John Rankin Infant and Nursery School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment so that pupils make rapid rates of progress by ensuring that:
  • the existing good practice is shared effectively across the school
  • teachers correct pupils’ misconceptions promptly to facilitate learning in a lesson
  • subject leaders plan for a wide range of opportunities to develop pupils’ fluency in literacy and numeracy across the curriculum.
• Ensure that pupils of all abilities reach their potential in mathematics by making sure that the most able pupils are challenged consistently well in lessons by giving them opportunities to tackle tasks that test their thinking skills.
• Continue to raise pupils’ achievement in phonics so that it is in line with or above that of others nationally.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The executive headteacher is very ambitious for the school and has quickly established a culture of high expectations for pupils and staff. Since his appointment last year, he has worked effectively with the experienced head of school and the assistant headteacher of the infant school, who know the school’s strengths and areas for improvement well. With effective support from the local authority, the leadership team have brought about stability in staffing and developed a very strong sense of teamwork. As a result, this is an improving school.
• Middle leaders, some of them new, have received good support from the local authority. They have developed their skills of monitoring pupils’ progress. Effective training for staff is well established. As a result, middle leaders make a strong contribution to improving the progress that pupils make.
• The curriculum promotes fundamental British values and prepares pupils for the next stage in their learning. It is extended and enriched with a broad range of exciting and interesting enrichment activities. For example, the coordinator of the early years recently organised a day trip to Beale Park for young children to see a variety of animals. Leaders are working with the staff from the federated junior school to further refine the curriculum to ensure that all subjects enhance pupils’ basic skills in literacy and numeracy.
• As a result of a review of the use of pupil premium funding, the school has, from the beginning of this year, put highly effective systems in place to improve the quality of additional support that disadvantaged pupils receive in school. Consequently, disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, are making good progress from their starting points.
• Leaders have effective systems in place to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The funding to promote sports in school is used effectively to coach teachers to develop physical education. Consequently, from a young age, pupils develop the confidence to participate in team games, such as football, with local schools.

Governance of the school

• The governing board of the federated infant and junior schools provides effective challenge and support to leaders. The highly experienced chair of governors uses his detailed knowledge of statutory requirements to steer school improvement.
• The governor responsible for safeguarding consistently monitors all aspects of health and safety. As a result, the school has gained additional funding from the local authority to strengthen site security by putting up a fence around the school boundary.
• Governors have an accurate knowledge of the school’s strengths. They have a clear and appropriate view of what the school needs to do to improve.
• Governors hold teachers to account through a robust system of managing teachers’ performance. They rigorously apply the pay policy, recognising the good performance of teachers.
• Governors are knowledgeable about the use of pupil premium and sports funding and the positive impact it is having on children’s outcomes.
• Governors keep up to speed with national changes in education, making good use of training available to them. For example, because of training governors have a detailed knowledge of safeguarding children through procedures for the safer recruitment of staff.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• All health and safety checks are carried out regularly. In order to ensure the safety of pupils, detailed risk assessments are carried out for all visits.
• All staff know that safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility as a result of up- to-date training on all aspects of safeguarding. They discuss children causing concern in staff meetings in order to support them fully.
• Leaders work well with parents, liaise effectively with external agencies and rigorously pursue any referrals to keep pupils safe. Records on safeguarding are detailed and kept in an organised manner.
• Pupils say that they feel very safe in the school. They have fire drills which they say ‘surprise us’. They learn to keep themselves safe, for example, while crossing the road or while using the computer.
• Parents responding to Parent View and all staff responding to the staff questionnaire agree that children are safe in school. One parent commented, ‘The Nursery provides excellent care. I feel confident that my child will be safe and cared for.’

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching is good and this enables pupils to make good progress in their learning. Lessons are usually well planned, based on pupils’ learning needs.
• Teaching assistants provide good support in lessons. Overall, they have well-developed skills and work with pupils who need additional support. This helps pupils make good progress in lessons.
• The teaching of reading is good. Pupils have extremely positive attitudes to reading and are keen to read. They do this with confidence and fluency. When appropriate, pupils use a range of methods to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words.
• The number of pupils reaching the expected standard in writing has been steadily rising. Last year, the standards achieved by pupils were above the national average. This has been the result of a focus by the leadership team on ensuring that pupils know how to make improvements in their written work. As pupils make progress, they learn to write neatly and use punctuation and spelling correctly in their writing.
• The teaching of mathematics is improving and teachers use a range of practical activities to enable pupils to grasp mathematical concepts. For example, in Year 2, lower-ability pupils learned to use number fractions and directions correctly, by moving their bodies clockwise or anticlockwise to make half and three-quarter turns. The most able pupils confidently used computers to plot quarter, half and three-quarter turns on grids. However, in some lessons teachers are not quick to spot and address misconceptions, resulting in slow progress for some pupils.
• The teaching of phonics is improving. Pupils are taught a range of techniques to help them read unfamiliar words. As a result, pupils’ reading is improving. Those who did not achieve the expected standard in phonics are supported well to help them catch up. Teachers are aware that they need to sustain the progress pupils have made since the previous year so that overall pupils achieve standards higher than those nationally.
• Disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good support. These pupils are given carefully planned tasks that are designed to meet their specific learning needs. Teachers monitor pupils’ progress carefully so that they know what is working well.
• Pupils are given opportunities to apply their mathematical and English skills in some subjects. For example, in science pupils are challenged to use their knowledge of mathematics to collate information on how many minibeasts are under the soil and how many in the grass. Leaders are aware that the range of opportunities for pupils to use their knowledge and understanding of English and mathematics in other subjects such as history and geography is not wide enough.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are confident and courteous at all times. Their positive attitudes make a strong contribution to the progress they make.
• Pupils enjoy being outdoors and say adults help them choose from a range of interesting activities during break and lunchtime. They play well with each other, sharing equipment and showing great regard for each other.
• Relationships between pupils and adults are good. This supports pupils’ emotional well-being in school as they know they can approach an adult if they are upset or if they get hurt.
• Pupils learn to stay safe: they say teachers talk to them about being safe on roads and about dealing with all forms of bullying.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils conduct themselves well when moving around the school in an orderly manner and show high levels of concentration while learning in lessons. They fulfil their responsibility of taking the daily register to the main office with great pride, for example.
• Majority of pupils understand the importance of attending school regularly and on time. As a result, last year whole-school attendance was above the national average and so far this year it is mainly in line with the national average.
• The very few disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities who are persistently absent have their attendance monitored regularly. The head of school liaises regularly with their families to support them. Consequently, there are small gains in the attendance and punctuality of these vulnerable pupils. The head of school recognises that more is to be done to ensure that persistent absence is below the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The new leadership has been effective in improving the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good with an increasing proportion achieving the standards expected of their age and some exceeding them.
• Standards in the early years have risen during the past two years, with a higher proportion achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception.
• In 2016, pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 1 was above average in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils made good progress from their low starting points because in 2014 their attainment at the end of Reception was below average.
• Year 2 pupils made good progress overall in reading, writing and mathematics to achieve above-average standards in 2016. However, pupils’ progress overall was weaker in mathematics than in reading and writing.
• In 2016, the proportion of pupils in Year 1 achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening check was below the national average. This was mainly because of weak teaching in Year 1. Disadvantaged pupils, although few in number, also performed less well than other pupils nationally. However, the teaching of phonics is improving and is now mainly effective. Consequently, pupils’ achievement has risen since the previous year but remains below the national average. Leaders have put additional support in place to make sure that as many pupils as possible achieve the expected standard this year.
• Leaders track the progress of pupils carefully and current information, including the work in pupils’ books, shows that pupils are making good progress overall across the school in reading, writing and mathematics. However, although progress in mathematics is improving, the most able do not make fast enough rates of progress.
• Evidence in books from subjects across the curriculum shows that pupils acquire and apply new knowledge, understanding and skills. Pupils’ progress in science has improved across the school and there is good emphasis on investigative science such as carrying out a fair test. Effective links with the federated junior school’s science coordinator are helping leaders to develop the curriculum further.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make good progress. By the time they leave, the proportion of pupils achieving higher levels is broadly average in reading and writing. The school’s strategy to provide additional support is working well. Leaders recognise that the tasks set are not always challenging enough for the most able pupils in mathematics to extend their mathematical skills.
• The disadvantaged pupils make good progress across the year groups in reading, writing and mathematics. They receive effective support by teachers and teaching assistants. Their rate of progress is sometimes better than that of their classmates. The strong provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities ensures that they make good progress from their starting points.

Early years provision Good

• Children achieve well, in Nursery and Reception and the Sunshine Club, from starting points that are mainly typical for their age. Only a few absolute beginners of English are at levels below their peers in communication and language when they start Nursery.
• In the Sunshine Club, two-year-old children are settled and secure. This is evident when they play with the older children from the Nursery next door and settle down readily during breakfast and lunch times.
• Consistently good teaching across classes enables children to do well in all areas of learning, including in learning about sounds and letters. In Reception, children wrote about their trip to Beale Park, for example, with great enthusiasm, using time words such as ‘first’ and ‘next’ which were displayed on the writing wall. They wrote their own sentences using their knowledge of letters and sounds.
• Robust systems for checking on how well the children are doing ensure that gaps between the attainment of vulnerable groups and other children are closing and they are prepared well for the next stage of learning in Year 1.
• Children behave well, feel safe and have good attitudes towards learning because members of staff have high expectations and make sure that the children are kept safe and are nurtured well.
• Children have good relationships with the adults they work with. For example, in the Nursery children played happily with an adult, throwing a dice and counting the number of spots. They gained an early awareness of ‘more or less’.
• Strong leadership and management ensure that members of staff are well trained and that work is relevant and purposeful. Good links have been established with parents, who speak highly of leadership in the early years and feel they get accurate information on the progress that their children make.

School details

Unique reference number 109826 Local authority West Berkshire Inspection number 10032832 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Infant School category Community Age range of pupils 2 to 7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 301 Appropriate authority The governing board Chair Mr Alasdair Pearson Executive Headteacher Mr Felix Rayner Telephone number 01635 42376 Website www.jri.w-berks.sch.uk Email address office@jri.w-berks.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 17–18 June 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• John Rankin Infant and Nursery School is a broadly average-sized school when compared with similar schools.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well below average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well below average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is well below average.
• No pupils attend any alternative form of education away from the school site. The school has had significant changes in staffing from the time of the previous inspection. The executive headteacher was appointed in September 2016.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed learning in all classes, nearly always accompanied by either the executive headteacher or the head of school.
• A meeting was held with a group of pupils with different abilities and backgrounds in key stage 1 to discuss their learning and views about the school.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read in Years 1 and 2 and discussed their reading with them.
• The inspectors held discussions with senior leaders, middle leaders and five governors, including the chair of the governing board. Discussions were held with a local authority representative.
• The inspectors observed the school’s work and considered a range of documents including the school’s improvement plan; checks on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment; information about pupils’ progress; attendance and behaviour records and safeguarding arrangements.
• The inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work across the curriculum to see what progress they have made.
• The inspectors took account of the 95 responses received to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. In addition, inspectors spoke to some parents in the playground at the start of the school day. The inspectors also considered the 29 questionnaires completed by staff.

Inspection team

Kusum Trikha, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Patricia Wright Ofsted Inspector Christopher Crouch Ofsted Inspector