Newnham Infant and Nursery School

School report Newnham Infant and Nursery School Newnham Avenue, Ruislip, Middlesex, HA4 9RW

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 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 school provides a welcoming and inclusive environment, where children feel happy and confident to learn and grow.  The highly regarded headteacher, along with her senior team, is focused on continual school improvement. Staff are united in their support of the school’s vision.  Members of the governing body are highly effective and well informed about the school’s work. They are ambitious to see the school improve further and rigorously challenge the senior leaders about the school’s performance.  Leaders have ensured that the quality of teaching is consistently good, with some outstanding practice evident. Teachers work closely with highly skilled teaching assistants to deliver an exciting curriculum. Activities meet the needs of all pupils. As a result, pupils achieve well.  Pupils are respectful and courteous to visitors, staff and each other. They work and play together harmoniously and support each other well with their

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

learning. They are proud of their school.  Transition arrangements are carefully planned and support pupils to feel settled and ready for the new academic year.  Leaders and governors ensure policies and practices are in place to keep pupils safe. Parents and pupils are confident that the school is a safe place for all.  Parents are highly involved with, and supportive of, the school’s work. The school provides them with effective and regular information to enable them to support their child’s learning with confidence.  In the early years, children enjoy high quality activities. Highly skilled adults ensure children have an excellent start to their education and are well prepared for Key Stage 1.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not all teaching impacts as strongly on pupils’ achievement as it could.  In some lessons, pupils need further challenge to achieve their best.  Feedback does not consistently provide opportunities for pupils to deepen and extend their knowledge and skills.  Not all teachers have a deep enough understanding of what constitutes outstanding practice.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 25 teaching and learning sessions in the Nursery, Reception and Year 1 and Year 2 classes. Seven observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteachers.  As well as looking at pupils’ work during visits to lessons, a selection of pupils’ workbooks was scrutinised.  The inspectors observed pupils during playtime, lunchtime and at breakfast club. The inspectors listened to pupils read and held discussions with groups of pupils from Year 1 and Year 2.  Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders, teaching and support staff, and eight members of the governing body, including the Chair of Governors. A telephone conversation was held with a representative from the local authority.  The 64 responses to the online parent questionnaire, Parent View, and the school’s own parent questionnaires were taken into account, as were the 25 replies to the staff questionnaire. The views of

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Information about this inspection

parents were also collected at the beginning of the school day.  The inspectors reviewed a range of documents including governing body minutes, school development plans, documents relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance information and data about pupils’ attainment and progress. The school’s website was also reviewed.

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Inspection team

Mel Rose, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a larger than average infant and nursery school.  The school shares a site and some facilities, including a specialist music room, with Newnham Junior School.  There is a part-time Nursery and three full-time Reception classes in the early years provision.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above average.  The proportion of disabled pupils or those with special educational needs is below average.  Pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds.  The school does not use alternative provision.  The proportion of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding, which provides additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free schools meals or in the care of the local authority, is below average.  The school has achieved a silver Eco-Schools Award.  The school provides a breakfast club and after-school activities for pupils during term time.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to have a greater impact on pupils’ achievement by:  ensuring all pupils are challenged to achieve their very best  consistently providing opportunities for pupils to respond to feedback to deepen and extend their knowledge and skills  developing teachers’ understanding of outstanding practice, through sharing and observing best practice both within and outside the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The dedicated and highly respected headteacher, together with senior leaders and governors, has a clear focus on continual school improvement.  The headteacher unites staff and creates a positive culture in the school, where equality of opportunity and diversity are promoted well. Teachers and support staff share the school’s vision and are proud of the work they do. One of the many positive comments from the staff questionnaires states, ‘As an employee, I look forward to coming to work every day. It’s a happy environment for children and staff.’  Professional development opportunities provide middle leaders with the training they need to develop their leadership skills and carry out their roles effectively. Involvement in a national project, supported by the local authority, has provided training and resources to improve teachers’ and children’s understanding about how we learn. This has had a significant impact on the leadership, provision and learning

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The leadership and management are good

opportunities in the early years. As a result, children in the Nursery make exceptional progress.  Leaders are aware that some staff need to develop their skills and understanding to enable them to become outstanding practitioners. Best practice is not always shared across the school.  School leaders have ensured that teaching is consistently good. Senior and middle leaders regularly check the quality of teaching over time and the impact of learning on different groups of pupils, including those with special educational needs and disadvantaged pupils. Teachers’ performance management is linked to pupils’ outcomes and ensures the teachers’ standards are met. Support is put in place for new staff to help them meet the school’s high expectations.  The school has introduced a new curriculum, ensuring national objectives are appropriately covered. This is supported by a programme of motivational activities and educational visits. The curriculum effectively

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The leadership and management are good

supports pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. The school has achieved the silver Eco-Schools Award in recognition of pupils’ work in being environmentally friendly. Pupils have a good understanding and respect for a range of faiths and cultures. Through elections to appoint members of the school council, pupils develop an understanding of democracy. During the inspection, pupils sensitively respected the one minute silence to mark the tenth anniversary of the London bombings.  All staff have read the latest guidance on keeping children safe and rigorously implement safeguarding policies and procedures. Parents and pupils are confident that the school provides a safe environment to learn in.  The primary school sport funding is put to good use. Professional coaches have worked alongside teachers to improve planning and delivery in dance and gymnastics. A wide range of inspiring after-school

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The leadership and management are good

activities, including tennis and street dance, has led to an increase in pupils’ participation in sporting activities. A coach supports lunchtime play and targets any children who are not involved in after-school clubs. Fitness activities form a daily part of breakfast club provision.  Well planned transition arrangements provide pupils with the opportunity to visit their new class. Teachers provide pupils and parents with information and activities that help them prepare for the new academic year. This supports pupils’ confidence and helps pupils to settle quickly into their new classes.  An extremely active friends’ association encourages parental involvement in the life of the school. Parents are highly supportive of the school’s work and the school appreciates their significant contributions.  The governance of the school:  Governors are highly focused on school improvement. They have attended a range of training to ensure

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The leadership and management are good

they have the skills to effectively hold the school to account. They visit the school often and have a good understanding about the quality of teaching and how teachers’ performance is managed. They ensure any pay increases are linked to strong performance.  Governors regularly monitor pupil achievement data. They effectively challenge senior leaders about pupils’ performance, ensuring equality of opportunity for all groups of pupils.  School finances are well managed and governors effectively monitor the spending and impact of pupil premium and sport funding.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. The behaviour policy is strongly adhered to and incidents of poor behaviour are extremely rare. Pupils create their own class rules at the beginning of the academic year. This gives them ownership of behaviour expectations. The one incident of poor behaviour this academic year was clearly logged and dealt with robustly by school leaders. No further incidents have been logged. There have been no fixed-term exclusions. Nearly all the parents who completed the Parent View questionnaire were confident that the school makes sure pupils behave well.  Pupils are extremely friendly and demonstrate good manners. They treat everyone with respect and are welcoming to visitors. They look after their environment and are proud of their school. They keep the school clean and tidy and ensure there is no litter. Inspectors witnessed the sensible manner in which pupils tidied play equipment away and calmly walked inside as torrential rain fell suddenly during

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Behaviour

lunchtime play.  Pupils from a wide variety of backgrounds play and work harmoniously together. They support one other with their learning and genuinely want others to do well. Outside of lessons they interact with one another extremely maturely. Behaviour and attitudes in lessons are generally good and support pupils’ good progress.  Pupils who attend breakfast and after-school clubs are happy and enjoy a positive start and end to the school day. There is a good variety of activities for them to do and behaviour is well managed.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Attendance is above the national average and punctuality is excellent. A phone call is made immediately if a child is absent without explanation. Any child who leaves the school is tracked diligently to their new school and contact is made to ensure no child is missing in education.  A rigorous induction for new staff ensures they are aware of safeguarding procedures and the school’s child protection policy. Teachers report any concerns they have instantly to the appropriate person. A special meeting is held weekly to discuss any pupils causing concern.  Injury logs are kept and accidents are rare. Risk assessments are thorough, including weekly risk assessments of the school environment. Staff are trained in paediatric first aid, including in the early years.  Relationships between adults and pupils are excellent. Adults are extremely nurturing and know pupils well

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Safety

as individuals. Pupils feel confident to talk to staff and school leaders if they have concerns.  All pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe from harm, including when accessing the internet. Useful e-safety advice is available for parents on the school’s website to help them support their children in keeping safe. Pupils learn about stranger danger and fire and water safety. They know about different types of bullying, including cyber bullying. Incidents of bullying are extremely rare.  Three governors are trained in safer recruitment procedures. The Chair of Governors regularly checks the school’s register of staff to ensure it is compliant and up to date.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers work closely with highly skilled teaching assistants to plan activities that motivate pupils to want to learn. They adapt the curriculum to cater for the interests of pupils in their class. Activities are mostly well matched to meet the needs of all groups, including those who are most able and those who are disadvantaged. As a result, pupils achieve well. Occasionally, pupils are not challenged sufficiently quickly and their interest wanes, leading to them becoming easily distracted and not making the progress they are capable of.  Effective training has supported staff in developing their questioning skills. They use these to good effect to deepen pupils’ thinking and understanding in lessons. Feedback in pupils’ work books often provides useful guidance on how pupils can improve their work and extend their skills. However, opportunities for pupils to respond to this feedback are limited and so they do not receive the full benefit.

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The quality of teaching is good

 A strong focus on the ‘six R’s’ encourages pupils to become resilient and reflective learners. Pupils often refer to these to encourage their peers when they become stuck. One group of pupils confidently spoke about how developing their reasoning skills would support them as they move to Year 3.  Regular phonics sessions support good progress in reading and writing. Pupils enjoy reading a wide range of books. Effective guided reading sessions support pupils in developing good comprehension skills. Leaders have made sure that pupils have opportunities to write narrative and non-narrative pieces. A new handwriting policy is supporting pupils to be more fluent with their letter formation and pupils often write extensively.  The school is focusing on developing mastery in mathematics and teachers’ well-developed questioning skills are starting to extend and deepen pupils’ understanding in mathematics.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Effective use is made of technology in the classroom. An effective range of programmes on tablets in the classroom supports pupils in developing skills in a variety of areas. For example, in the early years, children write over their name after being shown the correct letter formation on the screen.  Teachers provide parents with regular guidance and support to enable them to help their child at home. Homework often enables pupils to consolidate new skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils joined the Nursery in 2014 with skills and knowledge typical for their age. They make rapid progress and achieve well. Not all of these children move into the Reception class and the school’s Reception children come from many different providers. Some children start Reception who have had no nursery experience.  Pupils joined the Reception in 2014 with skills and knowledge typical for their age. Children make good progress and the proportion of pupils achieving a good level of development by the end of the academic year is above the national average.  Weaker performance in boys’ writing and in all pupils’ technology was identified by the school at the beginning of the academic year. Strategies were implemented to support pupils in these areas. As a result, the gap between boys’ and girls’ writing has closed and a high proportion of pupils have reached the early learning goals in both of these areas this year.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The proportion of pupils who have met the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check is significantly higher than the 2014 national average. Good progress continues to be made in Year 1. Many pupils are working above the levels expected for their age in reading, writing and mathematics.  Pupils make good progress in all areas of learning from their starting points. At the end of Year 2, attainment is above average in reading, writing and mathematics.  The school has a strong focus on developing pupils’ literacy skills and this has impacted positively on their progress. As well as a significant increase in the amount of opportunities created for writing in the early years, a bias in the curriculum has supported boys’ literacy skills across the school. Investment in a wide range of books in the newly developed library is encouraging pupils to read widely and often. One pupil commented, ‘This is the best room in the school.’ Several staff are trained in speech and language and

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The achievement of pupils is good

pupils who speak English as an additional language are particularly well supported, making rapid gains in their literacy skills and performing in line with their peers.  The progress of disadvantaged pupils is monitored closely. They receive support which is well matched to their needs. As a result, they make rapid progress from very low starting points in Year 1. In Year 2, gaps are closing and they are performing more in line with their peers.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are well supported. The school works closely with parents and external professionals to ensure their needs are met effectively. Pupils make good progress from their starting points.  More able pupils are often provided with learning that extends and challenges them. This enables them to make good progress. On occasions opportunities are created for them to undertake special projects. These have included research assignments and taking part in a book competition in the borough.

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The early years provision is good

 Strong leadership in the early years ensures that children have access to a stimulating environment and high quality provision. Highly skilled and extremely caring adults support children’s learning exceptionally well and children make good progress.  Parents are closely involved in their children’s education, starting with home visits when children enter the Nursery. This enables children to settle quickly into the early years. Parents are encouraged to share ‘wow cards’ with the school when their child achieves something new at home. Homework packs have a variety of activities that target children’s specific needs. For example, parents of a child who struggled when using scissors were given a homework sack with cutting activities. Parents are well informed about the progress their children make.  The quality of teaching is good, and often outstanding. Teachers and support staff have received high

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The early years provision is good

quality training through their involvement in a national project. This has developed their skills in how to extend and deepen children’s understanding further. Extremely skilful questioning helps individual children to make rapid progress.  Teachers have very high expectations of what children can achieve. They set tasks that capture children’s interest and develop their imagination. They continuously model excellence to support children’s development. For example, one adult jumped into a ‘pirate ship’ the children had made from big boxes and skilfully acted being a pirate. This encouraged children to join her and they enjoyed using the new words she modelled for them. ‘Beware of my cutlass!’ shouted one boy to his friend, as he played without adult support on the following day.  Phonics sessions are taught well. Activities encourage children to practise their writing regularly. They use their knowledge of the sounds that letters make to write words and sentences. At the end of Reception,

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The early years provision is good

many pupils are writing extensive pieces. Their letters are correctly formed and they use punctuation well.  Disabled children and those who have special educational make good progress. This is because their needs are identified quickly and highly skilled adults work with them, providing quality learning opportunities which meet their needs well.  Children’s behaviour is consistently good. Their social skills are well developed and children readily share resources and take turns without fuss. They support each other’s learning well. For example, one boy who wanted to create a play about kings and queens was helped by his friends to develop the plot as they painted crowns together for the production.  Pupils understand how to keep safe and this is promoted through many different activities. For example, when making jelly, children stir the hot liquid carefully to avoid burning themselves or each other. Weekly

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The early years provision is good

risk assessment and daily checks of the learning environment provide a safe setting in which children can learn and grow.  The early years children achieve levels of development above national averages and are well prepared for learning in 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 102394 Local authority Hillingdon Inspection number 448713

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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 339 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Carolyn Morrissey Headteacher Sue Hodges Date of previous school inspection 19 March 2010 Telephone number 01895 671964 Fax number 020 88668947 Email address newnhaminf@hgfl.org.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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