Oakwood Infant and Nursery School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Provide more opportunities for the pupils to practise and to demonstrate their skills and knowledge of phonics, particularly the weaker readers.
• Analyse more exactly the reasons why some pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities almost, but do not quite, reach the expected standards at the end of key stage 1, and improve the effectiveness of the provision for these pupils accordingly.
• Ensure that assessments in the early years identify more precisely the children’s levels of development, in order to raise the expectations of what the children might achieve.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The senior leaders have established a strong culture of caring for and nurturing the pupils, which is woven through the school, beginning in the early years. They set high expectations for good behaviour by the pupils, which the staff reinforce routinely.
• All of the leaders, and the governing body, are well informed about the school’s work. They are reflective and keen to improve the school. The leaders’ checks on the teaching and learning are systematic.
• The leaders’ assessments of what the checks reveal are candid and honest. The leaders gather a lot of information and analyse it routinely to identify areas for improvement. They act on what they learn and are usually effective in bringing about improvements in the quality of teaching, as a result.
• The leaders are less secure in evaluating stringently the impact of the teaching and support for the pupils. They do not bring together sufficiently all of the information that they collect to form a fully coherent view of the impact of the school’s work. As a result, their expectations for what the pupils can achieve are not always as ambitious as they might be.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced. The topics chosen as a focus for the pupils’ learning fire the pupils’ imaginations. This was apparent in art work produced by the pupils after studying the works of Joseph Wright of Derby and of Pablo Amaringo, and the history of the Inca civilisation. It was evident also in the pupils’ enthusiasm for discussions about a topic on outer space and space travel, and an occasion when some owls were brought into school.
• The teachers are adept at exploiting a range of opportunities to develop literacy and numeracy in a variety of subjects. For example, work in science includes a good emphasis on developing general, as well as subject-specific, vocabulary and writing skills.
• The pupils take the school’s values on board. They know the rules, understand them and understand the reasons for them.
• They learn how to work together to make decisions through discussions about things that they would like for the school. For example, the school council agreed recently that it wanted a Christmas tree for the school, which the pupils could decorate themselves. The pupils learn about helping people within the school’s local community by collecting food parcels for distribution at Harvest Festival.
• Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils and the physical education (PE) and sport premium are used carefully to provide a wide range of support and suitable opportunities for the pupils. The pupils respond well to the support that they receive and take part enthusiastically in physical activities. The senior leaders are not incisive in evaluating the impact of the particular ways in which they have used the funding.
• The staff develop good partnerships with the parents. They keep the parents well informed and provide useful ways for the parents to help with their children’s learning.

Governance of the school

• The governing body is well informed and ambitious for the school. It is alert to its statutory functions and maintains a careful oversight of the school’s work. The school’s finances are monitored carefully, including what the pupil premium and the PE and sport premium are spent on. The governing body asks sensible questions of the senior leaders, requiring them to account for the school’s performance.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The work to safeguard the pupils is very much at the core of what the school does. This is reflected in the staff’s very detailed knowledge about each pupil and awareness of the pupils’ circumstances and needs.
• The staff are kept up to date with safeguarding matters through routine and regular training. They know, and use as appropriate, the school’s systems for reporting any concerns.
• The pupils demonstrate through their behaviour, attitudes and self-confidence that they feel safe at the school. They also say that they feel safe and the parents who have completed the inspection survey say so as well.
• The school works closely and very effectively with external agencies to get appropriate additional support for any pupils who may need it. Those agencies confirm that the school is diligent in following up with any actions that are required.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The teachers demonstrate secure subject knowledge. They use that knowledge well to select topics and activities that get the pupils interested in learning.
• The teachers and teaching assistants question the pupils skilfully. The questions make the pupils think and get them to show their understanding.
• The pupils respond thoughtfully to the teachers’ questions. They consider their answers carefully and explain themselves fully.
• The teachers keep a close eye on how well the pupils are doing in lessons. They are alert to times when the pupils are not sure about something and tackle misconceptions when they are apparent. As a result, the pupils know and understand what they have done well and what they need to do next.
• The staff forge strong relationships with the pupils. They know the pupils very well. This helps them to keep the pupils well motivated for learning.
• The teaching assistants provide close support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. They rephrase things to help the pupils to grasp the learning, give examples of how to respond to tasks and questions, and develop the pupils’ skills in discussing their learning. The support keeps the pupils on track with their work.
• The additional help provided to the pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, results in clear gains in the pupils’ learning. For example, the disadvantaged pupils can describe clearly how additional support has helped them to improve their reading.
• The pupils feel confident and secure to take part fully in lessons. They will have a go at tricky tasks and are not afraid to make mistakes. They enjoy grappling with mathematics problems.
• Mostly, the work that they are given provides the pupils with a suitable level of challenge. It is, as one of them described it to an inspector, ‘a little bit hard, but not too hard’. This also helps to keep the pupils motivated.
• Their good levels of motivation help the pupils to take responsibility increasingly for their own learning. For example, they use the resources available in classrooms, such as ‘learning walls’, to help them with letters and sounds, without prompting.
• Occasionally, the level of challenge is not quite right. For example, the most able pupils are waiting sometimes while others are still working on a task.
• The gains in learning made by the pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are dependent in large part on the additional support that they receive. Without it, they struggle a little with the demands of the work that they are given and so do not always learn as much as they might.
• The pupils who struggle with reading have insufficient opportunities to develop their knowledge of phonics.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• There is a very strong sense that the school is a caring place to be. The staff know each individual and their circumstances very well.
• The pupils are proud of their work and keen to show what they have been doing. They demonstrate perseverance and resilience.
• The staff are very effective at building the pupils’ confidence. The pupils demonstrate a good level of curiosity and are unafraid to ask questions.
• The pupils feel safe at the school. They learn to look after themselves. For example, they have a good understanding of personal hygiene, often washing their hands, without having to be told, because they know why it matters.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• The pupils conduct themselves sensibly around the school. They interact well with each other and the adults.
• The pupils are polite towards each other and to adults. For example, in one lesson, a pupil asked another, ‘Excuse me, will you pass me the glue?’ The inspectors witnessed many such examples of good manners.
• The pupils respond well to well-established routines at the school. They know what is expected of them and follow instructions readily.
• The pupils demonstrate tolerance and respect for others. For example, one pupil was heard during a lesson to say to another pupil who was having difficulty with the work that they were doing, ‘Don’t worry. You’re doing really well. Let’s try again.’
• The school makes suitable adaptations to help pupils who experience difficulty with their behaviour. The support that those pupils receive helps them gradually to behave more appropriately.
• The pupils take pride in attendance at school. The school’s strategies for encouraging good attendance, such as the much sought-after ‘chickadee award’, have a positive effect on the pupils’ desire to attend regularly.
• Attendance has improved. Recent declines have been reversed. Persistent absence remains high in a small number of complex cases, but the school works very closely with families and external agencies to reduce it.
• Instances of bullying are rare. They are dealt with swiftly when they occur. The pupils are confident to raise any concerns and that the staff respond to concerns.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Typically, the standards reached by the pupils are broadly average. They improved significantly in 2017, after a sharp fall the preceding year. In particular, the standards reached by disadvantaged pupils improved markedly in 2017. The difference between how well those pupils did compared with others reduced significantly.
• The pupils are making secure progress currently in a range of subjects.
• There are no significant differences between the progress made by pupils of different levels of ability.
• The pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make secure progress. For some, this is just not quite enough to reach the expected levels. The school’s leaders have not analysed precisely enough what the issues are for those pupils, or identified actions to bring about improvements.
• The pupils develop a keen enjoyment of reading. The pupils who struggle with reading have insufficient knowledge of, and skills in using, phonics. As a result, the proportion of the pupils reaching the expected standard in phonics in Year 1 is consistently below average. Most of the pupils catch up well by the end of Year 2.
• The pupils make secure progress with their writing skills. They improve steadily, from early illegible attempts, to clear script and to writing multiple sentences and paragraphs.
• The pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Early years provision Good

• The children make good progress in the Nursery. They start with knowledge, skills and understanding generally below the levels typical for their age. They reach more typical levels by the time that they begin the Reception Year.
• The proportion of children reaching a good level of development by the end of the early years has risen but remains below average. The difference between the proportion of disadvantaged children reaching that standard and others is reducing.
• The proportion of children exceeding the age-related levels has increased.
• The early years leader replicates the school’s commitment to ensuring that every child is known and understood in detail. The staff demonstrate the same high level of care for the children that is evident elsewhere at the school.
• The staff develop the children’s social skills well. The children learn to share things with each other and to help one another. For example, during the inspection, one child brought his Gruffalo into school to help the other children write descriptions of it.
• The children’s confidence develops rapidly, often from a very low level. They learn quickly to show curiosity, come to enjoy conversation and soon demonstrate perseverance with learning.
• The children get used quickly to the school’s routines and expectations. An inspector observed the Nursery children come to order impressively quickly when the teacher rattled a tambourine.
• As in key stage 1, the staff help the children to pick up ways of speaking and how to express themselves. They involve the children in genuine discussions, not just question and answer sessions.
• The staff assess regularly and frequently how well the children are doing. They keep good-quality records. The assessments are not always fine enough to determine precisely what is needed to evaluate how much progress the children are making. Although unquestionably ambitious for the children, the school’s expectations of what the children can achieve by the end of the early years are sometimes not quite high enough.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 112767 Derby 10037611 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Infant School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 3 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 343 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher John Hughes Julie Carter Telephone number 01332 574 192 Website Email address www.oakwoodinfant.com head@oakwoodi.derby.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 4 5 October 2012

Information about this school

• The school has experienced a difficult period with staffing in the past 18 months, which has affected some aspects of the school’s work.
• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is high.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities who need support is high. The proportion of those with a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is low.
• The school uses no alternative provision.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed lessons throughout the school in all year groups. They carried out other visits to classrooms to look at particular aspects of the school’s work and scrutinised examples of the pupils’ work.
• The inspectors held meetings with leaders and other staff at the school and with members of the governing body. They spoke with a representative of the local authority.
• They spoke with pupils in groups, in lessons and around the school.
• The inspectors checked the 29 responses on Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They spoke with some parents at the start of the school day.
• The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the school’s development plan and self-evaluation, policies and records relating to safeguarding, the school’s information about the pupils’ attainment and progress, and other information about the work of the school and the governing body.

Inspection team

Clive Moss, lead inspector Lynn Corner-Brown Julian Scholefield

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector