Trosnant Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Raise standards of teaching and achievement to outstanding by:
  • ensuring that teachers pick up on pupils’ misconceptions quickly, and put them right
  • providing regular opportunities for the most able pupils to grapple with difficult concepts and more challenging work
  • refining individual teachers’ practice further so they become even more effective.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Everyone at Trosnant Infant School has the highest aspirations for all pupils. Since the previous inspection, the shared values have been fully embedded and an air of determination to achieve well permeates the school. As the school’s motto states, Trosnant is a place where everyone respects each other and grows together.
• The executive headteacher leads well. He has rightly earned great respect from governors and the local authority in leading improvement at Trosnant. He has the full support of his staff, which has enabled the school to move forward as a united team and make substantial and sustained improvements over time.
• The executive headteacher has built a strong team of senior and middle leaders who are held accountable for pupils’ learning and well-being. They share a passion to ensure that pupils achieve academic success and contentment. They know the pupils very well and understand the unique challenges that some face. Leaders work to ensure that barriers that might impact negatively on pupils’ learning are reduced or eradicated.
• Leaders have an accurate understanding of the school’s effectiveness. They carry out rigorous checks on pupils’ progress and on the quality of teaching. Their focus on disadvantaged pupils, and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, ensures that they achieve well. Leaders recognise that the most able pupils do not achieve quite as well as they could in all subjects. They have rightly identified this as a priority, although leaders’ work in this area has not yet had significant impact.
• Leaders support and develop staff well with robust performance management procedures. Teachers receive regular training and development opportunities that improve provision for pupils. Teachers who are in the early stage of their careers are enthusiastic about the training and mentoring they receive, and other wider opportunities available to them to develop professionally. Leaders are rightly ambitious to develop teaching expertise further and ensure that the typically good practice blossoms into outstanding teaching. Leaders are taking effective action and this continues as a whole-school priority.
• School leaders use the pupil premium to good effect to support disadvantaged pupils. Specialist staff work well with individual pupils, and their families, to support them to attend school punctually and more regularly, and achieve better.
• The sport premium is used well to develop pupils’ physical activity and participation. Leaders have provided a wide range of extra clubs, including cheerleading, multi-skills, football and gymnastics, which are all well attended by pupils. The school also engages services from the Schools Sports Partnership that provides specialist training for teachers. This wide range of provision ensures that both boys and girls are more active.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well and make good progress. Teachers adapt lessons and activities effectively to meet the needs of these pupils. Extra provision is carefully evaluated to ensure it is helping pupils to make progress.
• The curriculum is well designed to provide breadth and depth across a wide range of subjects. Pupils enjoy and are motivated by the interesting themes. Teachers extend pupils’ learning through clubs and educational trips. Recent visits support learning well, such as the Year 2 visit to a dairy farm.
• British values are an integral part of pupils’ learning. The themes of democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, respect and tolerance are woven throughout the curriculum and school values. As a result, pupils develop a strong sense of right and wrong.

Governance of the school

• Governors are passionate about the school and have high aspirations for all pupils. They visit often. This helps them to know and understand the strengths of the school and what it needs to do to improve.
• Governors have an accurate understanding of pupils’ progress information and hold leaders to account well for the achievement of different groups of pupils. Governors support school leaders effectively, including by challenging them rigorously.
• Governors make good use of support from the local authority. They use this expertise to improve their own practice, and to ensure that their judgements of the school are accurate. Consequently, governance has improved since the last inspection and governors fulfil their responsibilities well.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders have developed robust systems to keep children safe. All staff, governors and visitors know, and fulfil, their responsibilities to record and report concerns. Methods for monitoring and tracking complex issues are managed well and leaders involve outside agencies appropriately.
• Staff are appropriately trained in all areas of safeguarding. New members of staff receive relevant introductory training that is followed up by regular updates for all staff. Detailed training for all staff takes place annually throughout the school year. As a result, staff are knowledgeable about how to keep children safe.
• When recruiting staff and volunteers, all appropriate checks are carried out to ensure that staff are safe to work with pupils.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers demonstrate good subject knowledge across the curriculum and use this to plan activities that are fun and relevant. Teachers ensure that lessons are purposeful and that pupils participate and contribute well. As a result, pupils enjoy learning and make good progress.
• Teachers develop pupils’ writing skills well. They provide useful opportunities for pupils to plan, develop and improve their work. Pupils take pride in their work and enjoy writing, shown in their fluent and neat handwriting and careful presentation.
• Teaching of mathematics is effective. Teachers have good subject knowledge and plan lessons that are usually matched well to the needs of most pupils. Appropriate resources, such as number lines for adding or subtracting, help pupils to embed their understanding and develop strategies to solve problems.
• Teachers regularly use assessment information effectively to plan lessons at the right level to meets the needs of pupils with a range of abilities. Teachers often use good questioning skills to check pupils’ understanding. This enables teachers to fine-tune their teaching and ensure clear, precise explanations for pupils. However, teachers do not always respond effectively to the misconceptions pupils sometimes show in their answers.
• Teaching assistants provide effective support. They help pupils to deepen their knowledge by asking questions and giving clear explanations. For example, a teaching assistant helped a pupil to review his writing, then encouraged him to reflect on how it could be improved. These prompts enabled the pupil to produce work of much better quality.
• The teaching of phonics is a strength of the school. Throughout all year groups, pupils are supported by provision that is precisely matched to their needs and ability.
• Teachers develop pupils’ language and vocabulary skills well. For example, in science pupils were using the words ‘carnivore’, ‘herbivore’, ‘predator’ and ‘prey’ to describe food chains. As a result, pupils are increasingly more able to express themselves well in technical vocabulary.
• At times, teachers provide interesting activities which successfully challenge the most able pupils to extend their thinking and deepen their understanding. However, more needs to be done to embed this fully so that it becomes common practice.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils respond well to the high expectations set by staff at Trosnant Infants. The school’s goals, particularly of ‘resilience’, and ‘working together’ are demonstrated in most pupils’ desire to do their best. Pupils usually work hard in lessons and join in collaboratively with their peers. As a result, they achieve well.
• Pupils are respectful of others’ right to learn. Occasionally, pupils’ actions disturb others but staff are quick to resolve this when it happens. Pupils have a growing understanding of how their actions impact on others.
• Pupils are polite and courteous around school. At break and lunchtimes they are well behaved and enjoy playing together.
• Pupils develop their self-esteem and confidence successfully because they are given ample opportunities to reflect on what makes them special. For example, in assembly they reflected on what makes them unique. In English, pupils discussed their individual qualities. One child stated, ‘I’m special because I have good manners.’ As a result, pupils are beginning to understand their own personal strengths and weaknesses.
• Pupils understand what bullying is. They told inspectors that teachers always work hard to keep them safe. Most parents who completed the online questionnaire stated that pupils are safe and looked after well at school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of the vast majority of pupils is good.
• Additional care and support is provided for pupils who need help with their behaviour. These sessions are run by experienced staff who provide tailored provision for small groups and individuals. They help pupils manage their behaviour successfully so that they, and others, can learn more effectively in lessons.
• Most pupils’ behaviour in lessons is good. Across all classrooms, pupils settle quickly and have a clear understanding of the routines and expectations for learning. They respect adults and respond well to the firm but caring approach. Pupils have a good understanding of rewards and sanctions, and always look forward to the celebration assembly. They enjoy collecting reward points and value the prize of ‘golden time’, which encourages them to behave well.
• Pupils’ attendance, including that of disadvantaged pupils, is similar to the national average. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities attend school more regularly than pupils nationally.
• Occasionally, a few pupils do not demonstrate effective self-discipline. However, staff manage this well so that individuals’ behaviour shows continuing improvement.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils make good progress from their starting points in a range of subjects. In the 2016 national assessments, the proportion of Year 2 pupils making expected progress for their age in writing and mathematics exceeded the national average. Although progress in reading was not quite as strong, the school’s current information shows most pupils now make similar good progress to that made in writing and mathematics.
• Disadvantaged pupils make similar progress to their classmates because the pupil premium is used well to support their specific needs.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve well from their starting points. This is because teachers adapt lessons and activities to better support their learning.
• Lower-attaining pupils, and those that need to catch up, make good progress. Teachers and support staff ensure that activities match their needs well, and that expectations are appropriately high. This nurturing approach provides a suitable environment for these pupils to learn well.
• Pupils make good progress in phonics. As a result, the proportion of pupils who exceed the expected standard by the end of Year 2 exceeds the national average.
• Pupils develop a love for reading. This is because the school provides good opportunities to hear pupils reading, and members of staff model effectively the joys to be gained from listening to and telling stories. The library area is enjoyed by pupils. They say they love it, ‘because it is quiet and peaceful’.
• The most able pupils achieve the standard expected for their age across a wide range of subjects. However, the proportion of these pupils who exceed expectations from their starting points is not as large as in other schools nationally, particularly for the most able pupils.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Leadership of the early years is outstanding. Children, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, get off to a flying start because staff assess their individual needs swiftly and accurately. This enables activities and learning opportunities to be tailored to children’s exact needs. As a result, children, most of whom start at low starting points, make rapid progress and are ready to join Year 1, well placed to succeed.
• Staff make regular, high-quality observations of children’s learning, and use this information well to inform planning. Across the early years, provision is highly organised and staff acutely skilled in providing pupils with challenging activities. As a result, children are highly motivated and enjoy joining in with a broad range of activities.
• Staff ensure that children make very good progress from their typically low starting points, particularly in communication and language, and in phonics. They achieve this by ensuring that there are many imaginative activities to encourage children to speak, read and write.
• The robust safeguarding systems in the school are similarly reflected in the early years. Staff ensure that rigorous processes are in place to provide the care and support needed to meet statutory welfare requirements.
• The early years classrooms are highly stimulating and provide rich and imaginative opportunities for children to learn and discover. For example, staff provided pupils with fake snow to play with to enhance their learning about snowflakes and winter. Such opportunities ensure that children are regularly enthralled by activities and develop a strong ability to sustain focus as they learn.
• Staff are adept at sparking children’s curiosity. They ask searching questions to develop children’s knowledge and understanding, and seldom miss an opportunity to get children to think. For example, while rolling toy cars down a slope, children were supported by an adult to understand and use vocabulary such as ‘measure’, ‘distance’ and ‘furthest’.
• Children demonstrate exceptionally high standards of behaviour. They work and play considerately and are kind, caring and friendly towards each other. They listen attentively and are naturally curious. As a result, they are developing well in all the areas of learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 115912 Hampshire 10024504 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 Community 4 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 215 Appropriate authority Hampshire Chair Executive headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mrs Ruth White Mr Ian Waine 02392 475 606 www.trosnantschools.co.uk adminoffice@trosnant.hants.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 19 November 2014

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Trosnant is smaller than the average infant school.
• The majority of pupils are White British. Others come from a range of different ethnic backgrounds. The proportion who speak English as an additional language is below average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is below average.
• Trosnant Infant School is federated with Trosnant Junior School.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes, spoke to pupils and looked at work in their exercise books. Some observations were conducted jointly with the head of school.
• Meetings were held with senior leaders, middle leaders, a group of pupils, three members of the governing body, and a representative from the local authority.
• Inspectors spoke to parents at the start of the day and took into account 16 responses, including written comments to the online questionnaire, Parent View. A letter handed in to school was also considered. Inspectors also analysed 18 responses to the staff questionnaire.
• A range of documents were reviewed, including the school’s development plan and self-evaluation, information about pupils’ achievement, governing body reports, local authority reports, and records concerning pupils’ attendance, behaviour and safety.

Inspection team

Dom Cook, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Graham Marshall Ofsted Inspector