St Peter's Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Increase the proportion of pupils who achieve at greater depth by embedding strategies that provide pupils with appropriate challenge.
• Refine early years assessment procedures so that leaders can check the progress that children make more rigorously.
• Improve leadership and management by sharpening middle leaders’ analysis of the impact their actions have on pupils’ outcomes.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher has a clear vision for the school and is committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for all pupils. She has established a culture where pupils are nurtured, supported and encouraged to have high expectations of themselves. As a result, pupils love coming to school and love learning. As one parent said, ‘St Peter’s is a small school with a big heart.’
• Leaders know the school well. They have correctly identified the right areas for improvement and taken appropriate actions to address these. This has had a demonstrable impact on the quality of teaching and learning and pupils’ outcomes.
• Middle leaders share the headteacher’s vision and lead their subjects with passion and enthusiasm. They set high expectations of what pupils can achieve in the foundation subjects. They have devised a curriculum that is well planned to support pupils’ progress in a wide range of skills. Middle leaders enhance good teaching through a variety of visits and visitors to enrich pupils’ experience and deepen their learning.
• Leaders have worked hard to establish a range of opportunities to involve parents and carers both in their children’s learning and in the community life of the school. For example, class blogs and vlogs keep parents informed about their children’s learning. Furthermore, events such as the ‘crafternoon’ have enabled parents to join their children in classroom learning activities. Parents value these experiences.
• Through the curriculum and the school’s values, leaders effectively promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and their understanding of fundamental British values. Leaders ensure that pupils learn about different faiths and cultures, promoting respect for and the celebration of people’s differences.
• Leaders ensure that additional support is in place to meet pupils’ needs. Funding is used effectively to support pupils with SEND and those who are disadvantaged. As a result, these groups of pupils make good progress.
• Leaders make effective use of the physical education (PE) and sports premium to promote pupils’ engagement in sport and physical activity. Consequently, pupils enjoy a wide range of games and activities during lunchtimes and PE lessons.
• Leaders know the pupils well and ensure that additional funding is used well to support learning and progress. At times, however, leaders’ use of assessment information and their own evaluations of the impact of their work are not sharp enough. Governance of the school

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders have established a positive learning culture throughout the school, in which pupils are encouraged to work with determination and resilience. As a result, pupils have positive attitudes and enjoy their learning.
• The teaching of phonics is a particular strength. Teachers have good subject knowledge and are trained well. They model learning effectively and give pupils clear instructions and feedback on how to be successful. Consequently, pupils are highly engaged in their learning and work with great concentration.
• Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. They have introduced a range of strategies to challenge pupils’ learning and deepen their understanding. For example, the ‘word of the week challenge’ exposes pupils to a wide range of rich and diverse vocabulary. It supports their understanding and use of language well. Giving pupils ‘Prove it!’ stickers in mathematics, challenges them to explain their understanding, which deepens their learning.
• There are times, however, when teachers do not pitch the level of challenge appropriately. As a result, the work set for pupils can be either too challenging or not challenging enough. When this happens, pupils’ concentration wanes and stalls progress.
• Teaching assistants provide effective support for pupils, including pupils with SEND and those who are disadvantaged. They provide pupils with helpful feedback, supporting them to check their work and make corrections and improvements. Pupils respond to this positively and take the time to improve their work.
• Mathematics is taught well. Teachers make effective use of practical and visual strategies to support pupils’ understanding. They plan a wide range of opportunities for pupils to apply their mathematical knowledge to solve problems and reason. Pupils use the strategies they are taught with increasing confidence when tackling calculations and solving problems.
• Teaching in the foundation subjects is effective and supports pupils to develop subject-specific skills, for example in art, science and computing. Consequently, pupils produce work of a good standard in these subjects.
• Occasionally, teachers do not address pupils’ misconceptions quickly enough. When this happens, pupils repeat their mistakes and do not learn from them, slowing their progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Leaders have recently focused on developing a ‘growth mindset’ philosophy to further support the school’s values of respect and determination. Pupils hold these values as important and have a good understanding of them. One pupil said, ‘You must never give up. If you do, that means you have a fixed mindset!’ However, this culture is not yet fully embedded throughout the school. Some pupils do not show resilience in their learning and, at times, are too reliant on adults’ support.
• Leaders have created a range of opportunities for pupils to take on roles of responsibility. Examples of these roles are being a representative of the school council and being a member of the ‘caring crew’. Pupils value these opportunities and take great pride in carrying out such roles.
• Leaders have set high expectations for the presentation of pupils’ work, an area for improvement from the last inspection. Consequently, pupils take great care when presenting their work, ensuring that it is neat and tidy.
• Through the curriculum and enrichment activities, leaders ensure that pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. Pupils feel safe and have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe, for example when online.
• As a result of the school’s nurturing and caring ethos, there is very little bullying. On the rare occasions that it does occur, however, pupils are confident that adults deal with it effectively.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Leaders have established effective strategies to promote good behaviour throughout the school. Pupils respond positively to these. They behave well throughout the school day and the number of behaviour incidents has reduced over time.
• Pupils are polite, friendly and welcoming. Their conduct around school is calm and orderly. Pupils line up sensibly in the dining hall for their lunch. Their polite manners and conversation during lunchtime create a positive atmosphere in the dining hall.
• Leaders have taken robust action to tackle an increasing level of absence, including persistent absence. Leaders have both challenged and supported parents to ensure that their children attend regularly and are on time for school. As a result, the overall rate of attendance has improved and is currently in line with the national average.
• While pupils have positive attitudes to their learning and work with enthusiasm and motivation, they lose concentration and become distracted at times. This occurs when learning does not match pupils’ needs well enough. As a result, their learning slows.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• As a result of good teaching, current pupils are making good progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics. This includes disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Too few pupils, however, are achieving greater depth in their learning.
• The proportions of pupils who achieved the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics, at the end of key stage 1, increased in 2018. Outcomes were above the national averages for reading and writing, and in line with the national average for mathematics. The proportions of pupils who achieved greater depth in these subjects, however, were below the national averages.
• Pupils make strong progress in the development of their knowledge and understanding of letters and the sounds that they make. They apply their phonics knowledge to reading and writing with confidence and use it to tackle the spelling of challenging words. This strength enables pupils to make good progress in their reading and writing skills.
• The progress that pupils make in writing is particularly strong. Over time, pupils develop greater stamina to write at length and become increasingly accurate in their use of punctuation. Furthermore, as a result of high expectations and good teaching, pupils develop a wide, rich vocabulary that they apply in their writing to good effect.
• Pupils make good progress in mathematics and are able to calculate with larger numbers confidently. They can apply their knowledge of number and calculation skills to solve problems of increasing complexity. Pupils are developing their confidence to explain their mathematical thinking.
• Pupils’ skills in foundation subjects, such as science, art and computing, are developed well. They make good progress in these subjects and produce work of a good standard.

Early years provision Good

• Leaders have developed a clear vision for the early years provision and are committed to ensuring that all children reach their potential. They have developed an environment that is caring and supportive, and a curriculum that meets children’s needs.
• Adults have developed warm, nurturing relationships with the children and established clear expectations and effective routines. As a result, children settle very quickly into the setting and their behaviour is good. They feel safe and happy, and enjoy coming to school.
• Teachers plan learning opportunities that engage children and effectively support the development of their knowledge and understanding. A wide range of enrichment opportunities interest the children and enable them to apply their learning in real life situations. At times, however, the activities planned do not challenge children sufficiently. When this happens, they do not make as much progress as they could.
• The teaching of phonics in early years is a particular strength. During phonics activities, children are highly engaged and very motivated to learn. They work with concentration, and try hard to apply their knowledge of letters and the sounds they make to read and write unfamiliar words.
• Teaching assistants provide effective support for children’s learning. They question children well and support them to check and improve their work. Children respond well to this support and, as a result, deepen their understanding.
• The proportions of children achieving a good level of development by the end of the early years have declined over the last three years. In 2017 and 2018, the proportions were below the national averages. As a result of good teaching, however, children make good progress from their lower-than-typical starting points during their time in early years.
• This year, leaders have introduced new procedures to assess children’s knowledge and understanding. While adults know the children well and have made use of assessments to plan learning that supports children’s needs, these procedures are in a developmental stage. Consequently, leaders have not monitored the progress that children are making with enough rigour since the new procedures were introduced in September.
• While children engage in their learning with enthusiasm and enjoyment, there are times when some children lose interest in their learning and become distracted. When this happens, their progress slows.
• Leaders and teachers have developed positive working partnerships with parents. Parents appreciate the school’s open communication and welcome the opportunities the school provides to become involved in their children’s learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 118576 Medway 10046090 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 97 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Mr Tim Rising Mrs Denise Curzon Telephone number 01634 843590 Website Email address www.stpetersinfants.co.uk/ office@stpeters.medway.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 11–12 December 2014

Information about this school

• St Peter’s Infant School is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. There are currently five classes: one Reception class, two classes in Year 1 and two classes in Year 2.
• The school has a high proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is similar to the national average.
• The school provides a breakfast club and after-school club on its site.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed pupils’ learning in all year groups and classes, across a range of subjects. All sessions were observed jointly with senior leaders. The inspector looked at the quality of pupils’ work during lessons and through a focused scrutiny of pupils’ books.
• The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, special educational needs coordinator, other leaders and staff. The inspector also met with members of the governing body, a representative from the local authority and the school’s designated safeguarding leads.
• A wide range of documentation was reviewed, including information on pupils’ attainment and progress, attendance and behaviour. Information about governance, including minutes of the governing body’s meetings, was examined. The school’s self-evaluation summary, school development plan and supporting evidence were scrutinised, together with information on the school’s website.
• The inspector met with parents at the beginning and end of the school day and took account of 18 responses to Ofsted’s online parent survey, Parent View, including 10 free-text comments.
• The inspector considered the views of 16 staff who completed Ofsted’s confidential staff survey and took account of pupils’ views in 20 responses to the pupil survey.
• The inspector listened to pupils read and talked with pupils in lessons and around the school to gather their views. She also met formally with a group of pupils.
• Pupils’ behaviour was observed in lessons, around the school, in breakfast club and during breaktime and lunchtime.
• The inspector reviewed the school’s safeguarding records and the single central record of recruitment checks on adults working with pupils.

Inspection team

Leah Goulding, lead inspector

Ofsted Inspector