Mengham Infant School

Inspection of a good school: Mengham Infant School St Mary’s Road, Hayling Island, Hampshire PO11 9DD

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Inspection dates: 15 and 16 February 2022

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Outcome

Mengham Infant School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are bright, lively and eager to do their best. They are enthusiastic to learn in lessons and enjoy coming to school every day to see their friends. Each day starts with a warm welcome on the playground from caring staff. One parent said, ‘Every member of staff makes each and every child feel valued and special.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Happy pupils feel safe and secure in this school. Pupils are confident about talking to trusted adults if they are worried. If bullying occurs, staff deal with it effectively. The school helps pupils to be kind and look after each other. Staff help pupils with making and keeping friends. Pupils learn crucial values about perseverance and showing respect. As a result, pupils are proud of the way they get along and are caring towards each other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. They also appreciate the time and care taken to understand children as individuals to help them achieve as well as they can.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take pride in their achievements, especially in showing positive ‘green behaviour’. Staff recognise and celebrate good behaviour and pupils upholding school values. Pupils also enjoy and value the wide range of activities, experiences and clubs on offer to everyone.

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

Leaders have ensured that the curriculum is broad and ambitious. In all subjects, staff know exactly what pupils must learn and in what order. They ensure that pupils revisit and practise, so that knowledge and skills stick in the memory before moving on. For example, in physical education (PE) Year 1 pupils develop how to balance in increasingly challenging and effective ways from the simplest body shapes first. Skilful support helps build proficiency and confidence to explore body control further. In mathematics, Year 2 pupils use many different ways to represent the same multiplication and division ideas. However, pupils do not gain a deep understanding by using appropriate reasoning and 15 and 16 February 2022

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problem-solving tasks. They do not have regular opportunities to strengthen practical uses for mathematics and help make stronger connections between mathematical ideas.

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There are equally high expectations of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Their needs are carefully identified though a measured approach, which ensures the right kind of support. Pupils with SEND learn similar content alongside their peers, with appropriate resources, adult support and time to break down tasks where needed.

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The teaching of reading is given high priority and begins when children join the early years. Training and ongoing support ensure that staff have necessary expertise to teach phonics. Staff interact diligently with pupils to develop, assess and enhance their reading skills. Tailored support is given to any pupils who require additional help, so they learn to read well. Pupils practise their reading using books that match the sounds they are learning. This helps them recognise and remember increasingly complex combinations of sounds. Leaders are proactive in the process of changing the phonics programme to further enhance pupils’ fluency and comprehension in reading.

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Children in early years settle swiftly into routines. Staff teach them how to learn and play cooperatively. Pupils’ behaviour across the school is very good and their attendance is high. They socialise happily at playtimes, move around the school sensibly and are polite. Pupils respect the school’s rules, rewards and routines and so any low-level disruption is very rare. They show genuine respect for each other and are consistently kind. All staff are well trained to manage behaviour, use de-escalation where necessary and model everything that they expect. As a result, the curriculum can be successfully delivered unhindered.

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Clubs, special events and experiences enhance the pupils’ curriculum offer. The pandemic paused some of these, but staff are planning and restarting a rich programme for all pupils. This includes widening sports clubs into other areas of interest and further including families into the life of the school. For example, leaders are supporting parents to engage children in quality play and teaching English to some parents. Leaders take risks and innovate their curriculum design, particularly in personal, social and health education (PSHE) and teaching children how to be safe. For example, there is a clear focus on developing children’s self-regulation of their own behaviour, enabling them to resolve difficulties themselves and become resilient to disappointment.

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Governors work well with leaders, providing effective support and challenge. They have an accurate view of the schools’ strengths and priorities. Staff are very supportive of the school and are clearly proud to be part of the team. They appreciate and value that leaders are considerate of their workload and well-being. Staff appreciate the professional development opportunities offered and are committed to doing their best for all pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 15 and 16 February 2022

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Staff are well trained to recognise potential signs of harm in children. They report any concerns promptly and leaders quickly make sure that these are followed up. Leaders get to know pupils and their families well. They understand the community and whether there are any local risks. As such, there is a strong safeguarding culture.

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Leaders work effectively with other professionals and share relevant information with other schools. This reduces the risk of harm. Information about child protection is recorded accurately and in detail. Leaders are proactive and confident about pressing children’s services to provide more support for families in the area.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Teachers do not consistently use the opportunities within the planned mathematics curriculum to teach pupils problem-solving and reasoning skills. As a result, pupils do not have enough opportunities to deepen their mathematical understanding, and this limits their progress. Leaders need to ensure that teachers have the subject and pedagogical knowledge to teach pupils how to solve a variety of problems and develop fluency in explaining their thinking and answers.

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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 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 second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2012.

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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 . 15 and 16 February 2022

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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. 15 and 16 February 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10200070 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 21 September 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and the special educational needs coordinator. The inspector met with four governors, including the chair of governors.  The inspector spoke separately by telephone with a representative from the local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics and PE. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also heard pupils read. 15 and 16 February 2022

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 To inspect safeguarding, the inspector reviewed a wide range of safeguarding documents, including the school’s record of recruitment checks. The inspector met with the designated safeguarding lead. The inspector also spoke with pupils and staff.  The inspector took account of parents’ responses to Ofsted’s survey, Ofsted Parent View, and parents’ written comments. The inspector also talked with parents on the morning of the second day of inspection.  The inspector gathered pupils’ views throughout the day, including during classroom visits as well as at playtimes and lunchtime.  The inspector met with a range of staff to gather their views about the school and took account of staff’s responses to Ofsted’s confidential staff survey.

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Inspection team

Gareth Flemington, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 15 and 16 February 2022

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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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