Trosnant Infant School

Inspection of a good school: Trosnant Infant School Stockheath Lane, Leigh Park, Havant, Hampshire PO9 3BD

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Outcome

There has been no change to this school’s overall judgement of good as a result of this initial (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a full inspection were carried out now. The next inspection will therefore be a full (section 5) inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff are determined to raise pupils’ aspirations and for them to achieve success. They motivate pupils to work hard. As one pupil commented, ‘This is important so we can go to college or become a teacher.’ Pupils know that the GROW values of goals, resilience, opportunities and working together help them to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Relationships between staff and pupils are warm. Staff are mostly consistent when managing behaviour. This helps pupils to understand what is expected, so they usually behave well. Bullying sometimes happens, but pupils trust staff to help them resolve problems. They are confident that staff will listen to them when they have a worry. This helps pupils to feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils relish opportunities to broaden their horizons and to develop skills for life. Year 1 pupils, for example, recently enjoyed visiting Portchester Castle. Pupils love different activities in forest school, such as cooking marshmallows on the campfire. They take leadership positions very seriously. This includes a range of roles, such as change-makers and subject ambassadors.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In subjects other than mathematics and English, pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not always learn as well as they could.

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

Leaders have been sharply focused on improving pupils’ reading and mathematical skills through the COVID-19 pandemic. They acknowledge that as a result, work to improve other subjects has been slowed. Leaders have plans to address this. 9 and 10 March 2022

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The teaching of reading is effective. Leaders deliberately provide continuous, high-quality training for all staff. This helps them to expertly support the high proportion of children who join Reception with weak language skills. Staff follow the phonics programme closely. They carefully check the progress that pupils make. Struggling readers are given effective extra support. Leaders have prioritised funding for books, so that pupils read texts that are accurately matched to the sounds they have learned. Staff encourage a love of books by reading aloud a wide range of texts. These books expose pupils to important concepts such as failure and perseverance.

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Leaders have developed the mathematics curriculum so that pupils learn age-appropriate knowledge and strategies. Leaders prioritise developing pupils’ fluency in number. For example, children in Reception confidently count objects to represent numbers to 10. In Year 2, they build on this by adding coins to make specific totals. Staff welcome the training they receive that develops their own subject knowledge. They provide extra sessions for struggling pupils. This quickly improves pupils’ vocabulary and confidence. Leaders have identified that they need to increase the opportunities for some pupils to use their knowledge to solve problems.

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Leaders’ thinking about the curriculum in other subjects is not as well developed. This means that pupils do not learn consistently well across all subjects. Subject leaders have not considered what is the most important knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn and remember. Consequently, teachers do not emphasise the key content and then check that pupils have learned it. Sometimes, staff link new learning with what pupils have learned before. For example, children in Reception successfully made clay dinosaurs by joining clay and using different tools. This developed their skills from when they had previously made basic animals by smoothing clay. This coherence is not consistent, however.

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The special education needs coordinator supports staff to ensure that pupils with additional needs are quickly identified. Pupils with SEND are well supported in mathematics and reading so they learn well. Leaders have identified that work to support these pupils in other subjects needs development.

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Staff encourage pupils to develop positive attitudes. Pupils are proud when their name is added to the ‘respect wall’ for being kind or speaking politely. They know that it is important to be resilient when they find learning a challenge. As one pupil commented, ‘We learn to never give up and to keep trying hard.’ In personal, social and health education lessons, pupils learn about the importance of fairness in different situations. Staff use appropriate stories from the news to promote discussion. This helps pupils to develop their understanding of the world beyond their school and local community.

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Children in Reception get off to a strong start and learn to follow the routines confidently. Older pupils usually work hard in lessons. On occasion, pupils concentrate less well when teaching assistants work with them.

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Governors routinely visit the school and meet with staff. This helps to inform their accurate view of the strengths of the school. They are not as precise about aspects of the school that need development. 9 and 10 March 2022

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In discussion with the headteacher, the inspector agreed that evaluating how well pupils, including those with SEND, are learning knowledge and skills in the wider curriculum may usefully serve as a focus for the next inspection.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff know their pupils and families and the potential risks in the local community well. This helps them to notice when pupils may be at risk of harm.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that staff receive high-quality training. This helps staff to understand their responsibilities. They are diligent in recording concerns promptly. Leaders provide a wide range of support for families and are swift to get them external help when required.

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Safeguarding

Governors make sure that safeguarding procedures are followed effectively. This includes ensuring that accurate checks are made on staff before they start employment. They also evaluate safeguarding records to ensure that these are comprehensive.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Curriculum thinking in subjects other than mathematics and English needs improving. Staff are not well supported to build on pupils’ previous learning. Subject leaders should ensure that they have precisely identified the most important knowledge and skills they intend pupils to learn and remember.  Pupils with SEND are not supported well enough in subjects beyond English and mathematics. Consequently, these pupils are not achieving as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that staff know how to adapt their teaching so that pupils with SEND can learn the curriculum alongside their peers.

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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 a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2017. 9 and 10 March 2022

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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. 9 and 10 March 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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Date of previous inspection

17 and 18 January 2017, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Two thirds of staff are new to the school since the previous inspection.  The chair of governors started in her post in September 2021. Most governors have joined since the previous inspection.  The federated junior school has a resourced provision for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs. Since September 2021, pupils from the infant school have been able to attend this provision. No infant school pupils currently attend the provision.  The governing body manages before-school childcare provision on site.  The school uses one alternative provision that is run by Hampshire local authority.

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Information about this inspection

This was the first routine inspection the school had received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders, and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 9 and 10 March 2022

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 The inspectors met with the headteacher and other school staff.  The lead inspector also met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors, and spoke to a representative from the local authority.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, art and religious education. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum planning, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspectors also looked at curriculum planning and spoke to leaders about some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors spoke with staff and pupils. The lead inspector met with the designated safeguarding leads to review their knowledge, records and actions, and also reviewed information about the safer recruitment of staff.

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 Inspectors spoke to staff and groups of pupils from different year groups and observed behaviour in classrooms and at lunchtime.  The views of staff and pupils, including the responses to Ofsted’s online staff and pupil surveys, were considered.  The responses to Ofsted’s Parent View, including written responses, were also taken into account.

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Inspection team

Laurie Anderson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Heather Fearn Her Majesty’s Inspector 9 and 10 March 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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