Bottesford Infant School

Manor Road, Bottesford, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, DN16 3PB

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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 exceptionally well led by a headteacher who is relentless in her pursuit of excellence. She is strongly supported by the deputy headteacher and talented staff team.  Over time, pupils’ achievement is outstanding. Pupils make excellent progress and by the end of Year 2 their attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is consistently well above average.  Children thrive in the early years and make rapid progress from their different starting points. As a result, they are very well prepared for Year 1.  The quality of teaching is outstanding and impacts significantly on pupils’ achievement. Staff know the pupils very well and set challenging work, which helps them attain high standards.  Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school is excellent. Pupils are very proud of their school and say they are ‘very happy’ at Bottesford Infants.  Pupils feel very safe and demonstrate a highly

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

positive attitude to learning. They get on very well together and this creates a warm and harmonious atmosphere throughout the school.  Teaching assistants are highly skilled and they work very well with class teachers to ensure that children’s needs are well met.  Pupils enjoy a stimulating curriculum, which enthuses their passion for learning.  The curriculum is further enhanced with a wide range of activities and clubs to promote pupils’ interest. School trips and visitors to the school further add to the opportunities on offer.  There are excellent arrangements in place to share best practice within the school and other schools locally. In order for children to be better prepared for school when they start in the Reception Year, staff share their expertise with a small number of early years providers. However, too few have benefited from this to date.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

and cultural development very well. They have many opportunities to learn about fairness, respect and cultural diversity. As a result, from an early age pupils are becoming well prepared for life in modern Britain.  Governance is outstanding and contributes significantly to the success of the school.  Parents are overwhelmingly supportive, many feeling that, in their own words, ‘the teachers are all very committed to educating the children. The headteacher has done wonders for the school as its headteacher’.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching and learning in a wide range of lessons in all year groups. The headteacher took part in two joint observations with inspectors.  Inspectors met with governors, a representative of the local authority and senior and middle leaders of the school.  Inspectors listened to pupils read. They spoke to pupils informally in the playground and dining hall. A more formal discussion was held with pupils about their learning and their views of safety and behaviour.  Inspectors looked carefully at pupils’ work in lessons and also evidence of their work displayed around the school. They scrutinised the work pupils had completed over time.  Inspectors observed the school at work and considered a number of 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 pupils’ progress were also considered.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors scrutinised the 28 responses to the Ofsted questionnaire (Parent View). In addition, they took account of the school’s own parental survey and considered the responses of 15 staff questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Sheila Iwaskow, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Bottesford Infant School is larger than the average-sized infant school.  The vast majority of pupils are White British.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those 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.  Children in the Reception classes attend on a full-time basis.  Children enter the school from a wide range of different settings and a significant number live out of the catchment area.  The school holds the following awards: International School Award, Silver Science Quality Mark, The Basic Skills Quality Mark, Silver NTEN (National teacher enquiry network) for CPD (continuous professional development) and Healthy School status.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 In order that more children start in Reception well prepared to learn, extend the arrangements for the sharing of best practice by engaging to good effect with more early years providers.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Since the last inspection, the school has gone from strength to strength. This is due to the impressive leadership of the headteacher who is supported by the very able deputy headteacher, middle leaders and a dedicated staff team. Staff and governors are highly ambitious and have high expectations for the school. Working successfully together they have made significant improvements to the quality of teaching and learning, achievement and behaviour since the last inspection.  Staff are very proud to work in the school and are fully supportive of the headteacher. Typical comments from staff questionnaires include ‘we work as a team to achieve the best outcomes for our pupils. I am looking forward to the future and developing our shared vision even more’.  Senior leaders and all staff have a very secure understanding of the school’s strengths and priorities for development. The school development plan sets out these priorities clearly. These are frequently

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The leadership and management are outstanding

monitored and rapidly achieved.  Senior leaders monitor very closely how well each pupil is learning and the progress they are making. This information is used very well to ensure that each pupil is challenged to reach their full potential or to put in additional support to any pupils who are in danger of under achieving. Such very effective practice highlights the school’s strong commitment to equality of opportunity.  Robust systems are in place to monitor the quality of teaching. There is a strong commitment to on-going professional development to ensure that staffs’ knowledge and skills are kept up-to-date. Teachers have targets linked to the progress their pupils make and how well they achieve. These are taken into account when recommendations are made about teachers’ pay.  Middle leaders effectively monitor the subjects for which they have responsibility. They check the quality of teaching in lessons, monitor planning and keep a close eye on the progress that pupils are making.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 There are very clear and effective systems in place to share best practice within the school, as well as with other schools locally and in the south of England. The school has also started working with a small number of early years providers, such as private day nurseries and pre-schools to share their expertise so that the children starting in the Reception Year are better prepared for school. However, to date, not all early years providers in the locality have benefited from this sharing of best practice.  The school makes excellent provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Different cultural festivals are celebrated and the school has established links with schools in India and Dubai. Pupils have many opportunities to raise money for charity. Furthermore, the school actively celebrates British values through their work on tolerance, freedom of expression and rule of law. This clearly

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The leadership and management are outstanding

demonstrates the schools very strong commitment to fostering good relationships with others, tackling discrimination and preparing pupils very well for life in modern Britain.  The school’s outstanding achievement is underpinned by a curriculum that provides many rich and varied experiences. For example, pupils enjoy trips to local wild life and nature parks, visiting Doddington Hall and performing at drama festivals. Dance and theatre companies visit the school on a regular basis to further extend the range of opportunities provided for pupils. Furthermore, there is a varied range of out- of-school clubs for pupils to enjoy such as music, art, gardening and dancing.  The pupil premium funding is used effectively to support the learning of disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils. The money has been spent wisely to support these pupils in a number of areas, such as improving their literacy and numeracy skills.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Effective use is made of the primary sports funding to supplement pupils’ physical education lessons and to extend the range of sporting activities available to them after school. It has also led to an increase in teachers’ confidence in delivering a range of sports and games and inspired pupils to take part in competitive sporting activities with other schools.  Parents strongly support all aspects of the school’s work and would have no hesitation in recommending the school to others.  Arrangements for safeguarding pupils are fully in place and effective. There are rigorous checks on all adults working with the children. Staff access regular safeguarding training and have an excellent understanding of safeguarding procedures to follow should they be concerned about a child’s welfare. All policies relating to the safeguarding of pupils are reviewed on a regular basis.  The local authority provides ‘light touch’ but highly effective support to this outstanding school.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  The highly-committed governing body contributes increasingly well to the success of the school. They have a very secure understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. This is based on their own very clear analysis of the data and detailed information provided for them by senior leaders. Governors are very supportive of the school but are also very effective in ensuring that they hold the school fully to account by asking probing and challenging questions. Governors ensure that pay increases for teachers are linked clearly to pupils’ performance. They have a secure overview of the quality of teaching across the school and ensure that challenging targets are set for the headteacher in relation to her own performance management. Governors undertake regular training to improve their own skills. The school budget is well managed and governors ensure that the additional funding for

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The leadership and management are outstanding

sports and pupil premium are used effectively.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.  Pupils are unreservedly polite and courteous to each other and adults. They walk along the corridors sensibly, take turns and wait patiently to be served at meal times. They are kind and respectful at all times and wear their school uniform with pride. Visitors to the school are made to feel very welcome.  Pupils thoroughly enjoy coming to school. Comments, such as ‘school work is amazing and so much fun’ reflect their eagerness to learn and succeed.  Pupils relish the responsibility they are given, for example, as an elected member of the school council or an eco-warrior. As one eco-warrior told inspectors ‘I pick up litter and encourage everyone to save water and electricity’.  Pupils love the times they spend outdoors playing happily and cooperatively together in the large, attractive and very well-resourced playground. They laugh with delight as they run around in the fresh air,

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Behaviour

making marks with chalk and playing interactive games. Mini-mentors monitor the ‘friendship stop’ to play with anyone who is feeling alone.  Pupils arrive at school on time and rates of attendance are well above the national average. Highly- effective procedures are in place to support pupils who attend school less regularly.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding.  Pupils feel very safe and are very aware of the different forms of bullying, including e-safety, and the harm it can cause to others. They say that bullying is rare and school records confirm this. Pupils know that if there are any problems relating to bullying staff will deal with these effectively.  The school site is very secure and regular checks are in place to ensure that the building and grounds are free from dangers.  Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe. For example, they learn about the importance of not talking to strangers and using the outdoor equipment safely. Visits from the police also teach pupils about keeping themselves safe when they are away from school.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The school has judged the quality of teaching overtime to be outstanding and never less than consistently good. Inspectors observed teaching and learning across all year groups in a wide range of subjects and scrutinised work in pupil’s books. As a result, the inspection team are in full agreement with the school’s evaluation of the quality of teaching.  The quality of the learning environment around the school is superb and inspires pupils to learn. Displays are changed regularly and reflect the high-quality work produced by pupils across the school in a wide range of subjects.  The school has adopted an innovative approach to planning. Whole-school planning is based around a theme and each year group, including in the early years, adapts this theme to meet the needs and interests of the pupils. Activities provided are fun, challenging and inspire pupils to learn, including the most able.  Teachers have very high expectations of pupils and their subject knowledge is very strong. Overall, they

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

work very well with highly-skilled teaching assistants to monitor pupils’ progress during lessons and to challenge all groups of pupils to make the best progress that they can.  The school’s highly successful approach to teaching phonics (letters and the sounds that they make) ensures that pupils are able to use their phonic knowledge effectively to write, spell and read. The teaching of reading is very effective across all year groups. Books are displayed around the school and pupils read widely and often with their teachers and parents. Pupils highly value the Friday sessions when they choose a book from the school library to read on their own for pleasure.  Confidence in writing and in many different subjects and styles is developed exceptionally well from the Reception Year onwards. For example, younger children enjoy retelling and writing their own version of the ‘Tiger who came to tea’, while older pupils research and write factual information about the solar

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

system.  The teaching of mathematics is excellent and pupils have many opportunities to develop their mathematical skills in real-life situations. For example, in a Year 2 mathematics lesson pupils calculated how much change they would have from £10.00 after purchasing a selection of food from the farm shop. Younger children in the Reception Year have lots of fun as they develop number recognition skills and work out the date and day of the week. Problem-solving skills are extended as the teacher probes children’s understanding of ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’.  Teachers’ questioning in all groups, including in the early years is sharp, focused and successfully deepens pupils’ understanding. For example, to assess pupils’ perception of the meaning of friendship the teacher asked ‘What makes a good friend?’ Children’s understanding of friendship was enhanced when the teacher asked ‘How would you know if you did not get along with someone?’

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Pupils’ work is marked regularly. Teachers make pupils aware of what they have done well and what they need to do to improve their work further. Pupils’ progress is accelerated as most pupils always correct their mistakes.  Pupils value highly the variety of homework they are given. All homework is appropriate to pupils’ age and stage of development.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The majority of children enter the Reception Year with skills below those typical for their age. A small number of children face significant challenges in their personal, social and emotional development, communication and language. As a result of high quality teaching and effective leadership, all children make rapid progress and a high proportion leave the Reception Year with skills exceeding those typical for their age.  Published data for 2013 and the 2015 national assessments highlight that during their time in Key Stage 1 pupils make excellent progress and achieve very well. Standards at the end of Year 2 are significantly above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics.  However, standards dipped slightly in 2014 for a number of justifiable reasons, which were fully explained by the school to the inspection team.  The pupils’ results in the national phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 are equally impressive. For

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

example, they have increased from 88% in 2014 to 92.3% in 2015.  Over time, the most able pupils make very good progress in reading, writing and mathematics because they are consistently challenged with work that makes them think hard and enables them to apply the skills they have already developed.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs also make rapid progress from their starting points. This is due to their specific needs being very accurately identified by a highly-skilled special educational needs coordinator. Interventions are timely and of a high quality. This group of pupils also receive excellent support from outside agencies, such as speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and medical services.  Disadvantaged pupils achieve very well. There are too few disadvantaged pupils in each year group to make a reliable and meaningful comparison of attainment and progress in relation to other pupils

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

nationally, but overall they perform as well and sometimes better than their classmates.

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The early years provision is outstanding

 The school does not have a Nursery and children come into the Reception Year from a wide range of providers, including private day nurseries, pre-schools and childminders. The early years staff work closely with these providers to ensure a smooth transition into school. As a result, children settle into school life quickly and no learning time is wasted.  The proportion of children achieving a good level of development has risen in 2015 from 63% to 71%. The proportion of children leaving the Reception Year with skills exceeding those typical for their age continues to accelerate in many aspects and areas of learning. Children’s learning and achievement are outstanding. As a result, a larger proportion of pupils are well prepared for their transfer into Year 1.  The early years is exceptionally well led and managed. The early years leader knows the children very well and ensures that their progress is recorded regularly and accurately. This information is then used to plan

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The early years provision is outstanding

interesting and challenging activities for all the children.  Children’s behaviour in early years is outstanding. They are happy, confident and eager to learn. They play sensibly together, both in the classroom and in the outdoor play area, as they make ‘meals’ in the mud kitchen or models from crates. They listen attentively and use small tools, such as scissors safely. They demonstrate an excellent awareness of their own safety and the safety of others.  Early years staff have established strong links with the parents of the children in their care. They keep them very well informed about the progress their children are making. Each parent receives a home visit from early years staff before their child starts school. The school provides workshops for parents to help them support their children’s learning at home.

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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 117780 Local authority North Lincolnshire Inspection number 463837

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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 210 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Kerry Nilsson Headteacher Rachel Busby Date of previous school inspection 17 November 2010 Telephone number 01724 862483 Fax number 01724 851839 Email address admin@bottesford-inf.n-lincs.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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