Emscote Infant School

Emscote Infant School All Saints Road, Warwick, CV34 5NH

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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.  Emscote is a very welcoming school where pupils achieve exceptionally well and learn very happily.  All groups of pupils make excellent progress, especially in reading and mathematics, from low skill levels when starting school.  Pupils respond very positively and confidently to teaching because it is usually excellent and never less than good. Pupils describe enthusiastically lessons they have particularly enjoyed, one pupil saying, ‘I like them because the work is tricky.’  High calibre planning ensures all lessons meet the needs of all pupils, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. Teachers are supported effectively by very skilled and committed teaching assistants.  Pupils behave exceptionally well both in lessons and around the school. They report that bullying is very rare and that they are confident to discuss problems with adults.  The executive headteacher, supported by her

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

very effective and knowledgeable team of leaders, provides the school with very strong leadership and a determination to evaluate its practice constantly.  Since the last inspection, as a result of excellent leadership and management by staff and governors, teaching has improved, pupils are making very rapid progress and standards continue to rise sharply throughout the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 16 lessons or parts of lessons, many of which were joint observations with the executive headteacher and associate headteacher.  They met with three members of the governing body, and held a telephone discussion with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors listened to pupils from Years 1 and 2 read, and met with a group of pupils to gain their views of the school.  The inspectors examined work in pupils’ books.  The inspectors held meetings with subject leaders.  They took account of 30 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and 18 questionnaires from staff.  School documentation was examined, including statutory policies relating to safeguarding. Inspectors also looked at records of the school’s own monitoring and self-evaluation, tracking information showing the progress of all pupils, and the school improvement plan.

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Inspection team

Richard Blackmore, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Robert Bourdon-Pierre Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  A large majority of pupils are of White British 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 is additional funding to support pupils eligible for free school meals, looked-after children, or pupils whose parents are in the armed services) is below average.  The percentage of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is similar to the national average.  The percentage of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also similar to the national average.  The school is federated with a nearby junior school, All Saints’ Church of England Junior School. The two schools are overall led by the executive headteacher and a single governing body.

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Information about this school

Emscote Infants School has an associate headteacher.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Give pupils more opportunities to create extended pieces of writing and make use of their literacy skills in different subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children start school and settle in very quickly because staff are very good at ‘noticing’ pupils, as one parent commented. In Reception they make rapid progress in learning their letters and sounds and in beginning to write. Some children in Reception and all pupils in Year 1 were observed writing sentences using very accurate spelling and punctuation, including complex words such as ‘masquerade.’

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Pupils continue to make excellent progress throughout the school. This resulted in slightly above average attainment at the end of Year 2 in the 2012 national tests. Pupils’ current work and discussions held with them indicate attainment has risen further and is above the national average.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Attainment in writing is slightly behind that of reading because occasionally in literacy lessons and other subjects there are not enough opportunities for pupils to write longer pieces. However, the whole-school focus on improving standards in writing, especially for boys, is having a significant effect and the gap is closing very successfully.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 As they progress through Reception and Years 1 and 2, pupils respond very positively to the outstanding teaching of phonics (sounds that letters make). Encouraged by strong links with the school, many pupils also benefit from regularly reading at home. As a result, pupils grow in confidence, become competent readers and make particularly good progress in reading for enjoyment and learning in different subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Highly effective teaching is securing fast progress for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs from their individual starting points. They are supported very well in this inclusive school with highly effective learning activities taught by skilled and trained staff in both large and small groups.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 For example, pupils made very quick progress in a small mathematics group as the teacher swiftly adjusted the level of challenge of her questions about number in response to pupils’ understanding. This excellent progress was seen in pupils’ physical development in the ‘balance’ group, aiming quickly to improve pupils’ coordination.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Pupil-premium funding is used well to provide extra help on a one-to-one basis for individual pupils or in small groups with well-trained teaching assistants. In the 2012 national tests the attainment of pupils eligible for free school meals was lower than other pupils in English and mathematics. Evidence from pupils’ work shows that now there is very little gap between these groups of pupils and their peers and it is narrowing extremely quickly because of the additional support to improve their attainment.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching is typically outstanding. It is frequently checked by leaders at all levels and this monitoring shows that the number of outstanding lessons has risen considerably over the last three years. A key factor is the way teachers regularly check the pace of learning and pupils’ understanding during lessons.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Senior leaders have provided an intensive programme of support and training to improve the quality of teaching, including that of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, so that it is of the highest quality. All parents who completed Parent View agreed that teaching is effective and their children make good progress.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage a wide range of opportunities helps children to learn very quickly through play and investigation, both inside and outside the classroom. Children engage in activities designed to improve their key skills, for example their speaking and listening ability, working and communicating with their friends in the very well organised ‘Gingerbread Man’s Tea Room.’

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The excellent and very detailed assessment system is used effectively to spot any slower progress and to track the progress of individuals and groups, including those pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium and disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. This information is being used to set very specific and individual targets for pupils, which are shared and reviewed regularly with parents.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The school makes excellent use of a range of agencies and professionals and pupils recognise that the extra help they are given quickly enables them to catch up.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers plan lessons in considerable detail using their subject knowledge well. This, coupled with their knowledge of the interests of pupils, means that the tasks are well matched to the abilities of all pupils, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 There is a highly positive climate for learning, with very warm relationships between staff and pupils resulting in classrooms that are full of pupils eager to do well. In an outstanding Year 1 numeracy lesson, where pupils had to calculate unknown numbers, one pupil said, ‘Can we do it again, more, more, more!’

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 From Reception to Year 2 teaching assistants make exceptionally telling contributions in improving pupils’ progress, for example in providing small group and one-to-one support to hasten the progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs and those aided by the pupil premium. They ask very challenging questions that provoke much thought and they create opportunities for pupils to work on their own, quickening the pace of learning significantly.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Behaviour and attitudes to learning are excellent and very well managed by adults, and pupils confirm that this is typical. The behaviour of any pupils who find it more difficult to manage their own behaviour is rapidly improving because of the excellent support they are given by the school and by external agencies.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The school’s procedures for safeguarding are very robust. Pupils say staff take excellent care of them. They have a very deep understanding of the different types of bullying such as cyber bullying or persistent name-calling. Pupils were adamant that any bullying is dealt with extremely quickly and effectively by staff.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils say they feel very safe in school and are taught how to keep themselves extremely safe in different situations. For example, the associate headteacher provides excellent sessions for showing pupils how to keep themselves safe when using the internet. All parents who responded to Parent View agreed with these findings and recognised that their children were kept very safe.  Due to the school’s determined and very well-planned efforts to improve the attendance of pupils, it has risen and is above average. They are very punctual getting to school and into lessons. The school is working hard to see that the small proportion of pupils who are persistently absent continues to reduce. There have been no exclusions in recent years.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The highly effective executive headteacher and associate headteacher evaluate the school’s strengths and weaknesses very accurately and make sure there is a strong ethos to improve the school continually that is shared by all staff. Supported by a very knowledgeable team of governors, continuing improvements have been secured.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Teaching is checked very closely by senior leaders through the management of performance. This process is robust and clearly linked to improving the quality of teaching, increasing pupils’ progress in reading, and reviewing and continuing to improve the subjects and topics that are taught.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leaders make sure that any training is directly linked to the school’s priorities for improvement and teachers’ own personal targets. Teachers’ pay is linked to how well pupils learn.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The range of subjects and topics is outstandingly well designed to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural and social development of all pupils. There are many opportunities for pupils to explore other cultures and countries with the very well-established links with organisations in Finland, France, Bo in Sierra Leone and Italy.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school strongly promotes equal opportunity for all pupils; senior leaders work hard to make sure there is no discrimination.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The strong link between home and school begins in Reception and is a common feature across all year groups. Parents are encouraged to understand how they can support their child’s learning through events such as ‘Impact Literacy’, where they are invited to the school to have teaching strategies explained. This encouragement is seen in the way a large majority of parents regularly read with their children at home.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Efficient financial management, including of additional funds to help disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs and those in receipt of pupil premium support, means that pupils benefit equally from all that the school has to offer.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The local authority offers ‘light-touch’ support for this highly effective school.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  The governing body has a very clear picture of how well the school is doing because information concerning pupils’ performance is used to assess the impact of how successful strategies and programmes have been. Governors have supported the executive headteacher in her efforts to continue the improvements secured in the quality of teaching and have challenged teachers to maintain high standards. They know what is done to reward good teaching and to tackle any underperformance. Governors review teachers’ performance regularly to make sure that salary progression reflects the quality of teaching and their leadership responsibilities. They check that resources allocated to the school for a specific purpose, such as the pupil premium, are being used as intended and are having a positive impact on pupils’ progress. They meet their duty to keep pupils safe, for example by seeing

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The leadership and management are outstanding

that staff and governors are trained appropriately in child protection.

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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 125566 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 412690

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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 4–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 157 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Edward Leung Headteacher Debi Cossins Date of previous school inspection 15 March 2010 Telephone number 01926 491433 Fax number 01926 498383 Email address admin2332@welearn365.com 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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