Eling Infant School and Nursery

Inspection of a good school: Eling Infant School and Nursery School Road, Totton, Southampton, Hampshire SO40 9HX

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Outcome

Eling Infant School and Nursery continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Eling Infant School and Nursery is a happy place to learn, where relationships are based on mutual respect and understanding. Friendship is an important aspect of school life. During the inspection, I attended an assembly about how to be a good friend. Pupils were able to reflect on how they had been a good friend recently. They told me that bullying does not happen, as pupils are kind. Pupils feel safe in school and know that adults listen to them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations of what all pupils can do. Staff know their pupils extremely well and pinpoint when extra support is needed. Leaders are determined that every pupil develops a love of learning and achieves well. Leaders’ actions have ensured that attendance has improved immensely since the last inspection. Pupils love coming to school. They especially enjoy mathematics lessons and the wide range of after-school clubs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers appreciate being invited into class to learn alongside their children. This helps them understand how to support learning at home. Parents are complimentary about the school. One parent wrote, ‘This really is a lovely school, with a family feel, who clearly put the children at the heart of what they do.’

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have made a great start in reviewing the curriculum to make sure that pupils learn and remember more in a wide range of subjects. Leaders have sequenced pupils’ learning so that they study the right content in the right order. Teaching builds on what pupils already know. Teachers follow a two-year cycle of learning at Eling, to support their mixed-age classes. The first year is planned in detail and followed closely in lessons. The exact detail of what is to be taught in subjects other than English and mathematics for the second year of the cycle is yet to be fully planned out.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders make sure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) 19–20 November 2019

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are well supported and fully included in all aspects of school life. Staff skilfully adapt learning because they understand this group of pupils’ needs thoroughly. As a result, pupils with SEND achieve well. Many children enter the school with speech and communication difficulties. Leaders ensure that there is a sharp focus on helping children pronounce sounds and learn new vocabulary as soon as they start in Nursery. Children in the early years are keen to learn from a wide range of interesting activities. For example, adults helped children learn new words to describe patterns while bark rubbing. Children could describe what the logs felt like, using words like ‘bumpy’ and ‘smooth’.

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Phonics is taught well. Pupils work through the programme systematically. Leaders assess regularly and thoroughly. Teachers use these assessments well to make sure that any pupil needing extra help is given precise support. Reading books used in lessons match exactly the sounds pupils have learned. However, this is not always the case with books that pupils take home, so they sometimes find these too hard.

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Leaders have developed a love of reading at Eling. Pupils read often, proudly wearing stickers announcing how many ‘reads’ they have completed so far this term. They confidently told me about the books they enjoy.

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The school’s work to develop pupils’ broader development is strong. For example, the leaders make sure that pupils can articulate and understand their emotions. The local authority uses leaders’ expertise in this area of work to support other schools. Staff ensure that pupils are taught how to be effective learners. Animals called the ‘learning friends’ help pupils understand this. One pupil told me how the rabbit helps him to be brave in his learning, explaining, ‘We are not scared if we get something wrong in our work.’ Pupils also love their leadership roles. For example, I observed Year 2 sports leaders skilfully organising and running a game of ‘What’s the time, Mr Wolf?’ for younger pupils.

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Leaders ensure that the school has an inclusive and respectful ethos. Pupils work together well in lessons and try hard. They are proud of what they achieve. However, occasionally, some pupils can be a little chatty and need a small reminder to focus back on the task in hand.

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Staff are proud to work at Eling. All staff who responded to the Ofsted online questionnaire strongly agreed that the school is well led. They know that the headteacher considers their workload when introducing new ideas to the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make sure that every pupil is listened to. Pupils know that they can talk to an adult if anything worries them. Leaders work thoughtfully with parents and are tenacious in their approach to getting the right help for pupils and their families.

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Safeguarding

Staff receive regular training and understand the possible risks to pupils. They know how to report concerns. Records show that leaders respond quickly. Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations. They understand how 19–20 November 2019

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to keep themselves safe on a computer. They know not to share personal information or talk to strangers online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have made a great start in ensuring that the curriculum is well planned. Pupils meet knowledge in a logical and progressive way, reviewing key content and skills often. Nevertheless, the school’s curriculum is not yet sufficiently and coherently planned and sequenced for both years of the two-year cycle. It is clear from the actions that leaders have already taken that they are in the process of bringing this about. Leaders should continue the work that they have started to make sure that teachers are clear about what pupils will know and understand in both years of the cycle.  Leaders ensure that books pupils read in phonics and guided reading lessons match the sounds they know. This is not always the case for home reading books. Leaders need to ensure that they fine-tune how books are selected for some pupils, so that the books they read are closely matched to the phonics knowledge they have been taught.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 21–22 June 2011.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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You can search for published performance information about the school.

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In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 19–20 November 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10111371 Type of school Infant

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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Information about this school

 Since the last inspection, the Nursery roll has increased and the Nursery is open for more hours each week. Children can attend either full time or part time. There are currently 35 children on roll in the Nursery. The Nursery has provision for two-year- olds, three-years-olds and four-year-olds.  The headteacher became interim head in September 2016. She took up the permanent post of headteacher in September 2017.  The governing body manages a breakfast and after-school club.

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Information about this inspection

 During this inspection, I met with the headteacher and the assistant headteacher. I also met with the chair of the governing body and one additional governor. I spoke to a representative from the local authority on the telephone.  I did deep dives in reading, mathematics and art. This involved speaking to subject leaders, teachers and pupils. I visited lessons and looked at pupils’ work and leaders’ planning. I also heard some pupils read.  To inspect safeguarding, I met with the school’s designated safeguarding leads, spoke to staff, governors and pupils, checked recruitment procedures and looked at 19–20 November 2019

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safeguarding records and policies.  I considered the 50 responses to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire, including 31 free- text comments. In addition, 20 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for staff were considered, as were 26 responses to Ofsted’s online pupil questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Lea Hannam, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 19–20 November 2019

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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