Wooburn Green Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

There is a close-knit community at Wooburn Green. Every child is known.

Adults do their best in 'growing learners for the future'. Pupils are happy to come to school. They feel safe in the friendly atmosphere that leaders cultivate.

Leaders ensure that pupils are kept busy and interested. Pupils adore the 'forest school', especially after the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. They get to work as a team, cook on a campfire and build dens.

Furthermore, leaders promise pupils a 'bucket list' of 15 memorable opportunities. This includes everything from performing circus skills and watching a live orchestra to being by the seaside. Some pupils may not have experienc...ed these before.

Bullying does not worry pupils. They feel protected and know they can call on an adult to help. Calmness flows in classrooms, and pupils work hard.

From the beginning of Nursery, children learn how to behave the right way. The school's six core values underpin this successfully.

Teachers aim high for all pupils.

The curriculum is broad, with the right emphasis on the core skills of literacy and mathematics. Coming out of the pandemic, there is some work to do to ensure that pupils learn the right knowledge in every subject.

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

Everyone is proud of what has been achieved since the school opened within Great Learners Trust.

The trust has supported senior leaders to create an ambitious curriculum and has well-trained teachers to put this into practice. The headteacher leads her team with passion and sheer determination. Staff and parents are complimentary about the Wooburn Green experience.

Trustees hold governors and school leaders rigorously to account. The chief executive is very astute and ensures the right checks and balances happen. The trust board are kept abreast of all improvements.

The core subjects are where leaders have devoted their time first. They set high expectations that all pupils will leave school literate and numerate. Knowledge is precisely identified across reading and mathematics and is planned in a logical sequence.

Each year group's content builds well on the knowledge that comes before.

A new systematic programme to teach children to read has started promisingly. Training is sacrosanct, and staff revisit the online tutorials regularly.

Adults use resources and strategies consistently. They follow the plans exactly. This ensures pupils get as much practise as possible in reading and spelling.

The daily, one-to-one, 'keep up' sessions are making a difference. This is because staff prioritise pupils' fluency.

Whole class reading of high-quality books is embedded across all year groups.

Pupils engage well with the content. Once a child can read fluently, they are lucky to access the school's vast library. But teachers are not making best use of this resource.

Instead, there is an overreliance on pupils reading 'levelled' books all the way up to Year 6. This is not helping pupils to read complete novels and access a rich body of literature.

Beyond the core subjects, the curriculum does not set out all the knowledge that pupils need.

Leaders have not got quite as far as they would have liked because of the challenges of the pandemic. This means that teachers are sometimes unsure of the right order to teach this knowledge. Not all subject leaders are clear about curriculum thinking in early years.

They are not precise enough about the knowledge that children need to be ready for key stage 1 subjects.

There can be a tendency from some teachers to focus on the fun that pupils have. For example, in early years, adults are sometimes thinking about the activities children will do instead of the knowledge that needs to be taught.

Across year groups, teachers are not always clear about the right sequence to teach a unit of work. Consequently, pupils are not developing enough detailed knowledge in every subject.

Teachers help pupils learn well.

Where needed, they break down new learning into smaller parts. Teachers pick up quickly on pupils' misconceptions in lessons and go over the planned learning again where necessary. They assess well through insightful questions and regularly activate pupils' recall of information.

Adult and child interactions in early years promote children's vocabulary strongly.

Leaders have effective systems to identify pupils who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They work collaboratively with parents and other professionals to secure help.

The school timetable includes daily bespoke sessions for some pupils with SEND. For example, adults might revisit key learning from a lesson to secure pupils' understanding.

Pupils show respect and tolerance to each other.

They recognise how to be a good friend. They know no one should be treated differently because of their skin colour or where they come from.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Pupils can readily call upon the three 'safety guardians' if they have a concern. Well-trained adults continually monitor how pupils are. Leaders make sure that all staff undertake timely training.

Where appropriate, leaders refer without fail to statutory services. They always put the child first. Other professionals are involved where necessary.

Leaders communicate proactively and keep everyone in the loop, although at times, written records are not as sharp as they could be.

Leaders recognise that since the pandemic, pupils are increasingly online. The curriculum educates pupils well about the dangers they could face.

Pupils' mental health is a top priority.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have not yet identified the precise component knowledge pupils should learn in some subjects. Furthermore, not all subject leaders are clear about how knowledge builds cumulatively from early years into key stage 1.

However, leaders are well on their way to constructing a curriculum that outlines all that pupils need to know from Nursery to Year 6. They are also supporting subject leaders' curriculum thinking. For this reason, the transition arrangements have been applied.

• Teachers do not always set work that will enable pupils to develop knowledge. Activity choices can be focused on enjoyment rather than what pupils must learn. Leaders need to develop staff's teaching content knowledge so they can effectively deliver what the curriculum outlines.

• Older pupils do not necessarily access a broad enough range of books. This is limiting their wider knowledge and vocabulary. Leaders need to check that once pupils are reading fluently, they have ample opportunities to access high-quality literature.