Ofsted Inspection July 2024
“Pupils are happy at this welcoming school, where differences between people are valued and nurtured”
The most recent Botley School Ofsted Inspection took place in July 2024. The final report can be viewed in full in the PDF below. The inspection highlighted many positives including an “Outstanding” judgement for Personal Development and Well-being. We were incredibly proud to have this recognised as a community.
“The school goes the extra mile to ensure all pupils can access and benefit from various opportunities to develop different talents and interests.”
The school was judged to be good in all other areas other than the quality of education, which they found to require improvement. The Ofsted team had to base their findings on 2023 data where phonics and mathematics were below national. Whilst they saw some exceptional teaching of phonics and good teaching in other areas during the visit, they felt these were not yet consistent enough across the whole school and therefore required more development. We are pleased, however, that they saw the rapid improvement that has already taken place.
“This is a rapidly improving school. Recent work to improve the curriculum, supported by the trust, is having a positive impact.”
The areas for improvement flagged by the report had already been identified by the Leadership team and action to develop these was already in place at the time of inspection. The school is continuing the work on developing these areas to ensure the rapid progress it has been making, and the improvement in outcomes that have already been seen in the 2024 data, will continue to grow in 2025 and beyond.
The inspection highlighted many other areas in which the school is doing exceptionally well. Please see the quotes below from the report:
“This school is well led. Decisive leadership within the school and unwavering support from the trust have brought stability”
“Positive relationships between pupils and staff are very important here. Staff often go to great lengths to support pupils and their families. Pupils speak highly of the adults and show great respect towards them.”
“The school’s values of inclusivity, teamwork, kindness, respect, resilience, and creativity run through everything it does.”
“Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported.”
“A well-thought-out curriculum is in place. This is ambitious and sets out the essential knowledge pupils should learn from early years to the end of key stage 2.”
“Pupil leadership opportunities allow them to develop important life skills and enable them to contribute actively to their schooling.”
“In the early years, the curriculum is ambitious and well sequenced, to ensure children’s knowledge builds from Nursery and into Reception.”
“The environment is rich with opportunities for children to deepen their understanding of the curriculum.”
“Staff feel valued and supported in their roles”
There are so many things in the report to be proud of as can be seen in the quotes above and whilst the school is disappointed with the final judgment, it does give two very clear areas of development to focus on over the next two years. These are ensuring all staff are delivering phonics teaching consistently and that we are picking up students’ misconceptions quickly.
Highlights from the Parent View Survey data include the following:
97% of parents felt their child was happy in the school
100% of parents with SEND felt the school gives their child the support they need
Over 90% of parents felt that the personal development and wellbeing and the access to clubs and activities was excellent
86% of parents recommended the school
Ofsted Parent View
Parents can leave a review of the school by completing an Ofsted Parent View questionnaire using the following link: Give your views | Ofsted Parent View
Botley School Performance Data 2024
Department for Education Assessment Data
As Botley School converted to become an academy in 2020 and statutory assessment information was suspended during the pandemic, there is no published primary test or assessment data for 2020, 2021 or 2022. You can view the final 2019 data using the link below, however this data may no longer reflect a school's current performance.
Data for 2023 has yet to be verified and published by the DfE