Chellaston Infant School

Chellaston Infant School School Lane, Chellaston, Derby, DE73 6TA

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The leadership, including governance, of the school is outstanding. The recently appointed headteacher has galvanised staff, markedly improved the quality of teaching and is driving a rapid rise in standards in reading, writing and mathematics.  Provision in early years is outstanding. Excellent learning takes place, particularly when children choose their own activities.  Teaching is good with examples of outstanding practice in every year group. When teachers’ expectations are highest, learning is most rapid.  There are no significant gaps in achievement between groups of pupils. Attainment is above average and rising.  Pupils behave well in classes and around the school. They are very polite to each other and to adults.  The strong promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development breeds an atmosphere of tolerance and respect for all members of the school and the local community.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The diverse range of activities linked together in lessons ensures that pupils quickly gain an understanding of the world in which they live.  Governors have a very clear understanding of the school’s strengths. They use their wide range of professional expertise to challenge and support senior leaders, and to ensure that pupils thrive in a safe and stimulating environment.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Pupils’ learning slows when they do not have enough time to complete tasks.  The marking of pupils work does not always give guidance on what to do next to get better.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed parts of 22 lessons, five of which were observed jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher. In addition, inspectors listened to pupils in Year 1 and Year 2 reading.  Inspectors took account of the 44 responses to Parent View, the online questionnaire, and to 27 responses to the staff questionnaire.  Meetings were held with a group of pupils, six members of the Governing Body, several parents, and a representative from the local authority  Inspectors looked at many documents, including: the school’s own information on pupils’ current and recent progress; the school’s self evaluation form; the school’s development plan; records of governors’ meetings; leaders’ records of monitoring the quality of teaching and learning, including anonymised performance management documents; and records relating to the attendance, behaviour and safeguarding of pupils.

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Inspection team

Terry McDermott, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Chellaston Infant School is larger than the average-sized primary school. Each year group (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) comprises four full-time classes.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium, about one seventh of the school population, is much lower than the national average.  About a quarter of the pupils are from minority ethnic groups. This is broadly similar to the national average. Almost all pupils in the school speak English.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, about one tenth, is about half the national average.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher took up their positions in September 2013.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the consistency of teaching, so that more of it is outstanding by:  giving pupils sufficient time to spend practising and developing their writing, reading and mathematical problem-solving skills  ensuring that when marking pupils’ work, teachers give them a clear indication of what to do next to get even better.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The skilful headteacher and the capable deputy headteacher provide excellent leadership. They are unyielding in their pursuit of excellence, and they constantly seek to get the best from the teachers for the benefit of the pupils. This is creating a culture within the school in which high quality teaching and good behaviour can flourish. They have swiftly built a very close-knit staff team of capable teachers and teaching assistants who are moving the school forward rapidly. Staff morale is high because adults can already see the fruits of their hard and well-planned work. The progress of every child is closely checked and support is swiftly provided to assist their learning.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leaders at all levels, including middle leaders who operate in focused teams, have clearly defined and well understood roles and responsibilities. They carry out their duties conscientiously. Their regular and frequent assessments of all aspects of pupils’ learning, shared among the staff, provide an accurate and school-wide understanding of strengths and areas for development. This process has resulted in very effective ‘home grown’ leadership. Highly effective leadership of the Reception classes ensures that children make outstanding progress across all the areas of learning.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Teachers throughout the school know how to make best use of the information they collect because they have been well coached by their leaders. They use this information effectively to identify any small misunderstandings that may arise. They are then able to provide support so that pupils can quickly catch up with their classmates. This ensures that all individuals and groups of pupils make consistently good and often better progress, in reading writing and mathematics, and have equal opportunity to succeed.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The headteacher and the wider leadership team make excellent use of information from checks on learning to develop teachers’ skills and to improve teaching. Teachers are very positive about the way leaders manage their performance in a thoughtful manner. Teachers’ pay levels are determined by how successful they are in helping pupils to achieve well.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school’s effective range of subjects is based firmly on themes which provide pupils with a wide variety of topics to explore. These create opportunities for pupils to practise their reading, writing and mathematical skills, to engage in sport, creative musical and artistic activities, and explore the world around them.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 All aspects of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are promoted very well, because the school consciously fosters the best possible relationships between all. Pupils quickly take on board the high expectations of their teachers that they will behave sensibly and fairly in respect of their classmates and their environment. This ensures that they are well prepared for life in modern Britain. There is no discrimination in this school.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Sport and exercise are strong features of pupils’ learning. The primary physical education and sport premium is used effectively to train staff and enhance healthy lifestyles for pupils. Well taught and challenging gymnastics help pupils to control their bodies in interesting ways.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Funding through the pupil premium is used well to have a high impact. The employment of additional teaching staff, support with pupils’ speech and language and various subsidies have resulted in the gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their classmates closing rapidly in the short time the pupils are in the school.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school and its governors take all aspects of safeguarding very seriously. This ensures that the school meets current safeguarding requirements and is effective in keeping pupils safe.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The local authority is confident about the overall performance of the school, but maintains close contact and provides useful specialist support, for instance in areas such as special educational needs.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is professionally skilled, highly committed and hard working, and has an excellent understanding of the strengths of the school. Members have good knowledge of the quality of teaching and pupils’ performance because they ask searching questions of the school’s leaders. They regularly visit the school to check for themselves what they receive in reports from senior leaders. They have approved staff training and know that it has been effective in helping the school to accelerate progress markedly and to raise standards in reading, writing and mathematics.  Governors receive detailed information on teachers’ performance, and only reward teachers for their

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The leadership and management are outstanding

work if they are satisfied that they have made good progress towards meeting demanding objectives. They know what the school is doing to tackle any underperformance.  They know how well the pupil premium and primary physical education and sport premium are used. For example, they are very well aware of how effectively the school helps disadvantaged pupils to fully access additional support to develop their reading and writing skills, and how working with specialist sports teachers has helped to develop the health and well being of pupils.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They are proud to be members of Chellaston Infants. They are unfailingly polite and friendly. They look smart in their school uniforms. They take pride in keeping their school environment clean and are very good at ‘tidying-up’ after themselves.

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Behaviour

 Their attitudes to learning are very positive, and they respond well when challenging work is set which demands that they think for themselves. However, on a small number of occasions, they can become distracted when teaching does not fire their imagination.

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Behaviour

 Pupils collaborate very well. They move quickly and purposefully between activities with the minimum of fuss. They play together very well at break times. They understand about taking turns and sharing because they are given clear guidance about fairness. They know the consequences of poor behaviour and always seek to gain the rewards for good behaviour.

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Behaviour

 The pupils help to maintain the very positive ethos in the school, because they know the difference between right and wrong. A small number of parents raised questions about behaviour in school. Inspectors found no evidence of misbehaviour.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe in school and they can convincingly explain why.

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Safety

 Pupils say that there is very little bullying in school, though they are fully aware of what it looks like and its potential impact. They are confident that ‘silliness’, as they call it, will be quickly dealt with should it occur.

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Safety

 The school maintains rigorous systems to check that people who work with pupils are suitable. All staff are trained in safeguarding procedures and this is updated regularly.

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Safety

 Attendance is consistently a little above the average for primary schools. Given the nature and frequency of childhood illnesses in an infant school, this reflects well on how much pupils like coming to school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Good teaching, a significant and growing proportion of which is outstanding, is leading to good and improving learning over time in reading, writing and mathematics for all groups of pupils. Several examples of outstanding teaching were seen in all year groups.  Expectations of what pupils can achieve are rising throughout the school. They are already high in the Reception classes. This underpins pupils’ accelerating progress and rising attainment.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers usually plan lessons that make extensive use of ‘hands-on’ direct experiences. Consolidation of new learning is secured through extended writing, or through problem-solving tasks in mathematics which involve reading questions of the type, ‘How much change would you get from a pound if you buy a chocolate biscuit for 45 pence and a can of drink for 35 pence?’ Pupils love working these questions out.

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The quality of teaching is good

 When learning is most successful, teachers’ expertise and enthusiasm for their subjects capture and hold pupils’ attention. Pupils gain an increasingly wide vocabulary and a greater depth of understanding as a result of the creative use of resources and probing questioning. This very often has a strongly positive impact on the development of their reading skills, which are in advance of the national average by the end of Year 2.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Additional adults are deployed well to stretch the thinking of the most-able pupils, often in small-group work. This also enables the teachers to pay closer attention to those pupils who have additional learning needs.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In a small number of lessons, pupils do not have enough time to practise and apply their literacy and numeracy skills in meaningful tasks. This is because they are delayed unnecessarily by instructions and explanations that are not relevant to them.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly. The marking always gives praise for effort, but it does not always give guidance on what pupils might do to get better.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils make good and improving progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Their attainment is rising throughout the school, including in the Reception classes. Standards at the end of Year 2 in 2014 were above average by around a term. Within the current Year 2, many pupils are already reaching levels of attainment in advance of what is expected for their age.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most-able pupils are challenged well and make good progress in all subjects. In 2014, about one third of all pupils reached the higher level 3 in reading and mathematics, and about one fifth reached the higher level 3 in writing. All of these exceeded the national averages. Many pupils currently on the roll of the school are already working at these higher levels of attainment.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Even though the achievement of pupils in reading is good, the proportion of Year 1 pupils reaching the required standard in the screening check for phonics (the sounds that letters make) has been consistently close to average over time. This is because leaders have made a decision not artificially to rehearse the check with pupils in order to inflate the scores.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils from minority ethnic groups make the same good progress as other pupils. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are also making good and improving progress, because of the good support they receive. Their progress is checked closely so that adjustments can be made swiftly if the support is not having enough impact on meeting their needs.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disadvantaged pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. By the end of Year 2 in 2014, these pupils were already in advance of similar pupils nationally. Though there were gaps in attainment with other pupils nationally in these subjects, this particular group of pupils had other factors which affected how well they performed. The good support these pupils receive mean that gaps in attainment with their classmates are closing rapidly for the disadvantaged pupils currently on the roll of the school.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Children receive an excellent start in the Reception classes. They join the school having previously experienced a range of settings, or in some cases having no earlier pre-school experience. Detailed and accurate tracking going back several years indicates that pupils arrive in school with skills and knowledge close to, but a little below, those typical for their age, though there can be significant variations from one year to the next. Writing, speech and language, and personal and social development are frequently less well developed than other areas. There is often a very wide range of ability within the group of children.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 The leadership and management of the early years provision are outstanding. Children’s needs are quickly and precisely noted, and specific steps are taken rigorously to address them. Adults’ work closely and effectively with children when they choose learning activities for themselves, either indoors or outdoors, whatever the weather. Children are guided to use their imagination when learning through play but are then required to write, draw or speak about their experiences. This has a marked effect on developing their love of learning.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 In 2014, children left the early years with standards that were a little above average, but with their communication and language skills, and their personal emotional and social development well above average. Their achievement is good and they are well prepared for the next phase of their learning in Year 1.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Teaching is of a consistently high quality. Learning activities are designed to be purposeful but also enjoyable. Children are routinely expected to use their natural curiosity and find things out for themselves, but always within a well-supervised environment. Teachers and teaching assistants make very effective use of the school’s resources and facilities, with first-hand experiences providing children with the basis for subsequent discussion and writing.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 Relationships between adults and children, and between the children themselves, are of a very high quality. Adults provide excellent role models because they work so closely and directly with the children. They make sure that children understand how to keep themselves safe by behaving in a considerate and thoughtful manner. They ensure that the children come quickly to understand the school’s values of respect and equality. Children learn that they need to look after each other and make positive behaviour choices. They take responsibility for clearing up the area immediately around themselves, knowing full well that other children will be doing similar things in other areas. This provides very solid foundations for pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to learning in later years.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 112754 Local authority Derby Inspection number 449595

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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 Maintained Age range of pupils 4–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 355 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bradley Ames Headteacher Lindsay Galley Date of previous school inspection November 2009 Telephone number 01332 700298 Fax number 01332 700298 Email address admin@chellastoni.derby.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 and 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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