Summerhill Infant School

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

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Mr Ira De N’Yeurt Headteacher Summerhill Infant School Clouds Hill Road St George Bristol BS5 7LE

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Short inspection of Summerhill Infant School

Following my visit to the school on 7 November 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 January 2013.

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Short inspection of Summerhill Infant School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The curriculum is rich and interesting for pupils. A high priority is given to pupils learning to read. Pupils show a love and enthusiasm for reading. Reading is a strength of the school. Pupils demonstrate good attitudes to learning and are keen to do their best. They behave well and say they enjoy attending school.

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Short inspection of Summerhill Infant School

At the previous inspection, you were asked to ensure that English and mathematics leaders have clear actions for improvement. This work is effective. Subject and year group leaders work closely with senior leaders in the school. Their action plans are focused on the right aspects for improvement and show good impact. Middle leaders understand their role in raising pupils’ achievement across the school. As a result, across a three-year period pupils’ outcomes in the early years and key stage 1 have improved markedly. However, in 2017, pupils’ outcomes in writing dipped. Leaders’ actions to tackle this shortcoming are proving successful. As a result, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and pupils’ outcomes are typically good.

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Short inspection of Summerhill Infant School

Leaders were also asked to improve their checks of teaching and learning so that pupils make rapid progress. This work is partially effective. There are clear systems in place to check the quality of teaching. When relative weaknesses in teaching are identified the deputy headteacher provides timely coaching support to ensure that any deficiencies are remedied. Staff training and support have improved staff subject knowledge so that it is good. As headteacher, you hold teachers to account through regular meetings to review pupils’ performance. Leaders undertake regular checks on pupils’ learning, including book scrutiny. However, checks of work in books do not take into account pupils’ prior attainment. As a result, the progress in writing of a few middle-attaining pupils, and a few of the most able pupils, is not as strong as it could be.

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Short inspection of Summerhill Infant School

A relatively small proportion of parents contributed to the online questionnaire Parent View. Every parent who did respond reported that their child is happy and safe, makes good progress and is taught well. All respondents would recommend the school to other parents. However, some aspects of the staff survey were more variable. Senior leaders know that there is more to do to improve the communication across staff teams. Governors’ own analysis accurately identifies that further action is required to secure the engagement and satisfaction of all staff and parents. There is good capacity to achieve this aim.

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Short inspection of Summerhill Infant School

Leaders ensure that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Staff training is up to date and in line with current legislation. Staff apply their training well to their daily work. Staff have been trained in the ‘Prevent’ duty and child exploitation and talk confidently about how to refer concerns should they consider a child to be at risk, including of female genital mutilation. Records show that designated safeguarding leaders work closely with external agencies to minimise children’s risk of harm. Leaders’ records are meticulously kept. Staff vetting checks are in line with national requirements to ensure the suitability of staff to work with children.

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Short inspection of Summerhill Infant School

Pupils say they feel safe in school. They know how to keep safe when using the internet. Pupils say that they can go to any adult in the school if they have a concern and any issues get sorted out quickly by staff.

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Inspection findings

 A key line of enquiry, to ascertain that the school remained good, was to establish the effectiveness of the teaching of phonics in the early years and key stage 1. This is because the proportion of pupils who met the required standards in the phonics screening check dipped in 2017 and pupils’ achievements are below the national average. Prior to 2017, standards in phonics increased consistently across a three-year period.  The teaching of phonics and early reading is particularly strong in the early years. Teachers have consistently high expectations of children both in taught phonics sessions and when children are applying their phonics understanding independently. There are a wealth of rich experiences in the outside learning area for children to develop their reading and writing skills. Children relish the opportunities to undertake these activities, for example being detectives to find tiny letters in the outdoor area that are only visible with magnifying glasses,

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Inspection findings

visiting the reading den, applying their knowledge and understanding of phonics and developing speaking skills in the many role play areas. Activities are all carefully planned to encompass current phonics teaching. As a result, children in the early years are well motivated to learn, display high levels of concentration for their age, and make consistently good and often rapid progress.  In key stage 1, phonics teaching is good overall. Phonics teaching is regular and systematic. As a result, most Year 2 pupils who failed to meet the required standards in the Year 1 phonics screening check are catching up quickly. However, on occasion, adults do not use their assessments of pupils’ understanding to enable pupils’ rapid progress. Leaders’ checks on phonics teaching and on how pupils apply their phonics to their writing books are not yet as precise as they could be. As a result, a small minority of low-attaining pupils

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Inspection findings

do not make the progress they should.  Another aspect that I looked at was the impact of leaders’ actions to improve the outcomes and attendance of disadvantaged pupils. The teaching of reading is consistently good. Interventions in place to accelerate pupils’ ability to read and demonstrate a good understanding of what they read are highly effective for disadvantaged pupils. A wide range of opportunities are in place for these pupils to practise reading and receive additional teaching. Pupils read increasingly well and show good understanding. The leader responsible for reading intervention tracks pupils’ progress precisely. As a result, current disadvantaged pupils who were previously low-attaining are catching up quickly by the end of Year 2.  Disadvantaged pupils’ attendance is broadly in line with national averages. Leaders’ actions to improve disadvantaged pupils’ attendance are bringing about

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Inspection findings

gradual improvement.  My final line of enquiry looked at the impact of leaders’ actions to ensure that pupils are making consistently good progress in their writing. This is because writing outcomes at the end of Year 2 dipped in 2017 so that a smaller than average proportion of pupils met the standards expected for their age.  The teaching of writing is good overall. In many classes, teachers’ expectations are consistently high and pupils make strong progress over time. You have ensured that strong subject and year group leadership is in place, and this has improved the consistency of teaching in each year group. However, last year, some teaching was not as precisely focused on improving the accuracy of writing as it needed to be. As a result, this skewed the otherwise typically high standards in writing evidenced in most pupils’ books. Leaders have taken decisive action to tackle this shortcoming. Leaders’ actions to insist that teachers’ expectations are

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Inspection findings

uniformly high are taking hold well this year. The deputy headteacher holds staff to account exceptionally well. As a result, standards in writing overall are improving steadily. Most pupils now write with good stamina and with an increased level of accuracy and detail. You know that this aspect remains a key aspect for development.

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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

 teachers have uniformly high expectations of what pupils can achieve in their writing so that a greater proportion of middle-attaining pupils across all classes meet and exceed the standards expected for their age  leaders’ checks on phonics teaching and pupils’ application of phonics in their writing are robust and enable low-attaining pupils to make rapid progress and catch up quickly  leaders’ communication and communication across staff teams are consistently good so that staff have a clear understanding of whole-school expectations and whole-school initiatives.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

During this inspection, I spoke with you, senior and middle leaders, and the chair of the governing body. I also held meetings with a representative of the local authority. We made visits to lessons to observe pupils’ learning and to scrutinise their work. I looked at pupils’ workbooks in detail with you and your deputy headteacher. I also listened to pupils read and gathered their views of the school. I considered a range of documentary evidence, which included the school’s self- evaluation, development plans, school performance information, monitoring records for teaching, learning and assessment, analysis of pupils’ attendance, behaviour and safeguarding documentation. In addition, I took account of 24 responses to the Parent View online survey and free-text messaging service. I gathered the views of staff through the online questionnaire and through discussions during the inspection.

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