Bordon Infant School

Age group 4–7 Inspection date(s) 24–25 January 2012 Inspection number 379157 Bordon Infant School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 115865 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 379157 Inspection dates 24–25 January 2012 Lead inspector Diane Wilkinson

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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 Infant School category Community Age range of pupils 4–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 169 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Judith Howell Headteacher Katy Pinchess Date of previous school inspection 10–11 December 2008 School address Budds Lane Bordon GU35 0JB Telephone number 01420 472358 Fax number 01420 477708 Email address katy.pinchess@bordon-inf.hants.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 think 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 visited 17 lessons and observed 10 teaching staff. They held meetings with members of the governing body, staff and pupils and a small number of parents and carers bringing their children to school were also spoken to. There were too few responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) for inspectors to take into account when planning the inspection. Inspectors observed the school’s work, heard a sample of pupils read and looked at pupils’ progress, records of governing body meetings, development planning and monitoring, local authority reports, a range of policies and procedures, curriculum planning documents and a sample of pupils’ work. They also scrutinised questionnaires returned by 78 parents and carers.

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Information about the school

Bordon is an average-sized infant school which shares its site with the local junior school and children’s centre. It provides both before- and after-school care which was inspected, although the hours covered are below the limit for childcare registration. The school is adjacent to a military base and many pupils come from service families. As a result the proportions of pupils joining and leaving the school other than in Reception and Year 2 are high. Most pupils are of White British heritage. Only a few pupils speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and disabled pupils is above average. Their needs are mainly associated with specific learning, speech, language and communication, and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. A very small minority of pupils are known to be eligible for free school meals. Comparisons with government floor standards, which set minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment

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Information about the school

and progress, are not applicable as this is an infant school. The school has Healthy School and Rights Respecting School (Level 1) status. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 This is a good school which has strengths in all aspects of its work. It has improved well since the last inspection and has a good capacity to improve further.  Achievement is good and attainment is rising. Reading skills have improved especially well, and progress in mathematics is accelerating this year. In writing, improvement has been slower, but current strategies are addressing this well.  Reception children make good progress in all areas of their learning.  Pupils who may be at risk of underachieving, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, achieve as well as their classmates.  Underpinned by an effective curriculum, teaching is good, especially in reading and mathematics.  In writing lessons, this subject is well taught. There are opportunities to practise these skills in other subjects such as science, but insufficient account is taken of different pupils’ writing ability. Consequently, on a minority of

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Key findings

occasions recording tasks are too easy or too hard, which limits progress.  Teachers set challenging individual targets to help pupils improve and rigorously monitor their progress towards them but staff rarely mention these in lessons, limiting pupils’ commitment to achieve them.  Pupils are well cared for, enjoy school and behave well; strengths acknowledged by parents and carers. Attendance is above average.  Pupils enjoy discussing their learning. However, in a minority of lessons, opportunities are missed for discussing how to carry out the task, pre-empt misconceptions or identify how to improve.  Leadership and management at all levels are good. Staff and members of the governing body monitor the school’s work well and there are effective plans in place to address weaker aspects of its work.  The partnerships the school has forged with other schools and organisations are excellent and bring considerable benefits for pupils and their families.

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Key findings

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 By June 2012, improve achievement in writing by ensuring that written tasks in all subjects require pupils to use the skills of which they are capable and help them to extend these further, especially those pupils who find writing difficult.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure pupils develop a greater understanding of how well they are doing and what they need to do to improve by:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 consistently drawing pupils’ attention to their individual targets in lessons and giving regular reminders of how to achieve them  providing better opportunities for pupils to discuss their learning and evaluate their own work.

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Achievement of pupils

Progress is good throughout the school, with attainment broadly average by Year 2, including in reading. All parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire agree that pupils progress well. Some aspects of communication and literacy are low on entry. A strong focus on this area enables Reception children to make good progress, but attainment is below average on entry to Year 1. Daily teaching of letter sounds (phonics) has a very positive impact on children’s ability to build words, although a minority cannot transfer this skill to unfamiliar words. Not all children write their letters correctly. Although confidently expressing their views, children’s vocabulary is limited.

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Achievement of pupils

An increasing proportion of Year 2 pupils achieve average or above reading levels, with attainment continuing to rise. By this time, their knowledge and use of phonics in reading unfamiliar words is good. The more able pupils read confidently and expressively, responding to punctuation such as exclamation marks. Most groups of pupils understand what they read, the more able drawing conclusions and predicting what might happen. Despite limited opportunities to do so in some lessons, when asked, most pupils discuss their work thoughtfully. In writing, attainment is also rising although more slowly. By Year 2 the majority of pupils write and spell correctly, beginning to use connectives such as ‘because’, and more adventurous vocabulary, although this is a relatively weaker aspect, especially for those groups with learning and communication difficulties. More able pupils write very effectively. For example, their letters ‘from a First World War soldier to his wife’ were very

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Achievement of pupils

moving. Reception children count quantities up to 10, an increasing number doing so to 20 or beyond, enabling challenging work to be set in Years 1 and 2. In Year 1, for example, practical and challenging tasks were very well matched to pupils’ needs, helping them to double numbers to 20 easily and moving on to work out what double Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Achievement of pupils

19 would be. These strengths help pupils develop a good understanding of place value and use this well in working with measures. By Year 2, pupils are securely multiplying, dividing and using their mathematical knowledge in problem-solving, including those who have been in the school for a relatively short time. Well-planned support for disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and pupils who speak English as an additional language helps them to make good progress and achieve well.

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Quality of teaching

The strong commitment of staff and their determination to provide the best for pupils have improved teaching well, including that supported by teaching assistants. Inspectors agree with parents and carers that it is good. Literacy and numeracy skills are well taught, with setting for literacy and mathematics in Year 2. This ensures that, in these lessons, activities are well matched to the stage at which individual pupils are working. The main exception to this is the level of challenge in lessons other than English that involve written tasks. These do not always match pupils’ writing levels. Good subject knowledge helps staff to assess work accurately and use the information well to plan the next steps in learning. This also ensures the curriculum is regularly adapted to enhance pupils’ progress.

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Quality of teaching

Practical and enjoyable activities enthuse and engage pupils throughout most lessons and enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Discussion activities promote communication, especially in pairs, to ensure pupils understand new skills or concepts, although staff sometimes miss opportunities to use discussion to push progress further. Learning intentions are usually made clear. Pupils know what is expected of them and work hard to achieve this. However, during lessons, staff do not refer to pupils’ individual targets often enough. This limits their understanding of learning, especially about how they can improve. Reception staff are skilled at helping children learn, providing a good balance of activities for working with an adult or discovering things for themselves. However, in the latter tasks they do not always make it clear to children how they can make greater progress.

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Quality of teaching

Homework supports progress well because parents and carers have many opportunities for learning how to support their children. Activities they research together, for example about toys in the past, are very effective. Good opportunities for writing allow older pupils to develop a story over a longer time, resulting in some very high quality writing from the more able pupils.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Consistently good behaviour management systems ensure most pupils behave well. Almost all parents and carers who gave their views agree that behaviour is good, as do pupils themselves. Some Reception children find it difficult to concentrate or take turns, but sensitive support ensures that most get the full benefit of the activities provided. There is effective support for the small minority of pupils who find good behaviour difficult, including in the nurture group, with monitoring systems indicating their behaviour improves well over time. On the very few occasions where behaviour Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

does disrupt lessons it is swiftly and successfully dealt with. Most pupils are respectful of each other and courteous to adults, mainly because staff model this well. Work for Rights Respecting status ensures pupils recognise their responsibility towards others and the strong belief that bullying of any type or unkind behaviour is unacceptable. Consequently, this is rare, with no exclusions over the past year. The Rights Respecting assessment recognised that pupils respect others of different colour, custom or belief. This, together with strong safeguarding systems, ensures the school is a safe and happy place, including during the before- and after-school care.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils exhibit a strong interest in and commitment to learning, willingly doing what their teachers ask and, fostered by a very effective reward system, taking great delight in their success. Excellent procedures for monitoring and supporting good attendance have raised levels to above average and few pupils are late for school.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher’s and deputy headteacher’s aspirations are effectively shared with all staff, the governing body, pupils and their parents and carers. There are effective systems in place for monitoring the school’s work and pupils’ progress, enabling teaching to improve and all staff to gain the skills to help drive forward improvement. Parents and carers are highly appreciative of their work. The school has improved well since its last inspection, demonstrating a good capacity for further improvement.

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Leadership and management

Good subject action plans ensure development planning effectively targets areas for improvement, although it does not always prioritise those needing the most attention and the main focus in monitoring. A strong culture of accountability and skilled staff drive forward improvement well. The literacy coordinator, ably supported by staff and the literacy governor, is helping to bring about improvements in writing. The governing body holds the school to account well due to good monitoring, very informative headteacher’s reports and rigorous challenge during meetings.

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Leadership and management

The school works exceptionally well with a range of partners to support staff and pupils. All pupils, including those from service families, benefit considerably from links with the children’s centre, and the Parent Support Advisor provided a training course on managing behaviour for infant school parents and carers. Recent improvements in writing are partly the result of extensive work with other schools. Bordon Infant School staff are leading a development course for middle leaders and coordinating events for able pupils across East Hampshire. The school works hard to encourage parents and carers to support their children’s learning, providing good information, including on pupils’ progress. Most parents and carers are very appreciative of this and the school continues to encourage engagement with hard-to- reach families.

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Leadership and management

Staff effectively monitor the progress of pupils who might be at risk of under- achieving, including those who speak English as an additional language and pupils from service families. The special educational needs coordinator and her effective Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Leadership and management

team support pupils with learning or behavioural needs well, resulting in their good achievement. Strengths such as these ensure pupils’ good equality of opportunity. The good curriculum is rich, interesting and motivates pupils well. It provides well for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, including preparation for life in a diverse society in this country and beyond. This helps fulfil the school’s determination that discrimination in any form will not be tolerated and supports the school’s strong commitment to the care and safeguarding of pupils. In this aspect staff are well trained and ensure policies and procedures are rigorously followed, including those associated with bullying, the vetting of staff and child protection.

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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 Bordon Infant School, Bordon, GU35 0JB

Thank you for welcoming us to your school. We very much enjoyed our time talking to you and seeing all the things you do. I particularly want to thank the pupils who gave up their time to read with or speak to us. We have judged your school to be good and are pleased that you and your parents and carers think it is good as well.

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Inspection of Bordon Infant School, Bordon, GU35 0JB

Here are the main things we found out were good about the school.  You told us you enjoy learning and we could see this. Reception children get off to a good start and you work hard, make good progress and achieve well.  Attainment has risen and is average, although it is better in reading and mathematics than in writing.  The teaching is good. Staff plan lots of interesting and practical activities that help you to learn well, especially in reading and mathematics.  Adults look after you well and give you lots of really good advice and support on how to behave. Most of you behave well and are kind to other children.  Staff work well with your parents and carers to help you learn at home.  You have a good headteacher and, together with all members of staff and the governing body, she works well to help your school improve. It has improved well since the last inspection and we judge that there is a good chance it will

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Inspection of Bordon Infant School, Bordon, GU35 0JB

Here are the main things we have judged that your school should improve.  Writing skills are well taught, but to help your attainment improve you need to use these better, especially when writing in subjects like science or history. You can help by remembering how well you should write and always doing so, especially those of you who find writing difficult.  We have asked teachers to refer more to your individual targets in lessons and remind you what you have to improve. You can help by always checking what you have to do.

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Inspection of Bordon Infant School, Bordon, GU35 0JB

D Wilkinson 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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