Oakfield First School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Oakfield First School

Following my visit to the school on 6 November 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 October 2014.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have created a dedicated team of leaders and governors who share your ambition that all pupils achieve high standards within a safe and happy environment.

This is reflected in the many positive written comments made by parents. One pare...nt wrote, 'Mrs Hull is an inspiring leader who creates an excellent atmosphere for staff to teach and pupils to learn.' You have given your staff confidence and self-belief.

They are highly motivated and actively engage with new initiatives that help to improve their skills further. All staff value and respond to your leadership. You lead by example and so leaders at all levels learn the skills and talents that enable them to become effective in their roles.

Staff relish opportunities to take on additional responsibilities that advance their careers. One member of staff wrote, 'Very intuitive and holistic leadership which strikes a brilliant balance between raising standards in teaching and maintaining a healthy and happy staff.' Pupils love their school.

Because of the high quality of care provided by staff, they feel valued as individuals. They are confident that adults will listen to them and take their concerns seriously. Pupils behave exceptionally well in class, in the playground and when they move around the school.

They have a good awareness of bullying but they say that it rarely happens. They are confident, happy young people who enjoy talking about their favourite subjects and all the extra activities available to them. Pupils of all ages get on very well together.

They are friendly and polite to each other and to adults. They understand the school's values of respect, resilience and responsibility and they understand how these contribute towards their learning and their behaviour. Pupils thoroughly enjoy learning and this is exemplified by the highly positive attitudes they show in classrooms.

You, your leaders and governors have a clear understanding of the school's strengths as well as where further improvements can be made. Governors are skilled and they know the school well. They provide a high level of professional challenge by holding you and your leaders to account for the quality of education that pupils receive.

Together, you have responded to the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. For example, provision and outcomes in the early years have improved and are now much stronger. Most teachers provide effective feedback to pupils so that pupils know how their work may be improved, and this is leading to faster rates of progress for pupils.'

Excellence Through Partnership in Learning' is the core value underpinning your work. You work closely with pupils and their families to make learning a true partnership. Parents who responded to the Ofsted survey commented on the strength of this partnership.

One parent wrote, 'There is such a happy, lively feeling to this school community and a genuine warmth shown towards families.' You work closely with other schools and external partners to draw in ideas and practices to strengthen what you already do well. Teaching is consistently effective across the school and so pupils' outcomes have improved in recent years.

They are typically good or better in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 2. Disadvantaged pupils usually achieve equally as well as other pupils. However, you are not complacent and you know that pupils' outcomes in writing are not as strong as they could be.

You also know that children in the early years could be given more opportunities to extend their learning still further. Safeguarding is effective. You, your staff and governors ensure that pupils' safety and welfare are given high priority throughout the school.

All staff have been suitably trained in line with government guidance so that they know what action to take should they be concerned that a pupil might be at risk from harm. You call on the expertise of external agencies to ensure that needy pupils and their families receive bespoke help in a timely way. You maintain high-quality records on the suitability of adults to work with children and these are regularly checked by you and your chair of governors.

All records regarding the safety of pupils are well maintained and fit for purpose. Pupils say that they feel safe in school. They say that adults are readily on hand to help them on the odd occasion that things go wrong.

Pupils learn to stay safe when using modern technology in their information technology lessons. They spoke knowledgeably about the visitors to school, including the police and the Fire and Rescue Service, who taught them how to stay safe outside school. Parents, staff and governors agreed that pupils are safe in school.

Inspection findings ? In addition to evaluating the school's arrangements for safeguarding pupils, I looked at the quality of provision in the early years; the extent to which pupils in Year 3 and 4 build on the secure grounding they receive at key stage 1; and learning and progress of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). ? Since the previous inspection, much has been done to improve outcomes for children in the early years. The proportion of pupils reaching a good level of development has improved and is now typically above average.

The systems for assessing children have been strengthened so that staff have a clear understanding of the learning needs of children. Staff observe children carefully and record their achievements systematically. Teachers use these observations to plan activities that build on and extend what children already know and so most children progress well.

Just occasionally, staff do not move children on to harder work quickly enough and this slows their progress. ? The reception classes are bright and attractive and provide safe and secure learning spaces for children. There is a good range of activities that promote all aspects of children's development both inside and outdoors.

This helps to promote children's curiosity and imagination as well as developing their independence. Most staff ask questions that probe children's understanding and help to develop their language and communication skills. Staff in the early years work closely together as a team and contribute to all aspects of children's development.

• As pupils move into key stage 2, they continue to build their skills and knowledge, particularly in reading and mathematics. Their attainment in writing is weaker than it is in other subjects. Work in pupils' books shows that, while many write vividly and imaginatively, they do not always write neatly or use their spelling and punctuation as accurately as they should.

While the quality of feedback provided to pupils is effective in most classes, this is not consistently strong across key stage 2. Some teachers do not always address pupils' mistakes in their written work and this slows pupils' progress. ? School leaders have taken rapid action to improve writing but it is still too early for the impact of this to be seen in pupils' work.

For example, the English leader has introduced a new spelling policy and a handwriting scheme. She is carrying out a review of writing to identify precisely where improvements may be made. Pupils' learning and progress in key stage 2 is stronger in mathematics.

Teaching of mathematics is lively and engaging and allows pupils to make rapid progress. Teachers ask pupils challenging questions that demand that pupils reason and explain their answers. This helps pupils to secure a good understanding of mathematical concepts.

Work in pupils' books is carefully set out and feedback provided to them helps them to progress well. Often teachers provide extra challenges by posing questions that deepen their knowledge. Pupils say that they enjoy mathematics and this is shown in their positive attitudes to the subject.

• The inclusion leader is highly skilled and has a clear overview of the learning and progress of pupils with SEND. She works closely with all staff to identify pupils' particular difficulties so that action can be taken at an early stage. Teaching assistants are well trained so that they can support pupils in class as well as providing them with additional programmes to help them to overcome their difficulties.

For example, staff have identified that a number of pupils enter school with weak language and communication skills. To help to overcome this, the inclusion leader has introduced 'Chatterboxes'. These are boxes that contain various objects that pupils share and talk about with adults.

This helps to develop pupils' speech and communication skills and strengthen their readiness for learning. Work in pupils' books and performance information recorded by the school show that pupils with SEND make progress at similar rates to other pupils. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? pupils learn and apply their basic writing skills including accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar when completing writing activities and that teachers ensure that they do so ? staff in the early years ensure that children are given every opportunity to extend their learning when they show that they are ready.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, 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 Joy Considine Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with the assistant headteacher, other leaders and governors.

I also met with two representatives from the local authority. I visited most classes with the assistant headteacher and I looked at work in pupils' books. I met with a small group of pupils and I also spoke informally to pupils in the playground.

I analysed a range of documentation, including the school improvement plan, minutes from governors' meetings and information relating to safeguarding pupils. I considered the views of parents by analysing 119 responses to the online survey, Parent View, including free-text responses. I took account of the views of staff by analysing the 33 responses to the staff survey.

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