East Worlington Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

East Worlington Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at East Worlington Primary School. Staff know pupils as individuals.

This helps pupils to feel safe and secure. They learn an ambitious and interesting curriculum that meets their needs well. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Leaders are relentless in their drive for continuous improvement. They have high expectations of what all pupils can achieve.

Pupils behave well.

Staff have clear expectations of how pupils should conduct themselves in lessons and around the school. Pupils have positive at...titudes to learning. They encourage others to follow the school rules.

Leaders provide a range of opportunities for pupils to develop their social skills. Pupils take responsibility for leading games at playtimes. This helps these times to be calm and enjoyable for all.

Many pupils join the school throughout the year. Parents comment that pupils are warmly welcomed into the school community and settle quickly. Most parents view the school positively.

They commend staff for the high level of care they show for each pupil. Parents feel that any concerns they raise are suitably dealt with by leaders. Many parents say that the school feels like a family.

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

Leaders give careful consideration to the most important knowledge pupils need to learn. This is set out clearly within the curriculum design. Teachers have secure subject knowledge.

They design learning that interests pupils and encourages them to ask questions. Leaders adapt the curriculum to meet the varying needs of the pupils within each class. However, in some subjects, the order in which pupils learn important knowledge is not always well thought through.

As a result, some pupils do not build their knowledge as well as they could.

Leaders have introduced new methods of assessment in foundation subjects. These are in the early stages of implementation.

Teachers are starting to use assessment to make sure that all learning is designed around what pupils already know and can do. However, some pupils find it hard to remember their learning over time. This means they find it difficult to learn new concepts.

Leaders go the extra mile to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. They work closely with external agencies to identify the support that pupils need. Teachers set targets that help pupils to learn well.

Pupils with SEND learn the same curriculum as their peers. Staff are highly responsive to pupils' emerging needs. They check that the support pupils receive helps them to develop into confident and independent learners.

Children in the nursery become familiar with a range of songs and rhymes. They start to learn the sounds that letters make. This prepares them well for their phonics learning.

Pupils love to read. Leaders provide a carefully chosen selection of books for pupils to choose from. Pupils read books that match their reading ability.

They read widely and often. Leaders make regular checks on pupils' progress through the phonics programme. They provide effective extra help to pupils who need it.

This helps pupils to catch up quickly and become confident readers. Leaders share useful information with parents about the school's approach to phonics.

Children in the early years get off to a strong start.

They respond well to the clear routines set by staff. Children follow instructions and cooperate well with others. Learning activities are well thought-out.

They capture children's interest and engagement for increasing amounts of time. Staff understand how young children learn. They ask questions that make children think.

Children develop independence because staff know when they need support with a task and when they can figure it out for themselves. Children leave the early years with the self-belief and knowledge they need to access the curriculum in Year 1.

Pupils know what it means to respect others regardless of their background.

They value and celebrate differences. Leaders ensure that pupils learn about the world beyond the school's rural location. This prepares them well for their next steps.

Pupils relish the roles of responsibility they have, such as sports leaders. They recognise how their roles make a positive contribution to the school community.

Staff comment positively about the opportunities for collaboration across the trust.

This helps to reduce their workload as they feel part of a bigger team with many avenues of support. Senior leaders gather staff views about well-being and act on the feedback they receive. Trust leaders know the school well.

They check that leaders' actions impact the quality of education that pupils receive. Trust leaders make sure that that improvement plans are robust and realistic.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Pupils feel safe. Leaders know what the local risks are to pupils. They use this to shape the curriculum.

Pupils learn how to keep safe in the school's rural location.

Leaders provide regular safeguarding training. Staff have the knowledge they need to identify any signs of abuse.

They report concerns quickly. Leaders take action to secure the help that vulnerable families need. They act on advice from external agencies to ensure that pupils are kept safe.

Leaders make the appropriate safeguarding checks during recruitment. They record the checks accurately.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some foundation subjects, the sequence of learning does not support pupils to build knowledge securely.

Pupils do not learn as well as they could. Leaders need to continue to develop the curriculum design to support pupils to build knowledge well. This will help pupils to make links between different parts of their learning.

• Leaders have introduced new methods of assessment. These are in the early stages of implementation. Some pupils find it hard to remember their learning over time.

Learning is not always based on pupils' prior knowledge. Leaders need to continue to develop how assessment is used to check pupils' learning and support them to know and remember more over time.

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 June 2014.