Woodcot Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher has led the school with drive and determination since the previous inspection.

Pupils, parents and staff recognise the many improvements. Pupils enjoy coming to this friendly school and are proud to belong to it. Through their school council, pupils helped to develop the vision 'happy children – high standards'.

Standards are rising in reading, writing and mathematics because teaching is increasingly well matched to pupils' needs. Progress is particularly noticeable in mathematics, where outcomes were previously less strong. Children in the Reception class make good progress as a result of exciting and carefully planned le...arning experiences.

Children enjoy applying skills through play and discovery in their well-resourced classroom and outside environment. The school takes its safeguarding responsibilities seriously and pupils say that they feel safe because adults listen and respond quickly to any problems. Leaders are ambitious to improve pupils' achievement and they rigorously monitor progress.

Support is carefully planned to meet the needs of each pupil. Support is proving to be particularly effective for the most able disadvantaged pupils. A small minority of parents expressed some concerns to inspectors about behaviour.

Inspectors checked carefully but found no evidence that pupils share these concerns. Teaching is typically good and, in the strongest practice, teachers match learning to meet the needs of pupils with different abilities and starting points. However, on occasions, teaching is not sufficiently well matched to meet pupils' needs.

Some of the middle leaders are new to their role this academic year. They are knowledgeable and enthusiastic but do not yet fully contribute to whole-school improvement in teaching and learning. Governors have a visible presence in the school and understand its operation.

As yet, they have not made full use of this knowledge to be more strategic in their role.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than most other primary schools, with one class in each year group. The early years provision consists of a full-time Reception class.

Since the previous inspection, a new chair of governors has been appointed. There are a number of vacancies on the governing body. There have been a number of staff changes that have created some turbulence for the school.

The vast majority of pupils who attend the school are White British. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is similar to that found in primary schools nationally. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is higher than that found in most primary schools.

The school provides a breakfast club that is run by the governing body. The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. In 2016, the school met the government floor standards that set out the minimum expectations for primary schools.