Earlsheaton Infant School

Earlsheaton Infant School Commercial Street, Earlsheaton, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire WF12 8JF

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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

Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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This is a good school

 The headteacher has successfully led the school through significant difficulties since her appointment in 2013. At the same time, she has ensured improved outcomes for pupils in key stage 1.  Accurate assessment of what pupils know, understand and can do informs effective teaching. As a result, most pupils are on track to reach the standards expected for their age in reading, writing, mathematics and science.  A healthy proportion of the most able pupils are working at a greater depth than expected. Equally, pupils who have special educational needs or disability make good progress.  Teaching and learning are good. Most teachers talk skilfully with pupils to get them to think and explain their thoughts and ideas clearly. As a result, pupils develop skills to solve problems in mathematics and science and grow into enthusiastic writers and readers, all of which prepares them well for their move to junior school.

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This is a good school

 Pupils, including those in early years, say and indicate that they feel safe. Leaders make sure staff know what they must do if concerned about a pupil.  Pupils play and learn well together. They deal with ‘fallings-out’ by thinking about how their actions affect other people. This approach makes sure pupils develop the firm foundations they need to grow into respectful, tolerant citizens in the future.  Disadvantaged pupils receive the additional support they need and most are catching up with other pupils. Many of these pupils make rapid progress in their reading skills due to the highly effective support provided by well-trained teaching assistants.  Parents appreciate the positive impact the school has on their children’s lives. They recognise the school gets them off to a good start on their educational journey.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Early years provision requires improvement. The initial checks on children’s development were not accurate or backed up by enough evidence. As a result, leaders do not know if teaching is good enough for children to make good progress.  Some teaching is not as effective as the best across a range of subjects.  Governors and leaders do not always plan how to use resources well enough, so they cannot check if they get the best value for money.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of early years provision by: – leaders ensuring the baseline assessment of children starting in Reception class is accurate and supported by a good range of evidence, including assessments made by a child’s previous nursery and information from parents – teachers ensuring assessments of what children know and can do in each area of learning are used to plan and provide activities that lead to good progress – all staff talking and interacting with children to help them develop thinking skills and widen the choices they make about how they play.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching and learning to increase the proportion of pupils who are working at greater depth in a wider range of subjects by: – ensuring all teachers use the highly effective approaches to verbal and written feedback and questioning used by most teachers in the school – ensuring all teachers follow the school’s plans for different subjects, as well as reading, writing and mathematics, so pupils’ knowledge and understanding is built up in a sensible sequence over time.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve governance and leadership by ensuring plans for using resources available to the school, including the pupil premium (funding provided to support pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those who are looked after by the local authority), are detailed enough for governors to check if they are achieving the best possible results.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Since the previous inspection, this school has experienced some difficult challenges. The current headteacher, following her appointment in 2013, has skilfully steered through these difficulties, always keeping focused on what is best for pupils. As a result, good standards have been reached in key stage 1.  The headteacher, supported by the governing body, has developed an effective leadership team. They have made significant improvements to the building and resources available to teachers and pupils. As a result, previously disheartened staff have been energised and now feel valued for the positive contribution they make to pupils’ good progress.  The headteacher has a secure understanding of the effectiveness of teaching because she regularly visits lessons and checks pupils’ progress by looking at the work in their books and by talking with them about what they are learning. She uses this information to give appropriate and precise feedback to teachers

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

and teaching assistants so they continue to develop their skills.  The assistant headteachers are successfully developing their leadership skills. For example, effective leadership in teaching mathematics has resulted in a good proportion of pupils developing mathematical reasoning so they can use their skills in many different ways.  The equally effective leadership of the special educational needs coordinator is improving the rate of progress made by pupils who have special educational needs or disability. Work in this area now ensures pupils have a voice in their personal plans and receive the help they need. As a result, these pupils make good progress.  The leadership team has ensured the impact of unavoidable changes in teachers over this school year has, for the most part, been minimal. Their practical support across all four classes means that the most able pupils are challenged and disadvantaged pupils are supported to catch up with other pupils.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 A wide range of activities ensure pupils learn about people who are different from themselves and the values important to British society. For example, work on ‘The Tempest’ ignited pupils’ imagination and increased their awareness of the national celebration of Shakespeare’s work. Other aspects of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are supported through opportunities such as singing with other schools to celebrate the Queen’s birthday, taking part in a range of sports and thinking about the contribution soldiers make to keep the country safe.  Parents are very positive about the school. They appreciate the useful information they receive about the progress their children make. They see the benefit of the homework set so they can support their child’s learning at home.  Leaders value the mutual support provided by a group of other schools in the area. This collaborative work ensures the accuracy of assessments and leaders’ evaluation of the overall effectiveness of the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

school.  Over the last three years, leaders have systematically and successfully worked to improve the teaching of reading (including phonics), writing and mathematics. Science will be the focus of next year’s plan. The plan for the way other subjects are taught gives breadth to pupils’ learning. However, not all teachers follow the plan and leaders have not checked this aspect as much as other areas of learning.  The local authority has given ‘light touch’ support to the school since the last inspection. Support given to the headteacher, in the face of significant challenges, has been variable and not always as timely as it could have been.  The governance of the school – Governors, including those new to the school, challenge and support the headteacher and other leaders. They question the information they are given about pupils’ progress and check for themselves the progress evident in pupils’ books.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

– The governing body use teachers’ success in reaching appropriate targets when they decide on pay increases. Occasionally, they also consider teachers’ wider contribution to the school when making their decisions. – The governing body are improving their skills in how they plan to use the resources available to the school. This is seen in the positive impact the use of the physical education and sports grant has on pupils’ physical development. However, they are less precise in their plans for the use of the pupil premium, so cannot check if they are getting the best possible outcomes from this funding.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders make sure staff use the training they receive to keep alert to any signs that pupils may need additional support to keep them safe and well. Work with other agencies is robust.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Effective teaching based on accurate assessment allows pupils to develop confidence and resilience. As a result, pupils want to learn and persevere with tasks that challenge them at the right level.  Most teachers use questions and conversations with pupils that get them to think and puzzle about problems and find solutions. These teachers are also clear about what pupils should learn in each lesson. They let them know either verbally or when they mark their books if they have achieved what they set out to. They are clear about what the pupils need to practise and their next step. This all leads to good progress.  Intervention groups make a good contribution to closing the gaps between disadvantaged and other pupils in the school and when compared to other pupils in other schools. These groups are led by appropriately trained teaching assistants, particularly supporting progress in reading and handwriting.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teachers expect pupils to do their best writing over a range of activities. As a result of frequent practice and challenge to remember letter formation, spelling and punctuation, pupils make good and some rapid progress in writing.  Teachers use a range of approaches to ensure pupils use successfully taught phonics skills to develop their reading. As a result, a good proportion of pupils from different starting points make rapid progress.  Pupils are actively encouraged to continue learning at home. They do this through regularly reading with parents and family members, completing homework tasks and learning their spellings. Teachers track which pupils complete homework and provide extra reminders and different work if pupils’ interest wanes.  Pupils say they like all their lessons. A very few said mathematics was too easy, but others felt it was just right. All the pupils spoken to and observed are keen to write as a result of the encouragement they

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils are confident and keen to learn. They say they feel safe and know to talk with staff if they are upset or worried. They learn to sort out any disagreements. Staff encourage pupils to think about the impact their actions have on other people. This results in pupils developing a kind sensitivity towards each other.  Leaders ensure pupils develop a positive attitude to managing risks safely without unnecessary restrictions. Pupils write risk assessments so they learn to understand what you can do to make activities safer.  Leaders also ensure assemblies and lesson time are used to get important messages about personal safety across to pupils, for example the NSPCC Pants programme and promotion of ChildLine.  A recently introduced reward system which combines individual and house rewards is proving popular with pupils. It is too early to say if the system will further improve how pupils manage their own behaviour.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils are, for the most part, kind to each other and respectful of adults. Most pupils are keen to learn and persevere when learning gets hard. Pupils were clear they could learn from the mistakes they make.  Attendance was just below that in most primary schools in 2015. It is currently higher than last year’s average, as a result of the effective support leaders provide to encourage parents to get their children to school as often as possible. Leaders do not shy away from using fixed-penalty notices to remind parents the value of their child’s education.  Leaders are aware of pupils who are regularly late, and understand the reasons why this is so. Appropriate support is offered to help parents overcome difficulties they may face in getting their children to school on time.  Occasionally, some pupils do not manage their own feelings well or are less attentive than they should

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Behaviour

be. More often than not, this is linked to less effective teaching which does not capture pupils’ imagination or is not well matched to their needs and interests.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Current information for Year 1 and Year 2 pupils indicates that the vast majority are on track to reach age-related expectations in reading, writing, mathematics and science. A significant proportion are on track to work at greater depth than expected for their age.  Work in pupils’ books confirms that they are making strong progress in writing and mathematics and that the teachers’ assessments are broadly accurate. Information about the rapid progress pupils make in reading was confirmed by pupils’ confidence and keenness to read. The most able pupils, including a small number of those who are disadvantaged, make strong progress. They develop resilience and independence as a result of the challenges they are given.  The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in phonics (letters and the sounds they make) rose significantly in 2014 following the introduction of daily phonics groups based on the pupils’ level of

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Outcomes for pupils are good

skill. This successful strategy has continued and a significant majority of Year 1 pupils are on track to achieve the standard this year.  Gaps between the standards achieved by disadvantaged pupils and others continue to close. Pupils who have special educational needs or disability also make good progress from their starting points. Leaders have identified a small number of pupils who have exceptional talents in some areas of learning. They ensure these pupils excel in these areas without losing sight of the need for good overall progress.  Pupils are well prepared to move on to junior school because they are equipped with skills, especially in reading, that mean they will be able to tackle the higher expectations confidently. Leaders ensure there are good links with junior schools and information about individual pupils is passed on to ease the move.  Since the last inspection, there has been some variation in the standards achieved by pupils in reading,

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Outcomes for pupils are good

writing and mathematics by the time they reach the end of Year 2. The most recent dip in 2014 resulted in pupils achieving an average standard of reading, writing and mathematics significantly below pupils in most other schools. However, standards rose significantly in 2015 and the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics was just above most other schools. Gaps between the standard achieved by disadvantaged pupils and other pupils also narrowed, except for the proportion of pupils reaching the highest standard in reading and writing.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 Leaders did not keep a close enough eye on the checks on the level of development children had reached as they joined the Reception class in September 2015. They were not aware that some checks were not fully accurate or supported by enough evidence. As a result, leaders cannot be sure that all children are making good progress because they are not clear about each child’s starting points.  Teaching over this school year has been too variable between the two classes with Reception-age children. Not all children have enough opportunity to choose resources and activities to help develop all areas of learning, including their creativity and thinking skills.  Not all staff encourage children to think deeply nor model activities to help children make different choices and develop their ideas. This slows the progress of children and stymies their development as critical thinkers.  Some children have not received the support they need to manage their feelings, learn how to share or

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Early years provision requires improvement

take turns. Recently, leaders have made changes in the staffing arrangements between the two classes. As a result, the range of activities is provided for all children and they are now getting the support they need to develop more swiftly.  The outdoor space does not encourage children to develop their number, reading and writing skills. Leaders recognise early years spaces need to improve and have plans to do so over the summer holiday.  Welfare requirements are met. Children who are disadvantaged and those identified as being at very early stages of development are supported so they start to catch up with other children. Evidence in children’s books indicates that some have made good progress in developing their writing skills.  Parents are positive about the start their children get. They welcome the opportunity to provide information about their child when they start school. However, leaders do not ensure parents contribute

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Early years provision requires improvement

enough information about their child during the year.  Over time, the outcomes for early years provision have been variable. Current information indicates a significant proportion of children will reach a good level of development this year. Whether this represents good progress cannot be determined due to weaknesses in the initial assessments.

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School details

Unique reference number 107607 Local authority Kirklees Inspection number 10001154 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 as a short inspection of a good school. The inspection was converted to a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Infant School category Maintained Age range of pupils 4–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 110 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Reverend Ann Pollard Headteacher Wendy Kelly Telephone number 01924 325282 Website www.earlsheatoninfants.co.uk Email address office.earlsheatoninf@kirkleeseducation.uk Date of previous inspection 16–17 November 2010

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Information about this school

 Earlsheaton Infant School is smaller than most primary schools. There are four classes, one of which is a mixed class of Year 1 pupils and Reception children.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils (those pupils for whom the school receives additional funding, the pupil premium, because they are eligible for free school meals or because they are looked after by the local authority) is above average.  There is a very small number of pupils with education, health and care plans and a small number of pupils who need support for their special educational needs.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups and pupils who speak English as an additional language is smaller than average.  The school runs a daily breakfast club and twice-weekly after-school clubs, which take place regularly through the year.  Since the previous inspection in 2010, a new headteacher has been appointed (2013) and two new

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Information about this school

assistant headteachers (2014 and 2015). Two new teachers have been appointed to join the school in September 2016.  At the time of the inspection, governors did not fully meet all the requirements to publish information on the school’s website, as some of the required information about governors’ roles and financial interests was not available.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector visited every class several times during the inspection, on the first day jointly with the headteacher. Pupils’ books were reviewed and the inspector listened to pupils reading and talked with pupils about their work.  Meetings were held with the headteacher and assistant headteachers, the chair and vice-chair of the governing body and a group of teaching assistants. Conversations were held with two teachers. A telephone conversation was held with a representative of the local authority who is linked to the school.  The inspector observed pupils at playtime, as they moved around school during the day and as they arrived at school with their parents. A meeting was held with a group of Year 1 and Year 2 pupils.  School documents and reports covering a wide range of activities were reviewed, including minutes of the governing body meetings. Leaders’ information about the assessment of pupils’ work and progress

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Information about this inspection

was reviewed and compared with the work in pupils’ books.  The school’s own survey of parents’ views was considered alongside the 14 responses to Parent View (Ofsted’s online survey) and 10 free text responses to the same survey. The inspector talked with a number of parents as they arrived at school with their children and considered one letter received during the inspection.  Six responses to the online survey of staff were also considered.

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Inspection team

Susan Hayter, lead inspector Her Majesty’s 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 (Carcass), 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

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Inspection team

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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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