Maun Infant and Nursery School

Age group 3-7 Inspection date(s) 17–18 January 2012 Inspection number 380512 Maun Infant and Nursery School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 122667 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 380512 Inspection dates 17–18 January 2012 Lead inspector Lynne Blakelock

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 168 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tom McLafferty Headteacher Mary Haig Date of previous school inspection 21 May 2009 School address Walesby Lane New Ollerton Newark NG22 9RJ Telephone number 01623 860773 Fax number 01623 860275 Email address office@maun.notts.sch.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers thi nk about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspectors observed six teachers in 12 lessons, over approximately six hours. As well as observing classes over the full or part-lesson, inspectors spent time watching the learning of pupils in small groups and individually and discussed their learning with them. The inspectors held meetings with groups of pupils, with the leadership team and with representatives of the governing body. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and looked at the school’s data about the achievement of all groups of pupils, its improvement planning and samples of pupils’ work. They analysed 51 questionnaires returned by parents and carers.

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Information about the school

This is a smaller than average school, compared to others of its type. Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. A below average proportion has special educational needs and/or disabilities, of which most are moderate learning difficulties.

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Information about the school

The school is part of a family of seven schools which work together to share resources and expertise. Since the last inspection, the school has established a leadership team of four teachers to support the headteacher.

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Key findings

 This is a satisfactory school. Children achieve satisfactorily through the Early Years Foundation Stage and through Key Stage 1 in reading, writing and mathematics. They reach average levels in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2.

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Key findings

 The quality of teaching is satisfactory. While some teaching is good, overall it is satisfactory. It results in satisfactory progress over time. Planning does not always take into account the levels at which pupils are working to provide accurate challenge in order to accelerate pupils’ progress. Similarly while the point of learning is often very focused, it is not always so. Some marking and oral feedback ensures that pupils know exactly what to do to move their learning forward, but this information is not always given, or is sometimes not clear enough.

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Key findings

 Pupils’ behaviour is good from the Early Years Foundation Stage onwards. They feel safe in school and well cared for. Pupils’ attendance has remained average for several years and while strategies are in place to improve it, they do not sufficiently involve parents and carers, ensure that pupils know the importance of very regular attendance or involve them in managing their own attendance rates.

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Key findings

 Leadership and management are satisfactory. The leadership team is showing emerging good practice in addressing its areas of responsibility but there are gaps in the monitoring of key aspects of learning and other outcomes. In particular, data relating to pupils’ achievement through the school, which is collected regularly, has not been evaluated thoroughly enough recently to ensure its accuracy, consistency and effectiveness in supporting individual pupils’ progress.

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Key findings

Schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory may receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise standards and accelerate progress from the Early Years Foundation Stage onwards, through ensuring that;  tasks always provide an accurate match of challenge to pupils’ needs  there is always a specific focus to pupils’ learning, which they know and understand  written and oral feedback about learning tells pupils clearly how to move forward.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase pupils’ attendance to above average by making sure that:  all pupils and their parents and carers understand the importance of good attendance and its link to progress  the school establishes a wider range of strategies, including pupils’ ownership of their own attendance, through individual targets.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen the effectiveness of leadership at all levels by making sure that  all of the school’s data is accurate, consistent and used effectively to support pupils’ individual progress  leaders drive school improvement through more systematic monitoring, identifying and taking responsibility for key aspects of learning and practice.

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Achievement of pupils

Most children start school with average levels of knowledge and skills, although there is some variability from year to year. All groups of pupils make satisfactory progress throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage in all areas of learning and development, from their starting points. The children share, organise themselves and their learning, and increasingly make choices throughout the day. In recent years the progress of some of the children known to be eligible for free school meals was slower than others in the Early Years Foundation Stage but this has quickened recently because of improved intervention strategies.

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Achievement of pupils

Intervention strategies through the school are filling specific gaps in learning, including for pupils with special educational needs, who are moving forward satisfactorily and increasingly confidently in their learning. There is no significant difference between the achievement of boys and girls, which is an improving picture. Those with disabilities are making steady progress, guided by the sensitive support of teaching assistants.

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Achievement of pupils

By the end of Year 2, all groups of pupils achieve satisfactorily in reading, writing and mathematics, reflecting their satisfactory progress throughout the school. All parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire judge progress to be good, but inspection evidence shows it to be satisfactory. Pupils’ progress in reading, although satisfactory, is quickening through consistent practices in teaching letters and sounds. Children in the Nursery enjoy recognising letters, sounding them out and practising forming them into accurate letters. In Reception, the children capable of reaching higher levels made good progress in writing simple words and making links between those words, and their place and meaning in a short story. Through Year 1, an increasing proportion of pupils are automatically breaking down words to enunciate them accurately. Some pupils who find reading difficult still tend to guess words but teaching assistants regularly check

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Achievement of pupils

understanding and reinforce the sounding out of letters to promote pupils’ word recognition.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils learn in a bright and welcoming environment. Parents and carers unanimously judge teaching to be good. Inspectors judged it to be satisfactory overall, due to inconsistencies in a variety of practices. Where teaching is good, progress accelerates. In a Year 1 lesson, for example, pupils enjoyed the interesting activities that, together with clear teaching and good support from teaching assistants, resulted in pupils’ secure understanding of the four positions for writing and letters. Tasks were challenging, gave them responsibility for their learning and involvement, and together with a brisk pace, ensured pupils remained engaged.

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Quality of teaching

Constructive relationships between staff and pupils and teachers’ good subject knowledge provide a positive basis for learning from the Early Years Foundation Stage onwards. The outdoor area provides a delightful environment for the children in Nursery and Reception to develop a wide range of skills and to extend indoor learning.

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Quality of teaching

The best lesson plans are detailed and cater well for pupils of all abilities. The aims of learning tend to be less specific when pupils are working in groups so that they do not always make the progress that they could. In several lessons the tasks for more- able pupils did not challenge fully their thinking and deduction. An example of good challenge was seen in a guided reading lesson, where more-able pupils made links between key words and their use in sentences. Pupils enjoy reading to staff but the regularity of this activity is variable.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils’ spiritual and cultural development and their social and moral skills are promoted effectively through planning which incorporates team work, role-play and reflection on their creative work. Good development of problem solving skills was seen in a numeracy lesson in Year 1. Pupils worked well cooperatively and independently to put different shoes in order. They considered how to measure them and by the end of the activity were able to work out the space needed to place different types of shoes. A similar activity was extended in Year 2, where learning built in a range of literacy and numeracy skills in a variety of tasks.

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Quality of teaching

Even the youngest pupils have targets which they strive to achieve, although they are not always presented in an imaginative way that helps pupils to remember them. Marking is regular but is not consistently helpful in informing pupils of the next steps to take.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The inspection team’s findings match the views of the overwhelming majority of parents and carers that behaviour is good and that their children are safe in school.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

From the time that they join the Early Years Foundation Stage, the children develop quickly a very clear understanding of the school’s expectations about behaviour, through daily routines, class rules and good modelling by staff. They show a good understanding of right and wrong and why it is important to treat each other fairly, to cooperate and share, and take responsibility. Year 2 pupils, for example, showed pride and care when serving lunch to their groups. It illustrated the family feel of the school. Pupils are adamant that there is no bullying. They know what it is and how to deal with it if it does happen and express great confidence that the staff will deal with any incidents effectively.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

As a consequence of the school’s systems and the caring staff, pupils feel secure in school. The curriculum and daily routines promote their security and their good understanding of potential dangers and how to stay safe. Almost all parents and carers agree that their children are well looked after.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Attendance remains average through the school, with few persistent absentees. Although the school regularly checks absence and staff praise the class with the best weekly attendance, strategies are not promoting pupils’ ownership of their attendance, such as through individual targets, or its importance over time, as effectively as they could.

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Leadership and management

Recent changes in the management structure are leading to secure improvements in several aspects of the school’s organisation and work. The leader of the Early Years Foundation Stage, for example, has addressed inaccuracies in assessment data through an ongoing programme of staff training, which is promoting more consistent practices. The special educational needs coordinator, while new in post, has collected data that is resulting in more prompt, appropriate, focused support and intervention. The curriculum shows good breadth through the school and is creative. Based on learning through themes, it is enabling teachers to build in regular opportunities for pupils to practise a good range of communication skills. Together with an interesting and varied range of enrichment, the curriculum increases pupils’ enjoyment and motivation to learn. However, activities are not consistently planned with the necessary detail to accelerate progress of pupils across the range of attainment, so

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Leadership and management

the impact of the curriculum is therefore satisfactory overall.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher and leadership team share an accurate understanding of the school’s priorities, reflected in improvement planning that is based on regular analysis of the school’s performance. The headteacher’s judgements of the quality of teaching observed during the inspection matched very closely that of the inspection team. She acknowledges that monitoring of the school’s data about pupils’ achievement has not recently resulted in fully accurate, consistent information about individual pupils’ progress. Their achievement in letters and sounds, for example, is not systematically recorded and analysed. The committed governing body has a broad understanding of the school’s performance and asks pertinent questions. The governors’ links with leaders are helping them to gain a detailed picture of the school’s overall effectiveness. This, together with the embedding of a range of strategies by the leadership team to promote greater consistency of

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Leadership and management

practice, demonstrates the school’s satisfactory capacity to move further forward.

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Leadership and management

Daily learning and playing promote pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. There are abundant opportunities for pupils to consider their moral views and the right actions to take in particular situations. Visits to places of worship from the time that the children start school build up their understanding of peoples’ faiths and where they worship, as well as their daily practices. Art work, which is of an above-average standard, and pupils’ enjoyment of music and singing, add to their good spiritual growth and cultural understanding by encouraging their curiosity, reflection and creativity.

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Leadership and management

The good daily care of pupils is supported by safeguarding arrangements which meet the statutory requirements. The school promotes equality and tackles discrimination satisfactorily. For example, effective links with external agencies enable those who need specialist help or whose circumstances make them vulnerable to settle more quickly to their learning. Other partnerships, particularly the links with other schools in the locality, are helping staff to strengthen their practice and add to the school’s provision. Communication and relationships between home and school are a strength. There is overwhelming agreement that the school helps parents and carers to support their children’s learning, for example through regular information and workshops, such as family literacy. Parents and carers know their views are considered and that the school views them as vital partners in helping their children to achieve their potential.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Maun Infant and Nursery School, Newark NG22 9RJ

We enjoyed the two days we spent at your school recently. You made us feel very welcome. Thank you for showing us round and sharing your learning with us. We liked listening to your thoughts about your school and we have taken them into account in our judgements. This is what we found out.

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Inspection of Maun Infant and Nursery School, Newark NG22 9RJ

 Your school is a satisfactory school.  You make satisfactory progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1.  You reach average standards in reading, writing and mathematics.  Teaching is satisfactory overall but some teaching is good and in those lessons you make good progress.  Your behaviour is good, both in lessons and around the school.  The staff give you lots of opportunities to learn and make it interesting.  Your attendance is average.

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Inspection of Maun Infant and Nursery School, Newark NG22 9RJ

Your headteacher and the staff want to quicken your progress. To do this, I have asked them to make sure that the information they have about your learning is always accurate and recorded. They will check that your work gives you the right level of challenge, that you know the purpose of your learning and that marking tells you how to improve your work. We have also asked the headteacher to make sure that your attendance improves and is above average. She will make sure that you know how important it is and encourage you to check your attendance and do your best to attend every day that you are well enough to do so.

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Inspection of Maun Infant and Nursery School, Newark NG22 9RJ

We hope you will all help the school to make these improvements by coming to school very regularly and taking your teachers’ advice.

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Inspection of Maun Infant and Nursery School, Newark NG22 9RJ

Lynne Blakelock Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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