Ofsted say that Fielding continues to be an ‘outstanding’ school, #StillOutstandingFielding

 

Back-to-back Ofsted outstanding judgements in February 2017 and now March 2023 show that the main school, Nursery and ARP give around 1,000 pupils every year the best possible start to learning and readiness for their next school. 

 

Fielding is the first primary school in Ealing to achieve an outstanding judgement under the current inspection framework, introduced in September 2019. Education commentators generally consider this framework to have the highest expectations on schools yet with an ‘outstanding’ judgement reflecting an ‘exceptional’ quality of education.  

 

The latest information from Ofsted for all primary schools inspected between September 2022 and March 2023 shows: 

• 5% are rated outstanding, 

• of the 55 previously outstanding primary schools, 40% kept their outstanding grade.  

 

The Governing Board, school leaders and staff are delighted that Ofsted continues to recognise the exceptional quality of our work across the school to provide the very best outcomes and start in life for our pupils. 

 

Our inspection was thorough, rigorous, and fair. Leaders and other staff felt listened to, had the quality of our work validated, and were energised from their work with Ofsted's inspectors.  

 

Ofsted's report highlights: 

• happy, safe and very well-behaved pupils who understand and respect diversity and differences; 

• an ambitious, rich curriculum for all pupils from Nursery to year 6, including those with special educational needs; 

• excellent professional development for staff resulting in the highest quality teaching; 

• exceptional teaching of phonics leading to older pupils loving reading; 

• wide-ranging and exciting opportunities for pupils to learn and develop personally; 

• rigorous culture of safeguarding and working with other agencies; 

• how our core values of respect, resilience, reflection and empathy underpin everything we do. 

 

His Majesty’s Inspector, Phil Garnham, led the inspection. He was joined by Ofsted Inspector, Jeff Coles for the first day. Ofsted’s ‘deep-dive’ approach uses sampling to draw overall conclusions. The inspectors completed deep-dives in early reading (including phonics), mathematics, music and history. They talked to senior leaders and subject leaders, scrutinised documents, visited lessons and talked to teachers, talked to pupils and looked in their books. The whole school from Nursery to year 6, including the ARP was included. A focus on pupils with special educational needs was weaved through all inspection activities. Pupils’ behaviour, the school’s approach to anti-bullying, safeguarding, wider pupil’s development and staff workload & well-being were also inspected. Discussions with governors, a wider group of staff and more pupils followed, including talking to pupils, informally at breaktime. Views of parents were collected and compared to in-school findings. 

 

For us, an outstanding judgement does not mean perfect. There is more that we want to do. Governors and school leaders have no hint of complacency. Our strength is continuing to evaluate the impact of our work and adjusting to give our pupils the very best education that we can. We anticipate our next inspection in around 4 years. 

 

For now, we would like to thank parents for their continued support and hope that pupils and parents will feel proud being part of the school. Parents can share their appreciation and thank a member of staff using social media and #StillOutstandingFielding 

 

Links: 

• Fielding, Our School, Ofsted report 

• #StillOutstandingFielding, thank staff on social media