Twerton Infant School

Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 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:

 Monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning is overgenerous. It does not provide teachers with clear areas for development because observations do not focus sufficiently on accelerating the rate of progress made by different groups of pupils.  The governing body does not check the link between teachers’ pay and their performance. It does not check the effect of the pupil premium funding on improving pupils’ achievement in enough detail.  The school does not focus sufficiently on increasing the rate of pupils’ progress. Targets for improving pupils’ progress need to be more precise and leaders require clearer systems for checking its impact.  Staff changes for subject leadership and also for governance mean that responsibilities are not fully developed. As a result, they are only making a limited contribution to the drive for improvement.  The school has too many systems to track pupils’ progress from their starting points.

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

These systems lack cohesion and do not include information on pupils’ progress in phonics (letters and sounds).  Teachers sometimes do not move pupils on in their learning quickly enough and marking is not followed up to check that pupils have acted on the guidance.

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The school has the following strengths:

 Pupils achieve well and standards have regularly been above the national average.  Over recent years, a larger than average proportion of pupils have reached higher Level 3 results by the end of Year 2, particularly in writing.  Teaching is good overall with a small minority that requires improvement. Teachers have high expectations of pupils and provide interesting, practical activities that motivate pupils to learn.  Classrooms are calm and purposeful places where pupils behave well and enjoy learning from an early age.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors visited 15 lessons and part lessons. They reviewed documents, including those about pupils’ behaviour and safeguarding.  Meetings were held with teachers, subject leaders, senior leaders, groups of pupils and members of the governing body.  The views of eight parents and carers were submitted on the Parent View website. Inspectors took account of parents’ and carers’ responses to a recent school questionnaire. They also took account of the views of staff, including those presented in 10 responses to the staff questionnaire.  In addition, the inspectors observed and spoke to pupils at break times, examined their work in books and listened to a sample of pupils read.  Inspectors looked at the school’s improvement plans and self-evaluation, as well as assessment information that staff use to monitor pupils’ progress.

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Inspection team

Mark Lindfield, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector George Long Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is for pupils aged three to seven years and is smaller than average.  The very large majority, a higher proportion than average, are White British.  The Early Years Foundation Stage comprises two Reception classes and also a Nursery for 52 three- and four-year-olds taught in a large indoor and outdoor area on the school site.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is well above average. This is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, looked after children and children of service families. There are no children of service families currently at the school.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is double the national average.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is below average.  At the time of the inspection, the positions of Chair of the Governing Body and vice chair were

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Information about this school

vacant after the resignation of both post holders due to family bereavement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the amount of good and outstanding teaching by making sure that:  teachers use marking that gives guidance for pupils to improve, follow up their comments and ensure that pupils respond  monitoring focuses on the impact of teaching on the progress made by different groups of pupils and identifies areas for improvement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by:  making sure that development plans focus on the specific aims and have clear timescales and clear procedures for monitoring and evaluating impact  using a single common format to track pupils’ progress from their starting points and ensuring that the information held centrally includes pupils’ progress in learning letters and sounds  ensuring that the governing body checks more closely the impact that the school’s use of pupil premium funding is having on improving pupils’ achievement in different subjects and in the Year 1 phonics screening check and use this information to link teachers’ remuneration with their performance  ensuring performance management takes account of the Teachers’ Standards and is clearly linked to the progress made by pupils  making sure that monitoring of the school’s performance is completed by a range of senior leaders, governors and subject leaders.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children arrive with variable levels of skills and knowledge, with a significant proportion having emotional needs and delayed speech and language development. Children are reaching the expected levels in their speaking and listening because the majority of adults regularly help them to explain their ideas and talk about their thoughts and feelings.  In Nursery and Reception, children make good progress in their early reading, writing and mathematics. Good partnerships with pre-school settings and well-organised activities help children to settle in quickly and make progress.  Pupils across the school develop their independence and confidence well. Staff provide them with stimulating activities from the moment they arrive. The school makes good use of outdoor areas where children enjoy the freedom to follow their interests and apply their learning. Pupils make particularly good progress in their social and emotional skills across the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In Years 1 and 2, pupils continue to develop their skills well. Pupils make good progress from the time they arrive so that more pupils than average reach the levels expected for their age by the end of Year 2.  Last year, a lower than average proportion of pupils, including boys and those eligible for the pupil premium, met the required standards in the national phonics screening check. The school has used additional funding to provide one-to-one support in Year 2 and has begun to help pupils to improve their use of letters and sounds. Class teachers provided assessment information to show that the proportion of pupils in the current Year 1 on track to meet the required standard in this year’s check is slightly higher, although this information has not been included and monitored in the school’s progress-tracking arrangements.  Teachers’ assessments of pupils’ progress and current performance show that pupils for whom

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The achievement of pupils is good

the school receives additional funding are making similar progress to their peers in reading and writing and better progress in mathematics.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make variable progress towards their learning targets. Children in the Nursery develop their behaviour and speech and language well because staff are adept at quickly assessing and identifying children in need of additional support.  The school’s current assessments, confirmed during the inspection, show that few pupils are currently attaining the higher Level 3 in writing. Senior leaders predict that the proportion of pupils reaching the higher level will increase over the summer term.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of teaching is good. Teachers have high expectations and communicate these clearly to pupils so that they achieve well in a range of subjects. Inspectors observed no outstanding teaching.  All staff show a good level of care and sensitivity to pupils of all ages. They get to know pupils well and quickly build up a close and supportive approach.  The most effective teaching provides pupils with interesting activities that match their needs well so that the majority of pupils move on in their learning and make good progress. This level of challenge does not happen in all lessons.  From a young age, pupils enjoy writing their names and teaching ensures they develop their pencil grip and hand movement effectively. Reception-aged children were able to retell accurately the sequence of events in an extended poem from pictures. During a lesson to write a series of instructions, pupils were given opportunities to make puppets or build a fire outside

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The quality of teaching is good

while they recorded drafts of instructions.  Teaching assistants make a good contribution in the majority of lessons. Teachers use individual education plans to inform lessons and these are regularly reviewed and amended so that pupils build on their learning and develop their skills. In the Nursery class, children’s progress is carefully recorded and plans updated frequently so that children make good progress, particularly in their behaviour and communication skills.  Teachers of Years 1 and 2 have increased the opportunities for pupils to solve mathematical problems. As a result, pupils are required to apply their knowledge and skills in different contexts and so deepen their understanding. In a Year 1 mathematics lesson, pupils spotted patterns while adding and subtracting and explained their individual findings well.  Marking is regular, provides praise and identifies pupils’ next steps. However, teachers do not

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The quality of teaching is good

always follow up on their marking in subsequent work to ensure pupils have responded to their comments and improved.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils work well together, they play happily and share resources from an early age. Children in the Nursery and Reception classes are quick to join in each other’s imaginary games and cheerfully hand round snacks and drinks.  There is a warm and friendly atmosphere around the school. Pupils are polite and well mannered, they express their gratitude to others and listen carefully in group situations.  Pupils say that they feel safe in the school, and the vast majority of parents and carers agree. Pupils have a good understanding of different types of bullying. They are able to share their concerns with staff, who respond well, so that pupils feel that the few bullying instances are well managed by the school and dealt with fairly.  Pupils’ behaviour is good and managed well by staff in a caring and supportive environment. The school provides for a number of pupils with more challenging behaviour, who respond well to the

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

school’s systems and the sensitive and thoughtful approach of staff.  The school has tackled the attendance of pupils who are frequently absent from school and this has improved. However, the overall attendance is broadly average.

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The leadership and management require improvement

 The headteacher shares the school’s improvement plans with staff and they contribute to devising the actions contained within the plans. However, the plans have few clear timescales to check on progress and lack precision over the intended gains in achievement. Arrangements for monitoring, evaluating and modifying plans are unclear. For example, after the lower than expected results in 2012, senior leaders are not closely monitoring pupils’ progress in learning letters and sounds; in addition, there are no specific plans to raise further pupils’ levels of attendance.  The headteacher currently takes responsibility for observing teaching. Checking of the quality of teaching includes direct observation of lessons two or three times a year for each teacher. However, observations of the quality of teaching and learning do not always pay sufficient attention to the progress made by different groups of pupils and consequently are overgenerous.

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The leadership and management require improvement

As a result, teachers are not provided with clear areas to develop and improve their practice.  New subject leaders have produced plans to improve and develop their subjects. The new Early Years Foundation Stage leader has developed a detailed tracking system of children’s progress across Nursery and Reception. However, these key leaders and managers are newly appointed and are developing their roles, and are not monitoring the quality of teaching and learning across the school to drive improvement.  Senior leaders and governors are committed to developing pupils’ enjoyment of school. They place a strong emphasis on creating a caring and friendly school community where pupils can develop their ideas and their independence.  Senior leaders and governors have taken good action to improve some areas. For example, the proportion of pupils persistently absent from school has reduced over the year, safeguarding

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The leadership and management require improvement

policies and procedures are in place and governors have recently completed training in the use of pupil tracking information held nationally.  School leaders have a commitment to equality of opportunity as is shown by the equally good progress of all groups of pupils. Discrimination and bullying are not tolerated, shown by the close and supportive behaviour management across the school. However, the school’s different pupil-tracking systems hinder more rigorous evaluation of the progress made by different groups of pupils.  The governance of the school:  Governance requires improvement. A number of governors are new to their roles and are developing their roles and responsibilities. The headteacher provides governors with information about the school’s performance but this does not include sufficient detail to check the effectiveness of the school’s work. Governors do not check in detail whether the pupil

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The leadership and management require improvement

premium funding has enhanced the achievements of eligible pupils in different subjects. The school’s development plan does not include details of the part that governors will play in monitoring and evaluating the actions. Governors have yet to develop systems linking teachers’ remuneration to national teaching standards.

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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 109007 Local authority Bath and North East Somerset Inspection number 422250

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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 179 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Vacant Headteacher Paul Mattausch Burrows Date of previous school inspection 4–5 June 2009 Telephone number 01225 423526 Fax number 01225 314745 Email address twerton_inf@bathness.gov.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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