Chester Park Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management, by:
  • ensuring that leaders, particularly subject leaders, check more precisely the progress made in different subject areas and by different groups of pupils
  • checking that improvements to teaching and learning are consistently and effectively applied across the school
  • maintaining a clear focus on the areas for improvement so that the school moves quickly towards being good.
• Urgently tackle the inconsistencies in teaching and learning, by:
  • ensuring that teachers have high expectations for pupils and that disadvantaged and the most able pupils are given the support and challenge they need to make at least good progress
  • ensuring that teachers tackle pupils’ mistakes and misunderstandings so that pupils receive the help and guidance they need to move forward with their learning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• Leaders have not secured the sustained, embedded changes needed to ensure consistently good-quality teaching and learning across the school. Their work to improve teaching and learning has been inhibited by the numerous changes to staff since the last inspection. Leaders and governors are aware that there needs to be urgency now about the pace of change so that the school moves more quickly towards being a good school.
• Some subject leaders check the progress of pupils across the school but this work is inconsistent and is not bringing about improvement for certain groups of pupils, in particular the most able and disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders use additional funding to secure extra teaching and support for disadvantaged pupils. Disadvantaged pupils attend extra lunchtime clubs to learn new skills and become ‘experts’ in order to teach these skills to their classmates. This extra teaching and support is starting to help some pupils catch up but has not yet had a sustained, consistent impact across the school.
• Additional funding for sports is used to extend physical activity for pupils in after-school clubs, at lunchtimes and during the school day. Lunchtime staff encourage pupils to be active through a variety of fun games and activities. An ‘Olympic’ week introduced pupils to a wide range of new athletic sports. Children in the early years access a forest area throughout the year, which supports their physical development. Leaders ensure that the additional funding provides the extra staff and training needed for these activities, although they do not consistently check the difference this is making to pupils’ progress.
• Leaders ensure that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and pupils who speak English as an additional language receive carefully targeted extra teaching. Leaders carefully check the progress that these pupils make and they adapt the level of support if needed. This helps these pupils to make good progress from their starting points.
• The acting headteacher leads the school with confidence and drive. The newly formed staff team share her drive to improve and work effectively together. They use the professional development offered to improve their work. They also share their own practice with each other. The balance of professional development and learning from one another is starting to improve the quality of teaching. Morale is high and there is a noticeable determination to move teaching and learning forward. Newly qualified teachers are well supported by leaders and this is giving them a positive start to their teaching careers.
• Leaders have ensured that there is a broad and interesting curriculum, which motivates pupils to learn about the world around them. The focus is to provide experiences, which children can learn from first-hand. For example, pupils went to Bristol Zoo when learning about the rainforest. The variety of cultures within school is celebrated through events such as visiting African drummers. The curriculum contributes well to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• Leaders ensure that pupils develop strong British values such as respect and tolerance. The diverse cultures within the school are widely celebrated. Pupils care for each other and look out for one another. Everyone is valued here.
• Leaders and governors appreciate the support that the local authority is providing. A national leader of education provides support both to the leadership and to teaching and learning across the school. Additional leadership support has also been arranged to help the deputy headteacher fulfil her current role, as acting headteacher. This support is quite recent but is starting to make a difference. There are recent improvements to the quality of teaching in phonics and to standards in pupils’ books, particularly in mathematics.

Governance of the school

Safeguarding

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement. Teachers’ expectations across the school are still too low. Pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and the most able, can achieve more. They work hard at their activities and want to learn but, too often, the activities do not stretch them sufficiently. Too often, teachers do not help pupils to deepen or further their thinking. This limits progress.
• Teachers have recently introduced additional challenges during lessons for pupils. Some pupils use these challenges during lessons to extend their learning. The approach is not consistent across the school, however, and therefore is not making a significant difference to pupils’ outcomes.
• There have been recent changes to improve the teaching of mathematics to ensure that pupils know basic number facts well and can use these facts to solve mathematical problems. Extra teaching sessions each day give time for pupils to apply mathematical concepts to other areas of learning. Some teachers need more support to be fully secure in this aspect of the teaching of mathematics.
• Leaders have relaunched the teaching and learning of phonics in order to secure rapid progress in phonics for more pupils. The changes are very recent and it is too soon to see the impact in pupils’ work. From listening to pupils read, inspectors found that pupils use their phonic knowledge appropriately to work out unknown words but in their books, pupils are less secure in using phonics to support their writing.
• Teachers do not assess carefully enough the progress that pupils are making. The result of this is that pupils continue to make errors and they do not have the teaching they need to move their learning forward. This slows their progress.
• Teachers support pupils’ speaking skills effectively. There is a consistent approach and an expectation that pupils speak in sentences and provide full answers. As a result, pupils are increasingly confident to talk in front of their classmates and they are forming a strong sense of what a sentence is.
• Teaching enables pupils to write at length in a range of subject areas and they do this with enjoyment, particularly following the interesting activities from the curriculum activities and visits.
• Teaching assistants support learning effectively, especially for individual pupils who need extra help and guidance. Targeted teaching helps pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to make good 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 introduced a consistent approach, naming certain key behaviours to help pupils understand how to become successful learners. Pupils can describe these; they say, ‘if we don’t give up, if we persevere, we will do well.’
• Staff provide a strong nurturing environment for pupils. Pupils can name the person they would talk to if they have any problems. Pupils from a nearby junior school helpfully support play in the playground at lunchtimes as ‘playground pals’. A range of lunchtime clubs give extra support to pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils. Because of this additional support, pupils are happy and secure. Parents agree that their children are well looked after and enjoy school.
• Pupils have regular reminders in lessons and assemblies about keeping safe online. Pupils feel safe in school and a typical comment was, ‘bullying is when people are really mean all the time. It doesn’t really happen here.’ They know about healthy food choices and take part in a wide variety of physical activities.

Behaviour

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching and learning is inconsistent across the school and there are similar inconsistencies in standards of work in books and outcomes for pupils. Standards in some Year 2 mathematics books, for example, show that some pupils are making good progress from their starting points and can successfully attempt problem-solving activities. However, too many of the most able pupils undertake activities that are not extending them and they are not making the progress they could.
• In writing, there are similar inconsistencies. There are some good examples of pupils applying their skills to write across the curriculum. However, there are also pupils who have weak writing skills with underdeveloped letter formation and spelling. This is slowing their progress.
• In Year 1, outcomes in the phonics screening check have been below the national average for the past three years and disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes have declined over that time. Disadvantaged pupils have not caught up by the end of Year 2. Current changes to the teaching of phonics, to ensure that more pupils reach the expected levels, have happened recently but it is too soon to see the impact of these changes.
• By the end of Reception, the number of children achieving good levels of development has improved over the past three years, although this is still just below the national average. The gaps between boys and girls have lessened, particularly in reading, where boys and girls achieve similar outcomes.
• In 2016, the proportion of pupils in Year 2 who reached at least expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics was at the national average. However, disadvantaged pupils did less well in these subjects, particularly in writing and mathematics.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are provided with support that is matched to their needs. Their progress is carefully checked and necessary changes made quickly to ensure that they make good progress from their starting points.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the Reception classes is inconsistent. Teachers do not consistently assess what children already know, can do and understand in order to plan challenging, motivating activities that will support good progress. Where the activities are not securely matched to the needs of the children, children lose their attention and look for other things to do.
• Leaders are aware of these inconsistencies and have support and professional development for teachers in place to develop the quality and teaching.
• Children come into the Reception classes with knowledge and skills that are generally below those typical for their age. As they leave the Reception, the number of children who have reached a good level of development, meaning they are prepared well for learning in Year 1, is just below the national average.
• Where there is effective teaching, children have activities that match their interests and needs. Children have support to develop their learning and adults intervene well to ensure that children make progress. Disadvantaged children have effective extra support from the adults in the Reception classes and as a result make good progress from their starting points.
• Children in the Reception classes are settled and they understand the routines. In the outside space, children develop their physical skills as well as developing learning in other areas too, such as imaginative play.
• Parents are very positive about the support and help they receive from the school as their children start school and overwhelmingly say that their children are happy and they want to come to school.
• Safeguarding is effective and welfare requirements are fully met.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 108921 Bristol City of 10024924 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 5 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 208 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Acting headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Caroline Hopes Susan Tyte Madeleine Orr 0117 3773047 www.chesterpark-inf.bristol.sch.uk chesterparki@bristol-schools.uk Date of previous inspection 22–23 January 2015

Information about this school

• The deputy headteacher has taken on the role of headteacher during the headteacher’s absence. An additional leader has been brought in by the local authority to provide extra support for leadership during this period. A national leader of education is also providing support to the leadership team.
• There have been considerable staff changes since the last inspection, including at senior level. A number of new teachers have joined the school during this school year.
• The school is slightly smaller than the average-sized infant school.
• Children in the early years are taught full time in the Reception classes.
• Just under half of pupils are White British and the others are from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly average.
• The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is broadly average.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes, often jointly with senior leaders.
• Inspectors, together with senior leaders, looked at a range of pupils’ books.
• A number of documents were scrutinised including safeguarding documents, details of the leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance, assessment and curriculum information and the improvement plan.
• Meetings were held with senior leaders, other school staff, five members of the governing body, a representative from the local authority and the national leader of education who is supporting the school.
• Discussions took place with pupils throughout the inspection, including during playtimes and lunchtimes. An inspector listened to some pupils read. There were 32 responses from pupils to the online questionnaire and these were considered.
• A meeting was held with a group of newly qualified teachers. The responses given by 10 staff to the online questionnaire were also taken into consideration.
• Inspectors spoke to parents during the inspection to gather their views and the 32 responses to the Parent View online questionnaire were also taken into account.

Inspection team

Tonwen Empson, lead inspector Faye Heming Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector