Stadhampton Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Stadhampton Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 21 June 2017, 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 February 2013. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained a good quality of education in the school since the last inspection and ensured continuous improvement. As headteacher, you provide clear and determined leadership which is recognised and valued by staff, pupils and parents. You have forged a strong team of staff and governors at Stadhampton who are passionate about... continuously improving the quality of provision and ambitious for all of the pupils in your care.

Stadhampton is a small rural school which offers a very warm, nurturing and inclusive community atmosphere. Pupils are confident, articulate and display first-rate attitudes towards learning, their school and each other. In addition to well-planned personal, social and health education, learning is enriched and extended via a wide variety of clubs and visits, strong links with the local church and opportunities to link to international schools.

Consequently, pupils speak confidently about different faiths and cultures, they respect diversity and value equality. They are well prepared for their next stage of education and life in modern Britain. Pupils, and the large majority of parents, were fulsome in their praise for the school and are rightly proud of all that it achieves.

One parent spoke for many when they commented, 'This is an excellent school, which offers exactly the friendly, caring and nurturing educational environment we hoped to find for our children.' While another added, 'This is a delightful local school – really the heartbeat in our community'. During your last inspection, the inspector recognised the many strengths of your school including: leadership and governance; the high standards of behaviour; and the quality of teaching across the school.

These continue to be key strengths of the school. The inspector also identified a need to improve the progress that all pupils, particularly the most able, make in mathematics and for teachers to ensure that learning moves on at a fast rate. Leaders and governors have responded well to these areas for improvement.

Your work on sharing teachers' planning, resources and training opportunities has brought about improvements to the curriculum. This development has been helped by your good relationships and strong partnership work with your 'CLOSER' (Collaborative Learning in Oxfordshire's South East Region) network of local schools. In addition, you check the quality of teaching regularly and have provided teachers with resources and training that have ensured current pupils make stronger progress in mathematics.

The dedicated team of governors have a good understanding of the school and bring a wealth of experience and talents to strengthen, challenge and support leadership. Governors actively seek and engage with training to develop their skills. They are kept well informed through regular visits to the school and leaders' accurate tracking and assessment information.

Together, leaders and governors ensure that the school's self-evaluation is accurate and improvement planning is appropriately focused, with clear targets. You have identified the correct priorities for further improvement and are taking the right actions to achieve them. You have rightly prioritised raising attainment in English and mathematics and are aware that there is more to be done to improve the level of challenge for the most able pupils.

You appreciate that there is more to do to ensure pupils receive greater challenge in science and the wider curriculum. Safeguarding is effective. You, your staff and governors rightly place an appropriately high emphasis on pupils' safety and welfare.

All safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. There is a caring culture of vigilance, supported by thorough record-keeping. Appropriate checks are made against all adults who work with pupils and meticulous logs are maintained.

All staff have up-to-date training to an appropriate level and know what to do should they be worried about a pupil. Governors are well informed and work closely with staff to ensure that the work to keep pupils safe is given top priority and meets current requirements. When it has been necessary, effective communication between key staff in school and other organisations has ensured timely and effective support for pupils of concern, followed by careful review of the impact of any action taken.

Staff, pupils and their parents report that pupils feel safe and well looked after at Stadhampton Primary School. Pupils feel well cared for and told me they know who to go to should they have any concerns. They trust adults to resolve any issues that may arise.

Inspection findings ? During this visit, as well as evaluating safeguarding arrangements, I focused on specific aspects of the school's provision, including: the progress pupils make as they progress from Reception and through key stage 1 whether assessment systems ensure that all groups of pupils make good progress from their starting points, particularly in mathematics the quality of learning in the wider curriculum whether behaviour and attendance continue to be strengths of the school. ? Leaders have worked hard to improve the quality of provision in Reception. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development by the end of the early years improved significantly in 2016, to well above the national average figure.

Similarly, high standards have been achieved by Reception children this year. The indoor and outdoor environments offer well-organised, rich and stimulating learning opportunities. Children gain confidence from their good relationships with staff, and collaborative play with others in their class.

• Teachers and teaching assistants work together to ensure that the effective teaching of phonics helps to foster a love of reading, and underpins the good progress that pupils make. In 2016, the proportion of pupils at the end of Year 1 who achieved the expected standard in the phonics screening check was slightly above national averages. Nearly all pupils had achieved the standard by the end of Year 2.

• The numbers of pupils in each year group at Stadhampton are small. This means that there can be large statistical variations between different year groups. Therefore, caution is needed when making comparisons with national averages.

Historically, the proportions of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 2 were in line with national averages, as were the proportions of pupils working at greater depth. Although, currently, an impressive proportion of Year 2 pupils are making expected progress in mathematics, fewer are making such strong progress from their starting points in reading and writing. Leaders have implemented interventions to accelerate progress through bespoke support packages for individual pupils, and are aware that this work needs to continue.

• Published information indicates that key stage 2 pupils made progress in reading and writing in line with national averages over recent years but, historically, progress in mathematics has not been as strong for middle-attaining pupils. Leaders have addressed this well and this is no longer the case. Improved planning and assessment, together with coaching and training for staff, have resulted in more rapid progress and higher standards in mathematics across the school.

During our visits to lessons, and through our scrutiny of pupils' books, we saw pupils confidently exploring alternative methods of solving mathematical problems, and teachers making opportunities to promote pupils' thinking and problem-solving skills. ? While there have been improvements in mathematics this year, leaders are aware that more needs to be done to ensure that a greater proportion of the most able pupils achieve the highest standards in mathematics, reading and writing. ? Leaders have ensured that a broad curriculum is in place, with a wide variety of enrichment experiences.

Pupils enthused about the wealth of sporting and other clubs and activities such as: the residential trip to the Brecon Beacons; participation in the 'festival of voices' at Dorchester Abbey; art club; archery; swimming; drama; forest school activities; chess; and their links with international schools. However, pupils' books show that teachers' expectations are not as consistently high in science and the wider curriculum as they are in English and mathematics. Pupils, particularly the most able pupils, are not set sufficiently challenging tasks which require them to problem-solve and think as deeply in science and the humanities as they do in English and mathematics.

Consequently, although enrichment is impressive, pupils' progress is not yet as strong across the curriculum as it is in reading, writing and mathematics. ? In this small school staff know each pupil particularly well. Understanding their individual needs, staff ensure that learning is appropriately pitched.

Meticulous planning enables leaders to ensure that all available resources are deployed to support disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that these groups make strong progress over time. While a few parents expressed reservations, the large majority were particularly appreciative of the extra support given to their children. ? Pupils' behaviour in lessons, conduct around the school and their attendance levels continue to be exemplary.

They socialise well in mixed-age groups and older pupils take responsibility for younger ones. Pupils told me that they feel well cared for by staff, make good friends here and are proud of their school. Several ex-pupils revisit the school and contribute through activities such as painting the reading bus.

As one pupil told me, 'This school is like a big family.' Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? they continue to improve provision to ensure that the proportions of pupils achieving expected standards in reading and writing by the end of key stage 1 are in line with, or exceeding, national averages ? a higher proportion of the most able pupils are stretched to reach the highest standards in key stages 1 and 2 ? the quality of pupils' work and their depth of thinking in science and the wider curriculum is improved. Pupils should be given more challenging activities, requiring them to apply their writing and mathematical skills in a subject-specific context.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Oxfordshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Matthew Newberry Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you, other leaders, teachers, members of the governing body and had a telephone conversation with your school improvement partner.

During this inspection Year 5 and Year 6 pupils were on a residential trip. However, together we visited other classes and several small-group and one-to-one sessions run by teaching assistants, to look at teaching and learning. I looked at a wide range of pupils' work in their exercise books, including samples from Years 5 and 6.

I observed pupils' behaviour at lunchtime and around the school, and had a meeting with a small group of pupils. I took into account 13 responses to the staff survey and 52 responses to Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, as well as speaking to a number of parents at the beginning of the day. I evaluated a range of documents, including pupils' progress information and safeguarding policies, procedures and checks.

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