West Winch Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

West Winch Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

At West Winch, pupils are kind, caring and friendly. They are proud of their school. Pupils are encouraged to try their best.

They live up to the high expectations staff have for them in their learning and in the way they behave. By the end of Year 6, pupils leave school confident and ready for their future lives, with good knowledge in most of the subjects they study.

Pupils behave well.

No time is lost in lessons due to interruptions caused by poor behaviour. All pupils show respect for their peers and staff. Pupils know that bullying is unkind.

They say that... it rarely happens. If it does, pupils know support is available. Pupils know they can talk to adults in school and they are confident adults will support them.

Pupils are taught how to make safe choices. This includes within lessons on knowing how to use the internet safely.

Pupils take part in a range of creative and sports activities.

These include the netball club and learning to play a musical instrument. Pupils like the expert sports coaching they receive. They enjoy the trips to local places of interest that bring learning to life for them.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The curriculum is broad and ambitious. Leaders plan the curriculum so that pupils develop and gain strong knowledge in most subjects they study. Leaders have designed a curriculum that is interesting and relevant.

This helps pupils to access and engage with the work they are given. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders are ensuring pupils with SEND get high quality support to access the full curriculum.

Leaders have adopted and created schemes of work. Most of this details what content teachers need to teach and when. This is typically followed well.

Whenever it is needed, staff get relevant support to help them in their roles. Leaders make sure that all staff are clear about what pupils need to know in most areas of the curriculum. Teachers explain new ideas well and break down new learning into small chunks.

They check that pupils understand important knowledge and the new vocabulary they are introduced to. When pupils are ready, they then move on to more complex knowledge that encourages them to use what they have learned. In a few subjects, leaders' curriculum thinking is not as developed.

In these cases, leaders are not as clear about what pupils need to learn and remember over time. In these areas of the curriculum, pupils find it harder to build up secure knowledge.

The teaching of reading is a strength.

Staff teach reading well and tailor lessons to pupils' needs. Those at an early stage of reading fluency gain the knowledge and skills required to be successful. The school has a rich stock of books to support pupils' reading.

This means that pupils can practise at home the skills they learn in school. Teachers use quality texts and real-life experiences to bring reading to life. For example, the Year 1 class received a visit from some owls as part of their 'Owl Babies' book work.

Where pupils have fallen behind with their reading, leaders take effective steps to provide additional support. This effectively helps them catch up quickly.

In early years, the curriculum is well considered to ensure that children develop the skills and learn the knowledge they need for the next stages of their education.

The early reading curriculum supports children in early years to learn to read well. Additionally, teachers support parents to help their children with reading. This contributes towards children settling in quickly and being able to access the curriculum in Year 1.

Consequently, children make a good start to their education at West Winch Primary School.

Pupils behave well in lessons. They always want to work hard and show teachers their best efforts.

Even the youngest children at the school engage well with the wider community and were thrilled to interrogate a local police officer about their work in the community.

Leaders are effective at promoting pupils' wider development. They plan a diet of relevant personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) lessons that are regular and age appropriate.

This is demonstrated, for example, in the early years where children take part in a range of activities that help them develop their social skills. This sets the expectations which are then lived out as pupils move throughout the school.

The governing body both supports and challenges school leaders to improve the school.

Leaders make effective use of advice and support from the local authority. Staff report that leaders have taken steps to make sure that workload is manageable.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. This underpins leaders' and governors' intentions that pupils should be safe and happy.Leaders collaborate with parents and external agencies to protect pupils at risk of harm.

Staff know the potential risks that pupils may face and report all concerns. Leaders follow up these up quickly.

Pupils of all ages learn how to recognise unsafe situations.

They learn how to protect themselves by making considered choices by speaking up if they see something that worries them.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few subjects, leaders have not fully clarified their expectations for the specific knowledge that should be prioritised and remembered by pupils. This means that sometimes, the curriculum in these subjects is not helping pupils to secure important knowledge, step by step.

Leaders should complete the work started to ensure that the essential knowledge that pupils need to know and apply is explicitly clear. This will support teachers to build fluency in pupils' recall of what they know and check that it is secured in their memories.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually, this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour, or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in October 2017.