High Hazels Nursery Infant Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning further, especially in key stage 1, by:
  • making sure that activities consistently meet pupils’ varying needs and abilities
  • further developing pupils’ mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills.
• Improve the outdoor spaces in early years to the same quality as the indoor spaces.
• Further strengthen the impact of leadership and management by:
  • developing the skills of middle leaders so that they effectively check that the quality of teaching in key stage 1 is consistently good and that disadvantaged boys achieve as well as other pupils
  • making sure that all groups of pupils attend school regularly.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders and governors have set out ambitious expectations for pupils. Staff and parents understand and share the vision of an excellent education in a caring environment. School leaders have a good understanding of the school’s strengths and have clearly and accurately identified the next steps to make the school even better. The school’s strategic plans are sharply focused and leaders monitor them regularly. The school is improving at a good rate.
• Leadership by the headteacher is good. She has a clear and unequivocal determination that all pupils will achieve their best. During a period of turbulence in staffing, the headteacher has ensured that staff receive high-quality training and support so that the school continues to improve. Staff acknowledge that the headteachers’ approach makes them feel highly valued and staff morale is high.
• Staff are in full agreement that the training and support they receive helps them to improve their teaching practice. They are clear about what they need to do to improve it even further. Induction for new staff, including those who are new to teaching, is thorough. An effective coaching programme allows staff to see good practice across the school and the trust and supports their own skill development.
• As a result of effective support and access to good-quality professional development from senior leaders and the trust, middle leaders have been able to develop their skills. Most are now leading their subject and phase areas successfully. However, their skills in checking the quality of teaching and reviewing the progress of different groups of pupils, such as disadvantaged pupils, are not sharp enough. This means that a few inconsistencies in the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress remain.
• Leaders have reinvigorated the curriculum. In the early years, it provides a good balance of activities and prepares children well for learning in Year 1. Children who are new to speaking English, for example, develop their communication skills well. In key stage 1, pupils follow a broad programme, with suitable emphasis on developing pupils’ skills in literacy and numeracy. This is particularly effective in reading and writing, although leaders acknowledge that there is scope to improve pupils’ numeracy development further. Learning in basic skills is complemented effectively with a number of enrichment activities, such as French, art and music and a number of `immersion days’ throughout the year. For example, the ‘Japan Day’ offered all pupils the chance to experience aspects of Japanese life through art, music, food, culture and language.
• Leaders ensure that pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is good. Pupils learn about themselves and the diverse world they live in. There is a very strong emphasis on recognising and appreciating diversity. Pupils said, ‘We learn first-hand about what makes us different but also the same.’ The school encourages pupils to understand what it means to live and contribute to life in modern Britain, resulting in high levels of respect and understanding. This permeates the school and community.
• The primary school physical education (PE) and sports funding is used very well. Pupils take part in a wide range of sporting activities, including athletics, hockey, football and the successful running club with over 50 pupils taking part. The school also uses specialist coaches to provide high-quality PE in dance, gymnastics and football, working in partnership with a local premier league football club.
• Extra government funding to support disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities is used effectively. Very strong leadership of the provision for SEN ensures that pupils’ specific needs are identified precisely and that highly effective support is put in place. Disadvantaged pupils benefit from the support they receive and as a result, many achieve as well as others. Leaders ensure that the funding for these pupils is targeted to overcome any barriers to learning, such as to improve attendance and enable disadvantaged pupils to participate in all aspects of school life. Actions to ensure that disadvantaged boys achieve as well as others are well under way.
• Effective support and challenge from the academy trust and the local authority have supported the improvements in the school. They have assisted school leaders to accurately assess the quality of teaching and learning in the school and improve pupils’ achievement.

Governance of the school

• Governance is strong. The chair has steered the governing body successfully through a recent period of unsettled staffing. As a consequence, school improvement has not lost any momentum. Under the leadership of the executive headteacher, headteacher and senior team, with the support of governors and the trust, the school is continuing to improve.
• Governors are knowledgeable and possess a good blend of relevant skills and experience. They offer thoughtful support as well as challenge to school leaders. Recent governor appointments have further strengthened governor skills.
• The governing body holds senior leaders to account and discharges its statutory responsibilities, including safeguarding, well. It has ensured that additional funding, such as the pupil premium and sports premium, is used well.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leadership of safeguarding is very good. Procedures and staff training have been strengthened, resulting in some exemplary practice.
• Robust systems are in place, which staff understand. There is a clear message that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Records are detailed and kept securely. Staff undertake regular and appropriate training and safeguarding has a high priority in school. There are updates on related issues as they arise, including those related to keeping pupils safe from radicalisation and extremism. Leaders are persistent in cases where the school is concerned for a pupil’s welfare. Effective relationships with other agencies and with parents ensure that pupils are kept safe and their welfare needs are met.
• Regular lessons and thoughtful assemblies help pupils understand how to keep themselves safe, including e-safety. Teachers and other staff are very approachable. They know their pupils well and this helps keep those in their care safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching in the early years and in key stage 1 is good. As a result, pupils make good progress, including in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Teaching is usually lively and engages pupils well. Pupils enjoy their lessons. Relationships in classrooms are good. Teachers manage pupils’ behaviour well. Adults model good behaviour and show respect towards each other and to their pupils. Pupils work well together and are very supportive of each other.
• Pupils settle to tasks quickly because they know routines well. For example, Year 2 pupils sorted their mathematics resources, shared them out and helped each other read and understand what they needed to do. Most pupils respond eagerly to adults’ questions and are keen to contribute their ideas.
• Across the school, teaching places a good emphasis on developing pupils’ reading and writing skills. In reading, a comprehensive programme of teaching letters and sounds is in place and most teachers apply this consistently. As a result, pupils read fluently and with confidence.
• In writing, teaching encourages pupils to use difficult vocabulary in order to make their writing more lively and interesting. Pupils do this well. In Year 1, for example, a pupil wrote about the `twisted, gnarled goat’s horn’ in response to the Billy Goats Gruff story. Teaching ensures that pupils receive plenty of opportunities to practise writing at length across a range of subjects and year groups.
• In mathematics, teaching provides good opportunities for pupils to develop their fluency in using number. However, in key stage 1, opportunities for pupils to use and apply their skills in reasoning and to practise solving mathematical problems are sometimes overlooked. Leaders acknowledge that more work is needed to improve the teaching of mathematics.
• Teachers and support staff work together to plan lessons that build on what pupils already know and can do. Pupils are helped to know what they need to learn in order to do well. This is presented in both written and visual forms, and this helps pupils who speak English as an additional language to engage fully in learning.
• In key stage 1, over time, the quality of teaching has been variable. Leaders have ensured that current teaching in key stage 1 has improved and overall is good. For the most part, work provided is well matched to reflect pupils’ varying needs and abilities. However, sometimes it is not well matched. Occasionally, pupils find work too difficult; others find it too easy.
• Teaching assistants make an effective contribution to pupils’ learning. Not only do they support pupils in classes, leading and modelling good learning, but they also are highly effective in helping pupils who speak English as an additional language. In the Nursery, bilingual staff effectively support children who are new to speaking English, enabling and encouraging children to understand meaning and to say words in English.
• The teaching of disadvantaged pupils, especially boys, is improving. A range of well-targeted and effective support is in place to boost their achievement. This is starting to pay off. However, gaps in their achievement compared to others are yet to be fully closed.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The importance placed on pupils’ personal development and welfare is central to, and very visible in, school. Staff and governors are conscientious in their responsibility to ensure that pupils learn in a safe and nurturing environment where they can thrive and succeed.
• Staff treat pupils with consideration and ensure that everyone feels welcome and valued. Adults model respectful and caring behaviour in lessons around school and in the way in which they engage with pupils. As a result, pupils behave similarly and are thoughtful and kind citizens. The school also recognises and celebrates the diverse community it represents. Celebration events, such as Diwali and the Lantern Parade, engage the whole community, including parents, many of whom do not speak English.
• Staff help pupils to develop as young people through lessons, assemblies and class events, visits and trips and opportunities to take on responsibility. The school’s junior ambassadors successfully organise charity events, deciding which charities to support and planning how they will fundraise.
• The school places a strong emphasis on communicating well with parents and the local community. Most parents, through the school’s own questionnaires, say that their children are happy and safe. Inspectors agree. Parents are very supportive of the school and say that they feel welcome and know about how well their child is doing because staff take time to explain things to them. One parent said: `Teachers are really helpful. My son loves reading and brings two books home every night so we can read together and it’s helping me improve my English too.’

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils behave well in lessons. They settle down quickly at the start of sessions and are usually very keen to learn. They respond swiftly to teachers’ instructions and instances of poor behaviour are very rare.
• Pupils’ behaviour around the school is good. Pupils are very polite and courteous to each other. They take turns when playing and assist each other in the playground, waiting sensibly in the dining hall and acting as dinner monitors to help tidy up.
• Pupils know what is expected of them and contribute well in lessons. They are keen to learn and know what they need to do to improve their work. Relationships with adults do well. Very occasionally, when the pace of learning slows, a few pupils lose concentration but do not disrupt others.
• The majority of pupils attend school regularly. However, some are absent too often, especially disadvantaged boys. The school has already strengthened arrangements to promote good attendance and punctuality. Attendance is checked carefully and any absences are swiftly followed up. Support is put in place to help families who struggle to get their child to school. Leaders have linked with others beyond the school to support improvement, such as with local mosques. Good attendance and punctuality at school is promoted at Friday prayers, for example. As a result, the number of pupils who are regularly absent has now decreased. Overall, attendance is close to the national average. Even so, more work is needed to ensure that all groups of pupils have good attendance, especially disadvantaged boys.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils achieve well during their time at school. They get off to a good start in the early years and continue to make good progress in their learning in key stage 1.
• By the end of Year 2, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics is broadly average. Standards are rising. Provisional results in 2017 show that the proportion of pupils exceeding the expected standards in reading, writing and in mathematics all increased and is above the national average in reading and mathematics and average in writing. This represents good progress from pupils’ previously lower starting points.
• Pupils achieve well in reading. Provisional results show that, in 2017, the proportion of pupils in Year 1 achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening check increased and is now above average. Pupils learn to read with fluency and are able to decode unfamiliar groups of letters and words. Pupils say that they enjoy reading and there are many opportunities for them to read in different subjects. They enjoy selecting books and are given suitable guidance from their teachers.
• Pupils make good progress in writing. Pupils are provided with good opportunities to use and apply their skills across the curriculum.
• Achievement in mathematics, although good, is not as strong as in reading and writing. Pupils are confident in their basic number skills. However, they are not given enough opportunities to apply their skills to develop their reasoning and problem-solving ability. This requires further improvement. Some disadvantaged boys, in particular, struggle to understand mathematical ideas and concepts.
• Different groups of pupils achieve well. Pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress. Their work is well planned. Additional help given outside of lessons is focused and timely.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make at least expected progress, and often good progress, from their starting points. The well-focused support offered by teachers and teaching assistants is very effective and ensures that most pupils succeed in their learning.
• The most able pupils make good progress overall. For the most part, pupils are challenged in their learning. This reflects in the increasing proportions of pupils reaching greater depth by the end of Year 2. Very occasionally, in some key stage 1 classes, work is too easy. This can prevent pupils from reaching their full potential.
• Pupil premium funding is used effectively to support disadvantaged pupils. As a result, most make good progress by the end of key stage 1. For many disadvantaged pupils, their attainment is similar to other pupils in school and others nationally by the end of Year 2. However, in 2017, the attainment of a small group of disadvantaged boys in Year 1, some who have SEN and/or disabilities, lagged considerably behind others in the school. Leaders have taken prompt and decisive action to ensure that disadvantaged boys achieve as well as other pupils during their time in school. Interventions in Year 1, for example, are starting to improve their attainment but there is more to do to ensure that they catch up with others.

Early years provision Good

• Children enjoy coming to the Nursery and learning gets off to a good start. The majority of children enter the provision with skills, knowledge and understanding that are much lower than typical for their age. Many do not speak English. Routines are well established and this helps children to settle quickly and well. Children are well supported by their key workers. Teaching in the Nursery is good. Activities are challenging and relevant to children’s ages and abilities. Children particularly enjoy using practical equipment linked to a learning topic. For example, children made a river to cross as part of the story ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. Key workers assess children’s learning accurately. They use this skilfully to guide children to different activities.
• As a result of effective provision, children continue to make good progress in Reception. By the end of the Reception Year, the large majority of children reach a good level of development and some do better than this. Children are well prepared for learning in Year 1.
• The curriculum is well planned and provides experiences covering all areas of learning. A strong focus on reading and writing ensures that children make good progress in developing their literacy skills. The teaching of phonics is effective and children are supported well in guided writing activities. There are also plenty of opportunities for children to develop their speaking and listening skills. Children learn to speak confidently to each other, and to adults, in full sentences. Children who are new to English make rapid gains as a result of highly effective bilingual support.
• Activities are skilfully organised and well planned. Children are provided with plenty of opportunities to use, apply and practise their communication, literacy and numeracy skills in all that they do. In one group, for example, children were asked to count the number of mince pies made for Santa. One child counted to 12 and then added: `There’s more than one, so it should be mince pies not pie.’
• Teachers have a good understanding of what children know and how they might do even better. Assessments of children’s skills, knowledge and understanding are accurate and this is used well to plan the next learning activities. Adults demonstrate good knowledge about young children’s learning and are highly skilled at asking questions to draw out children’s understanding and to extend them to think more deeply about their learning.
• Teachers create a rich and varied learning environment, especially indoors. Although there is some appropriate activity outside, it does not offer the same learning opportunities as indoors.
• Children are very engaged in what they do. Behaviour is good. Relationships between adults and children are very friendly. All the appropriate welfare and safeguarding requirements are met in the provision.
• Early years provision is very well led. Leaders are passionate about the provision and strive to improve it by working and learning from research and other provision in the academy trust. As a result, there is an ambition to ensure that all children get the best start and leaders continually refine and develop their practice.
• Leaders have ensured that the transition from early years to key stage 1 is well thought out and organised. Early years staff work very well with parents and families to provide timely support for any children requiring extra help. Additional funding is used well.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141403 Sheffield 10036382 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Nursery and infant school School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy converter 3 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 299 Appropriate authority The board of trustees Chair Headteacher Huda Ahmed Asma Maqsood-Shah Lesley Dolben (Executive Headteacher) Telephone number 01142 442189 Website Email address www.highhazelsacademy.org.uk enquiries@highhazelsacademy.org.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• High Hazels Infant Nursery School converted to become an academy school on 6 January 2015. When Ofsted last inspected its predecessor school, Greenlands Nursery and Infant School, it was judged to be good overall.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• High Hazels Nursery and Infant School is a larger than average-sized school.
• The large majority of pupils are of Asian British Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritages. A small number of pupils are from Eastern Europe. The vast majority of pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is just below the national average. The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan is below national average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors gathered a wide range of evidence during the inspection, including through observations of teaching, some of which were undertaken jointly with the headteacher and executive headteacher. Inspectors also scrutinised pupils’ work in Nursery and Reception and conducted a joint work scrutiny of key stage 1 with subject leaders for mathematics, science and writing. Inspectors also heard pupils read. Inspectors visited all classrooms, and observed registrations and specialist speech and language interventions.
• Inspectors met with school staff including the headteacher and executive headteacher, subject leaders and a group of staff, including those new to teaching. Discussions were held with governors including the chair of the governing body, teachers, pupils and parents. The lead inspector met with a representative from the academy trust and the local authority.
• Inspectors considered a wide range of documentation relating to the school’s work. This included leaders’ evaluation of school’s effectiveness, the school development plan, leaders’ records of checks on teaching and learning and information about pupils’ progress, attainment, behaviour and attendance. Inspectors examined records concerning safeguarding and governing body minutes and records of their visits.
• Inspectors noted the five responses submitted to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They considered the 248 responses from the school’s own parental questionnaires. There were no staff or pupil responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire.

Inspection team

Jen Cave, lead inspector Beverley Riddle Linda Collier Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector