Hetts Lane Infant and Nursery School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching in key stage 1 so that it is consistently good by ensuring that:
  • lower- and middle-ability pupils are consistently given work that, especially in English and mathematics, is well matched to their needs
  • provision for disadvantaged pupils is effective in building on the gains they have made in the early years
  • teachers give pupils sufficient opportunities to write at length and to investigate scientifically
  • all teachers insist that pupils present their work neatly.
• Improve the quality of leadership and management so that:
  • the school‟s self-evaluation and reports of outcomes are fully accurate by including sufficient details of weaknesses as well as strengths
  • actions in the school development plan include precise timescales and occur swiftly
  • subject leaders check that teachers‟ assessments across key stage 1 are as accurate in other subjects as they are in English and mathematics.
• Improve behaviour so that:
  • absence rates for pupils, and especially those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities or are disadvantaged, reduce so that they are broadly in line with the national average
  • all staff consistently and effectively apply the school‟s behaviour policy so that any low-level disruption from pupils is eliminated. An external review of the school‟s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management should be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Senior leaders have not ensured that teaching across the school is consistently good. Pupils‟ progress slows in key stage 1 because teachers‟ expectations are not consistently high enough and teachers do not provide them with sufficient work that is well matched to their different needs.
• Senior leaders‟ self-evaluation is not accurate enough. Both the self-evaluation document and leaders‟ reports to governors do not take sufficient account of the weaknesses in some teaching and the impact of this on pupils‟ learning.
• Leaders have not made sure that the timescales in the school development plan are precise enough and that the much-needed actions to drive up the quality of teaching have been scheduled to commence urgently. This has resulted in a delay in the improvement of the rate of pupils‟ progress. However, leaders have ensured that they set out good arrangements to monitor actions effectively and to check pupils‟ progress regularly for the impact of improvements.
• Senior leaders do not ensure that leaders of subjects other than English, mathematics and science check that the assessments their colleagues make of pupils‟ skills are accurate.
• Senior leaders ensure that they use a proportion of the pupil premium funding well to meet the emotional needs of many disadvantaged pupils. However, it is not used effectively in ensuring that pupils‟ academic progress accelerates and that the differences between their attainment and that of other pupils nationally diminish over time.
• The headteacher has created a happy school where pupils thrive emotionally and socially. The school‟s emphasis on cooperation between everyone, and on collaboration with parents, means that there are good, effective relationships between home and school. Comments on Ofsted‟s free text facility were unanimously positive, with one parent summing up the views of many others by writing: „We feel the school has given our child a positive start. Pupils are confident, settled and challenged to achieve in an environment that is caring and nurturing.‟ All parents who responded to Parent View said that they would recommend the school to others.
• Staff work together and share information about pupils. Those who responded to Ofsted‟s questionnaire all stated that they feel treated fairly, respected by senior leaders and are proud to work at the school. They also expressed the view that the school is an aspirational one where leaders support them to improve their effectiveness.
• The headteacher accepts that many of the outcomes for pupils both historically and currently are not high enough. She wants pupils to achieve their potential and is keen for staff to develop their skills and to improve their teaching. She is ensuring that staff receive training in school, learn of best practice from other teachers within the local cluster and family of schools, and attend external training that is then shared with colleagues at Hetts Lane. The headteacher also makes sure that arrangements for the performance of staff are effective. Teachers are given targets that are appropriate because they link to the priorities of the school and help to develop their own leadership potential.
• The headteacher has ensured that she and her staff have addressed the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. Teachers give sufficient challenge for the most able pupils, and staff in the Nursery and Reception classes engage boys effectively to develop their writing skills.
• Pupils‟ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong. Pupils are encouraged to think carefully about their own behaviour and, as a result, understand the difference between right and wrong. They are well prepared for life in modern Britain because they learn about other cultures and religions. Those pupils that inspectors met with stated that it is important that they follow the school rules because they keep everyone safe. Pupils also described how the staff teach them that it is important to always respect others and to be kind. They said that they would welcome into the school people from other countries, or whose lives, families or beliefs were different from their own. Pupils play an active part in their school by, for example, writing their own classroom rules and, through the school council, improving sports equipment for breaktimes.
• Senior leaders ensure that the curriculum is well designed so that pupils enjoy their learning overall. For example, pupils in Year 2 make sock puppets in design technology lessons, learn to classify animals in science and use different techniques to create pictures of daffodils using pastels in art and design. Leaders ensure that teachers in the early years plan effectively for all areas of learning and that there is an appropriate emphasis on different subjects throughout key stage 1.
• The curriculum is enhanced with a good range of extra-curricular clubs, which develop pupils‟ interests and skills, as well as giving priority to disadvantaged pupils. These clubs, which pupils say they enjoy attending, include a drama club, tennis, a construction club and gardening.
• Leaders ensure that the primary physical education and sports premium is spent well. Additional clubs in Zumba, multi-skills and football now take place, and participation and enjoyment in physical activity has improved.
• Senior leaders ensure that they spend appropriately the funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The coordinator for the provision of these pupils knows their needs well and ensures that both teaching assistants and teachers plan and deliver appropriate tasks to help pupils make continual small but important steps in their learning.

Governance of the school

• The governing body plays an active part in the school and members understand their strategic role well. Like school leaders, they are keen to see outcomes for pupils, and pupils‟ attendance, improve quickly. While offering the headteacher and her senior leadership team strong support, governors ask them challenging questions about the gains that pupils are making and visit the school regularly to discuss the school‟s priorities with leaders.
• Governors maintain the school budget effectively and ensure that pupils are safe.
• Governors have not ensured that pupil premium funding has been used effectively in improving the progress of disadvantaged pupils in key stage 1.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff have a clear understanding of the importance of their duty to protect all pupils from harm. Senior leaders have ensured that all new staff receive appropriate induction training in safeguarding, and existing staff undergo regular training, including in extremism. As a result, they are vigilant in their observations for any sign that a child may be being exploited, and can clearly describe the symptoms of different forms of abuse. Staff know how to report any concern to leaders.
• The headteacher, who is the school‟s designated lead for safeguarding, is knowledgeable about a range of safeguarding matters. She keeps meticulous records that show how she and colleagues work with families to protect and support pupils. She makes brisk referrals to external agencies whenever this is required and is unafraid to escalate any concern if she believes that the response of an agency is insufficient. The school‟s single central register of staff meets requirements. There is a good range of information on the school‟s website to help parents keep their children safe online.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching requires improvement because teachers in key stage 1 do not match the work they give to pupils consistently well to pupils‟ different needs.
• During the inspection, inspectors looked at an extensive range of pupils‟ work. This shows that, in too many instances, pupils of lower and middle ability receive similar work in English and mathematics.
• When they do receive different work, it is often either too hard or too easy for them. When this happens, pupils cannot make the gains they should and attain a deeper level of understanding. Work seen from other areas of the curriculum shows a similar situation.
• While teachers give pupils tasks to write for different purposes and audiences, they do not always ensure that the older pupils receive sufficient opportunity to write at greater length.
• Although teachers ensure that pupils‟ scientific knowledge is appropriate, they do not give pupils in key stage 1 sufficient opportunities to conduct simple but challenging scientific investigations. As a result, pupils‟ skills and understanding in science are not high enough.
• Not all teachers insist that pupils complete their work neatly. While the presentation of some pupils‟ books is tidy, showing care and pride, too many other examples show that pupils write and cross out messily, or scribble.
• Staff are now matching the phonics work they give to pupils more precisely to their needs. As a result, although pupils‟ overall skills in phonics remain lower than they need to be, they are now improving.
• Inspectors saw instances of teaching in key stage 1 where pupils of specific ability groups made good gains in their learning. This was because staff were asking precise questions to pupils and giving them work that was matched to their varying needs. For example, adults were supporting pupils of lower ability to match words in the past tense to those in the present tense. The most able pupils were given a paragraph of writing to convert from one tense to another and were being asked to justify how they knew a phrase was in a specific tense. One child thought for a moment and then answered confidently that she knew the phrase „we find treasure‟ was in the present because „if it was in the past, it would be “found”.‟
• Staff throughout the school assess the pupils‟ attainment consistently accurately. They are skilled in being able to make clear judgements about whether or not a pupil is attaining in line with the expectations for their age, or is exceeding this.
• Parents and pupils say that the homework that pupils receive is interesting and helpful. Pupils enjoy completing the various challenge tasks that teachers provide each term and are keen to complete them. These challenges are often linked to the work pupils complete in task or help to build their phonic knowledge.
• Parents who inspectors met during the inspection, and those who responded to the school‟s own questionnaire, said that teachers give them good and accurate information about how their child is doing compared with similar pupils nationally.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school‟s work to promote pupils‟ personal development and welfare is good.
• Staff know pupils well. They ensure that pupils, many of whom have low levels of confidence and self-esteem, feel secure and want to learn. Pupils understand that staff are caring and kind, and want pupils to be happy, confident and to make progress.
• Those pupils whose circumstances may make them vulnerable, or who have particularly complex needs, are supported particularly well to settle and, over time, to communicate confidently.
• Pupils are resilient. Those pupils whom inspectors met with explained that they do not mind making mistakes in their work because it helps them to learn more.
• Pupils understand the importance of staying fit and keeping healthy. They could describe to inspectors how it was important not to eat too much sugar and how they should consume plenty of things such as fruit and vegetables. They explained how they enjoyed taking part in exercise and attending school clubs that kept them fit.
• Pupils whom inspectors spoke with said that they felt very safe in school, and that there is very little bullying, name-calling or unkindness. They knew that they could approach a member of staff if they feel worried about anything and that adults would deal effectively with any unkind behaviour. They also explained to inspectors how adults teach them about the dangers or strangers and of roads, fire and deep water.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Pupils do not attend regularly enough. The level of absence for pupils of compulsory school age has been below the national average for three years. Although attendance is rising, absence remains too high. The proportion of pupils who are persistently absent is falling. However, still too many pupils, many of them disadvantaged or who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, do not attend regularly enough.
• Many pupils in key stage 1 behave well in lessons. However, inspectors saw a number of occasions when staff did not use the school‟s behaviour policy appropriately. Pupils became disengaged or disrupted the learning by shouting out responses.
• Pupils of all ages behave well around the school. They wear their uniform smartly, do not drop litter and are polite to visitors. At breaktimes, they play together well. Lunchtimes are positive social occasions when pupils also cooperate effectively.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Although pupils make strong gains in their learning when they are in the early years, they do not make sufficient progress across key stage 1.
• The overall proportions of pupils in last year‟s Year 2 cohort who met the standards expected of them in reading, writing and mathematics were close to the national average. However, a significantly lower proportion of lower-attaining pupils met this standard in these subjects.
• The proportion of pupils of typical ability who attained a greater depth of understanding was significantly lower in reading and mathematics.
• Pupils of all abilities did not make good progress in science in key stage 1. Most of the cohort had left the early years with skills typical for their age. However, by the time they left the school, the proportion assessed at the expected standard was significantly below the national average.
• Pupils currently in key stage 1 are not making consistently good progress. School data shows that the proportions of pupils working at the levels expected for their ages fall in reading, writing and mathematics from the time they leave the Reception Year. Currently, too few pupils across key stage 1 are attaining the levels expected for their age.
• Historically, differences in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally had been diminishing. However, last year, the difference increased. In addition, the proportion of disadvantaged pupils of middle ability who met this standard was significantly below the national average in all subjects except writing.
• Disadvantaged pupils currently in the school are not making fast enough progress for them to catch up over time. The proportions of pupils that are working at the expectations for their age rise sharply from their starting points when they are in the early years, but this trajectory stalls in key stage 1. Consequently, not enough disadvantaged pupils are on track to achieve the expected standards by the time they leave the school.
• Pupils‟ work also confirms that, while children in the early years make good gains across all areas of learning, pupils in key stage 1 overall are not making consistently good progress in English and mathematics. Furthermore, pupils‟ work also does not show that pupils are making good progress in other subjects in the curriculum.
• Although the proportion of pupils passing the Year 1 phonics screening check had been rising until 2015, it fell in 2016. However, better teaching of phonics by staff is beginning to have an impact. This year, the proportion of pupils on track to reach the expected level is set to be higher than last year, and closer to the current national average.
• Last year, outcomes for the most able pupils were good. These pupils attained at least in line with similar pupils nationally in writing and science, and the proportions of these pupils who attained a greater depth of understanding were significantly above average in both reading and mathematics. Pupils‟ work demonstrates that the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, continue to make good progress across the school.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making good progress from their starting points. Although the assessment system the school is currently using does not fully reflect this, inspectors examined work from different pupils.
• Around four in five children enter the school with levels of skills that are below those typically found in children of the same age. Considerable proportions have skills that are well below in their communication and language, literacy and mathematics, as well as in their physical development. However, they make good gains in their learning across all areas of learning in both Nursery and Reception. As a result, the proportions who leave the early years with a good level of development are close to the national average.

Early years provision Good

• Provision in the early years is good because the early years leader ensures that staff work effectively together to deliver consistently good teaching. She monitors the quality of this, and children‟s progress, regularly. She also manages the performance of staff in the early years and helps to ensure that they continue to develop their skills.
• Staff plan exciting activities that engage children‟s interests and make them want to find out more. As a result, children like coming to school to learn.
• Staff understand children and their needs well. They ensure that they model language well and ask them questions to make them think. As a result, children‟s skills grow quickly.
• Adults work quickly to establish very positive and friendly relationships to ensure that children settle in as soon as possible. The expectations of staff are consistently high and they encourage children to persist when they find tasks tricky.
• Children‟s behaviour and happiness as they undertake their tasks show that they feel very safe. Staff also teach them to behave safely. For example, inspectors saw children taking care not to crowd in around one activity in case one of them was pushed accidentally, as well as lining up sensibly at the end of the lesson.
• Staff speak kindly and politely to children and show interest in what they say. As a result, children begin to trust staff and enjoy working alongside them. They listen to instructions and follow these appropriately. Staff also encourage children to work together and to listen to each other. Inspectors noticed how, as a result, children cooperate well regardless of the activities they are engaged in.
• Adults work effectively with parents to ensure that there are good levels of communication and cooperation between home and school. Staff ask parents about their children‟s abilities and needs before children begin school and inform them of the typical expectations for a child of a similar age. Parents are also given details of the next steps their child needs to take to make progress and how parents can help with this at home. Staff make appropriate referrals to any necessary external agencies to support children further.
• The headteacher and the leader of the early years ensure that the assessments that staff make of children‟s progress are accurate. Assessments are checked regularly with other early years teachers in different local schools, as well as by the local authority.
• Teachers use the assessments they make of children‟s abilities to plan teaching for them that is matched well to their needs. As a result, the tasks are appropriately challenging and they help move all ability groups on quickly. The most able children receive particularly difficult work that engages their interest and makes them think hard.
• The pupil premium is used well in the early years so that disadvantaged children are helped to catch up in areas where their skills are lowest. Staff meet the needs of other children whose skills are low in a similarly effective manner. There are too few of the most able disadvantaged children to report on their progress without the risk of their identification.
• The outdoor areas are attractive and extend the learning that takes place in the classrooms. Children enjoy engaging in role play tasks, using the climbing frame and, for example, hunting for minibeasts in the grassed area.
• Because of consistently good teaching, children make good progress in all areas of learning and leave the early years well prepared for Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number 122496 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 10005628 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Infant School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Maintained 3 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 239 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Nick Crew Lucy Stancliffe 01623 842224 www.hettslane.com head@hettslane.notts.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 6–7 March 2012

Information about this school

• The school is smaller than average, compared to schools of a similar type.
• The proportion of pupils supported through the pupil premium funding is average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well below average. Most pupils are from a White British background.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes, as well as observing small groups where staff were supporting pupils to learn phonics. Some lesson observations took place with the headteacher. In total, 14 lessons, or parts of lessons, were observed. The inspectors also scrutinised many examples of pupils‟ work.
• The inspection team held meetings with senior leaders, subject leaders, representatives of the governing body and pupils. They analysed the 13 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, looked at the free text comments submitted by those parents and spoke with parents at the beginning of the school day. The inspectors also looked at the views of the parents who had responded to the school‟s most recent questionnaire.
• The inspectors looked at a wide range of documentation, including the school‟s development plan and self-evaluation, policies and records related to safeguarding, records of pupils‟ behaviour, the school‟s information about pupils‟ outcomes and attendance, and records of meetings of the governing body.

Inspection team

Roary Pownall, lead inspector Sarah Fielding Sarah Chadwick

Her Majesty‟s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector