All Saints Church of England Voluntary Controlled Infant School, Hessle

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

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Miss Karen Wood Headteacher All Saints Church of England Voluntary Controlled Infant School Northolme Road Hessle HU13 9JD

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Infant School, Hessle

Following my visit to the school on 9 May 2018, 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 March 2014.

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Infant School, Hessle

Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I have identified some priorities for improvement which I advise the school to address. In light of these priorities, the school’s next inspection will be a full section 5 inspection. There is no

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change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Your commitment to the pupils and the wider community that you serve is clearly evident. You know your pupils very well and all members of the leadership team have good relationships with the pupils. It was a pleasure to watch teachers chatting to pupils as when they met around the school. Pupils say they are happy at school and that they feel safe. A very large proportion of parents are also particularly positive about the children’s happiness and safety. The majority of parents are also happy with the quality of education their children receive.

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change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

You have experienced significant changes to your team of teachers and leaders since the last inspection. The leadership team is beginning to implement more detailed plans to move the school forwards. There is a real sense among the team that they want the very best for the pupils. However, many of the school’s leadership team are only just starting to lead their new roles or have only recently started to work at the school. This means that your new plans and approaches for learning have not yet had time to improve pupils’ outcomes. In addition to this, changes to the teaching team have meant that there are some inconsistencies in the quality of teaching. There is not enough good teaching across the school.

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change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Following the school’s last inspection, leaders were asked to improve the quality of outdoor learning in the early years. You have worked hard to ensure that the outdoor learning environment has been improved and the children are now able to enjoy a wide range of learning experiences in an attractive outdoor setting. The activities I observed outside were well planned, purposeful and ensured that the children really focused on their learning. Children showed good levels of independence and stuck at their tasks, even when they were finding things tricky. There were good opportunities for children to use their imaginations, and the design station encouraged them to think carefully before building large scale structures. The children were able to develop their knowledge of sounds through practical tasks. These were used to encourage children to write in a range of areas and to develop their vocabulary. One girl was eager to talk all about the mini beast

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change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

investigation she was carrying out, examining bugs carefully and finding out where they lived.

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change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

During the last inspection, inspectors highlighted that pupils’ learning slowed when teaching failed to capture the interest of pupils. They found that pupils were not always challenged sufficiently. In the majority of the lessons I observed, teachers had thought carefully about the context of the work, choosing themes that would interest the pupils. For example, ‘Zak and the beanstalk’ gave the pupils an opportunity to create new personalities for the characters in the story. In most classrooms, I noticed that the pupils were busy working at their tasks when they were directed by adults. In these classrooms, adults provided a good level of support to their group, questioning them well and guiding them to complete their tasks. However, pupils often lost their focus when working independently because the activities that had been planned did not match their needs closely enough. This meant that some pupils became stuck while others found tasks too easy.

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change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Leaders and governors have made sure that safeguarding arrangements, policies and procedures are fit for purpose and they undertake their duties diligently. Records for pupils who may be at risk are detailed and are checked regularly by the safeguarding lead teacher. Thorough checks are made when new staff are recruited and there are well-planned induction procedures that ensure all new staff are aware of the school’s safeguarding procedures. All adults who work closely with pupils are checked robustly to ensure that children are safe.

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change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Staff have received all relevant training to ensure that they are kept up to date with the government’s most recent legislation. All staff are fully aware of the responsibility they have in ensuring that pupils are safe.

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change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Pupils are confident that there is a trusted adult in whom they can confide if they have concerns. They feel that pupils behave well around the school and that they support each other in classrooms. Older pupils are confident in understanding the dangers associated with using the internet and could explain the precautions they needed to take to keep themselves safe.

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Inspection findings

 My first focus for the inspection was to check whether leaders have acted effectively to improve outcomes in mathematics. Outcomes in mathematics decreased in 2017 and were below the national average. Leaders had not identified mathematics as a priority in the school’s improvement plan but have begun to make improvements. Teachers have received training to improve the way they teach mathematical concepts and there is now a much more consistent approach to the way pupils learn about number. Leaders have ensured that teachers have time to plan activities together and to discuss the best ways for pupils to learn. There is now more evidence in pupils’ books of pupils developing their problem-solving and reasoning skills. Checks of books showed that the most able pupils are not yet sufficiently challenged. Their progress is limited because they often find work too easy. There is evidence in books that shows that the

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Inspection findings

most able pupils are not moved on quickly enough to extend or deepen their understanding. When we watched teaching and learning in classrooms together, we noticed that adults were not aware of how well independent groups were doing. This meant that some pupils had finished their work and were missing valuable time to learn more. Other pupils, for example the low-prior-attaining pupils, were given tasks which were not always planned well enough to meet their needs and they struggled to complete activities without a high level of support. Sometimes these pupils were stuck but adults were unaware. This meant they could not complete their tasks effectively. As a result, not enough pupils are making good progress across key stage 1.  I wanted to check how effectively you use pupil premium funding to support disadvantaged pupils. Outcomes in the early years have declined over the past three years for these pupils. Less than half of these pupils reached the standard

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Inspection findings

they should. By the end of key stage 1, the proportion of disadvantaged pupils reaching expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics in 2017 was below average when compared with the standard reached by all pupils nationally. You have recently undertaken an audit into how you use the pupil premium funding, with the support of the local authority. This has helped you to create a new plan that has identified the barriers that these pupils face. The plans are clear and you have now provided members of staff with training to help them to support these pupils. You have detailed plans in place to check whether these pupils are making enough progress to catch up.  Although your new plans are detailed and identify areas of need accurately, your focus on the use of the pupil premium funding was not carried out quickly enough. Outcomes for disadvantaged pupils remain below those of all pupils nationally. There are some early signs of improvement for these pupils in some

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Inspection findings

classes but it is too early to see significant impact across the school.  I wanted to check the impact of additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. In 2017, the proportion of low-prior- attaining pupils who reached the expected standard at the end of key stage 1 was low. You have recently appointed a new leader to coordinate support for these pupils. He has acted swiftly to put in place new systems that help you to check how well these pupils are doing. Children are now identified earlier when they are showing signs that they may need further support. Detailed plans are now in place to identify the help they need. The leader has a good knowledge of the individual needs of these pupils and is ambitious for them; he expects them to succeed. As a result, expectations for these pupils are higher and they make good progress in the early years.  However, these actions have yet to prove to be successful. Although children who

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Inspection findings

have special educational needs are identified earlier than they were in the past, and the special educational needs leader has a good understanding of their needs, pupils who have special educational needs still do not make sufficient progress throughout school. The leader’s ambition and high expectation is proving successful in the early years, but elsewhere the activities provided for pupils still do not match their needs. This means that these pupils sometimes struggle to complete activities or do not fully understand what they have to do. Again, adults are not always aware of this in lessons and this means that valuable learning time is lost. Pupils who have special educational needs have still not made good enough progress across key stage 1 this year.  My final focus was to check whether attendance has improved. The proportion of pupils who were persistently absent last year had risen and was above the

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Inspection findings

national average. Overall attendance remains below the national average this year. Although attendance has been monitored, this has not been done rigorously enough. As a result, the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent this year is also high, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. Leaders have identified this as an area to improve and now have detailed plans in place to tackle this. Governors are aware of this issue and are fully committed to ensuring that swift and decisive action is taken to improve attendance.

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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 new leadership team is coordinated and supported, with urgency, to increase pupils’ progress across key stage 1  plans for the use of pupil premium funding are reviewed closely to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make more progress  efforts to improve pupils’ attendance are continued  teachers plan tasks that accurately meet the needs of all pupils including low- prior-attaining pupils and the most able  teachers and other adults respond more effectively to the changing needs of pupils within lessons.

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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 York, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for East Riding of Yorkshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you and other senior leaders, the mathematics subject leader and your special educational needs coordinator. You shared your own written evaluations of the school and your improvement plans. I observed learning with the deputy headteacher in all year groups. We looked at your own assessment information and pupils’ work in books.

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Information about the inspection

I reviewed a range of documents, including those relating to safeguarding and attendance and reports from your governing body. I talked to pupils informally, as we observed learning in classes, and around the school.

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Information about the inspection

I took account of 34 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 31 free-text commentaries. I considered 22 responses to the staff survey. I also met with two members of the school’s governing body, the school’s local authority improvement partner and a member of the diocese school effectiveness team.

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