Kilburn Infant and Nursery School

Kilburn Infant and Nursery School The Flat, Kilburn, Belper, DE56 0LA

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Overall effectiveness

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

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

 Leaders do not always check closely on the link between the quality of teaching and the progress that pupils are making. As a result, they have an over-generous view of the school’s effectiveness.  Senior leaders’ actions to ensure the effectiveness of teaching have not been rigorous enough.  Leaders’ plans for improvement do not have clear milestones for governors to use to check the impact their actions are having on achievement.  The quality of teaching, including phonics (the sounds that letters make), is not consistently good. This is because teachers do not match work to the needs of the pupils well enough, particularly for the most- and the least-able pupils.  Behaviour is not always good enough. There is some low level disruption in lessons. Where this happens it is because tasks are not sufficiently well-matched to pupils’ abilities.  Too much teaching, particularly in English and mathematics, is concerned with covering the topics

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

listed in the curriculum and there is not enough focus on improving the quality of work.  Teachers’ subject knowledge is not consistently good and their expectations are not high enough. Consequently, they do not consistently plan activities that build on what pupils already know and can do.  Marking and feedback to pupils about their work are not sufficiently clear to help pupils learn as quickly as they could.  From their starting points, pupils do not make enough progress over time.  The quality of teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is not consistently good in all areas of learning. As a result, children do not make enough progress in their knowledge and understanding of the world and in expressive arts and design.

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The school has the following strengths

 The school is a caring community where adults believe that each child is everyone’s responsibility.  The school prioritises the safety of its pupils and has effective systems in place to keep them safe.  Senior leaders have been effective in ensuring that pupils’ attendance has improved and is now above the national average.  The school uses its sports premium funding very well and physical education is given a high priority.  Pupils eligible for pupil premium funding are well catered for and their progress is carefully monitored.  Achievement in writing is strengthening because teachers plan activities which reinforce and extend pupils’ skills in all subjects.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed learning in 10 lessons, including three observations carried out jointly with the headteacher. Inspectors observed the teaching of early reading skills and listened to pupils reading. Inspectors also observed one assembly, talked with pupils about their school and looked at examples of pupils’ work in all year groups to gain a view of the impact of teaching over time.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, subject leaders, teaching staff, representatives of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors spoke to parents informally at the beginning of the school day. They also took account of the 35 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View). Inspectors took account of the 19 response to the staff questionnaire.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents including: the school’s own self-evaluation and plans for improvement; the school’s evaluation of the quality of teaching and learning; school policies; the school’s

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Information about this inspection

most recent data on the attainment and progress of pupils; information provided to families; information relating to the safeguarding of pupils; and the school’s most recent data relating to attendance and punctuality of pupils.  The inspectors considered the range and quality of information provided on the school’s website.

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Inspection team

Stephen McMullan, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Dorothy Bathgate Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 Kilburn Infant and Nursery School is smaller than the average-sized primary school and is split between three buildings on the same site.  Children in the early years are taught in three classes. Nursery children attend part time and Reception children attend full time.  The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The number of pupils on the school register varies considerably from year to year.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is broadly in line with the national average. In this school, this funding provides additional support for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below the national average.  The deputy headteacher and early years leader are both currently absent from school, and have been for extended periods.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and raise pupils’ achievement by:  ensuring that teachers have high expectations of what all pupils can achieve  planning lessons based on information about what pupils already know and can do  setting work that is at the appropriate level to move learning on and challenge pupils, especially the most and the least able  extending pupils’ knowledge, particularly in English and mathematics, through more skilful questioning and higher expectations of pupils’ responses to those questions  making sure that the daily teaching of phonics is of the highest quality for all pupils  ensuring that marking and feedback helps pupils to improve their learning  improving the subject knowledge and skills of all adults so that they have more impact on pupils’ learning, particularly in phonics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by:  ensuring that school leaders, including governors, have a clear and accurate view of standards of teaching in the school and that their actions to improve it are rigorous.  monitoring the work of the school more closely and rigorously  making sure that responsibilities are clearly delegated and there are lines of accountability which are well understood and implemented  improving the quality and detail of school improvement planning so that plans include clear milestones at regular intervals which governors use to check on the school’s impact and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage by:  planning learning activities that ensure that children are able to make good progress in all areas of development and with particular regard to children’s understanding of the world and their skills in expressive arts and design.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s view of its performance is over-generous and does not truly reflect the quality of education provided to its pupils. Leaders do not check closely enough on how well teaching is helping pupils to make progress. There is too much emphasis on seeking out the school’s strengths and not enough understanding about what it needs to do to improve.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The experienced headteacher has developed systems and practices which have the potential to be effective. However, these are not implemented with enough consistency across the school. Consequently, the quality of teaching for all pupils is not good on too many occasions and pupils are not achieving as well as they might do.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Recent events have meant that key leaders have been unavailable for extended periods of time. While this is a challenge for such a small school, contingency plans have not been fully effective in ensuring that important responsibilities are met and that lines of accountability are clear. This has meant that leaders have not routinely drawn together evidence from observations of teaching and scrutiny of pupils’ books to check closely on how well pupils are doing. Consequently, teachers are not being provided with detailed guidance on how to improve the quality of their practice to match the expectations set by the headteacher.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Planning for school improvement covers a wide range of areas. Although there are some actions which are precise, there are too many which are vague and this prevents leaders determining whether they are on track. It also makes it difficult for school leaders and governors to monitor progress effectively at regular intervals and to make sure that actions are having an impact quickly enough.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The focus on keeping children safe and creating a harmonious atmosphere in school ensures that pupils are generally courteous and well-behaved. Their moral and social education is well catered for. They are encouraged to be resilient when dealing with fall-outs with their class mates by using the school’s ‘Three Steps’ technique to resolve conflict. Discrimination of any kind is not tolerated and there is a strong sense of inclusion for all in everything the school provides. However, there are instances of low-level disruption in classes where children become distracted as a result of a lack of challenge in the tasks they are set.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leaders review and amend the curriculum regularly in response to school improvement priorities, for example the underperformance of boys and the need to improve writing. Provision for spiritual and cultural development is interwoven into the curriculum. Tolerance and respect are taught from the moment pupils first enter the school and are supplemented with visitors and visits to different places of worship in a multicultural city location. The school understands the need to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain and has taken steps to make sure that this is taught within the school curriculum.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The progress of pupils for whom the school receives pupil premium funding is carefully monitored. There are individual plans in place for each of these pupils in an effort to make sure that they succeed at school.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher recognises the need to offer support to local children, particularly those who are disadvantaged, before they enter full-time education. Children are encouraged to attend the school’s pre- school classes to improve their skills and knowledge and to help their transition into the school’s nursery.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school is making good use of the primary physical education and sports premium funding to develop the coaching skills of its teachers. Working alongside the local sports partnership, the school offers a wide range of sports and activities and these have increased the participation rates of children in physical activity, especially girls.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Arrangements for safeguarding pupils and checks on staff meet statutory requirements and are a strength of the school. The school works well with other agencies to make sure that pupils remain safe.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Attendance has steadily risen over recent years, due to the good work of school leaders, with school data on current pupils showing that it is above the national average.  The local authority has provided light-touch support for the school. This has not held senior leaders to account with sufficient rigour and, as a result, school self-assessment is not accurate enough.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governors have a strong commitment to the school and make every effort to involve themselves in securing school improvement. They understand their responsibilities and their role in holding the headteacher and the school to account. They are aware of nationally produced data on the school’s performance and understand that pupils’ results were much weaker last year than previously. While they are involved in monitoring standards through work scrutiny and learning walks around the school, they focus too much on what they see as strengths. As a result, their view of the school is too positive.  Governors meet their statutory duties including those for the safeguarding of pupils. They are alert to the possible impact of wider safeguarding issues such as extremism and the need to prepare pupils for life beyond the school gates.  Governors are aware of the views of parents through questionnaires and surveys and, although almost

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The leadership and management requires improvement

all parents are supportive of the school, where there are concerns or ideas, governors take action to address these.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement because pupils are not always fully attentive in lessons or focused on their learning. Usually this is the result of lessons not being well enough matched to the needs of all pupils. In these cases, they quickly go off task and the pace of learning slows.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are polite and considerate to others and their conduct around the school is generally good. Records show that serious incidents including bullying and racism are rare and that these are dealt with quickly and effectively in school. Pupils have been involved in the development of the ‘School Rules’ and Year 2 pupils are involved in peer mentoring at playtimes, adding to their sense of responsibility towards others.

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Behaviour

 Pupils enjoy coming to school and say they feel safe and well cared for. Parents agree with this and speak highly of the commitment of the staff to the care of their children.

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Behaviour

 Attendance has improved over recent years thanks to a zero-tolerance policy towards absence and is on- track to exceed the national average. Pupils wear their ‘Good Attendance’ badges with pride and know that regular attendance is important. There is good evidence of the school’s work with particular pupils to raise their attendance, with an improvement in their achievement as a result.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Leaders place a high priority on keeping pupils safe. There are reliable and well maintained systems to make sure that the school is a safe place for pupils. Record keeping is thorough and shows that leaders undertake regular reviews to see how they can improve further. Risk assessments are in place and policies are regularly reviewed to meet the changing needs of the school and legal requirements.

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Safety

 Pupils understand what constitutes bullying and how this can affect other children. They are taught techniques for dealing with conflict from an early age and the use of these can be seen throughout the school. Pupils know who to talk to in school if they have a problem and trust adults to deal effectively with their concerns.

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Safety

 The teaching of e-safety is particularly strong. The school works with an external consultant to provide training for adults and children. A regular e-safety newsletter is published on the school website for parents. Children know how to keep themselves safe online and what to do if they are worried when they use the internet.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Relationships between adults and children are positive. However, teachers’ expectations and the level of challenge presented to many children in reading, writing and mathematics is too low. Consequently, the impact on learning and achievement is not good.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching is often focused on merely covering topics listed in the curriculum rather than deepening pupils’ knowledge and understanding. This results in a greater emphasis on quantity of work rather than quality. This can be seen in workbooks where activities do not meet the different needs of pupils sufficiently well.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers direct pupils to the same task without enough regard for their different abilities and starting points. At times, teachers are also unclear about what they expect the pupils to achieve and how to extend this to challenge the most able. Although there is information available relating to pupils' progress, teachers do not use this effectively enough to inform the next steps in learning. As a result, tasks are not effective in providing a good level of challenge to all pupils and learning is not as good as it could be, for example in reading where the books pupils read are not always sufficiently demanding.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although there is a system in place to inform pupils of how well they are doing, this is not having the intended impact. Pupils are not sufficiently clear about how to improve their work. In their marking and feedback to pupils, teachers do not always give precise pointers on how to improve and do not check that pupils have acted on this advice to ensure that the same errors are not repeated.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils benefit from high levels of adult support, allowing them to be taught in smaller groups. Leaders ensure that it is not always the same groups of pupils who receive additional help and guidance. For example, the most-able writers in Year 2 receive additional sessions each week and disadvantaged pupils have one-to-one contact with an adult at least weekly. However, adult questioning is not always precise enough to stretch the thinking and ideas of pupils and extend their learning.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

Teaching is not always accurate due to gaps in teachers’ subject knowledge, and pupils’ misconceptions are allowed to go unchallenged. This is evident in the teaching of phonics where pupils’ errors were not always corrected.  Where subjects capture their imagination and the work matches their ability, pupils are engrossed in their work and they learn quickly. For example during a literacy lesson, Year 2 children were able to talk knowledgeably about the physical features of dinosaurs and how they were adapted to suit their diet and habitat.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The school places a high priority on reading and parents comment on the positive impact of reading as regular homework.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils' progress is not good as a result of teaching which does not match work to the abilities and needs of children well enough.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are making expected progress. Nevertheless, not all groups of pupils are making good rates of progress to address the legacy of prior underachievement, particularly in reading and mathematics. This reflects the unevenness in the quality of teaching. In particular, the most-able pupils do not do as well as they could as a result of work that does not challenge them enough.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 has been above average over recent years. However, in 2014, attainment was below average. The school’s most recent assessment of pupils' progress and work in pupils’ books indicate that pupils’ progress is improving. Consequently, current standards of attainment are broadly average and attainment is on track to show an improvement this year.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The most-able children are not always sufficiently well challenged in their learning and could achieve more in their English and mathematics. For example, reading books do not consistently stretch their skills, while some mathematical tasks do not build on their prior learning well enough.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school places a high priority on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. Each is given an individual education plan to make sure that they are not overlooked and that the impact of any extra support is monitored. The achievement of disadvantaged pupils is in line with that of similar children nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make slower progress, particularly in writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Teaching assistants provide some good support for pupils. However, there are gaps in their subject knowledge and this can slow pupils’ learning, for example in phonics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Achievement is strongest in writing. The school identified this as a weakness in the past and redesigned its curriculum to provide improved opportunities for children, and boys in particular, to write. As a result, the progress in writing of boys matches that of girls.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 The majority of children join the Nursery and Reception classes with skills and knowledge that are below those typical for their age in reading, writing and number. By the time they leave Reception, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development exceeds that found nationally. However, this measure does not include understanding the world and expressive arts and design, where achievement is less good. As a result, these elements of children’s learning are under-developed and too many children are not fully prepared for the next stage of their education.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Teaching, including phonics, is not consistently good. The intended learning outcomes for activities are not always clear and this makes it difficult to assess the progress of children and their next steps in learning. As a result, tasks are not always well matched to children’s abilities and their progress is slowed.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Staff roles and responsibilities are not sharp enough as a result of the absence of a dedicated early years leader. As a consequence, staff do not have a sufficiently clear understanding of the expectations for children’s learning and achievement.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Relationships with parents are good and they speak positively about how quickly their children settle when they join the school. While there is some parental involvement in the development of children’s learning journals this is not as well developed as it could be to provide a comprehensive picture of each child’s development.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Children are safe and their behaviour is generally good. They are tolerant and respectful of each other. They are taught that discrimination of any sort is wrong and practise values such as democracy, for example when voting for a class book to read. However, where activities do not have enough challenge or children are not clear about the purpose of a task, they can lose interest and become inattentive.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Outdoor provision is good and used effectively. As a result, children make good progress in their physical development. The nursery provides a bright, stimulating environment.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Children who are disadvantaged achieve well. School leaders have identified the need to make sure that children whose circumstances make them potentially vulnerable make a good start to their education. The school offers a pre-school experience at which the brothers and sisters of disadvantaged children are encouraged to attend.

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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 112577 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 449591

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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 127 Appropriate authority The local authority Chair Vickie Elsey Headteacher Joanne Baillie Date of previous school inspection 02 February 2010 Telephone number 01332 880449 Fax number 01332 881573 Email address headteacher@kilburn-inf.derbyshire.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

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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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