Fawley Infant School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Claire Lowe Executive Headteacher Fawley Infant School School Road Fawley Southampton Hampshire SO45 1EA

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Short inspection of Fawley Infant School

Following my visit to the school on 4 July 2017, 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 your predecessor school was judged to be good in July 2013.

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Short inspection of Fawley Infant School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Many changes have taken place during this time. Most notably, the school has converted to academy status and the whole teaching staff has changed. Throughout this period, you have remained focused on providing good quality education and care for the pupils in the school. A good example of this is the strong and focused leadership of the interim principal. She has made sure that pupils are well provided for until the return of the permanent post-holder.

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Short inspection of Fawley Infant School

This small school has a welcoming and caring atmosphere that parents value. They are confident that their children are happy, safe and well looked after. Parents value the information they receive from the school. They like the informal updates that staff provide on their children’s learning and well-being at the beginning and end of the day. Pupils enjoy their work and are making good progress from their starting points.

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Short inspection of Fawley Infant School

You, with other leaders, have successfully maintained the strengths identified by the last inspection. Together, you have taken effective action to tackle the recommendations to further improve the quality of teaching.

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Short inspection of Fawley Infant School

You and your team have ensured that teaching remains good. When needed, you have acted quickly to improve areas of the school that were less effective. The total change in teaching staff has given you the opportunity to clarify how you want them to teach. With the principal of the school, you are developing a consistent approach to teaching and learning. This ‘Fawley’ approach to learning can be seen in all classrooms and is leading to improved rates of progress for all pupils. This now needs to be used consistently.

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Short inspection of Fawley Infant School

Leaders are vigilant in their care for pupils. They meticulously follow up any concerns about pupils’ well-being. The records that they keep are detailed and well- kept. The school works well with other agencies and offers families help and support as part of a coordinated approach.

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Short inspection of Fawley Infant School

Parents are confident that their children are safe. Pupils are happy in school. They are confident that staff will always help them if they have problems or difficulties. The school teaches pupils how to keep themselves safe on the internet and parents value the workshops that help them to understand this.

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Short inspection of Fawley Infant School

Members of the academy council have a good understanding of the day-to-day processes within the school that keep pupils safe. They undertake a range of checks to ensure that safeguarding is fully in place in the school. Academy council members are aware that for them to be confident that all statutory requirements are met, they need to make these checks a more regular and systematic part of their monitoring.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection, we agreed to look in particular at the following aspects of the school’s work: the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements how well leaders have continued to improve the quality of teaching how effectively leaders are ensuring that disadvantaged pupils do as well as well as other pupils in the school whether governors and trustees check thoroughly that the academy fulfils all its statutory duties.  Pupils currently in the school make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because teachers and teaching assistants know what they have to teach, and follow an agreed approach. The quality of teaching that pupils receive has dipped at times since the previous inspection. Although you addressed those dips promptly, the progress of some pupils slowed.  A good example of the current quality of teaching can be seen in the effective teaching of phonics. Teachers and teaching assistants have very secure subject

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Inspection findings

knowledge. This means that pupils acquire the skills and knowledge that they need consistently through the school. Pupils’ work also shows the impact of the improved teaching of phonics on writing, especially in Year 1. The school needs to extend this approach so that the most able pupils are able to achieve greater depth by the end of Year 2.  Disadvantaged pupils have greatly benefited from the recent improvements to the quality of teaching in all three classes. The identified dip in the quality of teaching slowed down the progress of many disadvantaged pupils. Now that teaching has improved, the gap between their performance and that of other pupils has reduced significantly. The impact of this can be seen in both Years 1 and 2, where disadvantaged pupils have achieved significantly higher results than previously, and the difference between their performance and that of other pupils in the school has diminished. Leaders are further improving the progress of

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Inspection findings

disadvantaged pupils by providing increasingly early support before any underachievement sets in. A good example of this is the successful work in the Reception class to increase the proportion of disadvantaged pupils who achieved a good level of development.  There have been significant changes to the governance of the school since the last inspection. The hard federation with a neighbouring school resulted in a shared governing body. The conversion to academy status reintroduced a local governing body known as the academy council. You identified the importance of the academy council in ensuring that the school receives the support and challenge it needs to provide the best outcomes for the pupils.  Members of the academy council have a good understanding of the challenges facing the school. They effectively monitor and evaluate the actions taken by leaders to improve the progress that pupils make. As we discussed, the academy

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Inspection findings

council needs to further develop its monitoring of the school. This will allow its members to evaluate the effectiveness of those aspects of the school that they are responsible for and hold the school and trust leaders to account.

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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

 actions are taken to further develop a consistent approach of teaching so that pupils continue to make more progress, particularly disadvantaged pupils and the most able pupils  the academy council has the information it needs to hold leaders to account.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the executive board, the regional schools commissioner and the Director of Children's Services for Hampshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During this inspection, I met with you and other leaders to discuss a range of issues, including the quality of teaching, safeguarding and pupils’ progress. I also met with members of the academy council and your school challenge partner. With the interim principal, I visited classrooms and looked at pupils’ work. I spoke to parents at the start of the day and met with a small group of pupils to gather their views. I observed the behaviour of pupils and spoke to them about the school. I reviewed school documentation, including the school’s policies and procedures for safeguarding. I took account of 12 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including seven written comments.

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