Freshford Church School
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

Primary
PUPILS
155
AGES
4 - 11
GENDER
Mixed
TYPE
Academy converter
SCHOOL GUIDE RATING
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Can I Get My Child Into This School?

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This pupil heat map shows where pupils currently attending the school live.
The concentration of pupils shows likelihood of admission based on distance criteria

Source: All attending pupils National School Census Data, ONS
01225 394312

This School Guide heat map has been plotted using official pupil data taken from the last School Census collected by the Department for Education. It is a visualisation of where pupils lived at the time of the annual School Census.

Our heat maps use groups of postcodes, not individual postcodes, and have naturally soft edges. All pupils are included in the mapping (i.e. children with siblings already at the school, high priority pupils and selective and/or religious admissions) but we may have removed statistical ‘outliers’ with more remote postcodes that do not reflect majority admissions.

For some schools, the heat map may be a useful indicator of the catchment area but our heat maps are not the same as catchment area maps. Catchment area maps, published by the school or local authority, are based on geographical admissions criteria and show actual cut-off distances and pre-defined catchment areas for a single admission year.

This information is provided as a guide only. The criteria in which schools use to allocate places in the event that they are oversubscribed can and do vary between schools and over time. These criteria can include distance from the school and sometimes specific catchment areas but can also include, amongst others, priority for siblings, children of a particular faith or specific feeder schools. Living in an area where children have previously attended a school does not guarantee admission to the school in future years. Always check with the school’s own admission authority for the current admission arrangements.

3 steps to help parents gather catchment information for a school:

  1. Look at our school catchment area guide for more information on heat maps. They give a useful indicator of the general areas that admit pupils to the school. This visualisation is based on all attending pupils present at the time of the annual School Census.
  2. Use the link to the Local Authority Contact (above) to find catchment area information based on a single admission year. This is very important if you are considering applying to a school.
  3. On each school page, use the link to visit the school website and find information on individual school admissions criteria. Geographical criteria are only applied after pupils have been admitted on higher priority criteria such as Looked After Children, SEN, siblings, etc.

How Does The School Perform?

Good
NATIONAL AVG. 2.09
Ofsted Inspection
(29/06/2022)
Full Report - All Reports
88%
NATIONAL AVG. 60%
% pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics



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Progress Compared With All Other Schools

UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Average (About 67% of schools in England) Above Average (About 6% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 9% of schools in England) UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 10% of schools in England) Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Average (About 67% of schools in England) Above Average (About 6% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 8% of schools in England) UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 10% of schools in England) Below Average (About 11% of schools in England) Average (About 59% of schools in England) Above Average (About 11% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 9% of schools in England)
High Street
Freshford
Bath
BA2 7WE
01225723331

School Description

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection. Your vision for the school is ambitious and effective. You lead by example and your work is highly valued by staff, governors and parents. You demonstrate commitment and resolve and hold high expectations for teaching and outcomes for pupils. You respond quickly and effectively when issues arise and, together with the leadership team, bring about sustained improvements when required. As a result, pupils achieve well. Governors have a precise knowledge and understanding of what the school does well and what could be even better. The chair of the governing body visits frequently to gather first-hand information about leaders’ work and to support them as a critical friend. The governing body offers appropriate challenge and support to leaders. All staff who responded to the survey said that they enjoy working at this school. They unanimously agree that you do all that you can to ensure that the school has a motivated, respected and effective teaching staff. Pupils behave well. They make strong progress because of their highly positive attitudes to learning. You and your team have successfully maintained the strengths noted in the previous inspection report. The results of the national curriculum assessments in reading and mathematics in 2017 showed that all pupils made exceptionally strong progress. Consequently, pupils’ achievement in these subjects was deemed to be in the top 10% of schools nationally. Safeguarding is effective. You have established a strong culture of keeping pupils safe. All safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Staff understand and implement school safeguarding policies and procedures effectively. They have the appropriate knowledge and expertise to recognise the potential signs of abuse quickly. You work effectively with other agencies and are persistent in securing the appropriate responses to your concerns. Safer recruitment procedures meet requirements. You know the needs of vulnerable pupils and their families. There are clear systems in place to identify pupils who may be at risk of harm. My discussions with pupils revealed that they feel safe and have a trusted adult they can go to with a worry or a concern. All parents who responded to the parent survey agree that their child is happy, feels safe and is well looked after. A typical comment written by a parent was, ‘Staff really care about the children and every aspect of their development.’ Part of our discussions around safeguarding focused on pupils’ attendance. The school’s own attendance information for the academic year 2016 to 2017 shows that overall absence rates have risen. You have put in place a range of measures to check and improve pupils’ attendance. You ensure that poor attendance is not allowed to go unchallenged. These actions are proving to be successful because attendance is improving for individuals and groups. Inspection findings My first line of enquiry focused on evaluating leaders’ actions in improving pupils’ phonic knowledge in key stage 1. This is because the school’s most recent results show that pupils’ achievement in phonics was below the national average. You have taken decisive action by implementing a new approach to phonics teaching. This is ensuring consistency of approach across the different classes. As a result, pupils’ performance in phonics is improving. Teachers use a range of strategies to meet the specific needs of individuals and groups. Their timely intervention and support enables pupils’ learning to progress well in phonics lessons. Pupils use their phonic knowledge successfully in reading. They are usually selfassured and determined to persevere with unfamiliar words. However, some gaps in phonic knowledge are holding back some pupils. Leaders recognise the need to embed the school’s approaches to teaching phonics further, particularly for the lower-attaining pupils. Next, I focused on evaluating actions taken to ensure that key stage 2 pupils, particularly the most able, make substantial progress in writing. Pupils’ progress in writing in the 2017 national curriculum assessments was not as strong as their progress in reading and mathematics. Consequently, teachers are using a range of strategies to further accelerate pupils’ achievement in writing. As a result, pupils master skills quickly and use these effectively to develop their ideas. Pupils maintain high standards in writing across the curriculum. Pupils’ books, including those of the most able, show that writing is progressing well. Pupils successfully acquire a range of age-related skills. For example, pupils in Years 5 and 6 are using a variety of complex devices and techniques to engage the reader. The most able pupils are adept at selecting precise and well-chosen vocabulary to heighten interest in their work. They demonstrate highly developed skills in sentence punctuation and grammar. This adds depth to their writing. Leaders’ actions have been successful in addressing the areas for improvement in writing, as detailed in the previous inspection report. I also focused on evaluating how leaders’ actions are providing pupils with a broad and balanced curriculum. You ensure that pupils have access to a comprehensive and creative curriculum which provides them with a wide range of exciting learning opportunities. The subjects taught ensure that pupils acquire the appropriate knowledge, understanding and skills in all aspects of their education. Pupils speak enthusiastically about their learning. They say that they feel well prepared when moving on to the next stage of their education. Pupils’ work shows that the curriculum is effectively supporting their strong progress. For example, pupils’ science books show that they are gaining a secure understanding of the scientific topics covered. However, you acknowledge that the most able pupils need more opportunities to work at greater depth. This should develop their skills in scientific enquiry and investigation further. My final line of enquiry evaluated how well leaders and governors are demonstrating the capacity to drive improvement. Leaders have a precise understanding of the school’s current performance. Their views on the quality of teaching and outcomes for pupils are accurate and well founded. School documents show that leaders give staff clear guidance and targets on how to improve their practice. These are followed up in subsequent observations of teaching. However, monitoring procedures are not yet fully focused on evaluating the impact of teaching on all groups of pupils. Governors hold school leaders to account for pupils’ achievement. They use their understanding of school performance data and their own monitoring to challenge leaders on the impact their actions are having. Leaders and governors demonstrate strong capacity to drive further school improvement. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: the school’s approaches to phonics teaching are further embedded to secure strong progress, particularly for the lower-attaining pupils the most able pupils have opportunities to work at greater depth in science monitoring of teaching quality pays careful attention to the impact teaching has on the progress of all groups of pupils.

Freshford Church School Parent Reviews



unlock % Parents Recommend This School
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>88, "agree"=>9, "disagree"=>1, "strongly_disagree"=>2, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>96, "agree"=>2, "disagree"=>1, "strongly_disagree"=>2, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>82, "agree"=>18, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
My Child Has Not Been Bullied Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"my_child_has_not_been_bullied"=>80, "strongly_agree"=>10, "agree"=>4, "disagree"=>2, "strongly_disagree"=>2, "dont_know"=>2} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>55, "agree"=>38, "disagree"=>6, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>1} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
I Have Not Raised Any Concerns Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"i_have_not_raised_any_concerns"=>32, "strongly_agree"=>49, "agree"=>12, "disagree"=>5, "strongly_disagree"=>2, "dont_know"=>1} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>14, "agree"=>32, "disagree"=>18, "strongly_disagree"=>27, "dont_know"=>9} UNLOCK Figures based on 22 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>74, "agree"=>23, "disagree"=>1, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>2} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>75, "agree"=>18, "disagree"=>2, "strongly_disagree"=>2, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>68, "agree"=>26, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>2, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>70, "agree"=>26, "disagree"=>2, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>79, "agree"=>18, "disagree"=>1, "strongly_disagree"=>2, "dont_know"=>1} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>80, "agree"=>14, "disagree"=>2, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>2} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022
Yes No {"yes"=>96, "no"=>4} UNLOCK Figures based on 117 responses up to 30-06-2022

Responses taken from Ofsted Parent View

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