Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs Sarah Palmer Headteacher Manorfield Infant and Nursery School Manor Way Staincliffe Batley West Yorkshire WF17 7DQ

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Short inspection of Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 15 March 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in October 2010.

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Short inspection of Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You, your staff and governors take great pride in being able to impact positively on the lives of the pupils in your care. Developing pupils as well-rounded individuals truly lies at the heart of what you do so well, day after day, irrespective of their individual and unique needs. This is driven by you and your leaders’ infectious enthusiasm, which is keeping all of your staff motivated to ensure every pupil achieves well at Manorfield.

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Short inspection of Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

Children enter school with skills which are below and sometimes significantly below those expected for children of the same age. Children often enter the school with little or no English, as well as poorly developed language and communication skills in their home language. However, this challenge does not deter you, your leaders and your staff from having the highest aspirations and expectations for your children to succeed. Governors share the same determination and unite in those aspirations. They know how much the community value a good education for their children and show an unwavering commitment to providing this.

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Short inspection of Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

The areas identified in need of improvement at your previous inspection have been successfully tackled. The way in which mathematics is taught has been overhauled and this is impacting significantly on the amount of progress pupils are making. Also, you ensure that school documentation is up to date and reviewed in a timely manner. However, governors have a statutory responsibility to make certain that more of this information is available on the school’s website. Governors are aware that they need to act swiftly to ensure they are compliant in this respect. Furthermore, leaders and governors are already planning to make sure most-able pupils make better progress, and are continually addressing attendance issues.

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Short inspection of Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

Since the last inspection, the governing body has become responsible for a discrete 32-place nursery provision on the same site in addition to the nursery provision that was originally part of the school. This includes places for two-year-olds which are for children from families who are most in need. This means this additional nursery provision no longer receives a separate inspection report.

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Short inspection of Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

All staff are very committed to safeguarding the pupils in your care and promoting their welfare. Staff and governors receive regular training and guidance so that they know how to keep pupils safe. Staff know what to do if they have any concerns and follow the systems in place rigorously, which ensures that any safeguarding issues are reported promptly and appropriately.

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Short inspection of Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

Checks to make sure that staff are suitable to work with children are thorough and well-documented. This is because leaders and governors have completed safer recruitment training and take their role very seriously.

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Short inspection of Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

There has been an increase in the number of families requiring additional help and support from external agencies, including social care, health services and the police. The school is a safe haven for vulnerable families and plays an integral part in coordinating any help and support needed.

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Inspection findings

 You and your leaders have a deep understanding of the school’s strengths and areas which need to improve. You are extremely honest in your judgements, and evaluate the school in a considered way because you always want to ‘make things even better’. As a result, staff morale is high. One leader summed this up by stating ‘We are in this together’. There is a true feeling of this when talking to staff. Their passion and care for the pupils is tangible and there is a real sense of working together. Pupils show a great amount of respect for adults in school and they report that they are proud to be a part of the school.

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Inspection findings

 In addition to the school providing places for some two-year-olds, many three-year-olds have the opportunity to enter the provision earlier than normal. This gives children the added advantage of spending longer in the Nursery, with some accessing seven terms of pre-school education. This ensures that staff are able to develop children’s skills and knowledge at a much earlier age. The impact of this is showing when children enter Reception as more are now entering Reception working within their age- related expectations than previously.  Staff engagement with parents is a real strength and underpins the dedication and determination to work with families in the local community. Parents are welcomed into the school with their children, and there are many opportunities for parents to learn how to help their children at home. Parents, some with limited English themselves, are encouraged by staff to take part in activities in school with sensitivity and kindness. Workshops

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Inspection findings

focused on phonics (the letters that sounds make), calculation strategies and reading are offered regularly so that parents develop skills alongside their own children. Furthermore, parents come into school three mornings per week to read with their children. This gives staff members the opportunity to model and demonstrate to parents some of the questions which will deepen pupils’ understanding. These strategies, along with comprehensive homework packs that are explained to parents and then sent home, contribute to pupils making more progress than they were previously in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Inspection findings

 Outcomes for children have improved over time. The amount of children who attain a good level of development has improved and is now close to the national figures. Additionally, the amount of pupils in Year 1 who attain the phonics standard has improved and is now closer to the national comparator than it was previously.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders are aware that boys do not achieve as well as girls in the early years and have implemented strategies to tackle this. For example, there is a superheroes area in the early years, and they have introduced topics such as those relating to wild animals in order to motivate and inspire the boys. In addition, a range of reading material is provided to appeal to boys, for example, car manuals and motoring magazines. This is starting to close the achievement gap for boys.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders and governors know that attainment is lower than expected when compared to national figures. However, they correctly focus on the amount of progress pupils are making and can securely evidence how this happens. Their in-depth knowledge of all pupils makes sure that interventions are used well to ensure pupils catch up quickly. Further work is required to ensure that the most-able pupils are challenged even more than they are currently, so that they can make even better progress. Leaders are aware of this and are starting to address this issue.

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Inspection findings

 Middle leadership is strong. Leaders provide relevant and precise professional development opportunities for staff and are measuring the impact of them. No time is wasted – during assembly times, year group meetings, staff meetings and planned development days, staff are given opportunities to learn and develop new strategies and skills which will help pupils to learn. Leaders of mathematics and English teach some lessons and concepts a week ahead of their parallel classes so that other staff members can observe best practice and expertise. This ensures that teachers plan for learning in their own classes with the added advantage of having observed a range of strategies to get the best outcomes.  The teaching of mathematical concepts to deepen understanding has improved substantially over the last couple of years. There has been a planned focus on ensuring that pupils have the correct apparatus to help

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Inspection findings

them in their learning. This is making sure that pupils are developing skills which can then be applied when solving problems in mathematics. Pupils are regularly encouraged to explain their findings in a logical manner.

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Inspection findings

 Speaking, listening, reading and writing opportunities underpin the whole curriculum and infiltrate through all aspects of school life. In lessons, the use of talk partners and group work encourages pupils to share their learning and understanding. In the early years, focused activities for language development ensure that children are acquiring language at a fast pace. The use of bilingual staff is integral to the success of this. Effective professional development for the staff, particularly around questioning, ensures that open questioning is not turned into closed questioning during translation. Leaders correctly identified that this could hinder pupils’ learning and have taken effective steps to stop this happening.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils are well-cared-for and looked after. Parents wholeheartedly agree. One parent spoken to during the inspection felt overwhelmed with the additional support provided for her child and reported that school staff know the children as well as their own families do. The pastoral team in the school pull together a range of evidence which is used to provide tailored support for individual family needs. Parents feel a depth of gratitude for this and pupils benefit immensely.

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Inspection findings

 Attendance of pupils has been a sharp focus for leaders and governors and they are working tirelessly to address this issue. They have worked with other schools locally to provide a consistent policy that parents understand. School training days are scheduled to coincide with religious celebrations when possible, so that families can celebrate without absence from school. Furthermore, leaders work closely with local authority attendance officers to ensure that warnings are issued and meetings are held to discuss concerns with family members. In addition, when families do take unauthorised leave, fines are issued when pupils miss too many school days. Parents have access to a school nurse half a day per week, in school. This has resulted in improved attendance and the number of pupils who are persistently absent is declining. However, leaders are aware that absence rates remain high compared to other schools nationally and continue to tackle attendance with

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 they continue to work with families and external agencies to ensure that pupils attend school more regularly  the most-able pupils are challenged further, ensuring they make even better progress.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children’s Services for Kirklees Metropolitan Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you, your senior leaders, a representative from the local authority and two members of the governing body: the Chair and the Vice- Chair. I visited classrooms with you to observe the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. I scrutinised the pupils’ work including their work in writing and mathematics. I spoke with a range of parents, and a selected group of pupils at lunchtime, about the school as well as speaking to pupils in lessons. I reviewed information from the 17 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. I evaluated recent information about the progress pupils make across the school and checked how the accuracy of assessments is secured . I considered the school improvement plans, and other documents including the outcomes of monitoring activities, reports to governors and local authority reports.

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