St Philip and James’ Church of England Aided Primary School Oxford

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Philip and James' Church of England Aided Primary School Oxford continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to be members of the 'Phil and Jim' community, where they embrace the school values of love, compassion, and community.

Pupils are welcoming and place considerable importance on being friendly to others. Kindness is evident during playtime when pupils across year groups use and share the equipment considerately. They invite others to join their play.

Leaders have high expectations of pupils' achievements and behaviour. Pupils strive to meet these, which means they behave well in lessons and around school. They value recog...nition of their successes, taking pride in seeing their work displayed around the school and being awarded house points.

Pupils have warm and respectful relationships with their teachers. They are confident that teachers will address any concerns, and incidents of bullying are rare. This caring and attentive ethos means pupils feel happy and safe.

Pupils benefit from the many wider learning opportunities across the school. They value the many clubs and talk enthusiastically about their learning on trips, including the Year 6 residential. Leaders are determined for pupils to be curious and ambitious.

Themed events like the Year 4 'Roman Day' and visiting speakers promote deeper thinking among pupils about which topics and professions they would like to learn more about.

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

Leaders have developed an ambitious curriculum, which achieves the breadth of the national curriculum. They have supported the thinking of middle leaders successfully.

They review and tweak subject planning to ensure that learning activities gradually build and secure pupils' understanding of important knowledge over time. The 2022 key stage 2 national test outcomes are significantly above the national average and reflect the strong core curriculum. In a few foundation subjects, where middle leaders have identified that pupils are not building important knowledge as well as they could, leaders are developing their schemes.

Teachers' subject knowledge is secure, and they explain new knowledge clearly. Across subjects, most teachers use questioning and modelling to support explanations effectively. For example, in early years, bean bags are used to clearly demonstrate different number combinations which add up to 10.

Teachers choose activities carefully to enable pupils to develop their understanding of new knowledge. For example, in mathematics lessons, 'answer, prove, explain' tasks strongly support pupils to learn new calculation methods.

Teachers and teaching assistants make adaptations which enable pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to make good progress across the planned curriculum.

A clear process ensures that pupils with potential SEND are promptly assessed. In core subjects, teachers use assessment to identify knowledge, which they then re-teach when pupils do not develop a secure understanding. However, in some foundation subjects, assessment is not linked to the important knowledge that pupils have been taught.

Where this is the case, teaching does not address knowledge gaps, which pupils can then retain over time.

There is a strong reading curriculum. Children begin learning phonics from the start of Reception Year.

Children who struggle with their reading, including those who start school mid-year, receive targeted support, so they catch up quickly. This means that all pupils become confident, fluent readers. Pupils' regular reading means that they talk confidently about books they are currently reading, weighing up the various merits and features of the different stories.

Leaders have embedded a positive culture in which pupils are keen to focus on their learning. In early years, children learn important routines that support them to learn well. Pupils respond positively to the staggered approach teachers use to address the rare instances of low-level disruption.

Most teachers ensure that pupils quickly refocus on their learning. The use of these appropriate strategies means that pupils with more complex needs receive appropriate support so they can regulate their behaviour successfully. Consequently, behaviour across lessons is calm and respectful.

The wider curriculum prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils learn and reflect upon how their actions can contribute to addressing important social issues. For example, a focus on ocean pollution motivated pupils to request recycling bins in school.

Celebrations of the multicultural school community with events like 'International Day' mean that pupils view difference positively and demonstrate tolerant attitudes. There are regular opportunities to vote, which helps pupils to understand the importance of democracy. Right from the early years, pupils gain valuable experience of responsibility through carefully thought out leadership roles, such as 'Parliament reps' or 'Playground Leaders'.

Leaders are passionate for every pupil to develop high aspirations and achieve well. They carefully evaluate the impact of well-planned improvement actions. Governors are knowledgeable and provide effective support and challenge for leaders.

Staff value leaders' commitment to their well-being and appreciate their actions to reduce workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that all staff are thoroughly trained so they know the warning signs that could indicate safeguarding concerns.

This includes those linked to local safeguarding issues. Staff know how to report concern and do so diligently.

Leaders promptly report safeguarding concerns to external agencies.

They challenge external agencies when they disagree with their actions. Leaders ensure that they support pupils and their families when they are experiencing challenging circumstances.

Safer recruitment practices are embedded in leaders' work.

The single central record is compliant with statutory requirements. The governors maintain sharp oversight of safeguarding activities and fully meet their statutory safeguarding responsibilities.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Assessment in some foundation subjects is not linked to the important knowledge being taught.

This means that teaching does not identify gaps in pupils' knowledge well enough, so teachers do not know what knowledge pupils have not learned successfully. Leaders need to ensure that assessment across all foundation subjects informs future teaching so that teachers can address pupils' knowledge gaps.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

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 would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which 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, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in October 2012.