Prestwood Junior School met Ofsted's expected standard in five of six areas after a July inspection; attendance needs attention, behaviour does not.
Prestwood Junior School has been judged at Ofsted’s “Expected standard” in five of the six areas on its new report card, with safeguarding standards met. The one area marked “Needs attention” is attendance and behaviour, and the published report is clear that the grade is about pupils missing school, not about how they behave in it.
Inspectors visited the Clare Road school, part of Great Learners Trust, on 14 July. The trust sent us the result on 12 October.
The grades
The report card grades schools on a five-point scale: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention and Urgent improvement. Prestwood Junior was graded:
- Achievement: Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
- Inclusion: Expected standard
- Leadership and governance: Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing: Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour: Needs attention
- Safeguarding: standards met
“Expected standard” means a school is “fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care”, in the trust’s summary of Ofsted’s definition. On safeguarding, inspectors found an “open culture in which safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed”.
What inspectors said
The report’s opening description of pupils’ lives at the school is the passage the trust has chosen to lead with:
“Pupils are welcomed warmly into this caring, inclusive and nurturing school. They are proud to be part of a community where the values of ‘SPARK: support, pride, achieve, respect and kindness’ are evident in daily life. Relationships between pupils and staff are positive and respectful. Staff know pupils well and provide attentive care. As a result, pupils feel safe, valued and supported.”
Inspectors found that “pupils enjoy coming to school”, “settle quickly into routines and are ready to learn”, and that classrooms are “calm and purposeful places where pupils work hard”. The report says “the majority of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, achieve well by the end of key stage 2”, with results in reading, writing and mathematics that “broadly match national averages”.
On pupils with special educational needs, it says leaders “identify pupils’ needs promptly and ensure that support is put in place quickly”, and that support “is tailored effectively to individual needs and reviewed regularly”. It names the school’s “Hub” provision among the nurturing spaces that help pupils’ wellbeing.
Leaders are described as “approachable and accessible”, working “proactively to maintain positive relationships with parents and carers”. Of the trust, inspectors wrote that its leaders “carry out regular reviews, which give them a secure grasp of how well the school is performing”.
Beyond lessons, pupils take on roles as school ambassadors, house captains and eco representatives. The report lists choir, sporting competitions and drama productions, clubs including “Maths in Motion”, cricket, cookery and photography, and trips to museums, zoos and pantomimes.
The attendance grade
The report says attendance “is below national averages and not consistently improving over time”, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and disabilities, and that “too many pupils do not attend school as regularly as they should”.
It also credits leaders with “an appropriate strategy and clear processes to improve attendance”, close work with families and outside professionals, and adjustments for pupils who struggle to attend that are “beginning to have a positive impact for some pupils”.
Behaviour itself is praised in the same section. Pupils “display mature and respectful behaviour”, are “eager to learn and behave well”, bullying “is rare”, and “during social times, older pupils look out for their younger peers”. Inspectors found “an orderly and positive atmosphere” throughout the day.
What the school must do next
The report sets three next steps:
- refine attendance strategies for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and disabilities, to secure sustained improvement;
- make assessment in subjects beyond English and maths consistently effective, because “unidentified misconceptions and gaps in pupils’ knowledge” sometimes hold pupils back there;
- sustain the work on the accuracy of pupils’ writing, including spelling.
The school in numbers
According to the data inspectors used, the school had 176 pupils against a capacity of 240. Of those, 17.05% had been eligible for free school meals in the last six years (national average 26.3%), 5.11% had an education, health and care plan (national average 3.5%) and 18.75% received special educational needs support (national average 15%).
What the head says
Mike Smith, executive headteacher, said: “We are pleased that the inspectors saw the nurturing nature of Prestwood Junior School and recognised the clear vision and values that we work hard to live and breathe every day. Our SPARK values, Support, Pride, Achieve, Respect and Kindness, are about much more than words on a wall. The National Curriculum gives children the knowledge, skills and understanding they need, but we also want to develop the character, confidence and self-belief that will set them up for life. Our aim is to give every child secure social and emotional foundations from which academic success can grow.
“Our mission is ultimately about enabling children to dream big and removing the barriers that might otherwise limit their ambitions. We want them to leave Prestwood believing that they can become whatever they want to be. It is therefore particularly rewarding that Ofsted recognised not only that pupils achieve well, but that they feel safe, valued and supported, enjoy coming to school and benefit from such a wide range of experiences and opportunities.
“Most importantly, this report reflects a huge team effort. Our colleagues, leadership team, SENCO, governors, Great Learners Trust colleagues, families and, of course, our pupils have all played their part. I am immensely proud of them, and we will continue building on these foundations to ensure every child has the opportunity to thrive socially, emotionally and academically and develops the confidence to flourish in the world beyond Prestwood.”
Sarah Baber, chief executive of Great Learners Trust, said: “We are incredibly proud of staff, pupils and families at Prestwood Junior School. This report captures so much of what makes the school special: a caring and nurturing culture, ambitious expectations for children, strong relationships and a commitment to ensuring that every pupil feels valued and supported.
“It is particularly pleasing to see inspectors recognise the strength of the school’s inclusive approach and the way staff identify and respond to individual needs. The report also reflects the close partnership between the school and Great Learners Trust, and the purposeful work that has taken place to strengthen teaching and continue driving improvement.
“Prestwood has strong foundations from which to continue developing, and everyone involved should be extremely proud of what this Ofsted report says about the education and experience children receive.”
What it means for you
If you are choosing a junior school around Prestwood and Great Missenden, the full report is eight pages and worth reading in full: it gives the detail behind each grade, including where inspectors want improvement in writing, spelling and assessment outside English and maths. Parents of current pupils will hear most about attendance, the one area the school has been told to fix.
Great Learners Trust also runs Wooburn Green Primary, which was named an Enhancement school in Buckinghamshire Council’s Side by Side programme this month.
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