King's Park Infant School, Dereham

Inspection of a good school: King’s Park Infant School, Dereham Kings Park, Dereham, Norfolk NR19 2AG

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Outcome

King’s Park Infant School, Dereham continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending King’s Park Infant School. Teachers plan interesting topics. Pupils enjoy school because they ‘learn so much.’ They know that teachers will help them when they are stuck. They explained to inspectors how they use the things they already know to help them with new learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe in the school. Parents, carers, pupils and staff all agree that they are safe. Pupils play kindly together and are supportive of one another. Bullying is very rare. If it does happen, parents and pupils are confident that adults will ‘sort it out’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave very well because staff expectations are high. Staff manage behaviour with clear positive rewards and consequences. Pupils enjoy celebration assemblies and prize awards that ‘show off’ their great behaviour. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive high-quality support. These pupils make good progress.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the various clubs and activities offered to them. They enjoy taking part in competitive sporting events with schools across the trust. Pupils enjoy taking on responsibilities such as school council and eco-council. They are very proud of their link with a school in Malawi.

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

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils. They make sure that learning is organised in a logical order. This is especially true in writing and in science. They champion the school’s five ‘learning powers’, including ‘captain curiosity’ and ‘resilient ranger’.

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

Leaders are taking appropriate actions to improve the teaching of early reading. They have made many positive changes in staffing, training and teaching since September. Reading is now well prioritised in each class through systems such as ‘reading racetrack’. This is increasing how often pupils read. Pupils love daily story times. Year 1 pupils cheered with joy 21 January 2020

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when the result of their ‘book of the day vote’ was shared. However, the sequence for teaching phonics is not always challenging enough and is not always well organised. Some pupils’ reading books are not always matched to the sounds they know. As a result, some pupils fall behind in learning the sounds that letters make and so need extra help to catch up.

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Writing is taught well across subjects. Teachers have clear guidance about what to teach and when. They plan lessons to make sure pupils build on what they already know. For example, Year 2 pupils remembered how to use interesting adjectives in their writing, for example: ‘Bob thought the cheeky visitors had left the stinky rubbish behind.’ Pupils achieve well in writing during their time in school.

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Science is a strength of the school. The sequence and mapping of science skills has been well organised. Teachers have made sure that their plans reflect the key learning intentions from the curriculum. Pupils learn well and can talk about their learning, showing a good understanding of key concepts. When asked if all metals were magnetic, Year 1 pupils could explain their reasoning. ‘Magnets stick to some metals but not all of them,’ one pupil said.

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Pupils with SEND are well supported. Staff ensure that all pupils can access the curriculum. Support plans match pupils’ different needs and enable pupils to make good progress in most subjects. ‘The school has bent over backwards to accommodate my child’s needs,’ one parent said.

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Children are safe and happy in early years. They enjoy the range of indoor and outdoor activities on offer. They enthusiastically work with adults when asked. Children do not give up when they have a tricky problem to solve. For example, when they were unable to pick out the frozen animals in the ice tray, they came back later when the ice had melted. A range of workshops support parents in settling children quickly into early years.

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The school is well led. Parents spoke passionately about the work of the school. As one of them said, ‘I cannot recommend the school highly enough.’ Pupils enjoy taking on responsibilities such as singing in the community or taking part in the various extra activities offered, including gardening club. Staff are very positive about the school. They are proud to work here. They feel well supported in their workload.

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The multi-academy trust delegates some governance responsibilities to the school’s oversight committee. Through regular review meetings, both are well aware of the school’s strengths and its areas for improvement. They have ensured that the necessary resources are in place to support the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders keep safeguarding at the centre of everything they do in school. They make sure that training is up to date. Staff know how to recognise the signs that might raise concerns about a pupil’s welfare. They record these concerns carefully. Leaders act quickly on any 21 January 2020

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information they are given. The headteacher is quick to chase up external agencies to make sure pupils get the help they need.

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Leaders make sure they carry out the appropriate checks for people working at the school. Pupils are clear about how to keep themselves safe, including when online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The sequence for teaching phonics across the school is not always sufficiently challenging or well sequenced. Consequently, some pupils’ phonics achievement is not good enough. Leaders need to organise exactly which sounds pupils should know term by term and share best teaching practice from across the federation.  Some pupils read books that are not matched to their phonics abilities. Consequently, some pupils do not develop the confidence and fluency in reading that they should. Leaders need to ensure that there is greater consistency in matching reading books to the sounds that pupils know.

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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 the predecessor school, King’s Park Infant School, Dereham to be good in September 2014.

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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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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted . 21 January 2020

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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. 21 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10121412 Type of school Infant

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school joined the Unity Education Trust on 1 March 2017. This is the first standard inspection since the school joined the trust.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is higher than found nationally.  The great majority of pupils come from White British backgrounds.  Two pupils from key stage 1 with SEND attend 2 different specialist resource bases on a part-time basis in order to support their learning needs.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors met with the executive headteacher, senior leaders and subject leaders, groups of teachers, pupils and parents. We also met with the chief executive officer and director of school improvement from the trust and the chair and vice-chair of the Schools Oversight Committee. Phone conversations were held with both specialist resource bases and a representative from Viscount Nelson Education Network.  We did deep dives into reading, writing and science. This included discussions with curriculum leaders, pupils, teachers, visits to lessons and scrutiny of pupils’ work. Inspectors also undertook further discussions with school and trust staff and a review of school documentation. Inspectors analysed the 12 responses to Ofsted’s online 21 January 2020

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questionnaire, Parent View, the 6 responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for staff and the 22 responses to Ofsted’s pupils’ questionnaire.  Inspectors evaluated safeguarding through scrutiny of the school’s single central record of recruitment, discussion with the designated safeguarding lead, and discussion with other staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Stephen Cloke, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Clare Fletcher Ofsted Inspector 21 January 2020

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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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