Lound Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching to be consistently good or outstanding, so that a greater proportion of pupils make rapid progress and achieve well, by:
  • providing challenging work pitched at the right level for all pupils
  • planning and teaching lessons which deepen all pupils’ understanding across all subjects
  • adopting a more consistent approach to the teaching of spelling and joined handwriting
  • further developing pupils’ reading skills so that they can read fluently.
• Improve the quality of provision in the early years so that:
  • parents’ contributions to their child’s learning journey inform teachers’ assessment and lesson planning
  • classroom and outside activities chosen by the children have a clear purpose for learning and challenge their thinking.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher and her senior leaders have established a positive climate for learning for pupils and staff. Their uncompromising approach to improving outcomes for pupils has been highly effective in developing reflective practitioners dedicated to improving their practice. Leaders adopt a rigorous and relentless approach to monitoring and evaluating their work and have an accurate view of the school’s effectiveness. The school development plan sets out a path to improvement, with ambitious but realistic targets for pupils’ achievement.
• A culture of developing and supporting staff to take on leadership roles has strengthened the school’s ability to drive improvement. As a result, outcomes in the early years, phonics at the end of year 1 and achievement of the most able at the end of key stage 1 are now above the national average.
• Mentoring and well-targeted professional training provided through the academy and joint working with other partners have been instrumental in improving the capacity of governors and the quality of teaching and pupil achievement.
• Since the school’s previous inspection, leaders have rigorously addressed the points for improvement. Improvements in the quality of teaching have eradicated any significant difference in the achievement between boys and girls. Leaders have also improved rates of progress for the disadvantaged pupils and better meet the needs of the most able pupils.
• The school has a robust approach to performance management. Performance management targets are clearly linked to pupils’ progress and attainment. Support has been given where teaching is weaker, and this has had a marked impact on improving the quality of teaching.
• There has been a sharp focus on the teaching of reading. The introduction of new books and e-books, which the pupils can access at home, has resulted in pupils’ increased enjoyment of reading. The improvement in the teaching of phonics has been highly effective in providing pupils with the early skills in reading. Teaching pupils to read fluently, retrieve information and discuss a text with confidence is still a ‘work in progress’.
• In lessons, the most able pupils are given stepped challenges in literacy and mathematics. Most of the time, this ensures that work is pitched at the right level. Occasionally, these ‘challenges’ do not provide real progression.
• Pupils’ progress in writing is good. However, there has been insufficient emphasis on implementing a whole-school approach to spelling or on when pupils should join their handwriting. This is preventing pupils from reaching higher standards in writing.
• Leaders have used the pupil premium funding to provide extra teaching and welfare support for disadvantaged pupils, some of whom also have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The use of this focused support helps these pupils to make good progress and to achieve well.
• Funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used effectively. The leader has a good oversight in monitoring the progress of this group of pupils. She assists in planning intervention work with the class teachers and teaching assistants. As a result, pupils make good progress and achieve well.
• The school has adopted an engaging way to plan the curriculum so that pupils are interested in the topics that they are learning. While the curriculum provides breadth across a full range of subjects and these are fully covered during the year, pupils do not always get a balance of different subjects over a shorter period. Some of the subjects are not always taught in sufficient depth to enable pupils to excel by broadening their knowledge and deepening their understanding in a subject.
• Lessons, assemblies and visits promote effective reflection on faith, culture and personal choices. Pupils show respect for people from a range of backgrounds and faiths and, for their age, they have a good understanding of British values.
• Pupils have a good understanding of the importance of rules and the school’s rewards for appropriate behaviour and attitudes to learning. They can relate the principles of democracy to ‘fairness’ and the procedures in school for appointing the school council. They are well prepared for the next stage in their education and life in modern Britain.
• The school has created a safe culture to take care of its pupils and so pupils feel protected. All staff understand their obligations in respect of safeguarding, and this is emphasised throughout the school’s work and in lessons. As a result, pupils feel safe in school and nearly all parents agreed that they are.
• The primary schools’ sports funding has been used effectively to pay for specialist coaches with a high level of expertise. As a result, teachers have improved their skills to deliver good-quality physical education lessons. The school offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities to all ages, so that pupils can participate in more sports and represent the school in competitions.
• The school is still working to improve its communication with parents and they value the contact through social media. Nearly all parents who responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, would recommend the school to others, and all parents agreed that their child is happy in school.

Governance of the school

• Governance of the school is good.
• The governing body has developed a high level of expertise. It has a sharp focus on holding the senior leaders to account and challenging the headteacher.
• Governors have a good understanding of the quality of teaching across the school and monitor the school’s work through regular, focused visits. These are well recorded and the evaluation provides good-quality information by which to judge the school’s effectiveness.
• Governors understand that the progress that pupils make should be the main driver when awarding pay increases for teachers and the headteacher. They are fully prepared to challenge underperformance when teaching has not been good and to provide scope for teachers and leaders to develop professionally.
• Governors can talk about how well different groups of pupils are doing across the school and where improvements need to be made. Governors are well informed about when the progress of pupils is not as good as it should be, and can therefore influence the school to eradicate any barriers that stop these pupils from learning.
• Governors are aware that disadvantaged pupils have not always achieved as well as other pupils and can explain the support and resources that are now in place for this group, which are starting to have an impact.
• Governors are fully conversant with their statutory duties for safeguarding, ensuring that staff are recruited with careful consideration.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Pupils’ behaviour is good. There is a comprehensive and effective system in school for monitoring pupils’ behaviour.
• Leaders and staff follow correct procedures to ensure that pupils are safe. They take appropriate action when necessary. They refer to, and communicate with, outside agencies and follow up concerns.
• Teachers are aware of the school’s procedures for safeguarding.
• All members of staff are checked, before they are employed, for their suitability to work with children. Accurate and up-to-date records of these checks are maintained.
• Pupils said that they feel safe. The school keeps a range of risk assessments to keep both pupils and staff safe.
• Rates of attendance are good. The school has taken effective actions to improve the attendance and reduce persistent absence of the disadvantaged pupils.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers have benefited from some well-focussed training to improve their teaching, which is now good. Pupils concentrate in lessons because they understand the expectations for behaviour and conduct. When pupils are working in a group or in pairs, their discussion is meaningful and focused on their work, so that they gain understanding and knowledge from each other as well as from the teacher.
• Teachers plan lessons which engage the pupils’ interests and motivate them to learn. In a geography lesson, pupils were excitedly making an island with collage materials, explaining in some detail the physical and human features of an island.
• The teaching of mathematics is a strength because it is clearly structured. Pupils tackle simple mathematical problems and apply their basic number skills. They can explain, and sometimes record, their mathematical reasoning and show some mastery of the subject.
• The teaching of phonics is good. Pupils apply their phonic knowledge to decode words and spell simple and complex words. They enjoy reading and are beginning to form opinions about different authors and to express a preference for stories and information books. Some less-able pupils do not always read fluently and/or are not confident to discuss a book in depth.
• Teachers use regular assessment in mathematics and English to plan lessons and fill in gaps in pupils’ learning. Recent training on questioning is helping all adults to use this as a good method of consolidating and deepening pupils’ understanding and moving learning on. This is less well used in subjects other than mathematics and English.
• In some subjects, such as science or geography, teachers have not given sufficient thought to planning how a lesson might develop, so they are not always fully equipped with the subject knowledge to challenge pupils’ thinking. This means that pupils’ understanding is not as well developed as it could be.
• Since the school’s previous inspection, there has been a focus on the achievement of the most able pupils, who are now making good progress. In lessons, pupils are given ‘chilli challenges’, which are tasks at various levels of difficulty. These have been largely successful in providing real challenge for the most able pupils. On occasions, these do not always provide clear progression, and sometimes pupils are tackling a ‘challenge’ that is too easy or too hard for them.
• Pupils’ books show that they can write across a range of subjects, using the skills that they have learned in literacy lessons.
• Staff do not have consistent expectations of pupils’ spelling. When pupils make mistakes with technical vocabulary, in subjects such as mathematics, and words that cannot be spelt phonetically, these are not always corrected.
• Pupils’ work is well presented and pupils develop neat handwriting from an early age.
• Teachers do not have consistent expectations about when pupils should join their letters.

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 is valued by parents and pupils as a caring school and particularly for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Pupils have been taught how to manage risk, which equips them for the outside world. Pupils understand the risks of using the internet and, for their age, have an appropriate understanding of the potential risks of social media.
• Pupils have a good understanding of bullying, including bullying related to race and gender and how it makes a victim feel. Pupils said that bullying rarely happens, but ‘sometimes people do make the wrong choices.’
• The school provides good opportunities for pupils to take responsibility in roles such as serving on the school council. They attach importance to gaining credits for good behaviour and work through the school’s merit system. They are keen to have a ride in the golden chariot as they are proudly wheeled around the school to celebrate their achievement of ‘making the right choice’.
• The school’s ethos promotes effective reflection on faith, culture and personal choices. Pupils show age-appropriate consideration of different beliefs and life choices and firmly believe that differences ‘are OK’. They demonstrate a good understanding of British values, which prepares them well for life in modern Britain.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils’ confidence as learners is evident. They are keen to engage in conversation and express an opinion. In lessons, pupils concentrate well, listen attentively to teachers and each other and are motivated to do their work.
• Pupils take a pride in their school and the high-quality work displayed, which provides an attractive environment in which to learn. They play cooperatively in the playground and move around the school in an orderly way.
• The attendance of pupils is good. The school’s focus on attendance has been effective in improving the attendance of disadvantaged pupils. While pupils understand the importance of attending school regularly unless they are ill, their understanding that holidays should not be taken during term time is less secure.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The number of pupils achieving the expected standard in phonics at the end of Year 1 has been consistently above the national average for the last three years. This is because the teaching of phonics is securely established in Year 1.
• In 2016, the achievement of disadvantaged pupils in phonics at the end of Year 1 was also above the national average. The good support for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities ensures that they also achieve well in phonics.
• Improvements in the quality of teaching in key stage 1 mean that pupils are now building on the solid foundations of good outcomes in the early years and phonics in Year 1.
• At the end of key stage 1, pupils achieve well from their starting points in mathematics and writing. The progress of the most able pupils achieving at greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics is above the national average.
• Pupils enter key stage 1 with good skills in decoding words and they said that they enjoy reading. Some less-able pupils who are still developing their fluency lack the confidence to talk about what they are reading or to explain the text.
• Pupils’ books show that they are developing good skills as writers and apply the skills they have learned in literacy lessons when writing in their topic work. For example, they write instructions in design and technology and recounts in history.
• Pupils present their work well and their handwriting is neat. Pupils’ spelling of words that they can sound out is good, and they make plausible attempts at phonetic spelling. Irregular words and technical vocabulary are sometimes spelt incorrectly even when such words are clearly displayed in the classroom.
• Pupils’ progress in mathematics has accelerated and is now good, since the school adopted a new approach to the teaching of this subject. It is one of the subjects which pupils said is their favourite, and this is reflected in the good-quality work in their books.
• The achievement of the disadvantaged pupils is now good, and the difference between the achievement of this group and others nationally is diminishing. Work in books and hearing this group of pupils read show that the school’s support and focused group work is having a positive impact and accelerating their progress in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is effective. As a result, this group of pupils make good progress, in line with their peers, in reading and writing, and faster progress in mathematics by the time they are reaching the end of Year 2.
• Pupils’ outcomes across the foundation subjects are variable. Displays and school planning show that a good range of curriculum subjects have been covered in each year group. However, pupils’ topic books show limited in-depth work or challenge, in subjects such as geography and science. Although there is some high-quality art work around the school, pupils’ sketchbooks show that they have not had many opportunities to develop their artistic skills.

Early years provision Good

• Children enter the early years with skills and knowledge broadly typical of their age. The improvement in the quality of teaching now means that children make good progress. The proportion achieving a good level of development was above the national average in 2016. School evidence shows that a similarly high proportion is on track to achieve a good level of development this year. By the time they leave the Reception class, children are well equipped for key stage 1.
• Children have good relationships with adults as well as with each other. They have good communication skills. They are happy to read out their work and confidently initiate conversation with visitors and converse with their peers as they play.
• Routines are established from the start and children are keen to learn. Children’s behaviour is good in the classroom and the outside area. They use scissors and other equipment safely and, when requested, tidy up at the end of a lesson.
• Parents who spoke to inspectors said that they are happy with the provision. They said that their children are happy and make good progress. They know this through the ‘All about me’ sessions. Some expressed a view that they would have liked an opportunity to contribute to the initial assessments on their children’s entry to the Reception classes.
• The leadership in the early years has ensured that the youngest children get the best start in school. Adults make checks on what the children can do and what they need to learn next. This information is used well to teach the basic skills of mathematics and language and during adult-led activities.
• The teaching of phonics is effective. Children quickly learn the basic skills of reading and apply the sounds they have learned when spelling words as they write.
• The outside area is as well managed as it can be, given that it is also a thoroughfare for the school. Activities set out for children to choose are effective in keeping children busy, but some lack a clear purpose of providing learning that challenges children’s thinking, for exploration and discovery. On occasions, when children work independently on a ‘chilli challenge’, they often start at the lowest entry point and too few pupils are expected to start at a higher level.
• The welfare and safety of the youngest children are given a high priority in the early years. Staff are skilled and responsive to children’s individual needs. Good links with external agencies and specialists support children who have specific needs, so that they are motivated learners, able to participate fully in school life. Transition arrangements are good. All health and safety requirements are met; the unit is a safe place for children.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 139862 Sheffield 10031964 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 Academy converter 4 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 173 Appropriate authority Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Academy trust Alison Roy Emma Bellamy 01142 462181 www.loundacademy.co.uk headteacher@lound-inf.sheffield.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13─ 14 January 2015

Information about this school

• This is a smaller than average-sized primary school and is part of the Lound Academy Trust, with its partner, Lound Junior School. The schools share the same governing body.
• The majority of pupils are White British and speak English as their first language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is below average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.
• The school meets requirements for the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors visited lessons in all classrooms, some with the headteacher. In addition, the inspectors observed small groups of pupils being taught.
• The inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work, listened to pupils read and spoke to pupils about their enjoyment of school and their opinions of behaviour and safety.
• The inspectors held discussions with staff and governors.
• A wide range of school documents were considered by inspectors. These included the school’s self-evaluation, the school development plan, behaviour and attendance records, governing body documents and documents relating to the monitoring of teachers’ performance.
• 52 parents submitted responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Parents’ written comments were considered by the inspection team. Inspectors also spoke informally to parents in the playground.

Inspection team

Karen Heath, lead inspector Chris Cook

Ofsted inspector Ofsted inspector