Lister Infant and Nursery School

Age group 3–7 Inspection date(s) 21–22 September 2011 Inspection number 377096 Unique Reference Number 104555 Local authority Liverpool Inspection number 377096 Inspection dates 21–22 September 2011 Reporting inspector Marguerite Murphy 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 210 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Nicholas Craig Headteacher Jean McEwan Date of previous school inspection 16 October 2006 School address Green Lane Liverpool L13 7DT Telephone number 0151 2284069 Fax number 0151 2282031 Email address listerdrivei-ht@listerdrive-inf.liverpool.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 rates council children's services, and inspects services for looked after

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children, safeguarding and child protection.

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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.

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out by one of Her Majesty's Inspectors and two additional inspectors. Ten teachers were observed in eighteen lessons or other learning activities. Meetings were held with members of the leadership team and other teachers, groups of pupils, members of the governing body and the School Improvement Partner. Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work and looked at the school’s tracking and analysis of the progress made by all groups of pupils. They looked at a range of documentation including improvement plans, self-evaluation and key policies, including those relating to safeguarding. They analysed the responses to questionnaires completed by staff and 53 returned by parents and carers.

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Introduction

The inspection team reviewed many aspects of the school's work. It looked in detail at a number of key areas.

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Introduction

 The extent to which all groups of pupils make at least good progress in reading, writing and mathematics from their starting points.  Whether the quality of teaching is consistently good or better across the school, as judged in its self-evaluation.  The effectiveness of the school’s care, guidance and support for pupils and its impact on their learning and attendance.  The extent to which school leaders have successfully driven improvement in pupils’ achievements since the last inspection in 2006.

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Information about the school

Lister Infants is an average-sized school of its type. The majority of pupils are White British and an average proportion, around a quarter, is from minority-ethnic backgrounds. A small number speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average, as is the percentage of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals.

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Information about the school

The school is a centre of excellence for French and holds Dyslexia Friendly and Healthy School 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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Main findings

Lister Infants provides a good education for its pupils. It has several outstanding features that have led to a significant rise in pupils’ attainment since the last inspection. Consistently good teaching and the outstanding care, guidance and support provided by all adults in the school are key elements in pupils’ outstanding overall achievement. Pupils enjoy coming to school and they feel very safe, happy and secure right from the time they enter the nursery. Parents and carers appreciate the high quality of pastoral care and communication between home and school, and feel that they are partners in their children’s education. Pupils who have particular learning needs or whose circumstances may make them vulnerable are identified quickly and given support. As one parent observed, ‘I am thrilled at how quickly this school operates (to identify problems and take action)’. Similarly, the proportion of

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Main findings

more-able pupils reaching higher levels of attainment has risen.

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Main findings

Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding, demonstrated in their thoughtful responses to aspects of the curriculum and the way they understand and value people’s differences. Pupils have a clear sense of right and wrong and their behaviour is consistently good. They willingly take on responsibilities and make an excellent contribution to the school and its local community.

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Main findings

The headteacher, in partnership with the deputy headteacher, demonstrates an outstanding sense of purpose and vision for the school, with the needs of the pupils always foremost. An excellent range of partnership activities contribute to pupils’ learning and well-being, for example, the school’s involvement with external agencies, local learning networks and its liaison with the junior school in the same building.

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Main findings

Inclusion is at the heart of the school’s ethos, where all pupils are given equal opportunities to succeed and discrimination of any kind is tackled. This is demonstrated in the school’s analysis of its performance before taking action to successfully narrow the gaps between the achievements of different groups of pupils. The school works hard to impress upon children and their families the importance of attendance and punctuality. It has reduced the number of pupils who have been persistently low attenders, and overall levels of attendance are now in line with the national average. Although staffing is very stable, a number of teachers are new to the year group they are teaching this year. Staff who responded to the inspection questionnaire are unanimous in saying that they are proud to belong to this school community. There is a strong team spirit and a commitment to further develop teaching and assessment to move these from good to outstanding. Teachers’ use of assessment in

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Main findings

lessons is not always precisely targeted towards the needs of individual pupils who may require additional challenge or support to move their learning on at a rapid pace. The school also recognises that its work is not yet fully developed in promoting a curriculum of the highest quality that results in outstanding and creative learning across all subjects.

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Main findings

Taking into account its effective monitoring and evaluation procedures and its track record in raising attainment over the last five years, the school has good capacity for sustained improvement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching and the use of assessment to support learning from good to outstanding by: - ensuring that more pupils have access to precisely targeted support from adults in lessons at times when this is required to accelerate their progress - ensuring that teachers always systematically check pupils’ understanding throughout lessons, anticipating where intervention or challenging questioning may be needed to ensure that all pupils are making excellent progress - building on the school’s recent successes in developing the curriculum to hone teachers’ skills in bringing creative, innovative elements into lessons that promote outstanding learning.

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Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils 1

Pupils say they enjoy their learning very much and this can be seen in their high levels of motivation in lessons and their keenness to do well. Pupils were happy to talk to inspectors about what they were doing and demonstrate their skills, for example, in reading and in working well together in groups. They can regularly be seen smiling and almost skipping around the school, for example, when following a teacher or teaching assistant towards their next learning task. Pupils are confident and show good levels of independence when going about their work once it has been explained to them.

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Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils 1

A significant proportion of children entering Nursery have skills that are below and sometimes well below those expected for their age. For the last four years, pupils’ overall attainment by the end of Year 2 in reading has been high, and above average in writing and mathematics. The proportion of the more-able pupils who reach the higher levels is above average in all three areas, particularly so in reading. Lower- ability pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities make equally outstanding progress from their starting points, often as a result of the significant success of one-to-one and small-group teaching programmes for reading and number work. There are no significant differences between the achievements of boys and girls. Pupils who speak English as an additional language are supported to make excellent progress.

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Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils 1

Pupils understand about healthy lifestyles and can talk about the importance of exercise and of eating the right kinds of foods. During the inspection, Year 2 pupils were delighted to have been involved in the harvesting of the vegetables they had planted at Croxteth Country Park. Pupils happily take on responsibilities in the school, some as members of the school council. The Enterprise Club, for example, also helps them to understand the concept of making things, selling them and making a profit. Pupils get involved in a range of projects such as writing and selling a school newspaper. This includes reports on school events, such as last year’s project in conjunction with the local police force, designing posters on how to keep homes safe.

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Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils 1

These are the grades for pupils' outcomes Pupils' achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning Taking into account: Pupils' attainment 2 The quality of pupils' learning and their progress 1 The quality of learning for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and their progress The extent to which pupils feel safe 1 Pupils' behaviour 2 The extent to which pupils adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which pupils contribute to the school and wider community 1 The extent to which pupils develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being Taking into account: Pupils' attendance 1 3 The extent of pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1

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How effective is the provision?

Teaching is consistently good across the school, and there is a strong emphasis on developing pupils’ basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics in a well-planned curriculum based on topics and themes. Teachers are enthusiastic and knowledgeable and relationships across the school are excellent. Teachers know their pupils very well and plan a good range of interesting activities to keep them motivated during lessons and other learning sessions. For example, Year 2 pupils in a mathematics lesson enjoyed the teacher’s use of props and role play to prompt them to go searching for the ‘three dimensional shapes that have been upsetting Mr Square’. Pupils in a Year 1 guided reading group were encouraged to talk about the characters and events in a story, demonstrating their recognition of commonly-used words and blending sounds together to read unfamiliar words. Teachers’ marking in pupils’ well-presented writing books provides detailed feedback for pupils on how

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How effective is the provision?

well they have done and how they might improve. Assessment during lessons is generally good, although there are insufficient opportunities being taken for teachers to question individual pupils in order to fully evaluate their learning and make timely interventions to move it on at a rapid rate. The curriculum is enhanced by educational trips and visitors to the school and a wide range of popular extra-curricular activities which the children enjoy. The success of the school’s recent ‘creative maths’ project has inspired the school to look towards further innovative ways of developing its curriculum.

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How effective is the provision?

The headteacher and staff know all pupils and their families well, and offer high quality support to enable pupils to get the best out of their time in school. There is very effective record-keeping and coordination of the school’s provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The school is always looking for new ways to remove barriers to learning for its potentially vulnerable pupils. Every effort is made to enable all pupils to have access to support that matches their needs, including the very few who have difficulty managing their own behaviour. Staff take great care of the pupils and ensure they feel safe.

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How effective is the provision?

These are the grades for the quality of provision The quality of teaching Taking into account: The use of assessment to support learning 2 The extent to which the curriculum meets pupils' needs, including, where relevant, through partnerships The effectiveness of care, guidance and support 1

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How effective are leadership and management?

The experienced headteacher has the respect of staff, parents and carers, and the governing body. Along with the deputy headteacher, she is highly successful in driving improvement. They are ably supported by middle leaders who also carry out their responsibilities extremely well, so that there is rigorous monitoring and evaluation of pupils’ progress towards challenging attainment targets. Leaders and managers are determined that all pupils should have good basic skills from which to build their future education and opportunities. To this end, significant resources have been placed into the provision of ‘Reading Recovery’ and ‘Numbers Count’ programmes taught by the deputy headteacher and the Early Years Foundation Stage leader, in place of a classroom responsibility. The impact of these, coupled with good class teaching and outstanding care, guidance and support, is that pupils in danger of falling behind, for whatever reasons, make outstanding progress to keep

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How effective are leadership and management?

Members of the governing body are very supportive of the school. They understand its strengths and areas for development and can challenge leaders and managers when they consider it necessary. The governing body ensures that safeguarding requirements are met. The school has good policies, risk assessments and staff training in place to ensure pupils’ safety and well-being. The school promotes community cohesion well. This is exemplified in how pupils of all backgrounds get along with each other and how the school helps them to learn about other communities beyond their own, in other parts of the world. The school has a balanced budget that is managed well. Taking into account pupils’ outstanding outcomes, the school provides outstanding value for money. These are the grades for the leadership and management The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement Taking into account:

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How effective are leadership and management?

The leadership and management of teaching and learning 2 The effectiveness of the governing body in challenging and supporting the school so that weaknesses are tackled decisively and statutory responsibilities met The effectiveness of the school's engagement with parents and carers 1 The effectiveness of partnerships in promoting learning and well-being 1 The effectiveness with which the school promotes equality of opportunity and tackles discrimination The effectiveness of safeguarding procedures 2 The effectiveness with which the school promotes community cohesion 2 The effectiveness with which the school deploys resources to achieve value for money

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Early Years Foundation Stage

From below, and sometimes well-below, expected skills on entry, children leave the Early Years Foundation Stage with attainment that is broadly in line with national averages. Although writing and reading skills remain relatively weaker at the start of Year 1, there are particular strengths in their physical, personal and social development. This represents good progress as a result of good teaching and provision. Children are eager to come to school and their parents and carers speak highly of the efforts made by staff to ensure that children feel secure and settle well. At this very early stage in the new school year they are well on the way to learning routines and displaying confidence in asking adults for the help they may need. Children show a good awareness of the needs of others, sharing spaces and resources and getting along with each other well. Staff provide children with well- planned, enjoyable and purposeful outdoor activities and physical exercise. Although

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Early Years Foundation Stage

children in Nursery can only access their excellent outdoor learning area with adult help, they were keen to show inspectors how much they enjoy the variety of activities there.

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Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage leader provides good quality support and advice and accurately identifies strengths and areas to improve in the provision. Nursery and Reception staff plan together and make adaptations to follow the children’s own interests. Good records of children’s learning and progress are kept as adults make careful observations of them at work and use these to plan for their next steps.

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Early Years Foundation Stage

These are the grades for the Early Years Foundation Stage Overall effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation stage Taking into account: Outcomes for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage 2 The quality of provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage 2 The effectiveness of leadership and management in the Early Years Foundation Stage

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Views of parents and carers

The questionnaires returned by parents and carers expressed unanimous agreement that they are happy with their child’s experiences at the school. Inspection evidence found that they have every reason to be very confident in the school and its staff, as can be seen in the text of this report. The phrase, expressed by one parent, ‘Nothing is too much trouble for them’, is a typical view.

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questionnaire

Ofsted invited all the registered parents and carers of pupils registered at Lister Infants School to complete a questionnaire about their views of the school. In the questionnaire, parents and carers were asked to record how strongly they agreed with 13 statements about the school. The inspection team received 53 completed questionnaires by the end of the on-site inspection. In total, there are 210 pupils registered at the school.

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questionnaire

Statements Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Total % Total % Total % Total % My child enjoys school 42 79 10 19 0 0 0 0 The school keeps my child safe 42 79 11 21 0 0 0 0 The school informs me about my child's progress 38 72 13 25 1 2 0 0 My child is making enough progress at this school 40 75 12 23 0 0 0 0 The teaching is good at this school 42 79 10 19 0 0 0 0 The school helps me to support my child's learning 40 75 11 21 1 2 0 0 The school helps my child to have a healthy lifestyle 40 75 11 21 0 0 0 0 The school makes sure that my child is well prepared for the future (for example changing year group, changing school, and for children who are finishing school, entering further or higher education, or entering employment) 39 74 13 25 0 0 0 0

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questionnaire

The school meets my child's particular needs 40 75 12 23 0 0 0 0 The school deals effectively with unacceptable behaviour 38 72 11 21 0 0 0 0

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questionnaire

The school takes account of my suggestions and concerns 37 70 14 26 0 0 0 0

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questionnaire

The school is led and managed effectively 40 75 12 23 0 0 0 0 Overall, I am happy with my child's experience at this school 44 83 8 15 0 0 0 0

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questionnaire

The table above summarises the responses that parents and carers made to eac h statement. The percentages indicate the proportion of parents and carers giving that response out of the total number of completed questionnaires. Where one or more parents and carers chose not to answer a particular question, the percentages will not add up to 100%.

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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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Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 43 47 10 0 Primary schools 6 46 42 6 Secondary schools 14 36 41 9 Sixth forms 15 42 41 3 Special schools 30 48 19 3 Pupil referral units 14 50 31 5 All schools 10 44 39 6

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Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements were introduced on 1 September 2009. This means that inspectors now make some additional judgements that were not made previously.

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Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The data in the table above is for the period 1 September 2010 to 08 April 2011 and are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ).

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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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Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100. Sixth form figures reflect the judgements made for the overall effectiveness of the sixth form in secondary schools, special schools and pupil referral units.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning, development or training.

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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

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving. Inspectors base this judgement on 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 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. The following judgements, in particular, influence what the overall effectiveness judgement will be.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

 The school's capacity for sustained improvement.  Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils.  The quality of teaching.  The extent to which the curriculum meets pupils' needs, including, where relevant, through partnerships.  The effectiveness of care, guidance and support.

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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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Inspection of Lister Infants School, Liverpool, L13 7DT

Thank you very much for making us feel so welcome when we visited your school recently. We enjoyed looking at your work and watching you learn. The morning ‘wake up and shake up’ is a great start to the school day and it looked fun. It was good to see you smiling so much in lessons and really enjoying your work. The youngest children in the Nursery and Reception classes enjoy themselves and learn a lot too. We have judged your school to be good and it has quite a lot of outstanding qualities too. These are the main things we found.  From starting in Nursery or Reception up to the end of Year 2, you make outstanding progress to reach above average standards in your reading, writing and mathematics.  You receive good teaching and outstanding care, guidance and support, so this helps you to feel extremely safe, happy and confident.  The headteacher and other leaders are doing a great job of making sure that

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Inspection of Lister Infants School, Liverpool, L13 7DT

the school can continue to improve and raise standards even further.  Your behaviour is good, you get along with each other and take on important jobs around the school - this is good, so keep it up, and keep trying to make sure you attend school every day so that you do not miss anything.

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Inspection of Lister Infants School, Liverpool, L13 7DT

I have suggested one key target for the school to work on as it wants to improve even more in the future, and that is to make sure that the teaching in every lesson is outstanding. Teachers will want to ask you challenging questions more often to make sure you understand your work, so that you can always make the best possible progress.  So all you have to do is keep working hard and enjoying school!

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Inspection of Lister Infants School, Liverpool, L13 7DT

Marguerite Murphy 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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