Wood Street Infant School

Wood Street Infant School Oak Hill, Wood Street Village, Guildford, Surrey, GU3 3DA

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The school is strongly supported by parents and staff. It is at the hub of the community.  Leadership is exceptional. The school has improved since the previous inspection and is outstanding. In a relatively short time, the headteacher has made important changes that have improved the school further.  The headteacher has improved ways of checking pupils’ progress. This ensures that no pupil or group of pupils falls behind.  All staff back the headteacher’s changes. Class teachers and other adults now have more responsibility for the staff under them, and manage them outstandingly well.  Leaders check the quality of teaching carefully, offering valuable advice on the most effective ways of teaching. As a result, teaching has improved, leading to pupils making excellent progress.  Governors provide extremely strong and knowledgeable support to the school, contributing to its improvement in teaching and pupils’

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

achievement.  Pupils are given interesting tasks and taught in exciting ways.  The school prepares pupils exceptionally well for growing up in modern Britain with British values.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very strongly, ensuring that they are considerate towards others.  Pupils’ behaviour is outstanding. They are kind to other pupils, and polite to visitors. They are eager to learn.  The school keeps pupils completely safe. It teaches pupils how to keep themselves safe.  The quality of teaching is high. Adults give pupils a wide variety of stimulating and challenging tasks.  Pupils’ workbooks clearly show the fast progress they make throughout the school.  Pupils learn excellent reading, writing and mathematical skills throughout the school.  Pupils achieve very well in their learning in each year group. They make very strong progress. Year 2 attainment is consistently high.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 All groups do very well. Disadvantaged pupils achieve as well as other pupils. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make similar progress to others. The most able are challenged and learn very well.  Children in the Reception class are looked after extremely well. They have attractive and stimulating play areas.  The Reception class is led exceptionally well. Leaders check children’s progress carefully so no one falls behind. Activities are exceptionally well planned.  Teaching in Reception is stimulating and leads to children learning extremely well. Adults lose no opportunity to develop children’s skills.  Children in Reception make excellent progress in their learning and move confidently into Year 1.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited 19 lessons and group sessions across a range of subjects. She also observed a whole-school assembly and visited three class assemblies. All were observed jointly with the headteacher.  The inspector spoke to pupils to hear how they felt about the school. She listened to pupils read and looked at samples of their work.  Meetings were held with the headteacher and with a representative from the local authority. A meeting was held with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body and one other governor.  The inspector took account of the views of staff in 20 questionnaires.  The inspector took account of the 24 responses to the online survey, Parent View. She also spoke to a number of parents during the inspection and took the school’s own parent questionnaire into account.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents. These included the school’s own views of how well it is doing, its plans for the future and the minutes of meetings of the

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Information about this inspection

governing body.  The inspector considered a range of evidence on pupils’ attainment and progress. She also examined safeguarding information and records relating to behaviour and safety.

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Inspection team

Natalia Power, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Wood Street is smaller than the average-sized infant school.  The headteacher took up her post in September 2014.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged, that is, eligible for additional funding from the pupil premium, is average.  The proportion of pupils who come from minority ethnic heritages is close to average. Pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds, with no one group predominating.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs varies from year to year and is currently above average.  Children in the Reception class attend all day.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure that marking always includes guidance to pupils, in words they can understand, on how they can improve.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leaders have made sure that teaching, behaviour and pupils’ progress have all improved since the previous inspection. The new headteacher is extremely keen to secure further developments. Her drive for excellence is shared by all the staff. The wholly positive responses to the staff questionnaire show that staff back her fully.  The headteacher has improved ways of checking pupils’ progress, so that all adults can trace easily how well individual pupils are doing. The headteacher also makes sure that the attainment and progress of groups, including the most able and those with additional needs, are easy to track. Such careful checking of pupils’ achievement means that additional support is provided efficiently and speedily. As a result, pupils achieve exceptionally well.  All the class teachers have managerial responsibilities and all carry these out to a very high standard. They have been very well trained in middle leadership, both by the headteacher and the highly supportive local

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The leadership and management are outstanding

authority.  The headteacher provides extremely strong leadership of teaching. She carries out regular and thorough observations with a sharp focus on how well pupils are learning. She offers staff valuable guidance on ways of improving the pupils’ learning. This has led to improvements in the overall quality of teaching.  The headteacher has changed ways of checking staff performance. All staff, including non-teaching staff, line manage others and are responsible for setting targets for improvement. As a result, responsibility for improving the school is shared and all feel they have a stake in making the school better.  Parents strongly support the school. Those who spoke to the inspector said they particularly value how well all the adults know the children and their families. They also like the strong support for pupils with a range of special educational needs and the wealth of activities offered to all pupils.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school makes sure that all pupils are treated fairly, discrimination is tackled and that all have an equal opportunity to succeed. This vigilance is reflected in the successful use of the additional funding for disadvantaged pupils, who achieve as well as other pupils.  Leaders and governors ensure that the primary sports funding is used highly effectively to introduce pupils to new sports, such as circus skills and dance. They make sure that teachers are trained to lead the activities, ensuring that the sporting activities can continue in the future.  Leaders and governors carry out their obligation to keep pupils safe with exemplary rigour. Those who work with children are checked and all procedures are effective. The local authority provides much helpful support to the school, particularly in safeguarding, contributing to its success.  The curriculum offers pupils a wide range of interesting work so that they build up a large number of key

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The leadership and management are outstanding

skills. For example, while studying the evacuation of children during the Second World War, pupils in Year 2 practised letter writing and mathematical calculations in a wartime setting. These tasks deepened pupils’ understanding of history while developing strong literacy and numeracy skills.  Leaders make sure pupils have an excellent grounding in British values and encourage extremely good relations. For example, the week’s assembly topic was respect. Pupils explored what self-respect means and why we should respect the rights of others. Even the youngest children in the Reception class were able to explain what it means to respect others, such as ‘being kind’ and ‘having good manners’.  Pupils are prepared extremely well for growing up in modern Britain. For example, each year-group hosts an annual Enterprise Day, where the pupils learn to make products, sell them to parents and draw up a budget to benefit the school. The inspector observed the Reception class’s event and was impressed by

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The leadership and management are outstanding

the industry of children in making their own butter, preparing snacks for the adults and serving them. Such skills give pupils the opportunity to understand how society works and to learn to be stakeholders in modern society.  The governance of the school:  Governors are fully involved in the life of the school. One described it as ‘the heart of the community’. They visit regularly to see the work of the school for themselves. In this way, they secure a strong understanding of how well the pupils are learning and of the impressive range of topics and activities pupils experience.  Governors understand published figures about pupils’ results. They also have a full understanding of the progress made by pupils as they move through the school. They are helped to understand the figures by the clear way the headteacher presents and explains them in her reports to governors. Governors use this information to probe deeply into how well groups of pupils are learning and to make sure that

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The leadership and management are outstanding

any pupil in danger of falling behind is quickly supported.  Governors keep a close eye on the link between teachers’ movement along the pay scales and how well pupils are performing. Governors know how any underperformance is tackled, should it occur. In this way, they help ensure that the school receives excellent value for money from its teachers.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils are polite and respectful to adults. Pupils from all backgrounds and heritages get on extremely well together. This reflects the school’s commitment to fostering good relations and ensuring that nobody is discriminated against.  Pupils are eager to learn. If they finish a piece of work, they do not sit back. Instead they choose to challenge themselves and do another, harder, piece of work.  The playground is a safe and stimulating environment. The small size of the school gives pupils the chance to mix with those in different year groups.  Lunch arrangements work smoothly and pupils are patient in lining up to be served.  Pupils who need extra help in concentrating in class are given excellent support to develop their listening skills and turn taking, for example through singing together and carrying out tasks.  Pupils’ enjoyment of school is reflected in their attendance, which is on a rising trend. Attendance is now

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Behaviour

on a par with the national average for primary schools, a significant achievement for an infant school that takes younger children who have not yet built up immunity to common illnesses.  Pupils’ exemplary behaviour reflects the school’s highly effective promotion of their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. In one whole-school assembly, for example, the children were startled by the apparently thoughtless behaviour of a member of staff. They quickly understood the moral message, presented in an enjoyable way, that good manners are not just for show.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. The site is secure. Adults who work with the children are rigorously checked. Staff are well trained in child protection and safeguarding.  Pupils told the inspector that children at the school are kind to one another. There is no bullying and school information confirms that there are no exclusions. Parents who spoke to the inspector or responded to Parent View were unanimous in agreeing that the school keeps pupils safe. All agreed that their children were happy and free from bullying.  Children are taught how to keep themselves safe from such risks as fire and traffic.  The school thinks ahead when taking pupils out on trips and visits, for example alerting adults what to do in case children fall down steps or eat seeds or berries.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching is exemplary. Adults know the pupils extremely well and are fully committed to stimulating their learning. Such high-quality teaching leads to pupils making exceptional progress in their learning.  A scrutiny of pupils’ workbooks confirms that teaching over time is outstanding. Teachers expect a great deal from the pupils and insist on neatly presented work. Their high expectations raise pupils’ achievement.  Tasks set are challenging to those of all abilities. Tasks enable both the most able and those who sometimes struggle with their earning to learn extremely well.  Reading is a strength. The attractive and inviting library is well used and adults check that pupils read regularly. Guided reading lessons are used successfully to promote a wide range of reading. Pupils who read aloud to the inspector showed they had the skill to piece together an unfamiliar word by using their understanding of letters and sounds.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The school promotes writing successfully. Even the youngest children in the Reception class are encouraged to use capital letters at the start of sentences and full stops at the end. In one lesson, Year 1 pupils enjoyed writing because the task, to describe how to plant magic seeds, appealed to their imagination. One pupil carefully wrote: ‘Put the seed in the pot. Gently cover the seed with hay.’  The teaching of mathematics promotes extremely effective learning, because tasks are demanding and build successfully on what pupils are currently learning. For example, Year 2 pupils learned to use scales and other implements to weigh and measure ingredients for Second World War eggless cakes.  Marking offers pupils a great deal of encouragement and praise. However, it does not always give enough guidance on how pupils can improve.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted highly successfully. Many activities

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

have a powerful appeal to pupils’ imagination. This, combined with challenging tasks, results in exceptionally high quality learning. For example, Year 1 pupils wrote their own weather forecasts for parts of the British Isles. Then they presented their findings in the form of televised weather bulletins, using similar video techniques to those used by television presenters. One pupil’s forecast was a little more imaginative than that normally heard: ‘In Scotland there will be a tornado. In Wales it will be snowy. In Northern Ireland there will be a rainbow by having sun and rain.’

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is outstanding

 Pupils make excellent progress during their time at the school. This reflects the high expectations all the adults have of the pupils.  Pupils’ attainment has been consistently above average at the end of Year 2 in reading, writing and mathematics, for the past six years. Year 2 pupils do well at both Level 2 and Level 3. School figures for current Year 2 pupils show that this pattern of high attainment is continuing.  School assessment information shows that Wood Street pupils make fast progress in their time at the school. Work in pupils’ books confirms that progress is strong throughout the school in reading, writing and mathematics.  Leaders keep a watchful eye on the progress of all groups, analysing carefully how well each group is performing. As a result, no group is overlooked and no group falls behind. This close checking particularly benefits disadvantaged pupils. The school takes great care to make sure they learn as well as possible and

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is outstanding

play a full part in all the learning opportunities provided. As a result, there is no appreciable difference between their attainment and progress in any subject and those of other pupils.  The most able pupils are given demanding tasks and stimulating questions to ensure that they do as well as possible.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs receive sharply focused support, both within lessons and in individual or group sessions. The support is continually checked to make sure that it successfully meets the pupils’ needs and does not take them away from important whole-class learning activities.

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is outstanding

 Children in the Reception class are fortunate in having attractive and stimulating play areas both indoors and outdoors. The adults are extremely caring. Parents of Reception children who spoke to the inspector could not praise the school highly enough.  The Reception class is exceptionally well led. The class teacher, who has responsibility for early years provision, is highly trained. Planning is a strength. New activities are put out daily to maintain the children’s eagerness for learning. Children’s progress in their learning is carefully checked to make sure no group or individual falls behind.  Children’s behaviour is outstanding. They are ready to share the toys and take turns in using the most popular activities. They are kept extremely safe and taught how to keep themselves safe. For example, an activity involving the children in boiling and scrambling eggs began with safety warnings.

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is outstanding

 Teaching is outstanding. Each activity is planned to develop the children’s thinking and language skills. For example, children were absorbed in digging out a channel in the outdoor sandpit to create a ‘duck pond’. The activity gave them plenty of exercise in operating the delightful old water pump. They then lined the channel with plastic sheeting. The adult asked them why the water drained away through the sand but was contained in the plastic-lined hollows. The children thought about it, suggesting that the sand was softer than the plastic. In this way they were prepared for science experiments.  The adults teach children excellent literacy and numeracy skills. Children are taught their sounds and letters (phonics) highly effectively, and this prepares them extremely well for the screening check at the end of Year 1. Adults lose no opportunity to teach children mathematical skills. For example, children used

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is outstanding

a hand-held metal detector to find coins in a sand pit. They were then asked to add the values of the coins they discovered.  Activities promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development exceptionally well. For example, children look after the school’s guinea pigs tenderly, creating complicated runs for the animals out of wooden blocks.  As a result of the care and stimulation they receive, children make excellent progress in the Reception Year. Over two thirds achieve a good level of development by the end of the year. This proportion is higher than that typically found. Records of children’s progress in their learning journals confirm that they make fast progress in their learning.  By the end of the Reception Year, children are confident learners. They have acquired a range of skills that prepare them exceptionally well for the move to Year 1.

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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 125004 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 449767

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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 82 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Kelvin Richardson Headteacher Catherine Miller Date of previous school inspection 14 July 2010 Telephone number 01483 235165 Fax number 01483 235170 Email address info@woodstreet.surrey.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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