Crich Church of England Infant School

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

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Ms Julie Kirk Headteacher Crich Church of England Infant School Bowns Hill Crich Matlock Derbyshire DE4 5DG

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

Following my visit to the school on 19 September 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 the school was judged to be good in February 2013.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

Crich Church of England Infant School is a warm and friendly place where everyone enjoys ‘caring, learning and praying together’. You and your staff care for and know pupils and their families extremely well. There is a ‘family’ feel to this small school, with strong, positive relationships evident between adults and pupils. Parents welcome the opportunity to bring their child into school every day to complete a morning task. This gives the chance for adults to have a brief conversation and share any relevant information about the child. Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school and its work, with one commenting, ‘I am very happy with the care, teaching and nurturing given to my three children at this school.’

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

The classrooms are bright, stimulating and well resourced. You have recently improved the outdoor provision, especially for children in the early years. The creative use of space and new flooring have turned the area into an interesting and enjoyable place for the children to play and learn. Pupils are polite and behave well, both when learning in classrooms and playing outside at breaktime and lunchtime.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

Children in the early years are encouraged to become independent and effective learners through a link with dinosaurs. For example, children are encouraged to be ‘Pretendasaurus’ and ‘Solveatops’ when working in the role play and mathematics areas respectively.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

Pupils in Year 1 relish the challenge approach to the curriculum. They told me they enjoy working with different partners and understand that they have, for example, mathematics, construction, writing, reading or creative challenges to complete each day. Consequently, pupils are enthusiastic learners who are able to sustain concentration and make good progress in a wide range of subjects.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

The proportion of pupils achieving a good level of development when leaving the Reception class has been higher than the national average over recent years. Results in the Year 1 phonics screening check have also recently been higher than the national averages. Key stage 1 outcomes in 2017 show that a larger percentage of pupils achieved the expected standard and at a greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics than was seen nationally.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

You have introduced an accurate, effective assessment system that enables teachers to track closely the progress of individual pupils in reading, writing and mathematics. We discussed the importance of ensuring that this information is shared appropriately with governors so that areas of strength and development can be identified. Half-termly pupil progress meetings with teachers and yourself ensure that any pupil who is falling behind is quickly given the support they need to catch up. You also arrange for frequent moderation opportunities with other schools so that teachers can check the accuracy of the judgements they are making regarding pupils’ work.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

At the previous inspection, the inspector asked the school to increase the opportunities for pupils to develop their writing skills in subjects other than English. You have successfully addressed this by introducing a ‘bookmark’ system that displays the next steps for pupils to improve their writing. The ‘picture this’ books provide frequent opportunities for pupils to develop their creative writing skills. Progress is particularly strong in the Year 2 class in these books. You have also introduced ‘improvement books’ that allow pupils the opportunity to improve and redraft their written work successfully. I also saw good evidence in pupils’ books of writing across a wide range of subjects, including science, history and geography.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

The inspector also recommended that subject leaders develop the essential skills they need to support you fully in checking the school’s work. Unfortunately, your progress has been hindered due to unforeseen changes in staffing. However, the current staff are enthusiastic and have received relevant training in order to ensure that this area for improvement is addressed during this current academic year.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

Finally, the governors were asked to implement a programme for monitoring the school’s work. During our meeting, the governors showed me evidence of a timetable that outlines when and what monitoring activities are carried out and by whom. I also saw evidence of previous monitoring activities that had been undertaken by governors and how this information was then shared at future meetings of the governing body. Recent activities include the monitoring of pupils’ behaviour, safeguarding procedures and the quality of the religious education curriculum. Governors have therefore successfully addressed this improvement area.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

We agreed that the next steps for continuing to improve the school are:

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

 to ensure that more-able pupils are moved on to challenging work quicker, especially in mathematics  to use pupils’ assessment information effectively to ensure that leaders and governors have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas for development.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

The checks you make on adults before they are allowed to work or volunteer at the school are comprehensive. The single central record is up to date and meets all statutory requirements. You have ensured that staff and governors have received relevant safeguarding training. Consequently, there is a strong safeguarding culture in the school.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

You have introduced an effective system for staff to record any welfare concerns they may have regarding a pupil. These records are kept securely. You are aware of the importance of making timely referrals to other agencies, therefore ensuring that any pupils or families who require extra support receive it quickly.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

Records kept by the school show that incidents of poor behaviour are extremely rare and there have been no racist or homophobic incidents during recent years. There is some helpful information on the school’s website informing parents of how to keep their children safe when online and using social media.

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Short inspection of Crich Church of England Infant School

You monitor the attendance of individual pupils closely, which has resulted in the attendance rate in 2016 being much better than the national average.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils told me they enjoy the extra-curricular activities provided by the school. They also relish the opportunity to learn to swim and look forward to the frequent forest school sessions. They were unanimous that they enjoyed school and felt safe there.  Consistently good teaching, combined with an interesting and stimulating curriculum, ensures that pupils in all classes make good progress from their various starting points in a range of subjects.  Pupils are being challenged to make the progress of which they are capable. This is more the case in writing and reading than in mathematics. When listening to pupils read, they told me they enjoyed the activity and that they read regularly at school and at home. Their reading books were at the appropriate level for their abilities.  You and the governing body understand the importance of monitoring and evaluating the allocation of the pupil premium funding and the impact it is having

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Inspection findings

on the disadvantaged pupils who receive it. This is particularly the case for those pupils who require extra support in English and mathematics.  The experienced governing body offers appropriate challenge and support to the school. Governors have received relevant training and have made links with other local schools to share good practice.  The school has received good support from the local authority representative over the last two years. Termly meetings have helped to improve the quality of pupils’ writing and implement a new marking and feedback policy.  Staff are unanimously supportive of the school, saying that it is improving and that they are proud to work there.

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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

 the most able pupils are moved on to harder work quicker in mathematics, so that they make the progress of which they are capable  leaders and governors analyse pupils’ assessment information more effectively so that they have an accurate view of the strengths and areas for development at the school.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Derby, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Derbyshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I held meetings with you, the three class teachers and members of the governing body, including the chair, and I held a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority. I visited the three classes with you and examined a range of pupils’ books. I spoke with pupils informally during lessons and formally during a discussion. I observed pupils’ behaviour around the school, at the start of the school day, during lunchtime and during lessons. I met with parents at the beginning of the school day and I took into account the 12 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, 12 responses to the Ofsted free-text service, and six responses to Ofsted’s staff survey. There were no responses to the pupil survey. I examined a range of documents, including safeguarding records and policies, the single central record, the latest achievement information for the school, the school’s self-evaluation summary and improvement

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Information about the inspection

plan, records of meetings of the governing body and information relating to pupils’ attendance and behaviour.

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