Woodlands Infant School

Woodlands Infant School Woodlands Lane, Shirley, Solihull, B90 2PX

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school.  Achievement in both the Early Years Foundation Stage and in Key Stage 1 are outstanding. They make outstanding progress from their starting points to reach above average standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils develop a high level of independence and show great enjoyment in their learning.  Teaching is outstanding. Teachers throughout the school have extremely high expectations of what their pupils can achieve. They provide tasks that are very well matched to their individual abilities so that all groups of pupils are appropriately supported and challenged.  Behaviour in lessons and around the school is outstanding. Pupils respond very quickly to adults’ instructions. They work very well together and support each other. They have a very good understanding of how to keep themselves safe and say that adults support them very well.  The outstanding leadership of the headteacher

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

and her team, together with their relentless focus on improving the quality of teaching, has resulted in the dramatic rise in pupils’ achievement since the previous inspection.  The school is a beacon of good practice in all areas of its work.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 15 lessons, five of which were seen together with the headteacher. They also made a number of further short visits to lessons.  Meetings were held with pupils, members of the governing body, a representative from the local authority and with staff, including subject leaders. Conversations also took place with parents and carers.  The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at policies, self-evaluation and development planning, monitoring records, information about pupils’ progress, safeguarding documents, and samples of pupils’ work.  The views of 37 parents and carers who responded to the online questionnaire (Parent View) were taken into account, along with 28 responses to the staff questionnaires. The school’s own recent survey of parent views was also taken into account together with phone calls from two parents.

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Inspection team

Mary Davis, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Michael Onyon Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is a smaller than average-sized infant school.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is well below average, while the proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic heritages is average, the largest groups being of Indian and Pakistani heritage. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for pupils in local authority care, those known to be eligible for free school meals and pupils with a parent in the armed forces serving overseas, is lower than in most schools.  Not all the children who attend the school’s nursery transfer to Reception, the majority of children transferring to Reception from other providers. Some children have had no previous

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Information about this school

nursery education.  The school provides extended care facilities during the school day as well as supervised activities before and after school. These are managed by the governing body.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  A very few pupils currently attend alternative off-site provision at the Craig Croft Education Centre.  A new leader of the governing body has been recently appointed and approximately a third of its members are new to their role.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Move more teaching from good to outstanding by:  ensuring that the pace of learning is sustained throughout all lessons and that teachers quickly provide pupils with a new challenge once they show understanding.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Build the capacity and cohesion of the governing body to ensure that they are able to provide effective challenge and support for the school’s leaders in driving further improvements.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children enter the Nursery with skills, knowledge and understanding that are typically below the levels expected for their age, particularly in numeracy. They make good progress during this year, developing good personal and social skills, playing and cooperating well together. Children joining the Reception class also enter with below average skills but make exceptional progress and, in 2012, children began in Year 1 above nationally expected levels in all areas of learning.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Pupils continue to make rapid progress during Key Stage 1, building on the skills that have been well established in the Early Years Foundation Stage. In 2012, the results of the national screening test for reading for pupils in Year 1 were well above average, with over 90% attaining the expected level. By the end of Key Stage 1, for the last two years, pupils’ attainment has been significantly above average in reading and writing and mathematics. All pupils make at least expected progress during this key stage and the large majority make much better than expected progress.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Pupils in all years show pleasure and enjoyment in reading. Reading skills are very well promoted and quickly established in the Early Years Foundation Stage. By the end of Key Stage 1 even the weakest readers are able to read with fluency and expression.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 From an early age pupils develop independence, able to make decisions about their learning and take responsibility for their progress and behaviour. They relish the challenges set for them and show great enjoyment in their tasks, rising to teachers’ extremely high expectations. For example, in a Reception lesson observed, children discussed confidently the variety of ‘extinction theories’ related to dinosaurs, and made decisions based on their own opinions. They use advanced technical vocabulary as a matter of course, repeating and practising unfamiliar words.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make exceptional progress as the result of the swift identification of their needs and the very–well–focused support they receive, which is rigorously checked to ensure it is having an impact on their learning and well-being.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The small number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals achieved better than this group nationally in last years’ national tests. The well-targeted pupil premium funding has enabled this group to benefit from extra support, including expert one-to-one tuition, and this is resulting in the gap closing between their performance and that of their peers.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress in their communication skills as a result of teachers’ strong focus on the use of key words, developing vocabulary and promoting literacy skills. This ensures that these pupils develop their language skills quickly and are fully included. Pupils from all minority ethnic heritages make similar progress to others.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Lesson observations during the inspection confirmed leaders’ judgements that all teaching is at least good and a significant proportion is consistently outstanding.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Throughout the school, teachers’ strong focus on developing independent learning skills and their high expectations of what their pupils can achieve, results in rapid progress and pupils’ evident enjoyment of their achievements. For example, in an outstanding Year 1 mathematics lesson observed, pupils showed great excitement as they realised that they could solve division problems using increasingly difficult numbers. Here the teacher built skilfully on their learning, first using piles of paper cups to enable pupils to visualise the numbers and then challenging them to divide increasingly complex numbers independently, choosing the resources they needed to help them.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers use information about pupils’ progress very well to enable them to plan tasks and resources that match pupils’ individual needs, so that all are appropriately challenged and supported. Teaching assistants provide excellent support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, knowing their pupils well and providing encouragement to build confidence, while promoting their independence.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Most teachers ensure rapid progress throughout each lesson. However in a very small minority of lessons observed, the pace of learning occasionally slowed because a task had gone for too long without a new challenge being set.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers’ written marking of pupils’ work is exemplary and is appropriate to their understanding. They regularly provide opportunities for pupils to read the advice provided and set themselves targets or success criteria for their next piece of work. For example in an outstanding literacy lesson, pupils were asked to reflect on the advice they had been given when writing a diary about a day in the snow. They then identified how they could improve their own writing as they wrote a diary from the point of view of Prince Charming after the ball where he met Cinderella, developing their creativity and imagination.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils’ exemplary behaviour in lessons makes a strong contribution to their learning. They respond quickly to teachers’ signals to listen. They work and cooperate well when following the well-established practice of discussing their learning with their partner.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Behaviour around the school is calm and orderly and inspectors were particularly impressed with the way pupils sat quietly in assembly listening to classical music while they waited for it to begin.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils told inspectors that bullying is rare and that adults support and care for them very well. They have a good understanding of different forms of bullying appropriate to their age. They say that they follow the ‘kindness charter’ and that pupils from different backgrounds get on well together.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Adults ensure children’s safety at all times. For example in the childcare provided during the school-day, children were well supervised watching from a safe distance while they were shown how to cook safely and learned why they had to be careful. The school’s extensive survey of the views of parents and carers shows that all parents think that their children are kept safe and staff and pupils agree.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils also have an excellent understanding of how to keep themselves safe, older pupils undertaking risk assessments before a science task. The ‘golden rules’ which include values such as consideration and kindness are a strong focus throughout all activities and pupils have a clear understanding of what these values mean.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils who have behavioural difficulties are managed very well and external agencies are used to provide support, including the use of alternative off-site provision. The school regularly checks on the attendance and progress made by pupils who attend this provision. As a result, the school can provide strong evidence that the behaviour of these pupils has improved over time.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The Child and Family Worker provides support for pupils and their families whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and has been effective in ensuring pupils’ well-being and promoting regular attendance, which is above average.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils enjoy taking responsible roles, through the school council, the eco-committee and selling the eggs laid by the school’s hens. Pupils plan and deliver celebration assemblies, and children in Reception frequently take charge of signalling to others to be quiet and listen to instructions.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The inspirational headteacher has been single-minded in her vision to raise pupils’ achievement and the quality of the schools’ provision for all pupils. She is very well supported by her senior team and by subject leaders. All staff share her vision for the school.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Processes for checking on the quality of teaching are carried out rigorously and involve leaders at all levels. This has resulted in inadequate teaching being eradicated and all teachers improving their practice through well-focused training and the sharing of good practice across the school. Particularly effective has been the pairing of teachers in each year group enabling joint planning and teachers new to the profession being extremely well supported, including through being able to observe outstanding teaching.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The setting of targets for teachers and teaching assistants is managed well with targets monitored and training needs identified. These processes are linked appropriately to salary progression.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Pupil progress is tracked with the same rigour enabling under-achievement to be quickly identified and well-focused support to be provided and its effectiveness checked on. For example, when recent checks showed that Year 2 pupils were not making accelerated progress in mathematics, leaders, together with Year 2 teachers, decided to group these pupils by ability in order to challenge the most-able more effectively. Their progress was checked again and now pupils of all abilities are making better than expected progress.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The range of subjects pupils study is innovative and exciting and fully promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Philosophy is an integral part of pupils’ daily learning, promoting social and moral values and their ability to think and to make their own decisions confidently. Literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology are very well promoted across all subjects and pupils particularly enjoy the challenge of ‘Deep Sea spelling’ each week. Dance, art and music are an important element of each topic and the partnership with a school in Nepal has been of benefit to pupils from both schools.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Parents and carers speak warmly of the ways in which they are involved in their child’s learning, including through the weekly diaries, which not only inform them of what their child has been learning, but also provides ideas to work on together at home. The school encourages Dads and Grandads to be involved in school through inviting them to support their children in the recent ‘train’ topic. This included accompanying the Reception class on a picnic, travelling by train.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The childcare provision is well-managed and provides a caring and safe environment where children are stimulated with interesting activities and encouraged to think for themselves.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The local authority provides light-touch support for the school. It provides opportunities for professional development of staff and for members of the governing body. A close partnership also exists between the infant and junior schools ensuring a smooth transition, but also enables good practice to be shared across both schools. The partnership with Nepal has resulted in leaders adopting Nepalese methods of teaching handwriting, and has raised standards.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  Governors support the headteacher well in her focus on raising achievement through improving the quality of teaching and regularly take part in lesson observations and discussions with subject leaders. Governors undertake appropriate training and are keen to improve their effectiveness further. They know the school well, having a clear understanding of performance data enabling them to compare the school with those nationally. Governors check that pupil premium funding is used to ensure that support, such as one-to-one tuition, leads to improved outcomes for these pupils. They ensure that safeguarding meets current requirements and that all staff are suitably trained to carry out their duties including those related to child-protection. They understand their responsibilities regarding the setting of targets for teachers and linking this to salary progression. Governors recognise the need to

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The leadership and management are outstanding

build their capacity and cohesion as a governing body further in order to ensure that they are fully able to hold the school to account and support the headteacher effectively in her drive for improvement.

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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 104053 Local authority Solihull Inspection number 404921

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Infant School category Community Age range of pupils 3–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 222 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Andy Hodgson Headteacher Sandra Logan Date of previous school inspection 13 June 2011 Telephone number 0121 7442840 Fax number 0121 7337922 Email address office@woodlands-inf.solihull.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

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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School details

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

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