is a changing picture. A higher than average proportion of pupils is from minority ethnic backgrounds and about half of these pupils have English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is low, but rising. The percentage of pupils identified with learning difficulties and those with a statement of educational need is higher than the national average. The school has achieved the Healthy School Award and Investors in People.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Oldfield Primary School, 27 °28 February 2007

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Grade: 1

The school enjoys the overwhelming support of its parents, one of whom wrote, 'My wife and I believe Oldfield School is an excellent school with an exceptional headteacher.' Inspection evidence certainly confirms this to be the case. Pupils and parents are justifiably proud of their school because it is an outstanding place. The headteacher and his staff are united in their vision and as a result of this, work together extremely effectively to help each and every pupil achieve as well as they possibly can. Leadership and management of the school are excellent. Managers at all levels are of high quality and are not easily satisfied, hence their rather modest self evaluation. Monitoring and evaluation are rigorous and demonstrate the unrelenting drive for improvement. Governors challenge the school well because of their thorough knowledge of performance data and what it shows. They take a full and active part in all walks of

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Grade: 1

school life. Pupils' achievement is outstanding. Approximately two thirds of pupils enter Reception with the remaining third going straight into Year 1. Pupils spending time in Reception make an excellent start to their education. From their broadly average starting points pupils have reached consistently high standards for the last five years in English, mathematics and science at the end of Year 6. This is because of the exceptional teaching pupils receive. Lessons are fascinating and prompt pupils to think deeply about their work. The high quality of the teaching stems from a creative and very well planned curriculum which seeks to enable all pupils to excel. Leaders have noted that the school's results in mathematics are not as good as they are in literacy and science. Well thought out, effective strategies are now in place to remedy this and are already bearing fruit. Personal development and well-being are outstanding because of the excellent care,

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Grade: 1

guidance and support the school offers. Pupils are mature and are remarkably aware of how to live a healthy life and why exercise is so important. Their behaviour is impeccable and attendance is excellent, showing how much they enjoy attending school. Each child is special in Oldfield School and their gifts and talents are developed and cultivated well. Their contribution to and involvement with the community is a real strength. Pupils are well prepared for a life of learning and leave the school as confident, articulate young people.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise standards in mathematics so that they are as high as those attained in English and science.

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Grade: 1

Standards have been high across the school for a number of years and all indicators point to this continuing in the future. Although, the skills and abilities of pupils entering 2 Inspection Report: Oldfield Primary School, 27 °28 February 2007 Reception and Year 1 are broadly average, the picture has been changing in recent years. Throughout their time in school, pupils make outstanding progress and by the time they leave Year 6 standards are high in English and science and above average in mathematics. Pupils meet highly challenging targets. Pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities receive excellent support from highly competent teaching assistants. This enables them to make tremendous strides towards achieving their targets. One parent wrote, 'Our daughter has made excellent progress, well above the expectations of many professionals. The teaching and learning experience is outstanding.' No groups

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Grade: 1

Personal development and well-being are outstanding. Pupils' enjoyment of school is obvious and they could hardly wait to tell the inspector about all the excellent activities they participate in. Pupils are extremely polite, courteous and well behaved. They also genuinely consider and respect others, one pupil said, 'I like school because every child is included here so that no-one is left out.' Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent. They feel safe in school and know what to do if they have a problem. Pupils' enthusiasm can be seen erupting from first thing in the morning when they are given the chance to start the day with table tennis, judo or other playground activities. For a small school, pupils are rightly proud of their winning ways in local sports competitions and have collected a large number of trophies. A very wide variety of sports and other clubs are offered to pupils and the take up is huge. The school council is an effective

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Grade: 1

group of pupils who have participated in decision making and have organised fund raising for charity. Pupils are also involved in activities such as 'Bray in Bloom'. They celebrated their participation in this by producing some wonderful art work. Pupils are very well prepared for the next stage of their education. They leave the school with a high level of basic skills and a real confidence in their own future.

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Grade: 1

Teaching and learning are outstanding. Teachers are well planned and prepared which results in lessons which motivate and enthuse the pupils. They are skilled with the interactive whiteboards and employ a variety of teaching styles to keep pupils interested. Teachers are a pleasure to watch. In a spellbinding literacy lesson, pupils followed the story of 'Nightshift' on the interactive whiteboard and were skilfully prompted into high level discussion work by their teacher. She helped them to understand the characters with her eloquent language skills. In another excellent lesson, mathematical 3 Inspection Report: Oldfield Primary School, 27 °28 February 2007 vocabulary and problem solving techniques were employed to stretch pupils' understanding of three-dimensional shape. The standard of speaking and listening was extremely high in both lessons and was further enhanced by the well organised group work. Pupils are also given the opportunity to learn French which is well taught.

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Grade: 1

Teachers regularly offer both verbal and written feedback to pupils so that they know what they must do next time to make their work better. Teaching assistants support pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities and those who are more able. This contributes much to their success. They are thoroughly briefed by teachers and know their subject well.

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Grade: 1

The outstanding curriculum contributes much to pupils' personal development and well-being and to teaching. Curriculum plans are comprehensive and offer a broad and balanced approach which successfully caters for all its pupils. A particular strength of the curriculum is art. Super displays adorn the school which demonstrate a high level of skill. Specialist teachers are employed to enhance the opportunities to excel. Extra curricular opportunities are second to none and pupils participate to the full. The pupils told the inspector about the many visits and visitors available to them in the school. The school has highly successful links with local football and rugby clubs, bookshops and a local theatre group. On the first day of the inspection pupils were observed having great fun making puppets and then participating in a puppet show. The excitement was evident when the audience gasped with delight when the lights

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Grade: 1

went out and the puppets could be seen. Year 6 also write and produce a pantomime each year.

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Grade: 1

Parents value the outstanding care and support their children receive. One wrote, 'This school is full of teachers and teaching assistants who really care about the children educationally, emotionally and socially.' Risk assessments and attention to knowledge of child protection ensure that all pupils are supported well. Academic guidance is in a period of transition. However, despite this, the school is able to easily identify any underachievement and takes immediate action to deal with it. Progress is monitored regularly and targets set. Pupils know what their targets are and understand them. Books are regularly marked and usually offer comments on how work may be improved.

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Grade: 1

The roots of the school's success lie in its outstanding leadership and management and its drive for continual improvement. The headteacher is extremely well organised 4 Inspection Report: Oldfield Primary School, 27 °28 February 2007 and diligent in the way he carries out his management duties. However, his real strengths are in his leadership skills which result in highly motivated teams. Managers at all levels are extremely effective and capable. They all know what their roles are and how to carry them out effectively. Parents, governors, teachers and pupils are all involved in the school's work and their views are valued. Since the previous inspection, the school has dealt effectively with a changing community, yet standards have remained high. Leadership and management have also very successfully tackled issues with pupils' writing. In light of this and an ability to focus on the matter in hand, the school is judged to have an excellent capacity to

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Grade: 1

make further improvements. 5 Inspection Report: Oldfield Primary School, 27 °28 February 2007 .

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Grade: 1

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Oldfield Primary School, 27 °28 February 2007

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 1 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 1 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 7 Inspection Report: Oldfield Primary School, 27 °28 February 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Oldfield Primary School, 27 °28 February 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you very much for making me so welcome when I visited your school this week. I was very impressed by how polite and well behaved you all were, well done! I really enjoyed myself and can see exactly why you enjoy being in Oldfield School. Both you and your parents said how excellent you thought the school was and I agree with you, it really is outstanding. That means that it does almost everything brilliantly! Your headteacher does a fantastic job and he works extremely hard to make sure that you all do as well as you can. He is helped by his deputy and all the other teachers and assistants. They all do a great job too! I watched some of your lessons and thought they were really super because your teachers made them so exciting, especially the one about 'Bat and Woodpecker'! You told me all about the sports and other clubs that you are able to attend. Wow! Such a variety! No wonder you win so many trophies and prizes! I was pleased to see a visiting theatre

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

group in your school and the exciting puppet work they did with Year 2. The children really enjoyed themselves. The school does so many things so well that I have only asked them to do one thing. You are all excellent at English and science and your school tests show this. I have asked your headteacher to ensure that everyone tries their hardest to make sure that your mathematics becomes as good as your English and science. That means you too! Always make sure that you do your best work in mathematics and listen carefully to your teachers. I wish you all the success that you deserve in the future. Kind regards Glynis Bradley-Peat 9 Inspection Report: Oldfield Primary School, 27 °28 February 2007

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