Englefield C.E. Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Englefield is a good school which is at the heart of its village community. It is held in high regard by pupils and parents and carers, with whom it engages extremely well.

One parent, typifying the views of others, commented, 'We are very happy with Englefield and honestly believe our children are getting the very best education.' Pupils say the school is 'like a family' and that they feel extremely safe and secure because they are looked after extremely well. Their enjoyment of their education is evident in their high attendance and enthusiastic approach to learning.

Pupils' behaviour is exemplary. They are unfailingly polite and are very considerate of one another. Their academic achieveme...nt remains good and the new headteacher has quickly identified what needs to be done to improve it even further.

Strategies to bring this about, however, are at an early stage of development. Nevertheless, the school has consolidated and built on the many strengths identified in the last inspection. Together with the clear leadership of the headteacher and governing body and the enthusiasm and commitment of staff, this indicates that it has good capacity to improve even further.

Children make a good start to their education in the Early Years Foundation Stage and quickly become confident and enthusiastic learners. Good teaching enables pupils to continue to make good progress as they move through the school and to attain above average levels by the time they leave. Teachers have excellent relationships with their pupils and provide a range of interesting activities to engage and motivate them.

Pupils are clear that teachers 'make learning fun' and often provide an 'interesting twist' in lessons, as one put it. Teachers work in close partnership with a high-quality support team to meet the needs of all pupils, particularly those few identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities. In a few lessons, the pace and challenge of learning are not sufficient to enable all pupils to do as well as they might, particularly the more able.

The quality of teachers' marking remains variable. There are good examples of marking which points pupils to improvement but this is not always the case. There is some unevenness in pupils' progress from year to year.

While the school collects data to track progress and to set challenging targets for every pupil, this has not always been used effectively to identify potential underachievement at an early enough stage. New assessment systems are now in place designed to give more effective feedback to pupils and to ensure that they all sustain consistently good or better progress from term to term as they move through the school. There has not yet been enough time, however, for the impact of this initiative to be evident in achieving consistently good progress.

The school is rightly renowned for the quality of its music. The Band sessions, during which every pupil in the school plays an instrument, are truly uplifting. The school works in partnership with other local schools and groups to provide an excellent range of sporting opportunities.

These activities are greatly enjoyed by pupils and help them to adopt healthy lifestyles extremely well. The school also helps pupils to become aware of environmental issues. They really enjoy their school garden, for example, and take their responsibilities as 'eco warriors' very seriously.

All of these activities contribute to pupils' outstanding social, moral, spiritual and cultural development. This was also evident in their considered reflection in an assembly about Armistice Day and impeccable observation of the minute's silence.

Information about the school

This is a small, rural school.

Most pupils come from relatively advantaged backgrounds and very few are known to be entitled to free school meals. The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage and none is at an early stage of learning to speak English. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.

Most of these pupils have moderate learning difficulties, and a few have physical disabilities. A new headteacher was appointed in September 2010 following the retirement of her long-serving predecessor. The school has received a number of awards including Healthy Schools and Artsmark Gold.