Field Place Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • there is a rigorous approach to monitoring the quality of teaching and learning that leads to rapid improvement
  • the school’s curriculum consistently enables pupils in each year group to make the progress of which they are capable
  • teaching and learning time is maximised so that there is more urgency to the school day
  • governors are given accurate information about the quality of teaching and learning to help them to challenge leaders about how well the school is improving.
• Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good by:
  • ensuring that teachers use assessment information effectively to set work that allows pupils to make good progress throughout the school
  • giving all pupils regular opportunities to reason and solve problems in mathematics
  • making stronger links between reading and writing activities to deepen pupils’ learning.
• Improve provision in the early years by:
  • raising the expectations of what children can and should achieve across all areas of learning
  • providing activities that challenge children effectively from their respective starting points
  • ensuring that leaders have an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching and its impact on children’s achievement.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders and managers have an overgenerous view of the quality of teaching, which has remained too variable since the last inspection. Leaders do not use information from their monitoring effectively to generate precise and rapid actions that will have an impact on pupils’ learning.
• The curriculum for English and mathematics does not meet the needs of all pupils as they move through the school. Pupils do not systematically gain the skills, knowledge and understanding that they need. This results in pupils making less than good rates of progress. Rates of progress are also too variable between groups of pupils.
• Pupil premium funding is used to provide individual teaching sessions for disadvantaged pupils who need to catch up. Extra teaching enabled recent pupils to make good progress. However, the funding is not used effectively to ensure that disadvantaged and other pupils receive consistently good classroom teaching.
• Leaders have recently adapted the wider curriculum to engage pupils by making topics more interesting and innovative. Pupils enjoy a wide range of experiences, but they do not have enough opportunities to deepen their understanding of English and mathematics.
• Senior leaders have accurately identified strengths and weaknesses in teaching. However, their actions do not focus with enough precision on the changes needed to improve the quality of teaching across the school.
• There have been a number of changes of middle and subject leaders and some are new into post. These new leaders are not supported well enough to develop the skills they need to carry out their roles effectively. It is not clear how subject leaders are held to account for pupils’ outcomes.
• Additional monies for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are used to provide extra teaching and classroom support to enhance pupils’ learning. The school’s special support centre for pupils who have speech, language and communication needs brings expertise that benefits pupils from the locality and within the school. The development of pupils’ talk is a strong feature for these pupils’ learning.
• The school uses the primary sports premium effectively to promote regular activity and increase pupils’ participation. The funding provides a sports apprentice to give specialist tuition for pupils and support staff training. Governors are aware that they do not evaluate the use of funding to check if it is making a difference to pupils’ outcomes. They plan to do so during the current academic year.
• School leaders have begun to track the progress that pupils make across some subjects of the broader curriculum, such as science and art. The monitoring of progress in other subjects is at an early stage.
• Almost all parents and all staff who spoke to inspectors support the dedicated way in which the headteacher has improved the school since her appointment. The vast majority of parents say that communications are effective. Staff appreciate the training they receive from school leaders and from colleagues within the local authority.
• The school’s extra-curricular provision includes a range of clubs, such as choir and rugby. These are highly appreciated by parents and pupils. A recently introduced breakfast club supports a calm start to the day for those pupils who attend.
• Leaders ensure that pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is carefully woven through the curriculum. Pupils learn about other people from different cultures and faiths and they have opportunities to reflect on the awe and wonder of the world around them, including through visits. Pupils learn to appreciate the work of famous artists and to create their own artwork in a similar style.
• Fundamental British values are promoted skilfully. Pupils learn how democracy works by taking part in elections, for example, for their school council. They understand the rule of law through the school’s three simple rules – ‘Be ready, be kind, be safe’. Work in topics contributes to pupils’ understanding of the importance of tolerance. For example, pupils in Year 2 learned to appreciate how their own backgrounds and differences contribute positively to the country as a whole.

Governance of the school

• Following the previous inspection governors reviewed the way in which they work. This supported them to put clear structures in place to carry out their role. They know the school’s strengths, have ambitions for the school and contribute to school improvement planning. They are determined that the school’s most able pupils must achieve better than they currently do. Governors are unaware of some of the school’s weaknesses.
• Governors attend training in order to fulfil their role effectively. The expertise they bring and their understanding of the school’s work enable them to maintain a strategic overview of safeguarding and of the school’s finances. They contribute to the school’s vision and make decisions in the interests of pupils. For example, at the end of each meeting, governors ask themselves in what way their meeting has helped pupils.
• Governors have developed the skills to hold school leaders to account for improving the school. They ask challenging questions and follow these through, often by making visits to the school. This aspect of governors’ work is not fully effective because some of the information they receive about the quality of teaching and learning is inaccurate.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have implemented a strong culture of safeguarding throughout the school. There is a high standard of nurture and care for pupils at all times of the day. Leaders ensure that all procedures are up to date and checks on adults working in school are thorough. All statutory safety requirements are met, including in the early years. Regular and comprehensive training takes place to ensure that all staff and governors are kept up to date.
• Arrangements to support vulnerable pupils and families are highly effective. Pupils who have particular needs are supported in school by dedicated and skilled staff. Referrals for pupils and families who require early help are pursued rigorously. Relationships with parents and external agencies are effective because adults work collaboratively to put pupils’ needs first.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching and learning are too variable across the school and across subjects. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not high enough. Teachers do not build consistently on pupils’ prior learning or maintain a clear focus on what learning should be like for most pupils. At the start of the autumn term, leaders identified half-termly expectations of pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics. It is too early to see whether this is supporting good progress for all pupils.
• Teachers plan lessons diligently but they do not use classroom learning time well. On occasions, pupils do not understand what they have to. When teachers work with small groups of pupils to meet their specific needs, the other pupils in the class are not always given sufficiently challenging tasks to do. In Year 1, some groups of pupils worked in class to develop number skills while others engaged in play activities that were poorly linked to their learning.
• Leaders have rightly begun to improve the curriculum for mathematics. There are too few opportunities for pupils to deepen their knowledge and understanding. Only the most able pupils are given sufficient opportunities to use mathematical reasoning and solve problems. Pupils do not typically meet challenges or learn from their mistakes in mathematics.
• While teachers want to develop pupils as writers, links across the specific skills of phonics, reading and writing are not established throughout the school. Pupils’ misconceptions are not tackled in a timely way. This means that too much learning has to take place in Year 2.
• Pupils generally respond well to teachers. However, the match of work to pupils’ previous learning and teachers’ low expectations led to poor learning behaviour in a few classrooms. Teachers do not consistently expect pupils to work hard. Consequently, pupils find thinking, such as problem-solving, difficult.
• Teachers support teaching assistants to contribute positively to pupils’ learning, particularly for the least able pupils, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Teaching assistants asked helpful questions that enabled these pupils to talk about and develop an understanding of their work.
• Pupils in the school’s special support centre have small-group and individual support that progressively builds their communication, language and literacy skills. They learn to develop independence by being included in a mainstream class for some of their lessons.
• Pupils’ workbooks show that they are given feedback in line with the school’s assessment policy. In the best examples, feedback helps pupils to improve their mathematical understanding. In the recent Year 2 pupils’ workbooks, it was clear that pupils had acted on some helpful and timely comments from their teacher.
• Leaders accurately identify gaps in the basic skills of pupils who are disadvantaged. They have implemented a timetable of additional teaching that is making a positive difference to pupils’ learning. Consequently, more disadvantaged pupils are catching up to the standards expected by the end of the key stage.
• Parents report that they receive valuable information about their child’s progress that helps them understand what their child needs to do to improve.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. The school nurtures its pupils well. Pupils relate well to each other, as well as to the adults who support them. They are curious about visitors and politely asked inspectors their names and told them what they like about their school.
• Pupils understand the importance of the school’s rules and they do their best to keep to them. They help each other in class and outside. Pupils can describe what it takes to be a good friend.
• The school is inclusive, supporting all pupils and families in its community by making them feel welcome. Teachers listen to pupils with interest, which helps pupils to develop confidence.
• Pupils learn to consider moral issues in the community, for example by supporting charities, or by providing gifts for the homeless through the school’s harvest festival celebration.
• Pupils also learn how to keep themselves fit, healthy and safe. Pupils understand the importance of keeping safe when they are online. Lunchtime staff encourage pupils to eat healthily and help pupils to play collaboratively and enjoy the school’s outdoor spaces.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. The school is orderly and pupils move around quietly and calmly, keeping to the rules.
• The school has enhanced its systems to follow up pupils’ absence. Staff are rigorous in following up any absence and they do their utmost to work proactively with families where there are difficulties. As a result, attendance is improving and persistent absence is declining.
• Learning mentors and a play therapist help to meet the needs of a small minority of pupils who have social, emotional and mental health difficulties. This has led to a reduction in serious incidents and exclusions. Staff skilfully manage the needs of emotionally vulnerable pupils so they are increasingly able to make academic progress. As a result of the support they are given, these pupils learn to manage their feelings and to enjoy mutually caring relationships.
• Pupils say that bullying is rare but if there is any incident, they can report it to an adult who will deal with it quickly.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• The school’s provisional results for 2017 show that pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 1 has risen so that it is in line with other schools nationally. This represents an improvement from the previous year in both reading and writing outcomes. However, as a result of inconsistencies in the quality of teaching, pupils make uneven progress across the school. The most able pupils do not make rapid enough progress to learn at greater depth, especially in writing and mathematics.
• Teachers’ expectations of what most pupils can achieve are too low and there is a lack of rigour about the progress that pupils are expected to make as they move through both the early years and key stage 1. Consequently, pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding do not develop as quickly as they should.
• Pupils’ workbooks show that standards on entry to Year 1 are low for the majority of pupils and they do not manage work that is at the level expected for their age. Standards remain low at the start of Year 2. This means that pupils have to work very hard to catch up and some do not manage to do so.
• The proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standard in phonics increased in 2016 to match the national average. The provisional results for 2017 show that this improvement has been maintained.
• The school’s own tracking information shows that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those who have an education, health and social care plan, make progress that is at a similar rate to that of all other pupils.
• An increasing number of pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education in Year 3, as a result of their improved literacy skills. 


Early years provision Requires improvement

• Outcomes at the end of the Reception Year remain below the national average. Historic information shows there are differences between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils. Leaders have identified this difference as an area for improvement.
• Most children enter the early years with skills that are below those typical for their age. However, in Reception, teachers do not use information from checks on children’s understanding precisely to identify the next steps in learning. Teachers’ expectations of children’s achievement are too low and adults do not provide sufficient challenge for all pupils from their respective starting points.
• School leaders do not evaluate closely enough the difference that teaching makes to children’s progress across all areas of learning. Consequently, children are not well prepared for transfer into Year 1.
• Teachers explicitly prioritise children’s communication skills and their personal and social development within the play-led curriculum. Adults also focus on children’s skills such as counting, phonics, speaking and listening. However, adults do not provide enough opportunities for children who enter Reception at levels that are typical for their age to make rapid progress in these skills.
• Children concentrate well on their chosen activities in their safe, caring and well-resourced environment. They enjoy school and develop positive attitudes. Children have a lot of space in which to learn and play, both indoors and outdoors. Adults are readily on hand to support learning. Relationships are warm. Adults understand children’s likes and dislikes, as well as their social and emotional needs.
• In the Nursery, adults encourage children’s curiosity through effective questioning. Through supported play, children build upon the early learning skills they bring to school.
• The early years leader is new to her role and enthusiastic to develop her leadership skills. She has made a strong start in promoting relationships with parents and involving them in their child’s learning and development. Reception parents were appreciative of how well their children have settled into school.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 125864 West Sussex 10036939 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 3 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 330 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Richard Matthews Theresa Alford 01903 700234 www.fieldplace.w-sussex.sch.uk office@fieldplace.org.uk Date of previous inspection 7–8 July 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is larger than most infant schools, with 11 classes. The school has places for 52 nursery-age children. There is a 14-place special resource provision (called the special support centre) for pupils who have speech, language and communication needs. Pupils who attend the centre are referred by the local authority through their education, health and social care plans.
• A new chair of governors was elected at the beginning of the current academic year.
• The current headteacher was appointed at the start of the summer term 2016. The deputy headteacher was appointed shortly afterwards. Both were former senior leaders within the school.
• There have been a number of periods of staff absence resulting in some ongoing turbulence for the school. The special educational needs coordinator, English subject leader and a number of other staff, including in the school’s Nursery, were absent during the inspection. The mathematics subject leader, Year 2 coordinator and early years leader are new to their posts this term.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is higher than that which is typical in other primary schools.
• Most pupils who attend the school are from White British backgrounds.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is broadly average when compared to primary schools nationally.
• The school’s population is more stable than that experienced by other primary schools.
• During the academic year 2016/17, the school was supported by the Wolstonbury Teaching Alliance through a grant that supported improvements to the teaching of phonics and reading.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 19 lessons, and undertook two focused learning walks to pursue particular enquiries. Almost all visits were carried out with the headteacher or deputy headteacher.
• The inspection included a visit to the school’s breakfast club.
• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour on entry to, and exit from, school, at break and lunchtimes, as well as during a singing assembly.
• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and other teachers with leadership responsibilities. They talked to a mixed group of staff, met three members of the governing body and discussed the local authority’s view of the school during a meeting with the link adviser.
• Inspectors took into account the school’s published information for the current and previous academic years, and the information on its website. They examined a wide range of school documents, including information relating to safeguarding, attendance, school improvement and planning. Inspectors reviewed leaders’ monitoring information, minutes of governors’ meetings and the school’s own assessment information.
• The team of inspectors scrutinised a sample of current pupils’ books in English and mathematics, and examined pupils’ workbooks when in classrooms. They also considered a large amount of pupils’ work from the previous academic year.
• Inspectors heard pupils reading in Years 1 and 2 and observed the teaching of phonics.
• To gain their views of the school and assess their attitudes towards learning, inspectors talked informally to pupils in lessons and outside. They also talked to 39 parents at the school gate. In addition, inspectors considered 62 responses to Parent View, including 30 written responses.

Inspection team

Linda Jacobs, lead inspector Becky Greenhalgh Neil Small

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector