Clewer Green CofE First School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Clewer Green CofE First School

Following my visit to the school on 12 February 2019, 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 July 2015. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

You are highly ambitious for the school and have a good understanding of its strengths and areas for development. You ensure that staff provide the best for the pupils. You are relentless in your determination and enthusiasm to ensur...e that Clewer Green continues to thrive and develop as a successful school in the local community.

You are supported well by the deputy headteacher and other school leaders. Parents and carers are highly supportive of the school. One parent said: 'Clewer Green First School has provided my son with the confidence to learn and enjoy learning.

His development, since starting the school in September 2018, has been great.' The governing body has continued to demonstrate strong leadership. It takes a highly active role in holding senior leaders to account for pupils' progress.

Governors are also very supportive of you and the leadership team. They are thorough in evaluating the school's strengths and areas for development. Governors visit regularly to check the effectiveness of the school's work and monitor the safeguarding arrangements.

The calm, supportive and well-organised environment ensures that everyone is valued within this caring community. Strong and established routines ensure that pupils' behaviour is good and that they feel safe. Pupils move around the building in a calm manner and are respectful of each other.

Pupils say that they are happy at the school and value the staff. Pupils are very proud that they have many exciting clubs, including French, street dance and football. They told me that they can always find an adult to talk to if they are worried about something.

The highly effective displays in the classrooms and corridors enrich the learning environment. The school supports the wider community, including by raising money for 18 local and national charities. Also, Year 4 pupils visit and undertake a range of activities in a local residential care home for the elderly.

Leaders have successfully addressed the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. Teachers have high expectations of pupils' learning. They support pupils well by responding effectively to their work so pupils know how to improve their understanding and skills.

This was particularly evident in pupils' writing. Leaders and governors are rigorous in evaluating the plans for improvement. Middle leaders now take a more significant and effective role in monitoring and evaluating their areas of responsibility.

Safeguarding is effective. There is a strong culture of safeguarding at Clewer Green First School. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed.

You provide ongoing training for staff and governors, so that everyone knows what to do if they have a concern about a pupil. Governors are knowledgeable about safeguarding and ensure that this aspect of the school's work is given high priority and meets current requirements. Leaders ensure that recruitment checks are firmly in place for all those who work or volunteer at the school.

The school's site is secure and safe. Pupils feel safe in the school and are well supported by the adults around them. Almost all parents also agree that their children are safe at the school.

Pupils confidently told me that they know how to take part in fire practices, and in partial and full lockdowns. You promote safety in all that you do, and it is woven through the curriculum. Pupils have opportunities to learn how to keep themselves safe, for example during the recent internet safety day.

Inspection findings ? During this inspection, we agreed to focus on: how effectively leaders ensure that disadvantaged pupils achieve well, particularly the most able disadvantaged pupils; how leaders ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress; and how effective the quality and depth of learning across the wider curriculum are. ? The tracking of disadvantaged pupils' progress is thorough, and the additional support for pupils is evaluated effectively. Teachers' thorough assessment identifies pupils' next steps so that they make strong progress.

In the lessons we visited, disadvantaged pupils were engaged and working well towards meeting their learning goals. Disadvantaged pupils receive a wide range of well-chosen activities and additional, well-planned adult support. Leaders also ensure that disadvantaged pupils have access to a range of enrichment activities to further support their wider development.

These include chess, sports and further writing opportunities. ? Funding to support disadvantaged pupils is used effectively. The governing body holds leaders to account for the spending of the pupil premium.

Governors look at how the funding is used to support pupils in the best way. However, leaders accurately recognise that a greater proportion of the most able disadvantaged pupils could make even better progress and work at greater depth. ? Most pupils with SEND make good progress, and some make very strong progress.

The highly effective support provided by teaching assistants ensures a wide variety of well-chosen interventions to meet pupils' needs. Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and are keen to achieve well. Leaders track pupils' progress precisely, and the additional interventions are evaluated effectively to ensure that pupils make strong gains in their learning.

• The school offers a broad and balanced curriculum that engages and excites pupils. There are strong links across the curriculum, including a range of writing opportunities through the history topics. Staff are committed to providing activities and experiences that are relevant and inspiring.

Pupils are enthusiastic about the curriculum and enjoy the wide range of enrichment opportunities that bring learning alive. These include an exciting Year 3 Roman Day, when, through role play, pupils learned about how Romans went into battle. It also gave pupils experience of examining historical artefacts.

Children have many opportunities to develop their natural curiosity about the world around them. For example, in my visit to the Reception classes, children were captivated and enthused by locating minibeasts using magnifying classes and then classifying them. Work in pupils' books shows that they are making good progress across a range of subjects.

• At the end of key stage 1, pupils leave the school with attainment that is higher than the national averages in reading, writing and mathematics, including the national averages for working at greater depth. These outcomes demonstrate that strong leadership has resulted in high proportions of pupils making good and, for some, extremely strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Your curriculum motivates and inspires pupils.

It ensures that all groups of pupils learn well. You agree, however, that more needs to be done to ensure that the teaching of the wider curriculum systematically develops pupils' skills, for example, in history and geography. Equally, you and the governors are aware that the tracking of pupils' progress in the wider curriculum is not as well developed as it is in English and mathematics.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? there are sustained improvements for the most able disadvantaged pupils so that they achieve the higher standards ? the tracking of pupils skills in the wider curriculum is strengthened. 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 Windsor and Maidenhead. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Darren Aisthorpe Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you, the deputy headteacher, key stage leaders, the special educational needs coordinator and three governors. I met with two representatives of the local authority and the school link adviser for the Diocese of Oxford. I also had a meeting with a group of pupils.

I spoke with eight parents on the playground, and considered 108 responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire Parent View, including 73 free-text comments. Together with senior leaders, I observed teaching and learning across the school. I examined pupils' learning in their mathematics books, their English books, and their science and topic books.

I also evaluated children's learning journals and looked at evidence of learning in the classrooms. I observed pupils at breaktime and spoke with them informally. I also considered the school's action plan, the school's self-evaluation and a range of documentation related to safeguarding, governance and pupils' progress.