St Andrew's Church of England Primary School
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have rapidly and accurately identified your school’s key areas for improvement. The role of middle leaders has been developed significantly since your appointment, with clear responsibilities now allocated to them. As a result, leaders work effectively within their areas of responsibility to drive improvement. You and your leadership team demonstrate great ambition for every pupil at the school and you rightly provide a broad and stimulating curriculum for your pupils. As a result, your leadership was praised highly by members of the school community and the Diocese of Oxford’s representative. The school is a warm and inclusive community where every individual is valued. Pupils are polite and courteous and they interact well with each other and with adults. Relationships between pupils and the adults who teach them are consistently positive. Teachers set high expectations for all pupils, and learning is well supported by additional staff. You provide a rich range of activities and you ensure that all pupils have equal access to the opportunities on offer. Parents hold the school in high esteem, with one parent saying, ‘I feel very fortunate that my child can go to such a lovely, warm, friendly and good school.’ Teaching is of high quality across the school. Pupils are taught to take responsibility for their own learning and behaviour. As a result, they develop the ability to reflect on their learning and are able to improve their work. Pupils demonstrate consistently positive attitudes, so classrooms are settled and productive environments where pupils focus well on their work. Pupils speak highly of ‘fix it Fridays’ when they are encouraged to reflect on any poor behaviour and its impact on others. Pupils play and socialise well at breaktimes. They enjoy coming to school, and they value the broad range of experiences which the school provides. At the time of the last inspection, leaders were asked to ensure that teaching provided sufficient challenge to pupils. Teachers and teaching assistants use questioning effectively to challenge pupils’ thinking and develop pupils’ deeper understanding. Teachers plan tasks which meet the differing needs of pupils so that most pupils make good progress over time. In addition, Leaders were also asked to ensure greater consistency in the teaching of mathematics. You accurately identified areas of weakness in the teaching of mathematics and acted swiftly to address them effectively. Many pupils describe mathematics as their favourite subject, saying that work set is challenging and well matched to their abilities. You promptly made helpful changes to the school’s mathematics curriculum and you have ensured that teachers take a consistent and structured approach to the teaching of mathematics within the school. As a result, the majority of pupils achieve the standards expected for their age in mathematics. Leaders were also asked to ensure that pupils’ progress was monitored more thoroughly. Attainment of pupils is monitored frequently and accurately. As a result, those who need additional help are rapidly identified and provided with support appropriate to their needs. At the end of key stage 1 in 2016, too many pupils did not achieve a sufficiently high standard in writing. You correctly identified this as an area for improvement, and leaders have taken swift and determined action to improve the teaching of writing across the school. High-quality written work is displayed in the school, and younger pupils speak excitedly about achieving their ‘pen licence’. Pupils in Year 1 were observed producing well-developed writing about ‘The three little pigs’, while children in the early years developed understanding of the same story using models and play. Although leaders have taken effective action to improve the quality of teaching, they do not always analyse the impact of individual actions sharply. During the previous academic year, the rate of attendance for some disadvantaged pupils and some pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities was a concern. You understand individual pupils’ circumstances accurately and you have taken effective action to improve the rate of attendance for some pupils. One pupil said enthusiastically, ‘breakfast club stops me being late to school’. However, there is still more work to be done before all pupils attend regularly. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Leaders responsible for safeguarding demonstrate rigour and attention to detail in their work. Records are of high quality, and leaders demonstrate clear understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils. Staff know how to identify and report concerns, and leaders work swiftly and effectively with other agencies to ensure the safety of pupils. The school is a community where tolerance and respect are promoted consistently. Pupils say that teaching of the school’s core ethos, ‘everyone is different, everyone is special’, leads them to value others, so incidents of bullying and discrimination are extremely rare. As a result, pupils feel safe and happy in school. They are taught how to keep themselves safe, including how to keep safe online. Leaders have ensured that internet access is filtered appropriately. Inspection findings I looked at how effectively leaders are improving the quality of teaching, particularly the teaching of writing in key stage 1. You accurately identified the teaching of writing as a priority for development in all key stages. You have provided effective training for staff to improve the teaching of writing, and leaders have monitored the implementation of new policies well. As a result, writing is taught well across the school, including in key stage 1. In the past, boys have not achieved as well as girls in key stage 1. Leaders have made appropriate changes to the curriculum to ensure that work is appealing to more boys. As a result, the majority of pupils, including boys, are making rapid progress. To improve the quality of teaching further, leaders need to evaluate more sharply the impact of the actions they have taken. You have rightly broadened and strengthened your leadership team. You use delegation of responsibility within your leadership team effectively. As a result, leaders accurately identify the most important development areas for the school and they provide appropriate training for staff. Leaders and teachers work well together to monitor the attainment of pupils accurately and to share best practice. You have worked closely with the Diocese of Oxford to ensure that leaders are well trained to carry out their roles. As a result, leaders improve the quality of teaching within the school effectively, although they need to evaluate their actions more rigorously. I considered how effectively leaders ensure that teaching meets the needs of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. You have accurately identified that, in the past, some of these pupils have not made as much progress as their peers. You have ensured that teachers’ planning more frequently considers the needs of these pupils. Consequently, teachers assess the understanding of pupils with particular needs accurately during lessons and adapt teaching where necessary to meet pupils’ needs well. Teaching assistants and other adults work effectively to support pupils who need additional help, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. You place a firm emphasis on equality and you ensure that all disadvantaged pupils are able to access the wider curriculum provided by the school. You are aspirational for your most-able disadvantaged pupils and you ensure that they have access to additional opportunities. You use the pupil premium effectively to ensure that disadvantaged pupils are well supported. Many disadvantaged pupils are making good progress. I explored how effectively leaders are improving the rate of attendance of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. I also looked at how effectively leaders have maintained high standards of behaviour. You accurately identify individual pupils with low rates of attendance. You have a clear understanding of their barriers to attending school regularly and you work well with external agencies to support these pupils and their families. You make effective use of pupil premium funding to support this work. You safeguard pupils well by ensuring that absences are investigated swiftly. Due to your regular contact with parents and carers of absent pupils, the number of pupils persistently absent has reduced and attendance of some pupils is improving. There is still work to be done to ensure that more pupils attend regularly. Pupils behave well. They are taught well to take responsibility for their own actions and they understand the effects of poor behaviour on others. Teachers consistently reinforce high standards, and pupils show a strong desire to learn well in lessons. As a result, instances of poor behaviour are rare and pupils say that when poor behaviour does occur it is dealt with swiftly and effectively. I considered how effectively leaders ensure consistency and continuity of provision between the early years and key stage 1. You ensure that effective leadership in the early years and Year 1 provides an accurate understanding of pupils’ needs and attainment as they proceed through these two years. As pupils approach the end of the early years, you provide helpful opportunities for them to visit the main school site and become integrated within the wider school community. You and other members of your leadership team regularly visit the early years site to monitor the quality of provision, giving you a clear understanding of its effectiveness. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: the rate of attendance for disadvantaged pupils and those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities continues to improve the impact of leaders’ actions to improve teaching is evaluated rigorously so that next steps are identified more incisively. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Oxford, the regional schools commissioner, and the director of children’s services for Oxfordshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Chris Corr Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, inspectors checked safeguarding arrangements, including the records of recruitment checks, policies and procedures. Inspectors reviewed a range of published information, including the school’s website, and reviewed leaders’ evaluation of the school’s effectiveness and development plan. Inspectors visited classes in all key stages, some with the headteacher, where we observed learning and looked at pupils’ work. Inspectors visited the school’s early years provision at Headington Quarry Foundation Stage School. Inspectors met with school leaders to discuss achievement of current pupils, the performance management of staff and school effectiveness. Inspectors observed pupils during breaktime and spoke with a group of teachers, a group of pupils and parents at the start of the school day. I met with members of the governing body, spoke to a representative of the local authority and a representative of the Diocese of Oxford. Inspectors reviewed records of behaviour and leadership meetings. I considered 91 responses to Ofsted’s Parent View online questionnaire, 60 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey and 23 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.