Coleshill Church of England Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve pupils’ progress in writing so that a greater proportion of pupils, particularly boys, achieve the expected standard by the end of key stage 1.
• Further improve pupils’ outcomes in humanities and art by sharpening the assessment of pupils’ learning in these subjects.
• Continue to ensure that pupils with SEND make faster progress from their starting points in English and mathematics.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Since her appointment in September 2018, the acting headteacher has successfully united the school’s community and created a clear vision for success. Leaders, staff and governors are unwavering in their determination for all pupils to achieve the best possible outcomes.
• Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. The acting headteacher is held in high regard by parents and staff. All parents spoken to, and those who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, were full of praise for the school. They unanimously agree that the school is well led and that they would recommend the school to others. One parent, responding to the school’s own survey, summed up the views of many, stating, ‘We are proud to be part of the Coleshill family.’
• Leaders ensure that staff are supported well to continue to improve their work. Helpful training and individual guidance enable staff to enhance their skills and subject knowledge. As a result, staff are positive about their work and morale is high.
• Leaders have taken decisive action to improve the teaching of writing following the disappointing results last year. All staff are aware that this is a top priority for the school and are working efficiently to improve the quality of pupils’ writing.
• Middle leadership is being developed well. Subject leaders have a thorough understanding of the school’s priorities and how their work contributes to these. They have begun to monitor the effectiveness of teaching and learning in their subject areas and identify where improvements can be made. However, it is too soon to see the impact of this work.
• Leaders ensure that pupils’ learning is successfully encouraged through an interesting and varied curriculum. Staff make productive use of visits and a wide range of experiences to enrich pupils’ learning. Themed weeks, such as Safety Week or Spirituality Week, provide pupils with rich opportunities to develop new skills and expand their knowledge of the world. Senior leaders know that there is more work to do to sharpen the assessment of pupils’ learning, in subjects other than English and mathematics, to improve pupils’ outcomes in these subjects.
• Leaders make very strong provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils enjoy a plethora of experiences designed to encourage them to work together, respect each other and learn the skills needed to be good citizens. Recently, for example, pupils worked cooperatively in groups on enterprise projects. They had been inspired by a visit from a leader of a national retail company.
• Leaders use the government’s additional funding for sport effectively to improve the quality of physical education teaching and increase pupils’ participation in sporting activities. Pupils in key stage 1 eagerly attend after-school clubs, such as football, yoga and gymnastics. Pupils enjoy taking part in local sporting festivals and events. Last year, the school successfully achieved a silver award from the Youth Sports Trust for their work to promote pupils’ physical activity.
• Leadership of the provision for pupils with SEND is strong. Leaders make good use of support from outside agencies, to seek advice and help pupils get the support they need. Leaders are ambitious to improve the outcomes of pupils with SEND. They want to match support even more closely to pupils’ needs to enable them to make better progress.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective. Governors have high aspirations for the school and want pupils to achieve well. Governors are successfully taking a strategic approach to their role. They have sensibly produced a helpful action plan to steer their work to develop the school.
• Governors carry out their statutory duties well. They regularly visit the school to check what leaders tell them. They routinely check the compliance of the school’s recruitment records.
• Governors are well trained and knowledgeable. They ensure that they maintain a good balance of skills and expertise. Governors conscientiously keep their skills up to date by taking part in training sessions organised by the school and the local authority, including for safeguarding.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders ensure that the necessary background checks on staff and visitors are thorough and compliant. Recruitment records are well maintained.
• Staff are well trained to identify and report any concerns they may have about a pupil’s welfare. Leaders ensure that staff are kept up to date and that safeguarding is a top priority for everyone. Staff are vigilant and fully understand their responsibilities to keep pupils safe.
• Leaders respond promptly to help pupils and their families if concerns are raised. Leaders work proactively with external agencies, tenaciously following up referrals when needed, to provide families with helpful support.
• Leaders and staff know pupils and their families exceptionally well. Pupils receive strong support from staff for their safety and well-being. Parents are very appreciative of this, with many commenting on the ‘nurturing’ attitudes of staff.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Good teaching and high expectations for pupils’ achievement create a positive climate for learning. Pupils are keen to learn because activities are interesting and stimulate their thinking. Pupils are attentive and focus carefully on their work. As a result, current pupils make good progress, particularly in reading and mathematics.
• Teachers’ strong subject knowledge and skilful questioning motivate pupils to think deeply and try hard. Pupils are successfully encouraged to recall facts, explain their reasoning and be curious learners.
• Effective teaching enables pupils to develop a love of reading. Pupils proficiently use a range of skills when reading. For example, because phonics is taught well, pupils competently use their strong phonics knowledge to decode unfamiliar words.
• Pupils write for a range of different purposes. In Year 2, pupils enjoyed changing elements of the story of Little Red Riding Hood to create their own versions. Pupils write with confidence, successfully developing their skills in the way they structure their writing. They use increasingly complex vocabulary. However, some pupils, particularly boys, are not consistently making efficient use of their spelling, punctuation and grammar skills when they write independently, and this slows their progress.
• Pupils across the school develop good number and calculation skills. Teachers adeptly plan activities that encourage pupils to use these skills effectively to solve problems. Pupils are also given useful opportunities to improve the speed of their calculation skills and automatically recall number facts.
• Teaching enables the most able pupils to achieve well, particularly in English and mathematics. Pupils are routinely provided with work that stretches them. They are challenged to ask and answer questions, and think carefully about their learning.
• Additional adults work closely with teachers to provide valuable support to pupils with SEND. Staff have very positive relationships with pupils and work effectively to motivate them to learn. Occasionally, tasks are not matched closely enough to some pupils’ specific learning needs and this slows their progress.
• Teaching provides pupils with a wealth of interesting and stimulating activities across a broad range of subjects. For example, pupils adeptly use their English and mathematics skills to investigate and explore materials in science. However, the assessment of pupils’ learning in other subjects, such as humanities and art, is not yet as well developed as it is in English and mathematics. Consequently, teaching is not always matched closely enough to pupils’ needs in these subjects.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• The school’s strong Christian values and ethos provide a secure foundation for pupils’ successful personal development. Pupils make excellent contributions to the school’s very positive atmosphere, through their kind and respectful attitudes.
• Visitors to the school are warmly welcomed by friendly pupils and staff. Pupils are self-assured and cheerfully greet each other and staff. Pupils are eager to talk to visitors about their learning because they are exceptionally proud of their achievements.
• Pupils enjoy happy and sociable breaktimes. The playground is well supervised by staff, who talk and play games with pupils. Pupils value the way that staff encourage them to keep fit and healthy. They like participating in the ‘Daily Mile’ challenge and enjoy the fresh fruit provided for them at morning break. As a result, breaktimes successfully promote pupils’ good physical and mental health.
• Pupils are very well cared for. The school’s environment is safe and secure. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe online. They confidently explained how they would talk to an adult straight away if something worried them when using the internet.
• Pupils do not believe there is much, if any, bullying in the school. The school’s records show that there have been no reported bullying incidents. The school successfully promotes a sense of belonging and pupils are very accepting of each other.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ behaviour in and around the school is impeccable. Pupils’ conduct is consistently calm and orderly throughout the school day. Pupils listen attentively to adults and respond swiftly to instructions. Pupils understand the school’s ‘Golden Rules’. They know exactly what is expected of them because routines are clear and well established.
• Pupils talk respectfully to each other. They do not use derogatory language and rarely tease each other unkindly.
• The school has not needed to exclude a pupil for many years. Staff work effectively with parents and outside agencies to promote pupils’ positive behaviour. Leaders work tirelessly to ensure that pupils get the pastoral support they need.
• Pupils attend school regularly. Attendance rates are just above national figures. Leaders work proactively with parents to improve the attendance of the very small number of pupils who do not attend school regularly enough.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils achieve good outcomes in reading and mathematics. In 2018, at the end of key stage 1, the proportions of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading and mathematics were above the national averages. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• In 2018, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in writing was below the national figure. Although pupils have good spelling, grammar and punctuation skills, they are not reliably using these in their own writing. This is particularly the case for boys. Work seen in current pupils’ books shows that leaders’ decisive actions to improve the quality of teaching for writing are having a positive impact. The standard of pupils’ written work is improving. Current pupils are making good progress.
• In 2018, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check was just below the national average. However, due to the small size of cohorts within the school, this was not statistically significant. Current pupils have good phonics skills and make effective use of these, especially when they read.
• The most able pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics. In 2018, the proportions of pupils achieving greater depth in reading and writing were above the national averages. The proportion of pupils achieving greater depth in mathematics was broadly equal to that seen nationally.
• Most pupils make good progress in English and mathematics by the end of key stage 1. Work seen in current pupils’ books shows that pupils often make rapid progress in these subjects because teaching is effective, especially in mathematics.
• Some pupils with SEND are not making fast enough progress from their starting points because activities are not always matched closely enough to their learning needs.
• Pupils make good progress in science and achieve well by the end of key stage 1 because activities are well matched to pupils’ needs. However, progress in subjects such as humanities and art is more variable because the assessment of pupils’ learning in these subjects is not yet precise enough.

Early years provision Good

• Children enjoy a happy and successful start to school. Children join the school with levels of development broadly typical for their age. By the end of Reception, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development is above the national average. These positive outcomes mean that children are well prepared for Year 1.
• The early years is well led. The leader has a clear vision for children’s achievement. She is ambitious for children to succeed and ‘expects the best’ from them. She is working effectively to develop the outside area to further stimulate children’s learning.
• The early years area is well resourced. Teaching takes account of the school’s aims to improve the quality of children’s writing. Carefully designed activities successfully develop children’s early reading, writing and mathematics skills. For example, during the inspection, children thoroughly enjoyed a variety of activities linked to the nursery rhyme the ‘Queen of Hearts’. Occasionally, children’s attention can wander when activities are not matched closely enough to their needs.
• Children develop good phonics skills in the early years because teaching is effective. Children proficiently use their knowledge of letters and the sounds they represent when they read and write. During the inspection, children enthusiastically wrote lists of simple, accurately spelled, three-letter words.
• Safeguarding is effective. Staff have a thorough understanding of the actions they need to take to keep children safe. Positive transition arrangements, when children join the school, enable staff to develop strong relationships with parents. Staff know children and their families very well. Consequently, children are safe and well cared for in the early years.
• Children behave very well in the early years. They flourish because their relationships with staff are consistently warm and positive. Routines are well established and children feel secure because they know exactly what is expected of them. Children’s many achievements are noticed and praised frequently. As a result, the early years is a happy and nurturing place for children to learn.

School details

Unique reference number 110426 Local authority Buckinghamshire Inspection number 10085492 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 Voluntary controlled 4 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 49 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Lucy Jackson Sarah Hewat 01494 727206 www.coleshillvillageschool.co.uk head@coleshill.bucks.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13 December 2007

Information about this school

• Coleshill Church of England Infant School is smaller than the average-sized infant school.
• The acting headteacher was appointed in September 2018.
• The school comprises one class for Reception and two classes covering key stage 1.
• Most pupils are from White British backgrounds.
• At the time of the inspection, there were no disadvantaged pupils on roll at the school.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average for primary schools.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national figure.
• A section 48 inspection was carried out in February 2018.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed learning in all classes. All observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher. A sample of pupils’ workbooks was also examined.
• The inspector held meetings with senior leaders, the special educational needs coordinator and subject leaders.
• The inspector met with three governors, including the chair of the governing body.
• The inspector met with pupils to discuss their views about the school and heard some of them read.
• The inspector held a telephone call with a representative of the Diocese of Oxford.
• The inspector held a telephone call with a representative of the Local Authority.
• The views of parents were taken into account by considering the 27 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. The inspector also spoke informally with parents at the start of the second day of the inspection.
• The views of 32 parents and pupils, obtained through the school’s own recent survey, were also considered.
• The inspector scrutinised documentation, including: leaders’ evaluation of the school’s effectiveness; information on pupils’ attendance and behaviour; the school’s own information on pupils’ progress; and minutes of the governing body’s meetings.

• Safeguarding procedures were also reviewed.

Inspection team

Claire Prince, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector