Hawridge and Cholesbury Church of England School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 8 October 2024

The school aspires for pupils to flourish and achieve their best. However, this ambition is not yet being fully realised. There is more work to do to ensure that the curriculum and teaching enable all pupils to achieve well. The school's values are the foundation of its ethos. Values such as respect, understanding and teamwork create a positive culture and sense of belonging. Pupils demonstrate these values in their good behaviour. They learn and play happily together. Pupils rightly feel cared for well by staff. Strong pastoral support means that there is always an adult on hand if pupils are worried or upset. Through activities such as forest school, pupils benefit from rich opportunities to learn about the environment and develop their social and physical skills. Clubs, visits and special events enrich considerably pupils' experiences and enjoyment of school. Older pupils are enthused about their forthcoming residential visit. Pupils learn to care for and support others, for example, by being 'buddies' to younger pupils and organising fundraising events. Special occasions, such as the harvest festival, help pupils to reflect on those in the community who are less fortunate. Pupils benefit from meaningful leadership experiences. These include opportunities to be a prefect and to serve on the school council.

What the school should improve

• The school's support for pupils in key stages 1 and 2, who are still at an early stage of learning to read, is not as effective as it needs to be. As a result, the weakest readers are at risk of falling further behind. The school needs to ensure that staff are clear about the intended milestones the school wishes pupils to achieve, term by term, and that they utilise their early reading training effectively to support pupils.
• The school has not ensured that there is a sharp enough focus on important aspects of pupils' writing, including spelling, punctuation and handwriting. Weaknesses and gaps in pupils' knowledge are not systematically addressed. As a result, this hampers the quality of pupils' writing, particularly in key stage 1 and lower key stage 2. The school needs to strengthen the curriculum and teaching approaches to writing.
• In some wider curriculum subjects, teaching is not consistently adapted well to take account of pupils' needs. This includes pupils with SEND and other pupils who find reading and writing challenging. Sometimes, pupils struggle to get started or complete their learning tasks successfully. The school should widen its approaches to helping pupils with weak literacy skills to ensure success for all pupils across the breadth of the curriculum.

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