Carr Infant School

Age group 3–7 Inspection date(s) 22–23 March 2012 Inspection number 380200 Unique Reference Number 121273 Local authority York Inspection number 380200 Inspection dates 22–23 March 2012 Lead inspector Amraz Ali HMI

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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 286 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Rachel Lewis Headteacher Sue Bell Date of previous school inspection 2 October 2008 School address Ostman Road Acomb York YO26 5QA Telephone number 01904 798266 Fax number 01904 786800 Email address carr.infants@york.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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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 after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Introduction

Amraz Ali Neil Taylor Her Majesty's Inspector Additional inspector Nancy Walker Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. There were 28 responses to the on- line questionnaire (Parent View) to use in planning the inspection. The inspectors observed 25 lessons taught by 10 different teachers, including 10 observed jointly with the headteacher. The inspectors listened to pupils read. Discussions were held with pupils, staff and members of the governing body. Inspectors talked to parents and carers who attended the weekly breakfast club and a Reception class open morning and spoke to some parents and carers as they collected their children at the end of the school day. The inspectors observed the school’s work, including examples of pupils’ work in books, documentation relating to the leadership and management of the school and that relating to pupils’ achievement. Behaviour and safety were also scrutinised. The inspectors also took into account the questionnaires completed by pupils, school staff and 95 parents and carers.

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Information about the school

This is an average-sized primary school. The large majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well below that found nationally, as is the proportion who speaks English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average. The proportion with a statement of special educational needs is below average. 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. It is a very welcoming and inclusive school about which parents and carers are proud. The provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. The school is not outstanding overall because not enough teaching is outstanding.

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Key Findings

 The school rigorously tackled the one area for improvement related to writing identified in its previous inspection report. Attainment in writing has improved and is typically above average by the time pupils leave Year 2. Although attainment in mathematics is above average, reading attainment is broadly average. Children get an excellent start in the Nursery class, where aspects of the provision are exemplary, and they make good progress throughout the Reception Year, Year 1 and Year 2.

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Key Findings

 High levels of care and very good relationships between pupils and staff form the bedrock on which consistently good, and sometimes outstanding, teaching leads to good progress over time. A particularly strong feature is the provision of a nurture class which provides well for some of the school’s pupils whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and some with disabilities or special educational needs. Lessons are generally well planned and identify work for pupils of different abilities, tasks but questioning do not always challenge and extend the learning of the most able.

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Key Findings

 Pupils’ behaviour is excellent in lessons and around the school, which contributes significantly to their learning and how safe they feel. Pupils get on very well together and they talk very positively about how the staff look after them. The school is well led and managed. The headteacher has a strong vision focused on ensuring that pupils do as well as they can in reading, writing and mathematics. The performance of staff is managed effectively and underperformance is swiftly addressed. Good leadership of teaching means that training is used well to improve aspects of practice.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that more is consistently outstanding by improving the level of challenge for the most-able pupils.   Further improve progress across the school in reading so that attainment more closely matches that in writing by:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 improving the quality and consistency of feedback and guidance to pupils about their reading, for example, the quality of comments made by staff in pupils’ planners  complementing pupils’ knowledge of letters and sounds by developing further their ability to recognise some words by sight  engaging and supporting the very small minority of parents and carers who do not regularly hear their children read at home.

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Achievement of pupils

Parents and carers are very positive about their children’s achievements and pupils say that the school helps them learn many new things. Inspection evidence agrees with this. The achievement of pupils in lessons observed and that reflected in the examples of their work scrutinised, was good. Although attainment dipped in 2010 pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 2 is typically above average in writing and mathematics but is average in reading. The greatest progress for most pupils during their time at the school is in writing, but achievement in reading is more modest. Although senior leaders have been aware of this issue and new strategies, for example, to teach pupils to recognise whole words, which cannot be read using only their knowledge of letters and sounds, are having an impact in the Reception class and in Year 1 but this has not been the case in Year 2 until very recently. Where progress in reading is particularly good, a contributory factor is the regular

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Achievement of pupils

home reading that is encouraged by the established practice of pupils taking reading scheme books home. However, despite much guidance and support for parents and carers to encourage them to read regularly with their children there remain a small minority or parents and carers who do not support the school’s approach.

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Achievement of pupils

Children make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Although attainment on entry is wide and varied, it is below that typical overall. In the Nursery class, children have an excellent start to their education and the clear focus on developing speaking and listening skills, along with personal and social skills, means that children are very well prepared for transfer into the Reception classes, where their learning needs are provided for well.

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Achievement of pupils

All groups of pupils achieve well, including disabled pupils, those who have special educational needs, those who speak English as an additional language and those known to be eligible for free school meals. The attainment of girls is usually better than that of boys in reading and writing, but both boys and girls make good progress overall. A notable success was the relatively high proportion of boys reaching average and above average levels in writing in 2011.

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Quality of teaching

Almost all parents and carers who returned questionnaires believe that their children are taught well. Inspection evidence endorses this view. The quality of teaching overall is good and, although some is outstanding, a small proportion is satisfactory. A number of strong features were common in almost all lessons. The relationships between pupils and staff are good. Routines are well established and the expectations of pupils’ behaviour are explicit. Consequently, lessons begin promptly, pupils’ behaviour is outstanding and classrooms are calm, orderly and conducive to learning. A well-planned curriculum provides good opportunities for pupils to learn through a range of interesting activities. The provision for the development of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is very strong.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers’ planning is good and routinely identifies clear learning intentions, which are shared with pupils. In the very best lessons, tasks are carefully planned to meet the needs of pupils of all abilities and all pupils are challenged because the work is set at just the right level. However, on some occasions, tasks and questioning do not challenge or extend the most-able pupils and teachers' expectations of these pupils are sometimes unclear in terms of the quality or pace of work. Teachers’ subject knowledge is a strength. For example, they confidently use the correct technical language, digraphs and tri-graphs, when teaching pupils about letters and sounds.

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Quality of teaching

The use of additional adults in classrooms, for example, teaching assistants is good overall. Typically, skilled teaching assistants provide good support when working with pupils individually or in small groups. In the best lessons, teachers deploy additional adults effectively during all parts of the lesson, including the times when all pupils are sitting together listening to the class teacher. For example, in one outstanding lesson the teaching assistant had a clear role to support two pupils at the beginning of the lesson, worked with a group during the middle of the lesson and then helped two other pupils to remain on task during the final part of the lesson. However, in a few cases additional adults were under- utilised.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers use questioning well to check on pupils’ understanding. Within the Nursery and Reception classes, skilled early years staff provide children with a good model of spoken language. In the best examples, staff subtly correct children’s spoken errors. For example, in one lesson when a child answered, ‘the horsy has a big tail’ the teacher responded, ‘Yes, the horse has a long tail.’

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Quality of teaching

Teachers provide good-quality detailed marking and feedback for pupils, particularly in writing, where it typically identifies how pupils can improve their next piece of work. However, some of the feedback provided to pupils about their reading is less well focused. On occasion, teachers miss opportunities to identify strengths and areas for improvement in pupils planners after listening to them read.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ behaviour in the Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes is outstanding. This confirms the views of parents and carers, who almost all have very positive views about the behaviour and the safety of pupils. There is little bullying at the school and no pupils could recall any recent instances of bullying, but all could tell inspectors about the consequences if it did occur. Behaviour in lessons was never less than good and was outstanding in many lessons, with pupils treating each other and their environment with great respect. A good example was seen in the school’s outdoor ‘forest school’, where pupils were collecting and looking at mini-beasts. One pupil was keen to get a bug out of the container to return it to where he had found it, but was concerned not to hurt it so fetched a soft paint brush to help it out. Behaviour around the school and in assemblies was exemplary, where pupils entered well

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

and listened with high levels of concentration. Behaviour observed in the playground was outstanding with children playing together exceptionally well and supporting each other when needed. Particularly impressive was the game of ‘duck, duck, goose’ with around 20 pupils playing unaided very happily without any fuss. Pupils play well and readily share the balls, skipping ropes, hoops and bean bags that are available for them. Pupils from a wide range of backgrounds work and play together harmoniously. They said there were very few incidents of name-calling but if it occurred it is quickly addressed by staff and never happens again. Pupils confirm that they feel safe and happy. Attendance has improved and it is above average with pupils being punctual and eager to learn.

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Leadership and management

Leadership and management are good. The headteacher provides a clear vision and very effectively leads a dedicated team of staff. All of the staff are proud to work at the school and are justifiably proud of its achievements. Leaders and managers at all levels are clear about their roles and responsibilities. Even where leaders are new in their roles, they are aware of strengths and areas where further improvement is needed. There is a concerted effort to secure good or better progress for all pupils. Since the previous inspection, the school has successfully raised standards in writing and improved the quality of teaching in this subject through effective staff training and the monitoring of lessons and pupils’ work. Curriculum planning and the provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral and cultural development remain strengths and make a significant contribution to pupils’ positive experiences and enjoyment of school.

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Leadership and management

The school promotes equality and tackles discrimination effectively. There is a good system in place to closely track individual pupils’ attainment and progress. Senior leaders have correctly identified that this system has some limitations, notably in its versatility to identify and evaluate the progress of different groups of pupils, such as boys or girls or those with special educational needs. Consequently, the school has recently adopted a computer-based system to facilitate this. Nevertheless, there are systems in place, which aid the identification of pupils whose progress stalls, and allows additional help to be provided. Regular reviews of progress hold staff to account for the progress of pupils in their care.

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Leadership and management

The school is proactive in seeking outside support and expertise as required. For example, good links with a local university mean that pupils benefit from having trainee occupational therapists working in the school.

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Leadership and management

The governing body is very well informed about the strengths and areas for further improvement at the school and members are clear about their role in both supporting and challenging the work of the school. With clear improvements since the last inspection, such as improving the outdoor learning spaces and maintaining the strong aspects and building further on what was already a good school, the school has a good capacity to improve further. Leaders and managers ensure that pupils are kept safe at all times and safeguarding arrangements meet current requirements. One individual concern raised by a parent/carer was rehearsed with the school and inspectors were satisfied from the response that the issue was not a cause for concern.

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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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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 ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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

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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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Carr Infant School, York, YO26 5QA

 As you know, I visited your school recently with Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Walker. Thank you for the way you welcomed us. We really enjoyed talking with many of you about your school. You all get along well together and your behaviour in lessons and around the school is outstanding. Well done!

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Inspection of Carr Infant School, York, YO26 5QA

Carr Infant School is a good school. You are learning to read, write and do mathematics well and this is helping you to be ready for moving to the junior school and your future lives. You make good progress in your learning and do particularly well in writing but I have asked the teachers to try and help more of you get better at reading. Your teachers work hard to make your lessons interesting and to help you with your learning. I have asked them to try to make more of your lessons like the very best lessons we saw, by making sure that the work for some of you who find learning easier is just a little bit more difficult.

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Inspection of Carr Infant School, York, YO26 5QA

The headteacher and governing body provide good leadership to make your school a safe and happy place for you to play and learn.

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Inspection of Carr Infant School, York, YO26 5QA

Thank you again for your friendliness and help. I hope that you continue to enjoy your time at Carr Infant School and keep working hard!

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Inspection of Carr Infant School, York, YO26 5QA

Amraz Ali Her Majesty's 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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