Pinewood Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that all teachers use good questioning during lessons to probe and extend pupils’ understanding, particularly the most able pupils.
• Ensure that all leaders play an effective role in securing improvements in teaching and in raising achievement.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher’s clarity about what needs to be done to improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes has been key to the substantial improvements made in the school during the past year.
• The headteacher has worked positively with all members of the school community. Together, they have established a clear, cohesive whole-school strategy for improving pupils’ achievement. This has worked well. Pupils’ achievement continues to rise across all year groups.
• The headteacher swiftly reviewed the quality of teaching, learning and assessment following her appointment a year ago. This enabled teachers, leaders and governors to be clear about the improvements required to raise achievement. The headteacher has eradicated weak teaching which had limited pupils’ progress in the past.
• Ongoing checks on the quality of teaching, including regular reviews of pupils’ work and discussions with teachers about pupils’ progress, ensure that improvements in teaching are sustained.
• Teachers feel well supported and staff morale is high. All members of staff who completed the online questionnaire recognise improvements in the school since the previous inspection and are proud to work in the school.
• School improvement plans provide a very clear, secure framework to support the school’s development. Leaders, governors and teachers frequently use the plan to measure progress.
• Leaders and teachers have reviewed and revised the curriculum over the past year, updating topics so that they are more appealing and relevant than before. For example, writing activities linked to topics on ‘pirates’ and visitors such as the Red Arrows have increased pupils’ motivation to write more often, particularly the boys. These developments, combined with better teaching, contribute to pupils’ positive attitudes to learning and to their good behaviour. A range of extra-curricular clubs, including sports clubs, contribute well to pupils’ development, progress and enjoyment of school.
• A wide range of activities, including art and science work, history studies, assemblies and visits, effectively support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Such activities give pupils opportunities to explore talents and to excel. For example, pupils in Year 2 learned how to use art materials to very good effect when drawing, designing and printing images of foxes.
• Pupils listen attentively during assemblies, giving thoughtful responses to themes such as ‘friendship’. During the inspection, pupils watched with delight as the headteacher turned a bowl of ingredients into a string of gingerbread people with linked hands. This excitement was followed by a few moments of complete silence, as pupils reflected on their school day.
• British values and the school’s own values underpin pupils’ learning and help to shape their experience of school. For example, pupils regularly consider issues such as individual rights and responsibilities through topic work and find out about people who help them to keep safe in the local community, such as police officers.
• The headteacher has raised expectations of pupils’ learning and behaviour. The school’s confident, positive atmosphere reflects pupils’ improved attitudes and aspirations.
• The headteacher has strengthened the focus on pupils’ attendance and works closely with parents to make sure that pupils attend as regularly as possible. She regularly uses newsletters to remind parents of the link between regular attendance and achievement. Clear expectations and procedures when pupils do not attend regularly, combined with a more stimulating curriculum, have secured considerable improvements in attendance during the past year. The number of parental requests for holidays in term time has reduced.
• Leaders use pupil premium funding effectively to support disadvantaged pupils’ progress. For example, the funding of additional members of staff means that teachers can pick up and address pupils’ needs more quickly, targeting specific mathematics and literacy skills.
• Leaders make good use of primary school physical education and sports premium to support pupils’ health, well-being and enjoyment of school. For example, the sports coach regularly organises popular lunchtime activities, which help to keep pupils active while having fun. Pupils of all backgrounds and abilities participate in these sessions with equal enthusiasm.
• The local authority provides good-quality training and support for the school. For example, local authority representatives have helped leaders to develop their roles and have worked successfully with early years staff to improve the use of the outdoor area.
• Subject and phase leaders at all levels play an increasingly effective role in the school’s improvement. However, while training has already lifted leaders’ confidence and has given them a better view of their role in improving the quality of teaching and raising pupils’ achievement, some leaders’ roles are less well developed than others. Senior leaders have identified this aspect of the school’s work as a priority for further development.

Governance of the school

• Governors’ roles have improved considerably since the previous inspection. A team of dedicated and committed governors bring a wide range of skills and expertise to the governing body and use these well to hold leaders to account for pupils’ achievement and well-being.
• The governing body’s successful appointment of the current headteacher marked a turning point for the school’s fortunes following a period of change and uncertainty. Governors are acutely aware of significant improvements secured by the headteacher in the past year. One commented, ‘She’s brought the life back into the school’.
• Governors have worked closely and constructively with the headteacher to review and improve the work of the governing body over the past year. They have established robust procedures for monitoring and checking the school’s work and are knowledgeable about its performance in relation to other schools nationally.
• Improved school improvement plans mean that governors are able to measure the school’s development more closely and accurately than previously. They regularly ask pertinent questions about the quality of learning and about the progress different groups of pupils are making across the school. Regular school visits mean that governors can see improvements in teaching and achievement for themselves while discussing developments with school leaders.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• School leaders give safeguarding a high priority. The headteacher makes sure that staff and governors are promptly informed of national developments in safeguarding requirements. The headteacher regularly reminds parents of safety and safeguarding arrangements in the school’s newsletter, such as the safe use of bicycles on the school grounds and parking arrangements.
• The headteacher works closely and very positively with parents so that they are fully informed and involved in their children’s safety and well-being. Parents who spoke with the inspector during the inspection said that the headteacher sorts out any small issues quickly, calmly and without fuss. They said that the headteacher is very approachable and listens carefully to their views.
• Regular training ensures that all leaders, staff and governors have current and up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding procedures. They know what to do if they have a concern and feel well supported by senior leaders.
• A stronger focus on ensuring that all pupils attend school as regularly as possible has raised attendance levels.
• The school grounds are tidy, attractive and well managed. The school is a safe environment for pupils, parents and staff.
• Recruitment checks are in place to ensure a safe and suitable workforce.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Higher expectations of pupils’ learning have brought a greater sense of urgency to teaching. Improved teaching in a wide range of subjects ensures that all groups of pupils make better progress, including the most able. Teachers expect all pupils to do their best and to work carefully.
• English and mathematics teaching has improved considerably during the past year. Reliable and accurate assessments of pupils’ achievement mean that teaching quickly builds on pupils’ previous learning in literacy and numeracy at the start of the new academic year. As a result, pupils develop a more secure grounding in fundamental skills.
• Substantial improvements in teachers’ understanding of how to develop pupils’ phonics skills have secured marked improvements in pupils’ reading and writing.
• In mathematics, teachers routinely use practical equipment well to support and strengthen learning for all pupils, including the most able. For example, during a lesson based on the story of ‘The Gruffalo’, groups of pupils busily used counters, cubes, sticks and sorting circles to explore pairs of numbers with differing totals.
• Teachers take careful account of pupils’ individual needs and characteristics when planning activities for those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. For example, they give some pupils pictorial timetables so that pupils feel secure about the format of the school day. Teachers help pupils to learn how to use techniques which help them to work more independently of adult support, such as touching and moving counters as they count them to avoid becoming muddled.
• Skilful specialist teaching ensures that those pupils on roll in the specialist resource provision make rapid progress. For example, teachers and learning support assistants routinely emphasise and repeat new learning during lessons, checking and rechecking that pupils have grasped and understood key facts and concepts. Teachers use every opportunity for pupils to learn in a fun and meaningful way. For example, during the inspection, adults used a tidying-up session to reinforce newly acquired phonics knowledge by asking pupils to find and read aloud specific words as they tidied away.
• Teachers generally use questioning well to pick up and address mistakes or confusions. For example, during writing lessons, teachers effectively use questioning to involve pupils in spotting errors for themselves, so that they become more independent writers. However, teachers do not always use questioning effectively to probe and extend pupils’ understanding, particularly for the most able.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils feel safe and secure in school, including from the risk of bullying, which records show is very rarely a problem. Pupils say that adults in school are caring and are quick to sort out any problems. For example, during the inspection, pupils talked confidently about the way teachers check the ‘worry boxes’ each day for anyone with a problem. One pupil said, ‘This is the best school ever!’
• Pupils talk sensibly about how the school rules help to keep them safe. For example, one explained that they must walk when participating in fire drills to avoid tripping over on the way out of school. They know that keeping the school gates closed while pupils are in school ensures that they are safe from cars.
• Pupils who have speech and language difficulties, on the roll in the specialist resource provision, are highly motivated by their teachers and behave sensibly. They get on well with classmates and respond very positively to teachers.
• Most parents who completed the online questionnaire feel that pupils are safe, well looked after and happy in school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils enjoy a sociable time while eating their lunch in the dining hall. Lunchtime supervisors and other adults are caring and supportive. They use plenty of encouragement and praise to support pupils’ growing confidence and independence, including the youngest children. For example, adults help pupils to cut up their food, while also encouraging them to have a go themselves.
• Pupils move around the school sensibly and quietly. They greet visitors and each other with the same polite good cheer. All staff and almost all parents feel that pupils are well behaved.
• In 2016, pupils’ attendance improved considerably and the proportion of pupils persistently absent from school reduced dramatically. Improving attendance contributes to pupils’ rising achievement.
• The school keeps careful records of any individual behaviour issues which may arise. These records indicate that more serious incidents are extremely rare and dealt with proportionately. There have been no exclusions since the headteacher’s appointment.
• Most pupils swiftly settle well to work in lessons and concentrate well. However, occasionally, some pupils are not fully engaged in their learning. Those involved are slower to complete their work when this is the case. However, they rarely disturb others.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils’ progress has improved rapidly since the previous inspection. Increasing proportions of pupils achieve at least expected levels of attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1. In 2016, pupils’ attainment was broadly in line with national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. This ensures that pupils are well prepared for the next stage in their education.
• The work in pupils’ books illustrates dramatic improvements in the quality of their work since the previous inspection. Pupils take care to complete good-quality work in a wide range of subjects.
• Improvements in the Year 1 phonics check reflect better phonics teaching. The results of the Year 1 phonics check improved in 2015, with a further increase in 2016. Results were in line with the national average in 2016. Stronger phonics skills help pupils in all year groups to read and write more confidently.
• In 2015, focused teaching in Year 2 ensured that every pupil who did not achieve expected levels in the Year 1 phonics check did so in Year 2, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Effective phonics teaching ensures that all pupils are well prepared with fundamental reading and writing strategies by the end of key stage 1.
• Leaders’ focus on improving boys’ literacy skills over the past year, combined with the introduction of more engaging topics and subjects, has ensured that boys make much faster progress than previously in all subjects.
• Opportunities to use numeracy and literacy skills for a range of contexts and audiences strengthen pupils’ progress in English and mathematics. For example, the work of one of the most able pupils illustrated the way she was able to experiment with an increasing range of vocabulary to describe a desert habitat.
• Pupils make good progress in developing and using skills in a broad range of subjects. For example, in geography and science, pupils learn how to collect and record information in purposeful ways, such as tally charts and pictograms.
• Nationally published information about disadvantaged pupils’ achievement in the school does not always accurately reflect the rapid progress evident in their work or their positive attitudes to school. This is because the number of disadvantaged pupils in each year group varies and often there are very few. In addition, some have complex special educational needs and/or disabilities. Disadvantaged pupils make good progress from their different starting points and some make very rapid progress.
• Parents are very pleased with the way the school supports their children’s learning, including those children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They comment on the difference this has made to children’s attitudes to school and to their learning and progress.
• Pupils on roll in the specialist resource provision are fully involved with learning in the classrooms and make good progress. They are highly motivated to do well and are rightly proud of their work. Skilful specialist teaching ensures that pupils who have speech and language needs learn key skills, including the use of phonics, and work with increasing independence and confidence.
• The most able pupils in the school make much better progress than previously because teachers’ expectations are higher and curriculum planning has improved. For example, pupils’ mathematics work illustrates swift progress made by some of the most able disadvantaged pupils in Year 2 in solving division problems. Their work shows the development of skills from solving division problems pictorially through to using formal calculations. Regular use of practical equipment ensures that the most able securely develop understanding of mathematical concepts.
• However, while the most able pupils’ achievement has clearly improved, there are some variations in the way different teachers use questioning to explore and deepen pupils’ understanding during lessons. For example, some teachers are quick to notice that the most able pupils are capable of doing more, altering tasks to ensure that pupils have the opportunity to think harder. However, this is not consistently the case in all classes. As a result, sometimes the most able pupils achieve less well than they could.

Early years provision Good

• As with other year groups, children’s varying and sometimes complex learning needs affect the proportion of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception Year each year.
• The proportion of children achieving a good level of development increased substantially in 2015 to levels much closer to the national average. Good leadership and consistently effective teaching ensured a further increase in 2016.
• Leaders’ focus on improving boys’ achievement secured a marked improvement in their progress since the previous inspection. The proportion of boys achieving a good level of development increased dramatically in 2015, with improvements sustained in 2016.
• Effective training has increased teachers’ awareness and understanding of children’s individual needs, including those children who are disadvantaged. Leaders make sure that children benefit from extra help which is more closely focused on children’s individual needs. For example, daily reading and focused phonics sessions for children at risk of falling behind contributed to a much higher proportion of children achieving a good level of development in 2016, including disadvantaged children.
• The early years leader’s role has developed well since the previous inspection. She understands how well groups of children are learning, including disadvantaged children. She knows which aspects of early years provisions need further development to ensure that the improving trend continues so that all children achieve their fullest potential.
• Children are pleased to see each other at the start of the school day. They are happy, safe and well behaved. Good relationships, consistent routines and clear expectations help children to settle quickly into school life.
• Children are proud of their work. For example, during the inspection, a child used early phonics skills well to read out his writing about ‘The Gruffalo’.
• Leaders organise classroom areas well so that children can move between activities freely and safely. Adults pay close attention to safeguarding arrangements. Children follow sensible rules such as sitting down while they eat a healthy snack during the morning.
• Leaders have secured significant improvements in the use of the outdoor area. Children enjoy a wide range of activities which support children’s learning and social development very well.
• Adults’ conversations with children about their learning activities help children to be interested and engaged. As with other year groups, however, there are some differences in the quality of adults’ questioning, so that sometimes the most able children are not challenged fully to do their best. Leaders have already identified this aspect of the school’s work as an area for development, with appropriate training scheduled.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 116158 Hampshire 10019874 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 98 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Peter Sheppard Debbie Cook 01252 511885 www.pinewoodinfants.co.uk/ admin@pinewood.hants.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 November 2014

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is smaller than the average infant school.
• The proportion of pupils supported by pupil premium funding is lower than that found in most schools.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is lower than the national average.
• The school provides full-time early years provision in the Reception class.
• The school has special resource provision for 15 pupils with speech, language and communication needs. Pupils spend most of their time in mainstream classes, returning to the resource provision occasionally for specialist support.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed learning in nine lessons or part-lessons, including six observed jointly with the headteacher.
• The inspector had discussions with the headteacher, senior leaders, a local authority representative, teachers, members of staff, parents and pupils. A meeting also took place with the chair of the governing body and three other governors.
• The inspector took account of the 50 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire. In addition, she considered the views expressed by parents who spoke with them informally during the school day.
• The inspector observed the school’s work and considered a range of documents, including the improvement plan, information about pupils’ progress and attendance, and safeguarding policies.
• The inspector looked at a sample of pupils’ work provided by the school, as well as looking at pupils’ work in lessons. She also listened to pupils in Year 1 and Year 2 reading.

Inspection team

Julie Sackett, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector