Purbrook Infant School

Purbrook Infant School Aldermoor Road East, Waterlooville, Hants, PO7 5NQ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Pupils’ attainment varies too much between subjects.  Pupils’ progress in writing is particularly weak.  In too many lessons, the work is too easy for more-able pupils. This has resulted in not enough pupils reaching the higher levels in mathematics and writing.  Teaching is of uneven quality, and not enough lessons are good or better.  Middle leaders are not yet having an impact on improving teaching in their subjects or year groups.

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The school has the following strengths

 Reading, and in particular phonics (the sounds that letters make), is well taught, with the result that pupils make very good progress.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are well supported and make good progress.  Good relationships and positive attitudes are modelled by adults. Pupils enjoy school and feel safe. They behave well and are polite.  Teachers, support staff, and parents and carers are all very supportive of the school and, in particular, of the leadership team.  Members of the governing body are well informed and fulfil their role in supporting and challenging the school well.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 20 lessons (or parts of lessons). Four of these were joint observations with either the headteacher or the deputy headteacher. Inspectors listened to pupils in Years 1 and 2 read.  Pupils’ work from 2012/13 and the previous academic year was scrutinised.  School data were analysed, including the school’s pupil-tracking data.  Meetings were held with members of the governing body, staff, pupils and a representative from the local authority.  The team took account of the 36 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and analysed 42 questionnaires returned by staff.  Inspectors scrutinised school documentation, including information on the website, the strategic plan, the self-evaluation summary and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Janet Maul, Lead inspector Additional inspector Victor Chaffey Additional inspector Juliet Ward Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 Purbrook Infant School is a three-form entry school which is larger than the average-sized infant school.  The vast majority of pupils are White British and speak English as their first language.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs supported through school action is slightly above the national figure, and the proportion supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is slightly below it.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in the care of the local authority, pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those from service families, is below the national average.  The school runs an after-school club. There is no breakfast club, but parents and carers may send their children to the breakfast club at the junior school which shares the same site.  The headteacher has been in post for six years and the deputy for longer than this. There have

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Information about this school

been several changes to the middle-leadership group in the recent past.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Bring the standard of teaching in all classes up to the best in the school by:  using training days and staff meetings to share best practice across the school  ensuring that teachers not only plan tasks together, but also share ideas about teaching and expected outcomes  encouraging middle-leaders to model outstanding teaching  focusing lesson observations and the moderation of pupils’ work on the way teachers take into account the different ability and prior knowledge of pupils in the class.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ attainment in writing and mathematics, by ensuring that:  the work set by teachers is suitably challenging for all pupils  the more-able pupils fulfil their potential.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:  developing the role of middle leaders so they can play a greater part in improving teaching  ensuring that pupils’ progress data are fully understood by all teaching staff and that teachers use this knowledge to accelerate pupils’ progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children enter school with skills and knowledge below that expected for their age. In four of the last five years, they left having achieved point scores above the national average. Pupils leaving in summer 2012, however, had scores below the national figures. The leadership team can show that that the earlier scores were too generous, but are now accurate. This makes tracking from the Early Years Foundation Stage into Key Stage 1 unreliable before this time.  Pupils’ achievement requires improvement overall and this includes disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. The average point scores of pupils supported by pupil premium is below that of other pupils in the school.  By the end of Key Stage 1, the more-able pupils have not made the progress of which they are capable in mathematics and not many have achieved the higher grades.  Writing is the weakest area at the end of Key Stage 1, with the pupils achieving on average

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

significantly less well than other children nationally. This was particularly true for the more-able pupils.  In response to the poor outcomes of the phonics check in 2012, the school’s teaching of phonics has improved significantly. Pupils’ reading is now significantly better than average and with boys, pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those with special educational needs doing better than their counterparts nationally.  The school has also started to address underachievement in mathematics and writing; for example, more-challenging work was seen in mathematics books compared to books from the same time last year. The previous inspection report suggested that the school should develop pupils’ skills in the area of mathematical shape, space and measure, and pupils’ work showed that this has been addressed.  The school has also implemented plans to improve pupils’ achievement in writing with, for

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

example, regular well-structured handwriting lessons and extended writing opportunities.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of teaching ranges from outstanding to inadequate. While much good practice was seen by the inspectors, there were too many lessons that required improvement.  In many lessons, the work was not closely tailored to pupils’ understanding. Sometimes, the work was too difficult, but more commonly there was too little challenge, with all pupils given the same work to do. This meant that more-able pupils either finished their work very quickly or they were already proficient in this area, and little learning took place for them.  The good use of questioning to develop learning was not always evident in lessons. Often, teachers only asked children who had their hands up or they did not tailor the difficulty of a question to the child’s knowledge and experience. There was a great deal of closed questioning; this was a missed opportunity to develop pupils’ communication skills.  Positive features of teaching seen across the whole school were: a warm, nurturing atmosphere

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

where all pupils were confident to speak up and ‘have a go’; praise being used well; and good, positive behaviour management.  In the best lessons, teachers found out how well their pupils understood the work by, for example, holding up their mini whiteboards, or by skilful use of questioning. The teachers then adjusted the lesson to ensure successful outcomes. In some lessons, however, the teachers were not responsive to feedback from their pupils.  The teaching of phonics and reading has improved and is now very strong; the school has successfully engaged pupils’ families in supporting reading.  Marking is good throughout the school with praise and points for improvement given in an nspection report: Purbrook Infant School, 29–30 January 2013 5 of 9

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

appropriate way.  The school has a strong team of teaching assistants who know what to do, get down onto the carpet with pupils and are fully involved in their learning.  Good provision is made for teaching disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. A wide range of interventions is used, and skilfully implemented by the staff.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour in lessons and around the school is good.  Adults consistently model polite and respectful behaviour, with the result that this is the norm in school.  There is little or no bullying and there are no recorded racist incidents or exclusions.  Children said that they feel safe and could talk knowledgeably about e-safety and firework safety. They told an inspector that they could talk to any adult if they were worried: ‘Any adult will help you and sort things out.’  The single central record is fully in place and all adults have undertaken appropriate training, for example in safer recruitment.  Pupils’ attendance is in line with national figures. If children do not arrive at school, the administration staff conscientiously follow this up.  There is a culture of respect throughout the school and equality is central to the school’s ethos. Equality for all groups is promoted; this was particularly evident in the care and consideration

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

given to a disabled pupil, by not only the staff, but also by pupils.  Behaviour is not outstanding because there is a small group of children with persistently unsatisfactory attendance. The school is aware of this and is working with the families to try to ensure better attendance.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The school’s middle leadership is not yet strong. Staffing difficulties in the recent past have resulted in a generally inexperienced team. Middle leaders scrutinise pupils’ work and have moderated work for National Curriculum levels, but they have not yet modelled exemplary teaching, coached colleagues or shared good practice.  Senior leaders understand data, but do not always scrutinise figures carefully enough or explore their implications. In the past they have been insufficiently rigorous in their analysis of the high scores awarded to pupils leaving the Early Years Foundation Stage and not appreciated that getting these figures wrong has implications for tracking pupils.  The pupil premium is used appropriately for eligible pupils, although progress data for this group are not quite clearly enough distinguished from those for vulnerable pupils.  Some strategies have been put into place to increase the number of pupils attaining the higher

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The leadership and management require improvement

levels in writing and mathematics, and inspectors’ scrutiny of pupils’ work indicates that there is now more challenge in mathematics and more opportunities for writing.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher work well together and the school is improving. They have the confidence of the parents and carers with the vast majority believing the school to be well led and managed, and all of them saying that they would recommend the school to another parent. Staff also believe that the school is well led and managed.  In response to the previous inspection report, the Early Years Foundation Stage outdoor area has been extended and the teaching of shape, space and measure has improved.  The new mathematics coordinator is experienced, although new to the school, and is starting to nspection report: Purbrook Infant School, 29–30 January 2013 6 of 9

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The leadership and management require improvement

ensure more challenge in the mathematics curriculum; he has also observed lessons with members of the senior leadership team.  Support has been forthcoming from the local authority for the teaching of English and maths and for the Early Years Foundation Stage where an adviser has been working with the school to ensure the robustness of judgements.  Senior leaders have an accurate picture of the quality of teaching, as seen in the four joint observations undertaken with members of the senior leadership team. However, lesson observations do not take sufficient account of how well teachers take into account the different abilities and prior knowledge of pupils.  Performance management is used to support and challenge teachers, and teachers’ pay levels generally reflect their performance.  The school promotes pupils’ moral and social development extremely well, an example of this being the high-quality conversations heard in the Early Years Foundation Stage about ‘people

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The leadership and management require improvement

who help us’ which were facilitated by the teacher. The inspection team saw fewer opportunities for spiritual development, and little evidence that pupils know about living in a modern, ethnically diverse Britain.  The governance of the school:  Governance is good. There is regular communication between the headteacher and the Chair of the Governing Body. Governors have a good relationship with the staff and are kept fully informed about what is happening in school. Subject leaders write or present reports about their subject for governors’ meetings. The headteacher explains the school’s performance data to governors, who are confident that they understand the data and how weaknesses in the school are being addressed. They also challenge the headteacher over the school’s performance. The governors have adopted a new performance management policy but do not yet know if staff pay reflects their performance. The governors understand what the pupil

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The leadership and management require improvement

premium is for, and how it is used. The budget is balanced, and governors have a good understanding of the school’s finances. Governors try hard not to be remote, and attend parents’ evenings and meetings for new parents and carers to raise their profile. Governors take safeguarding seriously and have undertaken appropriate training to ensure that all the appropriate procedures are securely in place.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 115937 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 405611

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School details

Type of school Infant School category Community Age range of pupils 4–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 268 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mark Elias Headteacher Lucinda Clements Date of previous school inspection 29–30 March 2011 Telephone number 02392 610761 Fax number 02392 611880 Email address adminoffice@purbrook-inf.hants.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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. 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

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School details

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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