Wychwood Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school community provides a close and caring ethos in which everyone is welcomed.

New pupils settle in quickly. Pupils are enthusiastic about all the school has to offer, including educational visits, residential trips and a wide range of clubs including sports, music and languages.

The school has high expectations that every pupil 'shines as a light'.

The school enables pupils to achieve well across a broad range of subjects. It ensures that all pupils have opportunities and gain interests in which they excel. Weekly assemblies celebrate the achievements of pupil heroes and stars across all aspects of life in the school.

Pupils benefit from taki...ng on responsibilities. Older pupils expressed the importance of being role models for those in younger years and looking after the school environment. Members of the pupil eco council raise awareness about recycling.

Reflective-area monitors help to maintain spaces around the school dedicated to helping pupils to feel calm and peaceful.

Pupils play together and socialise excitedly at breaktimes. They understand the importance of being kind and considerate.

The school's approach 'to use a friendly voice, then firm voice and finally find an adult' works well if ever any issues need to be resolved. Pupils are safe in school.

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

The school provides a well-organised curriculum, setting out clearly the key content they expect pupils to learn and the sequence in which it is taught.

Pupils revisit and build on their learning over time from the early years onwards. Teachers' strong subject knowledge enables pupils to gain secure understanding of more complex ideas. Pupils gain insight into what it means to be experts, for example in history or science.

In the early years, adults' carefully chosen resources and skilful explanations enabled children to rapidly grasp understanding of number. However, in a few subjects, the identification of specific knowledge and skills the school intends pupils to learn lacks precision. This means that occasionally pupils' learning does not build up to deeper concepts as quickly as it could.

The school has a well-established programme for the teaching of early reading. Leaders ensure that all staff are trained in the expected approaches. This ensures there is consistently strong practice in the teaching of phonics.

Staff regularly check how well pupils are learning. The school provides pupils with support that targets the specific aspects of phonics they need to improve. This helps pupils to become confident and fluent readers.

Staff promote pupils' vocabulary from the earliest opportunity. Children in the early years rise to the challenge of learning two new words from their story books each week. Across all subjects, pupils become familiar with technical terminology.

For example, pupils described how they had developed their shading, cross-hatching and stippling to improve their drawing in art lessons.Staff are wholeheartedly positive about their work at the school. They feel well-supported by leaders, valuing their training and professional development.

The school proactively supports staff well-being and helps them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Staff appreciate how workload is considered, including when making changes to policy and expected practice.

The school has strong systems for the recording of attendance and the identification of any patterns and concerns.

The school follows up absences swiftly. Leaders work closely with pupils and their families to help overcome barriers to their engagement with school.

The school promotes positive attitudes to learning from the earliest opportunity.

In the early years, children keenly explore the well-resourced indoor and outdoor areas, promoting their physical development as well as their social and emotional skills. Pupils respond positively to established routines in lessons, for example to discuss and collaborate, supporting each other's learning. They respond promptly if reminders are ever needed to refocus.

The school runs special events and works with outside organisations, including the police and the fire service, to help pupils recognise risks to their safety. Children in the early years know who to speak to if they ever feel unsafe. Older pupils are well prepared for growing independence and the next stages of their education.

Pupils demonstrate respect for each other and an awareness of differences between people, including those with faiths and cultures other than their own. Leaders continue to further broaden pupils' outlook beyond the school and local community.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a very few subjects, the specific content the school intends pupils to learn lacks precision. Pupils' learning does not build up to more complex ideas. The school should ensure that the school's revised curriculum is rapidly established, identifying the key knowledge and skills pupils learn and apply to deeper concepts.