Shadsworth Infant School

Inspection of a good school: Shadsworth Infant School Rothesay Road, Blackburn, Lancashire BB1 2EL

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Outcome

Shadsworth Infant School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Smiling faces are the order of the day at Shadsworth Infants. Pupils are clearly happy in the school. They say their teachers are kind and good at looking after them. Parents and carers agree. Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ work and behaviour, and pupils respond well. They work hard in class and behave extremely well around the school. Pupils enjoy learning about different things. Science lessons and school trips are particular favourites.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils support and look after their friends. They also know how important it is look after the world around them. For example, older pupils have learned about climate change. This has encouraged them to care about issues such as the fate of polar bears.

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What is it like to attend this school?

School council members wear their bright yellow sweatshirts with pride. They take their role very seriously. They are proud of the fund-raising work they organised in support of a cancer charity.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe in the school. They learn how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet. Pupils are not worried about bullying. They say that teachers are good at sorting out any problems that arise. Pupils very clearly trust the adults in the school. This is because leaders have created a warm and caring ethos.

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

High-quality leadership is central to the school’s success. Leaders have an ambitious curriculum. They can clearly explain how they designed it. They know their local community very well. They understand the challenges that their pupils and families are facing every day. Leaders know that pupils need to develop their language skills and expand their vocabulary. They give pupils memorable experiences that go beyond formal subjects. These help them to understand more about the world around them and to respect people’s differences. 3–4 December 2019

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The geography curriculum is a good example of how leaders organise learning well. Reception class children learn about their local community. In Year 1 they start to compare towns and countryside and look at local maps and aerial photographs. In Year 2, their learning moves on to look at maps of the world.

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Leaders know that a few parts of the curriculum are not as well developed as this. Although pupils still enjoy their lessons in history, for example, the way the learning is ordered is not as well planned. This means that it is not as easy for pupils to build up their knowledge as it is in most subjects.

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Pupils learn to read well. Leaders have made sure that reading is given a high profile in the school. They focus on developing pupils’ language from the start. Teachers do activities to build up the number of words pupils know. The curriculum for reading is well organised. It helps pupils to increase their knowledge as they move through the school. Children in early years eagerly listen to stories and enjoy looking at books. Older pupils become keen readers. They develop their reading comprehension skills well and can confidently talk about the books they are reading.

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Leaders have acted to ensure that more pupils reach the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check. For example, staff are better trained in teaching phonics. Teachers more accurately check what pupils know. This helps to make sure that phonics lessons are well planned. Any pupil falling behind in phonics gets help to catch up.

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Mathematics is well planned. Pupils develop and practise key skills. This helps them to get better at mathematics. They use their knowledge well to solve number problems. Teachers check pupils’ understanding effectively to make sure that they remember their learning.

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Children get off to a flying start in the early years. Staff have a good knowledge of everything they teach. They plan a range of interesting activities that children clearly enjoy. They quickly identify what children can do and what they need to learn next. This helps children to do well in all their areas of learning.

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Staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. This is the case from the start of early years right up to Year 2. Young children learn quickly to play well together and to share. Most pupils behave well in lessons, meaning that time for learning is not wasted.

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Leaders take steps to look after staff’s well-being. They manage teachers’ workload well, for example by taking unnecessary tasks away from them.

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Leaders and teachers work hard to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers adapt their plans well. Skilled and well-trained teaching assistants give good support to pupils with SEND. This makes a positive difference to their learning.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 3–4 December 2019

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Staff know their pupils well. Their training is up to date and staff are quick to spot any signs that may mean a pupil is worried.

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Effective procedures are in place to record the information needed to keep pupils safe. Records show that leaders are quick to follow up any safeguarding issues. They work well with other agencies to protect pupils from harm. This ensures that pupils and their families get the support they need.

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The school’s record of checks on the suitability of staff and volunteers at the school follows the government’s guidance.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have ensured that pupils benefit from a very well-planned and sequenced curriculum in most subjects. This, along with a well-thought-out range of activities and experiences outside the classroom, is succeeding in enabling pupils to build up their wider learning. However, this is not the case in a few subjects, including history. Here, pupils’ learning is not as consistently well sequenced, so their progression through the curriculum is not as secure. Leaders need to ensure that teachers are clear about what pupils need to know in these subjects and when.

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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 first section 8 inspection since we judged Shadsworth Infant School to be good on 4 June 2015. 3–4 December 2019

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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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 3–4 December 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10087724 Type of school Infant

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 3–4 June 2015

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Information about this school

 The school runs breakfast and after-school provision.  In the early years, some children attend the Nursery class part time while others attend full time.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, I examined a range of documents, including improvement plans, self-evaluation information, attendance records, curriculum planning and reports from the local authority.  I met with a representative of the local authority and an independent consultant, both of whom have supported the school’s improvement process.  I met with a group of five governors  I talked with pupils, both formally and informally, about behaviour and attitudes in the school. I also saw how pupils moved around the school and how they behaved themselves at breaktimes. 3–4 December 2019

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 I checked the school’s safeguarding policies and procedures and the school’s record of required checks on staff. I also talked to leaders, staff, pupils and governors to check how effective safeguarding is in the school.  In the inspection, I focused deeply on reading, mathematics and geography. As part of this focus, I visited lessons and talked with leaders and teachers. I discussed pupils’ learning with them and looked at their books.  There were not enough responses to Ofsted’s online survey Parent View to generate results. However, I was able to consider six responses to the free-text service, 18 responses to the online staff survey and 43 responses to the pupils’ survey.  I listened to pupils from Years 1 and 2 reading to staff members and also heard a group of Year 2 pupils read.

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Inspection team

Neil Dixon, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 3–4 December 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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