Heathfield Infant School

Heathfield Nursery and Infant School Cobbett Road, Twickenham TW2 6EN

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 The headteacher has made a strong personal contribution to school improvement. Through his vision and energy, he has created a school that has improved considerably, so that all areas of its work are good.  Leaders draw on the strength of the school’s federation with the linked junior school to streamline procedures such as systems for measuring pupils’ progress.  Year group leaders and subject leaders help to drive forward improvement. There are clear and efficient lines of communication between senior and middle leaders.  Leaders are honest and robust in their self- evaluation. Plans for future improvements are a good springboard for improving the school further.  Governors make an effective contribution to school improvement. Working closely with leaders, they have made good use of the action points from the previous inspection to improve their school. As a result, teaching and pupils’ outcomes are good.

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This is a good school

 The school engages well with parents. They appreciate the care and support it provides for their children, including those who need extra help.  Leaders and governors use the additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils effectively.  Teachers’ questioning successfully helps pupils to deepen their understanding. Teaching assistants are deployed well. Feedback, oral and written, helps pupils understand how they can improve their work.  Behaviour is good throughout the school. Pupils want to learn. They are respectful to others. Pupils are friendly, confident and polite to visitors.  Pupils are looked after extremely well throughout the school. They are kept safe and know how to keep themselves safe.  Pupils’ outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics are good. Groups of pupils, including the most able, and those with additional language or learning needs all achieve well.  Children in the Nursery and Reception classes are

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This is a good school

looked after extremely well. They are taught well. The many imaginative activities stimulate them to learn a range of skills.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Adults sometimes give pupils tasks that do not take sufficient account of their varying abilities.  Targets to improve attendance are not pitched high enough.  Leaders are not always rigorous enough in their checks on teaching to ensure that the quality of teaching is as high as possible.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure that teachers ensure that pupils of varying abilities are given tasks that enable them to achieve as well as they can.  Ensure that leaders secure a higher proportion of outstanding teaching by increasing the rigour of their evaluations of the quality of teaching, and ensuring that their good advice is scrupulously followed.  Be more ambitious in improving attendance rates, and working more closely with parents to ensure that all pupils benefit to the full from the school’s good teaching and that outcomes improve.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The headteacher has spearheaded many improvements to the school, so that it is now good. He has made good use of his leadership experience to restructure the leadership team, so that all leaders now share in driving forward improvements. For example, pupils’ outcomes are now accurately checked, using a model successfully employed across the federation, so that all parties – staff, parents and pupils – know how well pupils are learning and how they can learn more rapidly.  Leaders and governors have responded with energy to the action points recommended by the previous inspection, and have successfully made the required changes. Leaders and governors have taken a long, hard look at their school, and are clear about what needs to be done to make it better. Plans for future improvements are ambitious and cover the right priorities. The school is well placed to continue its journey of improvement.  Middle leaders are enthusiastic and effective in carrying out their roles. Lines of communication between

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

middle and senior leaders are smooth, enabling all to share in school improvements.  Leaders are well supported by frequent visits and astute advice from the local authority.  Staff responses to the Ofsted survey of their views indicate that they back their leaders strongly. Those who have been in post since the previous inspection feel that the school has improved a great deal. Staff told inspectors that they feel well supported and benefit from the way leaders encourage them to develop their careers.  The school engages well with parents, and is popular with them. Parents who spoke to inspectors, or who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and the school’s own parent survey, were positive about the school. A number of parents told inspectors that their children are so happy and secure at school that, in the words of one, ‘My child skips to school every day.’ Parents of pupils who have

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

particular special educational needs could not praise the care their children receive highly enough. They were impressed by the detailed knowledge the adults have of their children and the efforts they go to meet their children’s needs.  Leaders and governors use effectively the additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils. The additional support for these pupils is checked carefully by leaders and governors. Staff are quick to provide additional support for them and to check that the support is effective. As a result, there is very little difference between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and that of other pupils in any year group.  Leaders and governors make good use of additional government funding to promote primary sports and physical education. This has resulted in a wide take-up of new sports, such as zumba dancing, multisport and tennis, and these attract pupils who might otherwise have been reluctant to participate. Leaders

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

ensure that the benefits of the funding will continue in the future by providing training for class teachers in the skills needed to deliver good sports teaching.  The curriculum has a strong focus on literacy and numeracy, and also provides pupils with a rich variety of topics to learn and write about. Inspectors observed pupils busily engaged in learning about Van Gogh by studying his paintings and using similar techniques for their own artwork. Inspectors observed a successful Spanish lesson, where pupils clearly enjoyed conducting a conversation in Spanish. Such breadth of the curriculum enables pupils to widen their understanding of the world around them. The curriculum benefits all pupils, including the most able, by stimulating them to explore topics in depth.  Pupils enjoy a variety of activities to help them deepen their understanding of what they are learning in class. For example, pupils are taken on nature trails in a nearby wildlife centre to enable them to

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

understand the science of living things at first-hand.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils told inspectors that they understand the school’s ‘golden values’ and use them to be kind and thoughtful to others. Their good behaviour is a clear outcome of such values, promoted by all the adults.  The school promotes British values well. Pupils learn about a wide range of world religions, and there are displays around the school celebrating other cultures and languages. By such means, the school helps pupils to understand Britain and its many cultures in a world context. Pupils practise democracy by voting for their school councillors. Such measures encourage pupils to grow up confidently in modern democratic Britain.  Leaders have succeeded in reducing the rate of persistent absenteeism. However, their targets for improving attendance for all pupils are not sufficiently ambitious. Overall attendance has remained

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

broadly average over recent years, but the school has not worked closely enough with parents to secure higher attendance.  Leaders at all levels manage the quality of teaching well. They expect teachers in promoted positions to share their expertise with others in order to improve the quality of teaching, and they are doing so. Inexperienced teachers told inspectors that they receive valuable support from leaders and colleagues, enabling them to play a full part in raising pupils’ outcomes. However, leaders have not secured teaching challenging enough to produce outstanding outcomes. This is because leaders’ evaluation of the quality of teaching is sometimes not rigorous enough. As a result, adults are not entirely clear about the precise improvements they need to make to help pupils learn as effectively as possible.  The governance of the school Governance has benefited considerably from the external review of its performance following the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

previous inspection. Governance has been restructured across the federation, and this has invigorated it and improved its effectiveness. Records of governors’ meetings show that governance now has a sharper focus on planning strategies to help the school to improve. Governors understand the school. They know its strengths and what remains to be done to make it outstanding. This enables them to provide valuable support to leaders and to ask searching questions to ensure that school improvement continues. Governors visit the school often to check its work for themselves. They have a detailed understanding of how pupils are achieving compared with those nationally. Governors secure good value for money from the teaching force. They understand the processes by which staff are appraised, and are prepared to approve or deny applications for promotion, as needed. In this way they ensure that there is a close link between teachers’ movement along the pay scales and pupils’ progress.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

Governors check carefully to ensure that the additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils and for sports provision is used well. Their vigilance enables disadvantaged pupils to perform well, and pupils throughout the school to benefit from a wide range of sports and physical activities. Governors keep pupils safe and secure. They are well trained in safeguarding. They ensure that the school’s culture is free from intolerance, and that pupils grow up with strong values, prepared well for life in modern Britain.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The background of those who work with children is carefully checked, and records are up to date. The school ensures that all adults, including new staff, understand the school’s safeguarding procedures and know whom to turn to if they have a concern. Parents’ comments to inspectors, and their responses to Ofsted’s and the school’s surveys of their views

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

show that they are confident that their children are safe and looked after well at school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Good teaching enables pupils to make good progress in their learning in reading, writing and mathematics, and in other subjects as well.  Teachers’ effective questioning skills promote good learning. Adults help pupils to put themselves in the place of others and to find out answers for themselves. In one Year 2 class, for example, pupils discussed their reading of ‘Zeraffa Giraffa’, the true story of the gift of a giraffe to the King of France in 1827. Pupils imagined the effect on people of seeing this strange animal for the first time. One pupil, in the role of a baker, wrote, ‘I wonder if this yellow creature likes bread.’ The task stimulated pupils to write imaginatively and use an ambitious vocabulary.  Teachers’ feedback, whether written or oral, is helpful to pupils. It conveys to pupils what they have learned well, and helps them understand how they can improve their work. Pupils told inspectors that

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

they pay close attention to the comments and use them to improve their next piece of work. Inspectors found evidence of this improvement in their workbooks.  Teaching assistants are deployed well to support pupils, particularly those who are in danger of falling behind. As a result, they make a good impact on the learning of pupils they support, enabling them to make good progress in line with others.  Classrooms are pleasant learning environments. Wall displays provide key information and technical vocabulary to help pupils learn for themselves. Pupils keep their books neat and tidy. Pupils’ work is displayed in the classroom, so that they can take pride in what they have accomplished.  Adults generally plan lessons well, so that pupils of varying abilities are challenged successfully to make good progress. For example, in one Year 1 mathematics lesson, pupils were encouraged to use a range of

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

strategies and resources, such as number grids, to help them add and take away. The most able pupils were given additional challenge, so that 10+10 was changed for them to 810+10 to help them think in hundreds rather than tens. Occasionally, however, the level of challenge is less accurate. Sometimes the tasks set are too easy for some pupils, and they finish quickly and do not always have extended tasks to enable them to keep learning. At other times, tasks are too difficult for some pupils, who then struggle to keep up with their classmates. This is why teaching, although effective overall, is not outstanding.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils are looked after extremely well. Parents are highly positive about the school’s welcoming feel, and its pastoral arrangements for their children. Parents told inspectors that the school is highly responsive in sorting out any of their concerns. Pupils told inspectors that they know whom to turn to if they have any worries, and are confident these will be quickly sorted out. As a result, pupils are confident, happy learners.  Pupils are prepared extremely well for any potential risks from growing up in an uncertain world. They understand what bullying means, and know it can take different forms, such as name-calling or cyber bullying. They told inspectors that unkindness at the school is rare. A scrutiny of the school’s behaviour logs confirms that such incidents are few and far between.  Pupils are kept extremely safe. The school gives pupils the skills to keep themselves safe. Pupils told

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Personal development and welfare

inspectors that they understand possible risks from fire or from using computers, and are aware of road safety. As a result, they feel safe and able to protect themselves from strangers or when using computers.  Pupils who attend the breakfast club or the after-school care provision are enthusiastic about the care they receive. They benefit from healthy food, a wide range of activities and the opportunity to play with pupils of different ages.  Children who attend Owl Babies, the local authority resource unit within the school, are looked after extremely well. The children benefit from frequent and well-managed opportunities to integrate wherever possible in the mainstream. This has a calming effect on the children, enabling them to have access to a wide range of learning opportunities and to learn strong social skills.  The school is a warm and welcoming place where children feel secure and respect the views and

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Personal development and welfare

backgrounds of others. The school’s strongly promoted system of values encourages pupils to think of others. In one assembly for Year 1 pupils, for example, a story about kindness was illustrated by filling a vessel full of scoops of sand, representing kind thoughts and deeds, to show how hard it was for unkind words to penetrate the solid kindness. A pupil showed he understood the message by saying, ‘The tub is getting full of kindness.’

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They are polite and friendly, and considerate towards others. They are interested in visitors, and are ready to talk to them about their love of their school.  When pupils are assembled in large numbers, for example when coming into the hall together, they are quiet and considerate. Playground behaviour is good. Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy using the playground equipment. Pupils who use the monkey bars do so considerately, making sure they do not bump into others. The lunch hall is a pleasant place, where pupils sit round circular tables, using proper plates and cutlery. This enables them to socialise in a calm environment and to demonstrate good manners.  Behaviour in lessons is good. Pupils have good attitudes to learning and want to learn. They do their best to maintain concentration, even when tasks are occasionally either too easy or too difficult for them.

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Behaviour

 Attendance is broadly average, and this has been the case since the previous inspection. Pupils enjoy school, but the school has not set itself high enough targets for attendance, and has not worked closely enough with parents to ensure that attendance is better than average.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Pupils’ outcomes are good across all year groups and in all subjects. Inspectors examined school figures on the progress of current pupils in each year group. They also looked at pupils’ work and talked to pupils about their learning. Inspectors judged that pupils throughout the school are making good, but not outstanding, progress in all subjects.  Published data shows that, since the previous inspection, there has been a steady rise in pupils’ attainment. This rise is evident in each year group from Reception to Year 2. Proportions of children who achieve a good level of development at the end of Reception have risen sharply since the previous inspection and are now in line with the national average. Pupils’ scores in the Year 1 screening check of their ability to read familiar and unfamiliar words have been rising since the previous inspection and are now above average. Year 2 pupils’ attainment is broadly average, and this is an improved picture since

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Outcomes for pupils are good

the previous inspection. Their good literacy and numeracy skills, and good handwriting and presentation in their written work, prepare them well for the next stage of schooling.  Progress is good within each year group and for all groups of pupils. Children enter the Nursery classes with language, number and social skills that vary but are typically below those expected for their age. By the time children leave Reception, most have made good progress in acquiring the skills they need to enter Year 1. Progress is consistently strong within each year group. Pupils make good progress in the core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics. A scrutiny of pupils’ workbooks confirms that they also make good progress in other subjects, such as science, history and geography.  The achievement of disadvantaged pupils is a success story for the school. Published data and school figures show that the attainment and progress of these pupils at least match, and sometimes exceed,

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Outcomes for pupils are good

those of other pupils. Disadvantaged pupils achieve well because leaders and governors check carefully how well they are learning, and provide swift additional support wherever it is needed.  Pupils who are at an early stage of learning English are given flexible support, tailored successfully to their needs, that enables them to learn the language quickly. The school uses a wide range of resources, including dual-language books and picture cards, to help them settle in quickly. The upshot is that pupils who speak English as an additional language achieve as well as, or better than, other pupils.  The school provides effectively for pupils at risk of falling behind in their learning. These pupils are supported well by teachers and teaching assistants, and make good progress in their learning.  Pupils who have special educational needs or disability are given effective support in lessons and in small

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Outcomes for pupils are good

groups, and make good progress in line with others. The small group of children in Owl Babies learn well, because they receive effective individual support, in addition to learning a broad range of skills when they integrate with others in the early years learning areas.  The most able pupils achieve well. This is because the school keeps a close watch on them, reporting to governors on their attainment and progress. In this way, governors play their part in helping to ensure that these pupils achieve well.  Pupils learn well, and no group of pupils falls behind. However, outcomes are not outstanding, because teaching is not sharply enough focused on promoting the most demanding learning for pupils of all levels of ability.

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The early years provision is good

 The early years provision gives children a good start to their schooling. Children in both the Nursery and Reception classes are looked after extremely well. The adults are caring and know the children well. Children of varying abilities learn well and make good progress in acquiring language, number and social skills.  The provision is led well. Leaders at all levels understand the strengths of the provision, and what needs to be done to make it outstanding. Since the previous inspection, leaders have energetically tackled the recommendation to improve the outdoor play areas. These now provide children with effective learning opportunities. Leaders have also improved ways of checking how well children are learning, and use these to improve their learning.  Pastoral care is extremely strong in the early years. Children are looked after very well and kept safe. Adults are caring and nurturing. They maintain a calm atmosphere, and this has a settling effect on the

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The early years provision is good

children, keeping them focused on their learning.  Children are ready to share the play equipment peaceably. They cooperate well in shared activities such as cooking in the mud kitchen. Children understand the importance of waiting to take their turn.  Children who have special educational needs are quickly identified. Additional support is put in place to help them, and the school works in effective partnership with external agencies to meet their needs. Children from Owl Babies who join their peers are welcomed into the early years provision, and quickly learn to follow its routines. This helps them to develop good social skills and to improve their language and communication.  Children learn literacy skills well. Adults and children are always ready to curl up with a book. Children learn through singing and reciting rhymes, and these help them to understand how language works, and to develop their vocabulary. Phonics (sounds and letters) are taught well in the Reception classes, so that

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The early years provision is good

children begin to piece together how words are made up, and how some words, such as ‘said’, simply have to be learned. As a result, many children in the Reception classes are beginning to read and write words and even simple sentences.  Children learn early number skills well. For example, an adult patiently helped children to count how many scoopfuls of coloured water filled their jugs. The adult paused from time to time to encourage children to use such vocabulary as ‘half full’ and ‘nearly full’.  Children have plenty of opportunities to learn a wide range of physical, artistic and creative skills. For example, a small group of children were intent on constructing a ‘tractor’ from cardboard boxes and old tyres. When the tyres kept rolling away, the children collaborated well to find solutions. However, not all independent learning activities for children have such good learning opportunities. Sometimes adults do not

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The early years provision is good

have a sufficiently sharp focus on promoting language and number skills. In these cases, learning is not as challenging and rapid as it might be. This is why the early years provision is good but not outstanding.  Children learn well, both in structured tasks and when they choose their own activities in the attractive and inviting play areas. The Nursery and Reception indoor and outdoor areas are successfully planned to provide increasing challenge for the children in their two years in the early years provision. For example, the outdoor play areas in the Nursery create a safe, fairy-tale environment that promotes the children’s imagination well. The Reception outdoor areas provide opportunities for more energetic play, with the chance for children to make exciting discoveries, such as exploring snails and insects in the roots of a tree. Both play areas promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development successfully, providing

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The early years provision is good

strong opportunities for them to use their imagination and develop their curiosity.  Children’s outcomes are good in the early years. They make good progress from their varied starting points. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development by the end of Reception has been broadly average for the past three years. Predictions for children currently in the early years indicate that this is likely to continue.  The additional early years funding for disadvantaged children is used well, so that they make similar progress in their learning to other children.  There is good engagement with parents, starting with the home visits that new Nursery children receive. Parents are welcomed into the provision with ‘stay and play’ opportunities. They can check through effective computer links how well their children are learning, and see the pictures for themselves. Parents of children in the early years provision told inspectors that they are welcomed into school and helped to

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The early years provision is good

find out what is going on and how their children are learning.  Transition arrangements are effective. By the time children move into Year 1, they have visited their new teacher and classroom, and have already tried out their new routines.

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School details

Unique reference number 102891 Local authority Richmond upon Thames Inspection number 10011882

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School details

This inspection 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 417 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jacqui Kelly Headteacher Paul Clayton (executive headteacher) Telephone number 020 8894 4074 Website www.heathfieldinfants.org Email address info@heathfield-inf.richmond.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 29 April 2014

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Information about this school

 Heathfield Nursery and Infant School is larger than the average primary school.  Since September 2014 the school has been federated with Heathfield Junior School. At the time of the previous inspection, the headteacher of the junior school was the interim headteacher of the infant school. He is now the executive headteacher of the federation, supported by two deputy headteachers, one for the infant school and one for the juniors. A single governing body oversees the federation.  An average proportion of pupils are eligible for additional government funding, known as the pupil premium. The funding is used to support pupils who are eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of pupils who come from minority ethnic backgrounds is higher than average. Pupils come from a wide range of heritages, with no one group predominating. The proportion of pupils who speak

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Information about this school

English as an additional language is higher than average.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disability is lower than average.  Children in the Nursery attend part time. Children in the Reception classes attend full time.  The school runs a breakfast club and after-school care provision.  The school accommodates Owl Babies, a local authority unit for up to 10 children from four to seven years. Currently Owl Babies has two Year 1 pupils and four Reception children. They receive support in the classroom and through integration with the mainstream school. The unit is in the process of adapting from catering for speech, language and communication difficulties to catering for pupils on the autistic disorder spectrum.  The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited classes throughout the school, and observed pupils’ learning in a range of subjects. The headteacher and the deputy headteachers for the infant and junior schools joined inspectors on most of their classroom visits.  Inspectors spoke to a number of pupils, listened to them read and looked at samples of their work. An inspector met a group of Year 2 pupils to hear how they felt about the school. There were no responses to the Ofsted online survey of pupils’ views.  Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders, including those who hold responsibility for specific subjects and year groups.  A meeting was held with the chair and vice-chair of the governing body, together with two other governors. Two governors attended the final feedback meeting.  A meeting was held with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors spoke to a number of parents during the inspection. There were 92 responses to Parent View

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Information about this inspection

and inspectors took these into consideration, together with responses to the school’s own survey of parents’ views.  Inspectors took into consideration 51 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire for members of staff, together with responses to the school’s own survey of staff views.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents. These included the school’s own views of how well it is doing, its plans for the future and minutes of meetings of the governing body.  Inspectors considered a range of evidence on pupils’ attainment and progress. They also examined safeguarding information, and records relating to attendance, behaviour and safety.

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Inspection team

Natalia Power, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Roger Easthope Denise James-Mason Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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