Marsden Infant and Nursery School

Marsden Infant and Nursery School Brougham Road, Marsden, Huddersfield, HD7 6BN

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The highly dedicated headteacher and senior leaders have successfully led rapid improvement in the quality of teaching and achievement.  Governors and staff share the headteacher’s clear vision of how successful the school can be and have acted with determination to improve provision and outcomes.  Teaching is good and its impact is sometimes outstanding. Teachers have high expectations for all pupils and well-planned activities capture pupils’ interest.  Well-trained teaching assistants accelerate pupils’ progress by providing effective and well-targeted support in and out of the classroom.  Early years provision is good. Children in Reception make good progress. In Nursery, progress is often more rapid than this.  Disadvantaged pupils are attaining increasingly well. Any remaining gaps between their attainment and that of other pupils in the school are closing rapidly.  Pupils in Key Stage 1 make good progress and

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

attainment at the end of Year 2 has risen to above average in all subjects.  The most able pupils make rapid progress because they are challenged to reach standards above those expected for their age.  Pupils like coming to school, attendance is broadly average and punctuality is exemplary.  Behaviour in lessons is excellent with a love of learning being seen across all classes. Pupils move around the school with consideration for others, are very friendly and display good manners.  Pupils feel safe and are cared for very well.  The curriculum makes a strong contribution to the personal development of pupils as it offers a wide variety of opportunities to promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness and the rights and responsibilities of children within modern Britain.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Subject leaders do not always work closely enough with class teachers to provide targeted support quickly, to make sure that the progress of individual pupils does not slow.  In Reception, teachers’ planning for activities that are always available for children (continuous provision), to challenge and extend learning, is not as strong as that found in Nursery.  The use of problem-solving and reasoning activities to develop skills in understanding mathematical concepts is not consistent across all classes.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in a wide range of lessons in all year groups. One observation was undertaken jointly with the headteacher. Small-group sessions led by teaching assistants were also observed.  The inspectors met with governors, a representative of the local authority and both middle and senior leaders of the school.  Inspectors listened to pupils reading. They spoke with many pupils informally in the playground and in the dining room. A more formal discussion was held with pupils about their learning and their views on behaviour and safety.  Inspectors took account of the 83 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), the 18 responses to the staff questionnaire and the responses to recent surveys conducted by the governors, to collect the opinions of parents, staff and pupils. Inspectors also listened to the views of parents during informal meetings at the school gate.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors looked carefully at pupils’ work in lessons and also that displayed around the school. They scrutinised the work children and pupils had completed over time.  The inspectors observed the school at work and considered a number of school documents, including the school’s improvement plan and a review of its own performance. Arrangements for safeguarding, systems for checking the quality of teaching and those for monitoring pupil progress were also considered.

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Inspection team

Fiona Dixon, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Marsden Infant and Nursery School is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The vast majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is average.  Early years provision is full time for children in Reception and part-time for children in Nursery.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is below the national average. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen leadership and management by developing subject leaders’ work with class teachers in order to put into place, promptly, effective and targeted support to avoid any slowing of individual pupil progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve further teaching by:  continuing to develop the use of problem solving and reasoning skills to aid pupils’ understanding of mathematical concepts  ensuring that the planning for continuous provision in Reception equals the quality of that found in Nursery.

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The leadership and management are good

 The highly dedicated headteacher and senior leaders have successfully led rapid improvements in the quality of teaching and achievement since the previous inspection. They have created a climate of high expectation both academically and socially.  Governors and all staff share the headteacher’s clear vision of how successful the school can be. All staff now proudly take responsibility for continuously developing their own practice to improve the quality of teaching and learning further, thus allowing all pupils to thrive.  Teachers are held accountable for pupil progress and their classroom performance is linked closely to salary progression. School leaders rigorously check the quality of teaching; outstanding practice is regularly shared between teachers and teaching assistants to improve pupil progress.  Subject leaders monitor all aspects of work in their area of responsibility by checking the quality of

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The leadership and management are good

teaching in lessons, looking at work in books, checking pupil progress and talking to teachers about pupils’ learning. They know that their next step is to work with teaching staff to ensure that targeted support is promptly put into place as soon as a pupil finds an area of learning difficult to grasp, in order to avoid any slowing of progress.  Improvements made since the previous inspection in the quality of teaching and systems to check pupils’ progress have led to all groups of pupils making at least good progress. For example, consistently good teaching and carefully targeted additional support provided for disadvantaged pupils has had a positive impact on the progress they make. Across the school, disadvantaged pupils now make similar progress to non-disadvantaged pupils in all subjects, and this is evidence of the school’s wise use of pupil premium funding.  The broad curriculum provides many exciting opportunities for pupils. When planning work, teachers often

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The leadership and management are good

take account of pupils’ interests. For example, when studying ‘Oceans and Seas’ the Year 2 classes were so enthralled by sea creatures that they chose to extend their learning by artistically creating a wide variety of three-dimensional habitats and the creatures that live in them. The pupils researched the daily habits of these creatures and recreated them, capturing their exploits on hand-held computer tablets.  Pupils are well prepared for life in Britain today. Pupils elect their school council representatives democratically and also learn to respect differences of opinion. For example, pupils in Year 2 presented the arguments for and against keeping animals in zoos and showed great maturity in considering the rights and wrongs of each point of view before voting on the issue. This opportunity is just one of many that reflects the school’s commitment to promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural

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The leadership and management are good

development.  Effective use is made of the primary sport funding. As a result the quality and range of physical education teaching has improved and this has inspired pupils to take part in competitive events held at the local secondary school and for the dance group to perform in a regional theatre as part of ‘Strictly Pennine’. This is having a positive impact on improving pupils’ attitudes to leading healthy lifestyles.  The school motto, ‘Learning together, learning for life’, reflects the school’s commitment to equality of opportunity, to promote good relations and tackle all forms of discrimination. The school’s wide range of in-school clubs, the diverse range of visits and visitors that broaden the experiences of all pupils and the high level of school involvement in the local community, for example, singing for Marsden’s ‘Cuckoo Day’ clearly show the school motto in action.  Parents are actively encouraged to be involved in the life of the school. They enjoy helping the school with

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The leadership and management are good

practical tasks, for example gardening, accompanying school trips and raising funds. ‘Reading friends’ regularly volunteer to listen to children read and parents overwhelmingly enjoy ‘whole school learning days’ when they can join their children in class while they are learning.  The local authority has provided effective support to the school especially in building the senior leaders’ capacity to improve and monitor the quality of teaching and learning.  Governors and leaders fulfil their statutory duties and make sure all requirements in relation to safeguarding and child protection are effective and fully met.  The governance of the school:  Governance is a strength of the school. Governors know the school well through their regular formal and informal visits, their annual survey of the views of parents, staff and pupils, their meetings with staff and their contributions to the life of the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 They share the vision of the headteacher to strive continuously for excellence and in doing so they rigorously scrutinise and have a good understanding of data on attainment to ensure that all pupils are making good or better progress. This has helped ensure that disadvantaged pupils are now attaining as well as non-disadvantaged pupils nationally in mathematics and writing.  Governors are aware of the use and positive impact of the use of the primary school sport funding especially on the increased skills of teachers to deliver a wide range of physical activities. They are aware of the quality of teaching across the school and actively carry out their duties to ensure rigorous performance management for the headteacher and all teaching staff. They tackle any underperformance in the classroom with rigour.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. ‘At our school we are always kind and we share with each other,’ is a view of a Year 1 child that was supported by pupils, parents and staff and confirmed by inspection evidence.  Pupils readily show good manners and talk happily about their positive experience of school. They wear their uniforms neatly and enjoy the opportunities, like the learning challenges in ‘Marsden’s Missions’, to help them become more independent and grow in confidence.  In class, pupils are eager to learn. Any form of disruption is extremely rare. Pupils work very well on their own, in pairs and in groups. They are keen to make contributions and listen carefully to adults and each other. They are highly supportive of the efforts of their classmates and happily share the joy of each other’s success.  Pupils play very well together when in the playground enjoying the wide range of activities. Imaginary

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Behaviour

games can be seen alongside ‘tig’ or walking on stilts or playing on the climbing frame.  Pupils enjoy holding positions of responsibility. The school council actively represents the ‘pupil voice’ and has worked with staff so that tissues are now available in all rooms and pupils are more aware of both the social importance of their use as well as their function to reduce the spreading of germs!  Attendance is in line with the national average and punctuality is exemplary.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Pupils are taught how to keep safe through a wide range of lessons which include how to stay safe on the road, near water and when playing, especially, for example, on the climbing frame. Risk assessments for all activities are thorough.  Pupils understand the difference between bullying and ‘falling-out’. They say that name-calling and bullying is extremely rare. Pupils know they can trust adults to act upon any concerns. Parents and staff agree that bullying is rare and school records confirm this.  Parents and staff overwhelmingly feel that pupils are well cared for and are safe. Pupils whose circumstances make them potentially vulnerable are very well supported as the school works closely with external agencies to meet their needs.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The progress that pupils make, the work in their books and that displayed around the school support the observations made during the inspection that teaching is good and that its impact on learning is sometimes outstanding.  The teaching of reading is good. Daily opportunities to explore books in guided reading and the wide range of titles available for topic work ensure that pupils read widely and often. The regular use of the local library by all classes, the dedication of the volunteer ‘Reading Friends’ and the exciting whole-school events such as dressing up as a favourite character for World Book Day all enhance the development of a love of reading.  Confidence in writing in many different styles is developed from Reception. Teachers regularly use subjects other than English to give different and interesting reasons to write. For example, in Year 1, pupils in their science lesson on ‘Plants we can eat’ recorded, using subject-specific words, which plants

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The quality of teaching is good

they enjoyed eating and which part of each chosen plant they could eat.  Pupils regularly use resources in their mathematics lessons to help them develop their skills. For example, pupils in Year 2 were totally engaged in a division orienteering activity outside, where they had to work in pairs to solve problems and then ‘find’ the correct answer on a cone before moving on. However, this use of problem-solving and reasoning activities to develop pupils’ skills to understand mathematical concepts is not consistent across all classes.  Teaching assistants have a good impact on the progress pupils make. For example, when leading phonics (letters and the sounds they make) groups they follow the school approach so pupils experience a highly focused time of learning and make good progress.  Teachers mark pupils’ work regularly. Pupils know what they have done well and what they need to do to get even better. Their progress is accelerated as they always go back and correct their mistakes.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers have high expectations and set work to match the abilities of all groups of pupils. In a Year 1 English lesson, for example, pupils were challenged to add adverbs to sentences about ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Pupils could confidently explain what an adverb was and add them to their sentences. The most able were also able to use adverbs for different purposes including to help express ‘how’ and ‘when’.  Homework is actively and effectively used not only to help pupils develop their skills in reading and spelling but also to develop their ability to learn independently. Pupils are enthusiastic about the purpose of homework and agree with the child who said, ‘Our school wants to make us all superstars.’ Pupils are encouraged to explore an area of their current topic and share it in a style of their choice, for example, in ‘Green for Growth’ in Year 1, pupils were asked to create their own plant. The examples on display show a

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The quality of teaching is good

wide range of creativity including a ‘sweetie’ tree.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ progress has improved significantly, especially in mathematics, since the previous inspection and inspection evidence shows that it is now good across the school.  Pupils currently in Key Stage 1 are making at least good progress. In the 2014 phonics screening check, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard was above that seen nationally. Standards at the end of Year 2, at the typically expected Level 2b, were in line with the national average for reading, writing and mathematics. The proportions reaching the higher Level 3 in writing and mathematics were in line with the national average and reading was well above this.  The most able pupils in Key Stage 1 are challenged and supported to work towards the highest levels of achievement. Inspection evidence shows that the number of pupils showing the potential to reach the above average higher Level 3 is increasing in writing and mathematics to match that seen previously in

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The achievement of pupils is good

reading.  Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress from their unique starting points. The school works to ensure that each pupil receives individualised help, often calling on specialist external support to help plan effective support, which is then closely monitored to enable each pupil to reach their potential.  Disadvantaged pupils presently in the school are making the same good progress as non-disadvantaged pupils. This is a significant improvement from the previous inspection and reflects improvements in teaching that are closing the gap in attainment between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils. Nonetheless, in 2014 the gap was just over half a term behind in reading, half a year in writing and a term in mathematics compared to non-disadvantaged pupils nationally. Non-disadvantaged pupils in the school attained more highly than other pupils nationally and so the in-school gap was wider with disadvantaged

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The achievement of pupils is good

pupils being half a year behind in reading and mathematics and two terms behind in writing.

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The early years provision is good

 Children enter Nursery with knowledge and skills that are below those typical for their age, especially in managing feelings and behaviour, people and communities and the world. They make good, and often rapid, progress. About half the children who enter Reception do so with knowledge and skills that are below those typical for their age. Children make good progress, especially in reading and shape, space and measures, and the majority are well prepared for the step up to Year 1. The proportion of children entering Year 1 with knowledge and skills that are typical for their age is increasing.  Leadership is good. The early years leader has a clear understanding of the strengths and priorities for development. The curriculum is broad and balanced and focus activities are very well planned. Planning for continuous provision is strong in Nursery and the leader is actively working to ensure the planning to

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The early years provision is good

challenge and extend learning through all continuous provision activities in Reception equals that found in Nursery.  Behaviour is often exemplary as staff model and expect high standards. Children can be seen sharing, turn-taking and problem-solving both indoors and outdoors. For example, children in Nursery were observed cooperating in high-quality imaginative play when they ‘went on holiday’. They listened carefully to each other, compromised and enjoyed sharing this experience.  Assessment is very detailed and effectively used to ensure all children make good progress. Children’s individual progress is carefully monitored and recorded in ‘learning journeys’.  Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness is well developed. During the inspection, Nursery children’s wide eyes reflected awe and wonder when a snake was brought in for them to see and feel.  Children are safe, say they are happy, and all welfare requirements are met. Children are highly

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The early years provision is good

supportive of each other. A most able child was concentrating and creating a highly detailed repeat pattern when another child sought reassurance. This was freely given with a ‘well done’ added and both then happily continued with their chosen activities.  Teaching is typically good and enables good progress to be made by all children. For example, children applied their recent learning on how Marsden has changed over time when they created ‘Mini Marsden’ in the construction area. They were dressed in hard hats, with ear protectors and goggles and replicated the church and the library before adding a skyscraper to illustrate how Marsden would change in the future.  Parents are highly positive about the early years and are encouraged to be actively involved with their children’s learning. They are encouraged to send in ‘wow’ notes regularly to share achievements at home with school and to attend family learning events.

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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 107644 Local authority Kirklees Inspection number 462249

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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 Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 201 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Paul Hoey Headteacher Frances Swallow Date of previous school inspection 15 May 2013 Telephone number 01484 222583 Fax number 01484 222521 Email address office.marsdeninf@kirkleeseducation.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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