Bounds Green Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve the provision and outcomes in the Nursery, including the quality of teaching and the outside space, so that children make rapid progress.
• Improve pupils’ attendance further so that it is consistently high.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Senior leaders and governors know their school extremely well. They have an accurate understanding of the school’s performance and use this most effectively to target weaknesses. As a result, the impact of leaders on raising the quality of teaching, learning and pupils’ progress is significant.
• Leaders are quick to identify areas that need improving. This is because there are rigorous systems to check whether the school is having enough impact on pupils’ learning. For example, last year leaders identified that teaching and learning in the Nursery needed to improve. Leaders’ robust approach to managing teachers’ performance and ensuring a broad experience for children has resulted in rapid improvement. While leaders recognise that achievement could be even better, children are now making good progress.
• There have been some significant improvements in the achievement of disadvantaged pupils which had fallen behind others’ last year. Senior leaders, with support from subject coordinators, have taken decisive action to improve the outcomes for this group of pupils. As a result, the standards reached by disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are now closer to those of others and differences have decreased considerably.
• Leaders expect the most from pupils and staff alike. They set clear targets for teachers which are linked closely to training and development opportunities. Leaders support teachers effectively. They pick up any weaknesses in teaching quickly and deal with them matter-of-factly and in way that is supportive. As a result, senior leaders develop teachers’ expertise and foster their leadership skills effectively. This ensures that there is the capacity to sustain the school’s drive for improvement.
• The wide-ranging curriculum contributes significantly to pupils’ learning and enjoyment of school. Pupils experience a variety of subjects that develop their literacy, numeracy, creative, language and physical skills effectively. Unusually, Year 2 pupils are taught Spanish and this is proving very effective. As well as making significant progress with their Spanish language skills, pupils are also learning how to tackle a new and unfamiliar subject successfully. Opportunities to learn music and art enrich the curriculum further.
• A feature of the curriculum is the way teachers use the spoken language to make links between the different subjects. For example, pupils are encouraged to discuss their ideas with others and teachers take every opportunity to get pupils to talk about what they are doing. This is having a positive impact on pupils’ learning, especially their language and communication skills.
• The range of before- and after-school activities extend the curriculum well. The breakfast and after-school club, and a range of after-school activities, all help to promote pupils’ interests and enjoyment of school effectively.
• Leaders make effective use of the extra funding the school receives through the pupil premium, and the physical education (PE) and sport premium. It funds a range of activities such as extra support for those pupils who are falling behind as well as interventions to boost learning. The PE funding is helping teachers develop their teaching skills. As a result, good-quality PE has a positive impact on pupils’ physical skills and on developing their understanding of how to be healthy.
• The school’s close links with the junior school through the federation mean that pupils are prepared extremely well for Year 3. This is because both schools have the same leaders and subject coordinators. This ensures that the curriculum is linked seamlessly to that of the junior school.

Governance

• Governors hold leaders to account most effectively. Their considerable expertise means that they are also adept at providing support and know how to balance challenge with encouragement. Consequently, governors play a significant role in ensuring that the school continues to improve its work.
• Leaders provide governors with a broad range of relevant information and analysis about the school’s performance. This is supplemented by regular visits to see the school in action and talk to pupils and staff. All this enables governors to ask searching questions and, where necessary, to challenge leaders’ assumptions. Governors fulfil their statutory responsibilities well, including those for safeguarding.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding practice is led effectively by the deputy headteacher. The school’s systems and procedures for ensuring the safety and welfare of pupils are thorough and robust. As a result, pupils are safe and their needs are met well.
• Training for all staff is thorough. Staff get regular and up-to-date training about how to deal with safeguarding concerns. This includes female genital mutilation, and extremism and radicalisation. As a result, staff know how to recognise the signs of abuse and the procedures for reporting any concerns. Senior leaders have a clear understanding of the issues relating to safe recruitment and ensure that the procedures for vetting staff are comprehensive.
• Record-keeping is secure, enabling leaders to track those vulnerable pupils who have been referred to the local authority’s social services. Follow-up is rigorous and leaders often go the extra mile to work with families to ensure that pupils get the best from their time at school. Leaders maintain solid links with outside agencies such as social services.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching is highly effective. Teachers plan lessons thoroughly so that pupils are clear about what to do and what is expected. One of the strengths of this planning is that it is flexible, allowing teachers to capitalise on pupils’ enthusiasm and engagement and adapt lessons to meet their needs and interests. As a result, planning enables teachers to build pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding in a structured way over time. For example, in mathematics, teachers ensure that all pupils are confident with a concept before moving on to the next topic. This ensures that no pupils are left behind. Those pupils who make especially quick progress receive work that deepens their understanding, allowing them to develop their mathematical skills further.
• Teachers set work that is challenging and which grabs pupils’ interest. This stretches pupils’ thinking and ensures that expectations are high. For example, in Spanish, pupils were highly engaged and enthused by the high-quality teaching. As a result, pupils made impressive progress. Similarly, in mathematics, the teacher’s very high expectations ensured that pupils were really involved in learning about fractions and made excellent progress as a result.
• Pupils’ excellent attitudes to their work is a central plank in the school’s efforts to ensure that learning is first-rate. Pupils concentrate well and are completely focused on their work, often persevering to overcome difficulties. For example, in a Year 2 mathematics lesson, a group of the most able pupils showed great resilience in solving a particularly difficult problem.
• Teachers have well-established routines and systems in their classrooms that are understood by pupils. As a result, time is used extremely well and little is wasted, for example when pupils move from the carpet to their desks. Teachers are expert in managing behaviour, and the clear rules and high expectations mean that interruptions to lessons are extremely rare. As a consequence, there is little, if any, disruption to the task of learning. Pupils simply get on with their work diligently.
• Assessment is thorough and used effectively to help plan lessons and give pupils support when needed. Teachers are skilled at checking how well pupils are learning in lessons and provide effective support at just the right time. This support is often by teaching assistants who are deployed effectively and have a strong impact on pupils’ achievements. This ensures that all pupils make swift progress from their starting points.
• Teachers’ assessments of pupils are moderated carefully. Senior leaders, who act as moderators for the local authority, provide a valuable check on the accuracy of these assessments. In addition, visits to and from other schools ensure that teachers’ marking is reliable. As a result, the school’s assessment information is secure.
• Teachers are skilled at giving pupils advice about how to improve their work, using the school’s agreed procedures well. Often, this advice is incisive and pupils are keen to use it in their next piece of work. This was seen across the school, including in literacy where teachers’ advice was especially helpful in building pupils’ confidence.
• Reading, writing and mathematics are taught effectively. The school’s work to promote pupils’ literacy and language skills through opportunities to talk is proving effective. As a result, pupils become increasingly articulate as they move up the school and are able to read and write fluently. In mathematics, the emphasis on developing pupils’ deeper understanding is having a positive impact with more achieving above the expected standards.
• The teaching of phonics is systematic and carefully planned. Teachers have a secure understanding of how to teach phonics and use accurate pronunciation to demonstrate the sounds that letters make. Pupils are given opportunities to practise their phonics in different ways so that it helps to develop their reading and writing. As a result, progress is strong.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils are confident, self-assured learners who are very keen to do well. They have excellent attitudes to school and to their work. These contribute strongly to pupils’ progress and learning.
• A significant feature of the school’s positive culture is the working relationships that teachers have with their pupils. These relationships successfully encourage pupils to treat others with respect. Pupils work together productively in lessons, helping each other to tackle any challenges. In many lessons, pupils enjoy this way of working and the opportunity to discuss ideas and solve problems with their peers. This has a particularly positive impact on their learning.
• Pupils develop their personal skills very effectively. They have a strong understanding of right and wrong and know how to behave. Pupils are welcoming of visitors and ready to talk about their work and enjoyment of school. Relationships among pupils are good and this means that arguments are rare. Those pupils spoken to said that bullying rarely occurs and are confident that if it does happen, teachers sort things out quickly. Pupils feel safe in school and the older ones can talk sensibly about keeping themselves safe when using the internet.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. The way in which pupils conduct themselves in lessons is impressive. They follow instructions carefully and are polite and courteous to others. Pupils move around the school sensibly so that corridors are calm. At break and lunchtimes, pupils play with each other well, cheerfully sharing the playground with pupils from the junior school.
• Disruption to lessons is rare. During the inspection, there were no incidents that stopped learning and teachers did not have to raise their voices. As a result, learning could carry on without interruption. The impact of this is very positive and ensures that teachers give all their time to promoting learning rather than dealing with silly or disruptive behaviour.
• The school has rigorous systems and procedures to check pupils’ attendance, and uses the information to drive improvement. Leaders have worked effectively with families who are hard to reach to bring about significant improvement in pupils’ attendance. Current figures show that overall attendance has improved significantly this year, including for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils has also improved significantly but the school recognises that it needs to rise further.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils’ outcomes in the 2016 tests at the end of Year 2 were above the expected standard for their age. Attainment was especially strong in reading and writing where the proportion achieving greater depth in their learning was high. The results in mathematics were not quite as good but still compare favourably with other schools in England. This represents brisk progress from pupils’ different starting points.
• Leaders’ efforts to improve outcomes are proving successful. In mathematics, for example, a great deal of work has been done to introduce and consolidate new approaches to teaching and this is having a clear-cut impact on the achievements of current pupils. The school’s assessment information indicates that pupils are on track to reach higher standards than last year.
• Leaders have also developed initiatives to improve pupils’ literacy skills further. This work has focused on getting pupils to talk about their work with others more consistently to enhance their vocabulary and grasp of language. As with mathematics, the impact on pupils’ outcomes has been significant. The school’s assessment information, and pupils’ work in books, show that progress in reading and writing is strong.
• Pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress. The school’s focus on developing pupils’ language skills through talk has a noticeable impact, as does the support pupils get from teachers and teaching assistants. Similarly, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make sure-footed progress with their learning. Teachers’ thorough knowledge of pupils’ needs means that they provide well-targeted support.
• Improvements in pupils’ outcomes have also had a positive impact on the achievements of the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils. They benefit from work that is suitably challenging and stretches them well so that they make significant progress, especially in key stage 1.
• Disadvantaged pupils do at least as well as their classmates, and other pupils nationally, in reading, writing and mathematics. The school has identified that more of this group could achieve at a greater depth and has taken decisive action to raise their achievements. For example, pupils currently in Year 1, who did not reach a good level of development by the end of Reception, have now caught up with their peers. Pupils have made swift progress since September and this is the result of the effective strategies to enhance pupils’ achievements.

Early years provision Outstanding

• The early years provision is led extremely well. The lead teacher has a secure understanding of the assessment system and has made significant improvements to the way children’s progress and attainment are checked. This is ensuring that teachers’ evaluations are accurate, enabling them to plan learning effectively.
• Children in the early years make rapid progress from their different starting points. This is particularly so in the Reception classes where the stimulating learning environment helps to create a strong climate for learning. This is true in classrooms and in the outside space where there is a wide range of activities and resources. These provide children with good opportunities to develop their skills effectively.
• Provision in the Nursery has not been as strong as in Reception but leaders have secured rapid improvements over the past year. Leaders recognise that there is still more to do to ensure that the Nursery matches the pace of children’s learning evident in Reception. However, children are now getting a much better deal and making good progress. One of the barriers to ensuring the highest-quality provision in the Nursery is the outside space. Although the space is small, teachers and support staff make the best use of what they have. For example, they have set up a café, which encourages children to develop their talking skills well. Leaders are aware of the need to improve the outside environment and have well-founded plans to improve this further.
• One of the significant strengths of the early years is children’s attitudes and behaviour. These are especially positive and children can concentrate well on the range of activities that teachers and other adults provide for them. For example, children in the Nursery are often highly motivated and able to sustain conversations with adults. They have strong social skills and know how to relate appropriately to adults.
• Teachers and adults check children’s progress and achievements thoroughly. The information is used well to identify those children who may need their confidence boosting, or have less well-developed skills. This enables teachers to plan work to help children catch up with their learning. As a result, all children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities or are disadvantaged, make brisk progress.
• The partnership with parents is a great strength. The ‘Family phonics’ session each Friday morning in Reception is most impressive. These give parents opportunities to learn about how phonics is taught and work with their children on their literacy skills. During the inspection, around 60 parents attended one of these sessions across the three Reception classes.
• Children’s work in their books shows that they develop their reading and writing skills very well. They are increasingly able to write independently and to read sentences. This includes the most able children and those who are disadvantaged. Similarly, children are making good progress with their number skills so that they are ready for the more formal learning in Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number 102081 Local authority Haringey Inspection number 10031826 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 Maintained Age range of pupils 3 7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 270 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Rosemary Mayes Headteacher Will Wawn Telephone number 020 8888 8824 Website www.boundsgreenschool.co.uk Email address admin@boundsgreen.haringey.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 17–18 July 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is a broadly average-sized infant school.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is high.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and an education, health and care plan, is average.
• The school is federated to Bounds Green Junior School. The headteacher is headteacher of both schools.
• The school meets the current government floor standards.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in each year group, including in the Nursery and Reception classes. These were jointly observed with school leaders.
• Inspectors looked at pupils’ work across the range of subjects.
• Inspectors listened to pupils from Year 2 reading.
• Inspectors looked at behaviour at break and lunchtime.
• Discussions were held with senior leaders, governors, subject leaders and pupils.
• A range of documentation and policies were scrutinised which included the school’s self-evaluation, records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance, assessment information and the minutes of governing body meetings.
• Inspectors scrutinised records relating to the quality of teaching, the school’s website, and information about extra-curricular activities, trips and visits.
• Records, policies and procedures relating to safeguarding were reviewed.
• Inspectors took account of 100 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.

Inspection team

Brian Oppenheim, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector David Bryant Ofsted Inspector Jo Franklin, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector