Mengham Infant School

Age group 4–7 Inspection date(s) 14–15 March 2012 Inspection number 379183 Mengham Infant School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 115986 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 379183 Inspection dates 14–15 March 2012 Lead inspector John Earish

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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 157 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Green Headteacher Janet Randall Date of previous school inspection 17–18 November 2008 School address St Mary’s Road Hayling Island PO11 9DD Telephone number 02392 462470 Fax number 02392 463794 Email address office@mengham-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 16 lessons taught by six teachers, and also made a number of shorter observations. Meetings were held with groups of pupils, staff and 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 monitoring and assessment information and teachers’ planning. They listened to pupils read, and scrutinised pupils’ books. Questionnaires from staff were analysed, as well as 89 questionnaires received from parents and carers.

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Information about the school

This is smaller than average-sized infant school. Most pupils are of White British heritage, with a small number from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs varies from year to year but is lower than the national average. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below the national average. The school has achieved a number of external accreditations, including Healthy Schools status and the Activemark for sports provision.

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Information about the school

The site is shared by a voluntary sector pre-school, before- and after-school clubs and a holiday club, in addition to an independent nursery. These extended services are not managed by the governing body and did not form part of the inspection. 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 continues to be a good school. All areas identified for improvement at the previous inspection have been successfully addressed. The management team has built upon the school’s many strengths and developed teaching and the outdoor learning environment for the Early Years Foundation Stage, as well as improving pupils’ rate of attendance and punctuality significantly, and lifting the quality of behaviour and safety to outstanding. The school is not outstanding overall, because the teaching is not yet leading to outstanding achievement.

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Key findings

 Achievement is good. Pupils make consistently good progress and are attaining above average standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 2. Target setting is well developed in literacy so that pupils understand what they need to do next, but is not yet consistent across all subjects.

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Key findings

 Teaching is consistently good with an increasing amount of outstanding practice. Increasing the opportunities for pupils of all abilities, especially higher attainers, to solve problems and explore their own ideas has raised the levels of challenge and enjoyment. On occasions, teachers miss opportunities to allow pupils to work in this way, thus holding back their progress.

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Key findings

 Pupils behave exceptionally well and display extremely positive attitudes towards their work, each other and adults in the school. The atmosphere in and around the school is extremely calm and orderly. The school is exceedingly effective at ensuring pupils are kept safe.

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Key findings

 The headteacher provides clear vision for driving improvement. The management of teaching and learning is effective and staff are held fully accountable for pupils’ progress. The school is successfully increasing the opportunities for middle managers to check the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms, to supplement the monitoring carried out by senior leaders. Performance management is systematic and leads to well-targeted professional development. 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?

 Raise the attainment and progress of all pupils to the highest level by ensuring that:  teachers provide more opportunities during lessons for pupils, especially the higher attainers, to work independently, explore their own ideas and use their initiative  target setting is of consistent high quality across all subjects so that pupils have a clear idea of what they need to do to reach the next level in their learning.

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Achievement of pupils

The overwhelming majority of parents and carers rightly agree that their children are making good progress. Inspection evidence shows achievement is good for all pupils, whatever their backgrounds, and including those who are known to be eligible for free school meals. Pupils benefit from consistently good teaching across the school resulting in learning that moves at a good pace. Children settle quickly in the Early Years Foundation Stage and benefit from well-structured routines and organisation that help them to feel extremely safe, secure and excited about coming to school. They make good progress from starting points that are below those expected for the age group, with particular deficits in communication, language and literacy and emotional development. By the time they start in Year 1, pupils have caught up and attainment is broadly average. This good progress continues through Years 1 and 2.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils in the current Year 2 are already above the expected standard for their age, in reading, writing and mathematics. Scrutiny of work and the school tracking data confirm a similar picture in Year 1.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment is above average in reading by the end of Year 2 because of the effective guidance by teachers and the carefully targeted additional support for those who need extra help to decode and sound out letters of words they do not understand. Pupils confidently use their reading, writing, communication and mathematics skills in a range of other subjects, ensuring that they are well prepared for the next stage of their education. Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs have well-chosen targets and make similarly good progress to their peers and achieve well.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils are well motivated and enthusiastic to learn new skills and concepts. For example, a group of Year 2 pupils used the internet to find out about sea creatures. They discovered that the Blue Whale grows to approximately 30 metres in length and a human can easily crawl through its major arteries. They wanted to know what a blue whale’s length would look like in ‘real life’ so, accompanied by their teacher, the whole class lay down head to feet across the playground and the line of children 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

measured about 30 metres. This galvanised them into finding out even more about sea mammals. On another occasion, a Year 1 class were using hand bells to play a simple melody. They behaved exceptionally well and with little practising were able to play a simple tune. One pupil, who was struggling to grasp new musical ideas, excitedly joined in and used new words confidently because of the support provided during the lesson. Pupils from all backgrounds achieve well because the school is good at meeting their individual learning needs.

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Quality of teaching

Parents and carers are overwhelmingly confident that the quality of teaching is good and inspection findings support this view. An increasing amount of teaching is outstanding. Teachers share learning objectives at the beginning of lessons so that pupils understand what they must do and achieve by the end of each session. For example, children in the Early Years Foundation Stage were able to explain what they were learning and how they needed to warm up before exercising in order ‘to get the blood pumping around your body’. They suggested how they could improve their movements and willingly helped and supported each other to achieve this. A group of pupils in Year 2 were designing a boat to carry a penguin. The teacher shared the learning objective and allowed the pupils to work independently to devise a suitably shaped hull. One group was adamant that a triangular boat would be the best design because it was the strongest shape. They went on to make predictions

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Quality of teaching

and to devise plans to test their ideas. However, some inconsistencies in the quality of teaching remain. Occasionally, teachers miss opportunities for pupils, especially the higher attainers, to explore their own ideas or to use their initiative in order to draw the maximum learning and progress from their lessons.

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Quality of teaching

The school has carefully adapted the good and well-planned curriculum to make it challenging and exciting by making links between the different areas of learning. This also impacts well on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Learning is supported by good examples of target setting in English so that pupils know their next steps in learning. However, this is not yet as well embedded or consistent across all subjects. The extent to which it helps pupils to improve, therefore, is more variable. The innovative use of the outside curriculum in the Early Years Foundation Stage, an issue for improvement at the previous inspection, ensures that children have a broad and active range of experiences across all areas of learning and especially in writing and mathematics.

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Quality of teaching

Good quality assessment and tracking procedures help all staff to check progress and adjust provision to meet pupils’ needs. This underpins their success in raising attainment and dismantling barriers to learning. Intervention for those who need specific help is effective and constantly adjusted to maximise progress.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Most parents and carers agree that their children feel safe at school and there are no problems with behaviour. Inspectors judged behaviour and safety to be outstanding. 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

Attendance is above average and punctuality is excellent, a significant improvement since the previous inspection. Pupils behave exceptionally well in and out of the classroom and over time. There is no disruption to learning at all and pupils are able to make progress in an extremely positive learning environment. Pupils say they feel very safe and really enjoy learning. They feel confident that adults will take any concerns they might have very seriously. As one pupil said, ‘We really do care for each other but we do sometimes disagree just like me and my brother.’ Bullying is extremely rare. Pupils have an excellent understanding of the dangers of cyber- bullying, name calling and talking with strangers. The school is very strong at ensuring that all pupils know and understand the consequences of their actions and at providing an excellent range of support programmes for parents, carers and pupils. This ethos percolates through all that the school does.

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Leadership and management

The staff team unanimously agrees that the headteacher provides a clear vision for driving improvement. As a result, the school has built successfully on the strengths identified at the last inspection. There is an increasing amount of outstanding teaching across all classes and all pupils are now making consistently good progress. Consequently, the school is eliminating barriers to learning, enabling all groups of pupils to achieve well. Subject leaders are increasingly effective at sustaining improvements in the quality of teaching and achievement by, for example, introducing well-designed staff training and monitoring the impact on pupils’ progress. The governing body, too, is now much more involved in the cycle of self- review by acting as an effective ‘critical friend’. Self-evaluation is rigorous and accurately identifies what needs improving further and how this may be achieved. As a result of these many positive features, the school has a good capacity to continue

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Leadership and management

The school’s curriculum is broad and balanced and meets pupils’ needs well. It includes topics that have led to accreditation for the school’s provision for sport and health. It has been redesigned to provide more opportunities to link learning across different subjects. Pupils say that the many clubs and extra activities add greatly to their enjoyment of school. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural skills are promoted well. Pupils have an excellent understanding of the consequences of their actions on themselves and others, and the difference between right and wrong. They are open to new ideas and are developing a good awareness of other cultures globally. This is supported through, for example, raising money for children in other countries.

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Leadership and management

School leaders and the governing body ensure that safeguarding procedures meet statutory requirements. Child protection procedures are regularly reviewed. Leaders, staff and governors are active and effective in tackling discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity. They are particularly successful in helping those pupils, for example, who need extra support with their learning by removing or overcoming barriers to their education through additional teaching and support. The school also works successfully with parents and carers and assists them well in supporting their children’s learning. The overwhelming majority of parents and carers who returned 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

inspection questionnaires expressed satisfaction with the school and would recommend it to others.

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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 intr oduced 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 Mengham Infant School, Hayling Island PO11 9DD

Thank you for being so welcoming and helpful when we visited your school recently. We enjoyed looking at your work, seeing you in lessons and talking to so many of you. We were pleased to hear that you like your school very much and enjoy helping each other.

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Inspection of Mengham Infant School, Hayling Island PO11 9DD

Yours is a good school. You behave exceptionally well, which means that your teachers can get on with teaching you new and interesting things without the distraction of any misbehaviour. We particularly enjoyed talking to you about your work and noticed how enthusiastic you are about school and how much you want to do well. The teaching in your school is good and sometimes even better, and it means that, together with your positive attitudes to work, you make good progress and achieve well.

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Inspection of Mengham Infant School, Hayling Island PO11 9DD

You told us that you find your lessons interesting and usually challenging. To make them even better, I am asking your teachers to give you even more opportunities to use your own initiative during lessons and to work independently so that you can make even faster progress. I have also asked them to make sure that you fully understand your targets across a range of subjects because you find it helpful to know what you are aiming for in your learning. Both of these suggestions will help you make even faster progress.

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Inspection of Mengham Infant School, Hayling Island PO11 9DD

Each of you can play your part in making your school even better by continuing to work hard so that you can take full advantage of all that the school has to offer you.

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Inspection of Mengham Infant School, Hayling Island PO11 9DD

John Earish 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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