Crofton Infant School

Inspection of an outstanding school: Crofton Infant School Towncourt Lane, Petts Wood, Orpington, Kent BR5 1EL

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Inspection dates: 24 and 25 November 2021

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Outcome

Crofton Infant School continues to be an outstanding school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a welcoming and friendly place where staff and pupils know one another well. They treat each other with respect. Pupils feel safe and happy because they are encouraged to be ‘good friends’. They say this means ‘being kind and looking out for someone who may be feeling sad’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The curriculum is well planned and organised. It supports all pupils to achieve well in different subjects. Pupils learn a wide range of knowledge and skills that make them ready for the next stage.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand what bullying is and say that it rarely happens in their school. They say adults help to resolve issues if pupils fall out. Pupils feel confident to share their worries with adults and know that the staff care about them. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Behaviour is excellent. Pupils manage their behaviour well in and out of lessons. They walk proudly around the school. They enjoy taking on positions of responsibility, such as ‘Digital Leaders’, ‘Friendship Heroes’ and ‘Science Ambassadors’. Pupils have high aspirations of themselves. They believe in challenging stereotypes and say that boys and girls can become engineers, architects and scientists. Pupils are particularly fond of the activities and clubs on offer.

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

Leaders are ambitious and strive to make sure that all pupils achieve well. The trust works closely with leaders to set out exactly what pupils must know and be able to do in all subjects within the curriculum. Teachers follow detailed plans and build up pupils’ knowledge in a systematic way. Pupils use ‘knowledge organisers’ to help them remember the things they have learned previously. They understand the importance of this, and one pupil summed it up by saying, ‘[It is] so that we can remember things when we get older.’ 24 and 25 November 2021

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Reading has a prominent place in the school. When children start in the Reception Year, teachers waste no time in teaching them to recognise letters and the sounds that they make. Teachers value the support parents give to reading with their children at home. Staff support pupils well in practising their reading skills. Teachers select books that match exactly to the sounds pupils have learned. Pupils read regularly to adults and look forward to reading while sitting with the school dogs. They enjoy hearing the adults read stories to them. Pupils read well by the end of their time in the school.

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There is a consistent approach to teaching mathematics. Teachers support pupils in developing their knowledge of concepts in a logical way. Pupils are confident and independent in selecting ways of working out calculations. They give clear explanations and reasons for their work. Teachers address misconceptions quickly. They provide pupils with problems and challenges. Pupils use these tasks to show what they understand, can do and can apply to different situations.

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Teachers provide excellent support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff focus intensely on developing language and vocabulary. Pupils with significant learning needs can communicate because staff use objects, signs and symbols carefully to convey meaning. Staff work closely with external agencies and parents to meet the individual needs of pupils. Pupils who struggle, for example in reading, are quickly identified. Adults alter plans to reduce difficulties that may hinder pupils from learning. Pupils with SEND achieve well. They reach ambitious and personalised goals, in some cases similar to their peers.

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Pupils behave consistently well in lessons. Pupils listen to their teachers, concentrate and work hard in class. They are inquisitive about what they are learning. They are genuinely interested in the views of others and talk about their feelings freely. Pupils move around school with purpose and without fuss.

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Leaders are determined that pupils will learn about the world beyond the school. Pupils know that the motto ‘proud to be purple’ means being ‘creative, resilient, open-minded, friendly, tolerant, optimistic and neighbourly’. Leaders introduce pupils to the importance of equality. Pupils have a very strong understanding of healthy eating and living. One pupil explained that, ‘Exercise makes our lungs strong because you have to breathe faster to get oxygen into your body.’

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Staff, at all levels, speak very highly of the school’s leadership. Leaders encourage staff to develop their skills, and they ensure that staff are well trained. Leaders, including those from the multi-academy trust, listen to the views of the staff team and act on what they find. Staff appreciate that leaders are considerate of their well-being and that they have large teams to share the workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 24 and 25 November 2021

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Pupils are kept safe because the central trust team makes sure that all proper checks are carried out. Procedures within the school are robust. Staff are well trained and vigilant in looking for and helping pupils who may be at risk or in need.

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The curriculum teaches pupils how to stay safe. Pupils have a very keen awareness of safety when using apparatus in physical education or completing an obstacle race.

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All parents and carers who completed the Ofsted’s survey agreed that their children were kept safe at school.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in March 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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 .

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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. 24 and 25 November 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10206475 Type of school Infant

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School details

Appropriate authority Board of trustees and local governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 1 and 2 March 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This is a very large infant school with six classes in each year group.  The school has an Additional Resourced Provision for pupils with SEND. The proportion of pupils assessed to have SEND in the mainstream school is below average.  The school is part of the Connect Schools Academy Trust. The headteacher is also head of Crofton Junior School. The two schools work closely together as part of the same trust. The infant school shares some members of staff with the junior school, as well as the local governing body and policies. Governors carry out some functions on behalf of the trustees, especially holding the school leaders to account. The trust’s chief executive officer and an executive headteacher oversee both Crofton schools as well as others within the trust.

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Information about this inspection

The inspector carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. 24 and 25 November 2021

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and has taken that into account in his evaluation.  Meetings were held with the chief executive officer, chair of the local governing body, headteacher, senior leaders, the special educational needs coordinator, a range of staff, members of the governing body and trustees.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and physical education. For each deep dive, the inspector met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector scrutinised a range of curriculum plans, documents, including the school’s self-evaluation of the work it does and the school development plan.

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 The inspector reviewed safeguarding arrangements by scrutinising records, the single central record, talking to leaders and staff and through discussions with pupils.  The inspector considered the views of parents and staff through Ofsted’s online surveys, including 93 free-text responses to Ofsted Parent View, 59 responses from members of staff and 34 responses from pupils to the surveys.  The inspector visited the breakfast and after-school club operated by the school.

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Inspection team

Lascelles Haughton, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 24 and 25 November 2021

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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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