Calcot Infant School and Nursery

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

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Mrs Florence Rostron Executive Headteacher Calcot Infant School and Nursery Curtis Road Calcot Reading Berkshire RG31 4XG

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Short inspection of Calcot Infant School and Nursery

Following my visit to the school on 17 October 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 May 2013.

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Short inspection of Calcot Infant School and Nursery

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since taking up your post in 2015, you have recruited and developed a strong and capable leadership team that works tirelessly to improve the school. As the executive headteacher of two schools, you use the significant talents of your leaders across both sites to enhance the school. For example, leaders monitor the curriculum across both key stages 1 and 2 to ensure that pupils leave the infant school with the skills they require to be successful in junior school.

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Short inspection of Calcot Infant School and Nursery

You are highly ambitious for staff and pupils and evaluate accurately the strengths and weaknesses across the school. Leaders use a wide range of activities to check on the quality of teaching and the outcomes for pupils. They use this to identify where to deploy additional resources when needed. For example, when new staff members required additional support to deliver phonics lessons, leaders organised shared planning and teaching activities to ensure that these teachers knew exactly what to do. Staff feel supported in school and the quality of teaching has improved.

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Short inspection of Calcot Infant School and Nursery

Governors are experienced and skilled. They know the school well and conduct regular, focused visits to check the quality of education the school provides. Governors meet with pupils and attend parent workshops to gain an understanding of their views. They use this information to form independent judgements on the effectiveness of the school and challenge leaders to improve further. Governors and leaders rightly recognise that school development plans do not focus sufficiently on the progress and attainment of different groups of pupils.

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Short inspection of Calcot Infant School and Nursery

In class, pupils show impeccable behaviour. They work well with their peers and show great levels of respect to their teachers. When work begins, they set to tasks with purpose and industry. Pupils enjoy challenging tasks and understand that making mistakes is part of learning. Pupils say that poor behaviour and bullying are extremely rare and, when these do occur, teachers are good at resolving issues. Pupils enjoy the lively themed weeks, which focus on topics such as British values or sports. They enjoy the creative arts and love to sing. For example, in Reception, a group of pupils sang and chanted to practise sounding out the letter ‘e’. Pupils attend school regularly and are rarely late. Nevertheless, the rates of attendance of disadvantaged pupils are improving at a slower rate than those of other pupils.

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Short inspection of Calcot Infant School and Nursery

At the time of the previous inspection, the school was asked to raise the standard of teaching by ensuring that errors in pupils’ work were not repeated. Leaders worked with new and established staff to ensure their feedback expectations were met. When pupils make mistakes, for instance in spelling, these are now identified quickly. Teachers and teaching assistants work with pupils well to correct any misunderstandings. As a result, repeated mistakes are rare and pupils’ spelling has improved markedly.

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Short inspection of Calcot Infant School and Nursery

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. Statutory checks are carried out on all staff before they commence employment.

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Short inspection of Calcot Infant School and Nursery

Staff members are aware of how to identify and report concerns. Appropriate training of staff supports this. Governors check the quality of safeguarding procedures and offer useful suggestions when areas for improvement are identified. For example, following governors’ recommendations, contractors to the school now receive safeguarding induction before they can begin work on site.

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Short inspection of Calcot Infant School and Nursery

Pupils learn how to stay safe. They understand the dangers of gaming, such as meeting strangers online, and created useful posters to encourage others not to share their personal information on the internet. Parents receive high-quality, practical information on how to keep their children safe, through regular newsletters and updates on the school website.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection, we agreed to look at the effectiveness of safeguarding; the progress of disadvantaged pupils; the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in mathematics; the effectiveness of leaders’ support for teachers and the quality of the curriculum.  Leaders carefully track the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils and quickly identify when they need further support. Additional funding is used well to ensure that, if disadvantaged pupils fall behind, they are offered effective support to catch up with their peers. As a result, disadvantaged pupils make strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics and attain in line with other pupils nationally and in school.  The teaching of mathematics has been revitalised. When a decline in standards was identified, leaders and staff took decisive action to redesign the mathematics curriculum across both the infant school and adjoining junior school. Pupils of all

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Inspection findings

abilities receive excellent opportunities to practise their calculation skills and solve complex and interesting problems. Teachers use focused questioning to probe pupils’ understanding and encourage them to reason mathematically. Staff provide excellent additional challenge to pupils, particularly the most able. Pupils make strong progress in mathematics, and an increasing proportion of pupils attain at a high standard.  Leaders use clear and established systems to check the quality of teaching and learning. They use these findings to develop personalised plans for teachers to help them to improve their practice. Governors check on the staff development plans and interview staff members to ensure that the planning is supporting teachers to improve. As a result, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment has improved apace.  The curriculum is lively and interesting. Pupils enjoy the opportunity to work with

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Inspection findings

local musicians and artists, who provide expert tuition in their chosen field. Year 1 played djembe drums with enthusiasm and vigour, thinking carefully about how they could change the pitch, tempo and dynamics of their drumming. Pupils across the school learn to code basic programs, making mazes and simple games to play with their friends. Pupils write well across the curriculum and use their writing to convey their opinions. For example, children in Reception made predictions about what they may be like in the future, using interesting adjectives to describe their future selves.

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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

 improvement planning includes a sharper focus on the progress and attainment of different groups of pupils  the attendance of disadvantaged pupils improves to match the high attendance of other pupils in school.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

I met with you, senior leaders and five governors, including the joint chairs of the governing body. I observed learning in seven classes and scrutinised pupils’ work in books, all jointly with senior leaders. I analysed a range of school documentation, including information about pupils’ achievements, the school improvement plan and safeguarding checks, policies and procedures. We discussed your own evaluation of the school’s effectiveness. I considered the 32 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and spoke to parents at the beginning of the day. Some parents offered written responses, which I also considered. I analysed the results of the confidential staff and pupil surveys. I met with four pupils from Years 1 to 2 and gathered the views of other pupils throughout the day.

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