St Oswald’s CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is a good school. Leaders and managers are effective. There is a clear, shared vision for the future.

Self-evaluation is thorough, honest and accurate and, as a consequence, the correct priorities for improvement are identified, sharply focused and carefully pursued. The impact of actions taken to tackle key priorities is robustly evaluated. This has a positive impact on outcomes for all groups of pupils.

Areas for improvement identified at the time of the previous inspection have been successfully addressed. As a result, the school demonstrates a good capacity for sustained improvement. Outstanding care, guidance and support ensure that pupils feel safe and have an excellent understandi...ng of healthy lifestyles.

A typical view reported by the overwhelming majority of pupils is, 'This is a very friendly school. Adults always listen and help you; they cheer you up if you are sad.' Pupils who join the school partway through the year say they settle quickly and make many new friends.

The positive views of their parents and carers confirm this. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent overall. Pupils are very proud of their school and respond extremely well to its Christian values.

All pupils take on responsibility willingly. They make an exceptional contribution to the school, church and immediate community. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage have a good start to their education.

Children enter Reception typically with skills that are in line with those expected for their age, but this can vary from year to year. They enjoy learning and achieve well. In the main, learning areas are cheerful and well resourced but occasionally, the range of activities that children can choose for themselves both indoors and outside is too narrow, and their purpose is not always sufficiently clear.

This restricts the chances children have to choose to learn independently and, consequently, sometimes their progress slows. Teaching is good. A number of outstanding lessons were observed during the inspection.

In all classes, marking is consistently good and, overwhelmingly, pupils say that it helps them to improve their work. By the end of Year 6, pupils' attainment is above average in English and mathematics. However, fewer pupils than average attain higher levels in these subjects because planned work is not always closely matched to their needs.

Taking account of pupils' varying start points at school, their progress and enjoyment of learning is good. This represents good achievement.

Information about the school

This is a much smaller than average-sized primary school.

Almost all pupils are of White British heritage. The proportions of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and of those who are assessed as having special educational needs and/or disabilities are both well below average. More pupils than average join and leave the school at times other than at the start of the school year.

As a result, the number of pupils in each year group varies from year to year. The school holds Healthy School status and has achieved Eco-school silver, Activemark and the Basic Skills Quality Mark awards. Since the previous inspection, there have been considerable changes in teaching and support staff.

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