Hagbourne Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Hagbourne Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 23 May 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 June 2015. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Together with staff, governors and the school community, you have reshaped the school's vision to reflect the school's aim, 'preparing each child for their future in an ever-changing world'. Along with the school's Christian values of ...respect, responsibility, care and courage, this aim shapes the strong and supportive ethos.

You have built a hard-working and committed staff team who are fully behind you and proud to belong to the school. Staff value the training and development opportunities provided so that they continually develop their skills. Governors have a good understanding of the school's strengths and where further improvements need to be made.

They are well informed from their regular visits to the school, your detailed reports and through training. Classrooms are positive environments for learning and relationships are warm and supportive. During our visits to classrooms, we could see how well teachers engage and interest pupils.

Teachers explain concepts clearly to help pupils learn new knowledge and skills. They are also quick to notice and address any misconceptions or errors in pupils' understanding. The pupils I spoke to were full of enthusiasm for the school and told me that they enjoy learning.

The strength of the school's values is reflected in pupils' good behaviour and positive attitudes. The school is held in high regard by parents, who particularly appreciate the school's strong community spirit. One parent, typifying the views of many, commented, 'Hagbourne has a wonderful family feeling and it has been a perfect start for my child.'

Children get off to a good start in the early years, and the proportion of children who attain a good level of development is similar to the national average. In 2018 at the end of key stage 1, pupils' attainment was at or above the national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. However, larger proportions of pupils achieved greater depth in each subject than the national figures.

Pupils' attainment at the end of key stage 2 has improved year on year, over the past three years. While attainment at the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics was close to the national averages, larger proportions of pupils attained the higher standards. You keep teaching and learning under regular review and have an accurate view of the quality of teaching.

The improvement plan sets out the actions you are taking to strengthen further all aspects of the school's work. However, you recognise that this plan, and the pupil premium spending plan, would benefit from some refinement, including more precise success criteria. You have taken effective action to address the areas for improvement highlighted during the school's last inspection.

Teachers now routinely provide more challenge for pupils in mathematics and English. As a result, more pupils are attaining the higher standards, particularly in reading. You are also strengthening the science curriculum and have introduced focused science, technology, engineering and mathematics weeks.

However, you acknowledge that pupils are not challenged sufficiently in some other subjects, particularly in history and geography. You are wisely planning to adapt the curriculum to include a planned progression of skills and knowledge in all subjects. Safeguarding is effective.

Pupils' care and well-being are at the heart of the school. You know pupils and their families well and are aware of any potential vulnerabilities or concerns. You make sure that pupils and their families receive early help, including support from trained teaching assistants and the home–school link worker.

Regular and timely training enables all staff to confidently and ably fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities. You ensure that any concerns about pupils are systematically recorded and, when needed, refer these concerns to outside agencies. Child-protection files are detailed and include clear chronologies of concerns and the actions leaders have taken to keep pupils safe.

However, leaders have not routinely or consistently recorded the school's response to more minor concerns about pupils' welfare. All the necessary pre-employment checks for staff are carried out diligently. Governors keep safeguarding under regular review, including all aspects of health and safety such as the security of the school's site.

They also commission an independent annual audit to assure them that safeguarding arrangements are strong and provide an external view. Pupils feel safe in school and know that they can speak to their teachers about any concerns. They told me that there is no bullying and that any issues, such as friendship fall-outs, are dealt with well by staff.

Pupils also have a good understanding of how to stay safe when online. The vast majority of parents who responded to Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, say that their children feel safe at school. Staff are unanimous in their view that pupils at Hagbourne are safe.

Inspection findings ? During this inspection we focused on specific aspects of the school's work, including: safeguarding; the teaching of phonics and reading progress; the effectiveness of support for disadvantaged pupils; and how the curriculum helps pupils to learn about other cultures and prepares them for life in modern Britain. ? You have taken effective action to address the dip in the proportion of pupils who met the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check in 2018. You carefully analysed the 2018 results and have adjusted the way phonics is taught.

Teachers now make sure that pupils regularly revisit letters and the sounds they represent to help them remember and retain what they have learned. You have also introduced more opportunities for pupils to read good-quality texts to develop their comprehension skills and fluency. Pupils appreciate and enjoy reading these new texts and feel this is helping them to become better readers.

• In our visit to early years, children were applying their phonic skills well when reading. Teachers make sure that children pronounce and read letter sounds correctly, and promptly address any errors. As a result of good teaching, pupils are making good progress in reading and standards in phonics have improved.

You have also provided effective additional support for those pupils who did not achieve the expected standard in the previous year. These pupils have made strong progress and most of them have quickly caught up with their peers. Currently in Year 2, you are continuing to provide additional support to help the small number of pupils who have not yet achieved the expected standard.

• Leaders are now 'shining a light' on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. Their well-judged individual plans for disadvantaged pupils summarise pupils' needs, identifying all barriers to learning and the support they need. Leaders keep careful oversight of each pupil's progress and regularly adapt support to ensure that it makes a positive difference.

• Support for disadvantaged pupils is tailored to meet their needs. For example, some pupils and their families benefit from timely and regular support from the home–school link worker. Other pupils benefit from appropriate targeted support to improve their achievement, particularly in reading.

The school has also invested substantially in specially trained teaching assistants to provide valuable support for those pupils who have social or emotional needs. As a result of the school's effective support, disadvantaged pupils are making good progress. Nevertheless, the strategic plans and evaluations of the impact of the school's use of pupil premium are not precise enough.

• The religious education curriculum makes a positive contribution to pupils' learning about other cultures. Through their learning about the world's religions, pupils develop a good understanding of different customs and traditions. The school's strong values support pupils' understanding of diversity, helping them to develop caring and responsible attitudes.

Pupils value, respect and appreciate their differences and told me that, 'Everyone is welcomed at Hagbourne.' As one pupil explained, 'It would be boring if we were all the same.' The school helps pupils to learn about important British values such as the rule of law and democracy.

Pupils know that it is important to have rules as these can help them to stay safe, and that democracy helps everyone to have a 'fair share of ideas'. Pupils' learning about these values and their understanding of other cultures is helping them to be well prepared for life in modern Britain. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? improvement plans, including those for pupil premium, have clear, measurable success criteria so that there can be a precise evaluation of impact ? teaching systematically builds pupils' skills and knowledge in all subjects and includes greater challenge for the most able ? actions taken in response to pupils' minor concerns are carefully recorded.

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 Oxfordshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Sue Cox Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection Together, we visited classes in each key stage to look at learning and talk to pupils about their work.

I met with you and a senior leader to discuss the school's self-evaluation and agree our key lines of enquiry for this inspection. We also met to review the school's support for disadvantaged pupils and the progress pupils are making in phonics. I met with a group of five teachers to discuss and review pupils' work.

I held a meeting with four members of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body, and had a short telephone conversation with a representative of the diocese. I spoke to pupils informally during the day and I met with a group of pupils from Years 1 to 5. I reviewed a wide range of the school's documents, including the pre-employment checks on the suitability of staff to work with children and safeguarding information, policies and documents.

I took account of 23 responses from members of staff who completed the Ofsted staff questionnaire. I considered the views of parents through the 48 responses to Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, including 13 free-text comments. I also met parents on the playground at the start of the school day.

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