OFSTED

A Statement on OFSTED from our Head, Martin Lambert and Chair of Governors, Nick Slater.

Wallop Primary School was most recently inspected on Thursday 4 July 2023. The inspection happened on a day in the school calendar where all of years 4, 5 and 6 were out on a school educational trip. This left us with only half of the pupils in school and only pupils in from years R, 1, 2 and 3. Unfortunately, inspections are designed to be conducted with the minimum of notice for the school and therefore we were not able to change the pre-arranged school trip with less than a day’s notice. 

The OFSTED report highlights many positive aspects of school life at Wallop Primary School. It does only ever provide a snapshot of a school and in our case, this is a snapshot of half of our school. Based on the OFSTED feedback we have created an action plan based on the areas which were highlighted as areas for improvement, in the opinion of OFSTED inspectors. Our action plan is well underway and as well as building on the focus areas, we are maintaining the great work in the areas of strength that make our school a special place and a close community. Our whole team is committed to ensuring that Wallop Primary School provides the very best start to life and remains a community of safe, happy, children. You can view our action plan and the progress made against it below.

The following strengths at Wallop Primary School were identified by the inspectors:

·       School values are reflected in good behaviour and rare incidents of bullying.

·       Armed forces families and pupils feel welcome, and their pastoral needs are met well.

·       Pupils enjoy the school and its grounds and feel secure and safe at school.

·       In mathematics pupils concentrate well and master new learning through practice with a precise structure of the skills and knowledge that the pupils need to learn.

·       All subjects in the curriculum have the main concepts defined that pupils must learn to meet expectations of the National Curriculum (all available on our website).

·       Teachers quickly identify pupils who, may have SEND and plan interventions to meet their needs.

·       The personal development of pupils is developed well with their interests and confidence developed through school clubs, trips, visitors, STEM day, staying safe on the internet, democracy, and diversity and equality.

·       Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

The inspectors identified the following areas for improvement at our school:

·       The curriculum development is ongoing and needs further work in some subject areas (e.g. Art) to ensure that pupils gain the expected skills and knowledge.

·       The progress in the curriculum development process may be preventing SEND pupils from making expected progress.

·       More emphasis on the development of reading is required, linked to the implementation of a structured phonics programme. More training for staff and investment in additional books are required.

·       Governors need to improve their understanding of the impact of the curriculum particularly in relation to the most vulnerable pupils.

Our Action Plan:

[more details on the action plan with progress updates to be written and added below]

·       Improve teaching in reading. From September 2023 we will introduce a new reading and phonics structure and invest in more books that are directly related to the selected phonics system. 

·       We have linked up with a national scheme for reading under the “English Hubs” scheme. 

·       Training for staff on the new reading system is a key focus and has already started. We have chosen the new phonics system that will be used and have already had a visit from the regional English lead.

·       Curriculum development is already embedded, as noted by the inspectors, and will continue with appropriate staff training provided to ensure consistency across all subjects.

·       A review of pupil assessment will be undertaken to improve its effectiveness and address any gaps, particularly in relation to SEND pupils.

We are happy to answer any questions from current and prospective parents regarding any of the feedback and points raised in the most recent OFSTED inspection.

Value Added Measures

How well do our children achieve? How does Ofsted judge us?

At Wallop Primary School, we aspire for all our children to achieve their full potential through providing them with a safe and supportive environment in which to learn. Through the provision of excellent teaching and learning in every classroom, across all areas of the curriculum, our children become independent, resilient learners, who, as well as being literate and numerate, have a solid educational foundation across all areas of the curriculum. Our children are well prepared for the next stage of their education, taking with them memories of a happy, inclusive school.

In order that our children get the best out of the education we provide, we carefully monitor the progress our children make, and how they are achieving against their peers at both borough and national level.

Pupil achievement (the standards that pupils have reached together with their progress) is judged in two ways:

•  Attainment – this refers to the standards, or levels, that the children reach. Currently, this is done by assessing the work of children at school against national expected levels (see download to the left of this page for an explanation of 'levels' and national assessment). By the end of year 6 (the end of Key Stage 2) the national expectation is for children to be a level 4.
•  Progress – this refers to how well pupils have progressed in their learning (i.e. added to their knowledge) from their starting point.

Our Ofsted Inspections

As a maintained school, we are subject to inspections by Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills). The aim of these inspections is to 'judge the quality of education provided in the school' (Ofsted Inspection Handbook, September 2013). In order to make this judgement, inspectors look at four key areas (reference as previous):

• the achievement of pupils at the school
• the quality of teaching in the school
• the behaviour and safety of pupils at the school
• the quality of leadership in, and management of the school

Progress through KS2 (i.e. from the end of year 2 to the end of year 6)

The Government looks carefully at the progress that children have made through KS2 - i.e. from where they are in year 2, how much more do they learn by the time they are ready to leave primary school at the end of year 6.

This measure of progress is called the Value Added Measure, and is based on progress in Reading, Writing and Maths. The individual pupil scores are averaged to produce the school level VA measure. This number is presented as a number based around 100, which indicates the value the school has added on average for their pupils. Measures above 100 represent schools where pupils on average made more progress than similar pupils nationally, while measures below 100 represent schools where pupils made less progress.