Bloxham Church of England Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 1 July 2025

Pupils love coming to school. Staff know each pupil well. This helps pupils to feel safe, cared for and ready to learn. Pupils live out the school's values of 'inclusive, caring, ambitious, trustworthy, creative and honest'. These values are central to how pupils interact with each other and how they feel about themselves. Pupils are highly respectful of each other. They consider the feelings of others and take pride in helping younger children to play. The school is determined for pupils to achieve well. Children in Reception Year benefit from expert support to develop strong vocabulary and early number skills. In the rest of the school, pupils do not learn as well as they should. They are not consistently taught to use and to remember key knowledge over time. Pupils benefit from an extensive range of opportunities to understand the world around them and the local area. They learn how they can make a difference in the school as members of the 'Pupil Parliament', librarians and many other leadership roles. Pupils are proud to help the wider community, such as by raising money for local charities and visiting a local care home. They develop into mature and respectful young people.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, the school has not sufficiently identified the specific knowledge that pupils need to learn. This means that the new knowledge that pupils are taught is not consistently connected to what pupils already know. The school should ensure that it finalises its curriculum to identify specifically what pupils should learn, and when, so that pupils can remember more and achieve more highly.
• Sometimes, activity choices are not designed to focus on the knowledge that pupils need to know or practise using. At times, these activities are also not appropriately adapted to remove barriers to learning for pupils with SEND. This means that some pupils do not build their knowledge or understanding as well as they should. The school should ensure that staff design and adapt activities appropriately, so that these consistently support pupils, including those with SEND, to develop knowledge securely.
• In several subjects, assessment is not sufficiently developed. This means that staff do not consistently check what pupils have learned and can remember. Pupils' gaps in knowledge or misconceptions are, therefore, not identified and addressed quickly or systematically enough. The school should ensure that there are clear systems in place for staff to check pupils' knowledge and then adapt learning so that pupils achieve well.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)