Weston Turville Church of England School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Weston Turville Church of England School

Following my visit to the school on 25 September 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in January 2015. This school continues to be good.

ThThe leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school is a very happy place. Pupils thrive in a caring community and benefit from effective teaching with a wide range of activities.

The school mission 'to pursue wisdom within a Christian ethos' is evident thro...ughout the school, and your six core values – respect, honesty, perseverance, fairness, kindness and trust – are central to this. Parents told me that the school is very inclusive and they are extremely happy that their children come to this school. They receive information about the progress of their children on a regular basis and find the weekly newsletter very informative.

As one parent wrote in the online survey: 'I think Weston Turville School has been fantastic for my children. The community spirit, the well-being of the children and the interaction with children and parents is always good.' Your systems for monitoring the work of the school are robust.

Senior leaders are now held to account for the progress of all groups of pupils. Your school self-evaluation, including analysis of pupils' progress and attainment, is accurate and informs school-improvement planning effectively. Following the previous inspection, you have created more distinct roles for your senior leaders.

They reported that they now feel much more secure in what they are doing. Staff enjoy their work at the school. During the inspection, many referred to the 'family' that is Weston Turville school.

From their responses to the online questionnaire, staff feel valued and respected and are proud to be at the school. They are dedicated to ensuring that all pupils flourish as a result of their teaching and pastoral care. Leaders are passionate about securing improvements for all groups of pupils within their areas of responsibility.

The governing body is very involved in the life of the school. Governors ensure that they are highly visible to parents and have a strong presence at all school events. They noted the accuracy of the school's self-evaluation and monitor how this leads to improvements.

They are not complacent, and invest a lot of their time in training for their roles. They meet regularly with the governing bodies of other local schools in order to share good practice. They analyse data, and are very aware of your school development plan and priority areas.

In particular, they note that writing is still an area of divide between boys and girls. Governors have encouraged you to work to provide different styles of lessons, for instance by using outside learning to engage boys more with writing. Your local authority improvement partner, though only recently linked to the school, already recognises the strengths and the inclusivity of the school.

You are aware that the ability of pupils to write at a greater depth of understanding needs further strengthening. One of your main priorities this year is to continue the focus on increasing fluency and reasoning within the mathematics curriculum in order to further improve outcomes for all groups of pupils. Pupils told me that they are happy and feel well cared for at Weston Turville school.

They enjoy their lessons, and this was evident as I went around the school. Parents told me how quickly their children gained confidence in themselves when they entered the school. Classrooms and outside areas are bright and attractive, particularly in the early years, where activities are carefully planned and laid out with a lot of attention to detail.

Pupils understand what they have to do to improve the standard of their work in all subjects. This is because staff follow the school's marking policy clearly and check that pupils have followed up on advice given. Safeguarding is effective.

All safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and all records are detailed and of high quality. All checks on the suitability of the adults who come into contact with children in school are sound. You and all your staff know the pupils very well and are vigilant to any sign that pupils may be at risk.

You are relentless in your drive to secure the best possible outcomes for all pupils, and are determined in challenging outside agencies if you are not happy with their decisions. Pupils say that they feel happy and safe at school and are well cared for. Pupils know what to do if they have a problem.

Parents and staff agree with them. The governing body is rigorous in its monitoring of safeguarding practices at school. Relationships between pupils are excellent, and you create many opportunities for older pupils to befriend and support the younger pupils.

Inspection findings ? At the start of the inspection we agreed the key lines of enquiry. This inspection focused on the impact of leaders' actions on driving improvements in pupils' writing and mathematics. The inspection also focused on the impact of the use of pupil premium funding on the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

• Senior leaders are taking effective action to drive improvements in writing. The results from national tests at key stage 2 showed a strong improvement from a low base. Pupils are now achieving at just below national figures.

The focus on improving both the technical aspects of writing and flair mean that standards in writing are on the increase. Senior leaders, and governors, have scrutinised their data in order to ensure that all groups of pupils are enabled to reach their potential. You have found that boys are not making the strong progress that you think they can, and you are now actively finding new teaching styles in order to address this.

• Senior leaders' drive to improve standards in mathematics is beginning to have an impact. The vision of the subject coordinator is that all pupils will master mathematical reasoning. The aim is to drive standards in fluency and reasoning alongside a focus on multiplication tables and written arithmetic methods.

The reasoning elements were evident in the pupils' work that we looked at. There are regular opportunities for staff to share good practice through scrutinies of pupils' work, planning together, and, on occasion, teaching a class together. ? The attendance and behaviour of pupils is strong.

Pupils care for each other, and older pupils are actively encouraged to look after the younger ones. As one parent wrote on the online questionnaire: 'One aspect I like about this school is the way the children are encouraged to learn responsibility. There is a buddy system on the playground for the older children to help the younger ones.'

? Pupils are encouraged to celebrate each other's successes and this helps to create the warm and caring atmosphere throughout the school. You have been tenacious in your drive to improve the attendance of all groups of pupils, engaging support from the local authority. With this support you have determined the barriers that you need to tackle in order to help parents to understand better how to engage with the school.

You analyse behaviour data on a regular basis and have introduced ways of enabling all pupils to be able to 'shine'. The weekly newsletter praises pupils for demonstrating the school's values. ? Leaders are determined to ensure that disadvantaged pupils reach their potential.

Your deputy headteacher is leading the drive for effective inclusion of all pupils through high-quality, everyday teaching resulting in the pupils being engaged with their learning. Your special educational needs coordinator is passionate about her work with disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and leaves no stone unturned in pursuit of enabling them to catch up with their peers. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? they continue to develop ways to further strengthen pupils' ability to write at a greater depth of understanding, and monitor and evaluate the ways they have planned to improve the attainment of boys in writing ? they further strengthen the teaching and learning of mathematics, so that standards continue on the upward curve that they have started on.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Oxford, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Buckinghamshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Jane Edwards Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you and senior leaders at the start of the day.

We discussed leaders'

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