Cheynes Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve attendance so that all pupils attend school regularly and on time, particularly the small number of pupils who are persistently absent.
• Improve attainment at the end of key stage 1.
• Improve the school’s tracking system so it is fit for purpose.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders evaluate school effectiveness accurately. They are clear about the strengths of the school and have identified areas of concern. Leaders take prompt action to address the areas they identify. For example, recommendations from a recent review of the way phonics is taught have already been implemented and are working well.
• Leaders use assessment well to identify pupils that need extra help. They check how well the pupils achieve after the help so that they know how effective it has been. Leaders have established a broad and balanced curriculum, which pupils enjoy.
• Leaders have recently reviewed the way in which they spend the extra money that they are given to help disadvantaged pupils. Leaders have written plans to support individual pupils. Pupils’ work in their books shows that these are working.
• Subject leaders are effective. They check on the quality of teaching and how well pupils are doing in the subjects they are responsible for. Any actions from their checking are followed up with teachers.
• Leaders make good use of the extra money they receive to improve sports provision for pupils. Sports instructors work alongside teachers in order to improve teachers’ confidence in teaching physical education.
• The school has recently started using a new system to track pupils’ progress but some leaders have found it difficult to access the information that they need to show the overall progress of groups of pupils.
• Parents are very positive about the education that their children receive. Almost all would recommend the school to others. One parent said, ‘Our son loves attending and he is always learning something new.’ This was typical of the comments received.
• Leaders have created many opportunities for pupils to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. This is done through school assemblies, themed days, celebration of festivals and opportunities to take part in sporting competitions.

Governance of the school

• Governance has improved since the previous inspection and governors are now much more aware of how well leaders are driving improvements.
• Recent appointments to the governing body have further increased the level of challenge to leaders.
• Governors keep accurate records of how they have challenged leaders. These records show that governors have looked through books, observed lessons and met with leaders.
• The governors have a good range of complementary skills which allow them to hold leaders to account for spending, teaching and learning, and keeping children safe.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a strong culture of care and safeguarding at the school. All staff understand what they need to do to keep children safe and they know how to report their concerns.
• Leaders keep accurate records of any concerns that teachers may have about children in and out of school and they are quick to seek extra help from other agencies, such as social services, when needed.
• Leaders make all the necessary checks that adults working at the school are safe to do so. Leaders have completed training to ensure that their recruitment process is robust.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching is typically good. Where leaders have concerns about the quality of teaching they have given extra support to teachers. Teachers have improved their teaching as a result of this support.
• Teachers show good subject knowledge and make good use of technical vocabulary in their teaching. They use questioning well to challenge pupils.
• Teachers have well established routines and systems to ensure that they make the most of teaching time in lessons. These allow pupils to move between activities efficiently.
• Teaching assistants are skilled and well trained, so they make an effective contribution to pupils’ learning. Teachers deploy them well. Teaching assistants provide support in class and they run intervention groups. They understand the needs of the pupils and the way in which the teacher intends tasks to be delivered.
• Leaders commissioned a review of the teaching of phonics. Phonics is now taught in classes rather than in streamed groups. This is allowing teachers to follow up pupils’ knowledge of phonics when they teach reading, writing and other subjects.
• Teachers ensure that work in foundation subjects is exciting and they give pupils the opportunity to work independently and develop their own ideas. In a Year 2 science lesson, pupils were given a box of different materials and asked to develop their own hypothesis about the materials and then to create an experiment to test it out. Some pupils tested if the materials were waterproof and the work in their books showed that they understood the experimental process.
• Teachers give clear feedback to pupils to show them how they can extend their learning. In mathematics and English, this feedback is often in the form of a question.
• Teaching assistants support pupils who need extra help, through individual learning away from the class. The teacher identifies the area that needs improving and the teaching assistants deliver very precise and effective teaching.
• Leaders have found that there are some limitations in using their tracking system. They cannot easily find the information they want about the progress pupils are making.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe online and they are knowledgeable about the risks that the internet can bring.
• Pupils understand what it means to live in modern Britain and they appreciate, and can talk confidently about, democracy and tolerance.
• Older pupils are very proud to be eco-champions, play leaders and play pals and they talk positively about the difference they are making for the younger pupils. One Year 2 pupil was very proud to be an eco-champion and was able to describe how they were helping to save the planet.
• Pupils are polite and courteous and are beginning to develop a ‘can do’ attitude as a result of the school’s work on developing resilience.
• Pupils said that they feel safe in school. Pupils understand what bullying is but they said it only happens occasionally and is dealt with effectively by adults. The information that leaders keep confirms this.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. They are polite, courteous and articulate.
• Pupils like to learn and they take a pride in their work.
• Pupils are able to work well independently when the tasks are at the right level of challenge.
• Pupils play well together and show caring attitudes towards other pupils. This was seen in lessons and during breaktimes.
• Leaders have created simple, easy to follow, classroom rules, which the pupils understand and follow well.
• Staff manage the behaviour of pupils well and teachers have developed effective strategies to keep the attention of pupils. They use songs, clapping rhythms and actions which the pupils copy.
• Pupils are tolerant towards each other and there have been no recorded incidents of racism or homophobic behaviour this year.
• Leaders work closely with families, the local authority and other outside agencies to improve attendance, especially for those pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. There is still work to be done to reduce the number of pupils whose attendance has dropped below 90%.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Current pupils in the school make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics and this can be seen in their books. This is true for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. They also make good progress in other subjects.
• School information from 2016 showed that progress in Year 1 was not as strong as the other year groups. Some books in Year 1 showed good progress but it was not consistent across the year group. Staffing changes have removed this inconsistency.
• Leaders are determined to improve on the 2017 published data on attainment. They have changed the way they teach phonics, introduced new teaching methods in mathematics and given pupils more opportunities to write at greater depth. This has already had a positive effect on pupils’ progress and their attainment in reading and writing is better than this time last year.
• Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are making good progress in English and mathematics. School information shows that for current disadvantaged pupils the difference between their progress and other pupils is diminishing. Work in books confirmed that disadvantaged pupils are making good progress.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are well supported in lessons and their work in English, maths and other subject books shows that they make good progress.
• Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Early years provision Good

• Leaders have created a calm, inviting environment in which children feel safe and are willing to take risks.
• Teachers plan exciting activities that are often tailored to the individual needs of the children.
• Leaders identified that ‘number’ was an area that needed improving so they changed the way they teach it. They increased the frequency of opportunities that children get to deepen their understanding of ‘number’. The result has been an increase in children’s understanding which can be seen in their learning journeys.
• Learning journeys show clear progress across a wide range of areas.
• Phonics is taught well with a good mix of physical, visual and verbal activities.
• Most children are able to concentrate well for extended periods of time but some children become restless if the activity is too easy or too hard.
• Teaching is consistently good across the whole year group and teachers and teaching assistants work well together to support and extend children’s learning.
• Most children are able to work independently and enjoy the wide range of activities available.
• Leaders were able to give detailed information on the needs of individual children and they could show where these needs had been addressed in their learning journeys.
• The early years leader recognised the issue of too few pupils achieving greater depth in writing last year and has introduced more opportunities for higher-level writing tasks into the planning. Evidence in learning journeys show these changes are having an impact in improving writing.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 109556 Luton 10041777 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 Maintained 4 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 259 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Mark Jesson Linda Walsh Telephone number 01582 617 800 Website Email address www.cheynesinfantschool.co.uk cishead@lbc.luton.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 11 September 2013

Information about this school

• The school is a larger than average-sized infant school.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is in line with the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities or an education, health and care plan is average for an infant school.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in every class and on some occasions they were joined by the headteacher.
• Inspectors took account of staff, pupil and parent online responses.
• Inspectors looked through books across a range of subjects and all year groups.
• Inspectors met with governors, leaders, parents and a representative from the local authority.
• Inspectors observed pupils at playtimes and lunchtimes and listened to them read their books.

Inspection team

Nick Templeton, lead inspector John Craig Teresa Skeggs Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector