Dimple Well Infant School and Nursery

Inspection of Dimple Well Infant School and Nursery Healey Road, Ossett, West Yorkshire WF5 8LB

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

This school was inspected 13 years ago and judged ‘Outstanding’ under a previous inspection framework. This reflected the school’s overall effectiveness under the inspection framework in use at the time.

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Overall effectiveness Good

From then until November 2020, the school was exempted by law from routine inspection, so there has been a longer gap than usual between inspections. Judgements in this report are based on the current inspection framework and also reflect changes that may have happened at any point since the last inspection. 1 and 2 November 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at Dimple Well Infant School and Nursery. This is a nurturing and friendly school. Kindness is demonstrated through the school vision: Dimple Well ‘CARES’. This permeates throughout all aspects of the school. There is a tangible ethos of high aspiration, respect and success. Most parents and carers are highly positive about the school. Many praise the sense of community. Parents were eager to tell inspectors of their positive experiences.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are determined that all pupils will reach their full potential. They have high expectations of what pupils will achieve and have designed a curriculum that interests pupils. As a result, pupils have positive attitudes to their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff foster a culture of thoughtfulness. Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and respectful. Pupils strive to meet adults’ high expectations of behaviour. They behave well in lessons and around school. Low-level disruption is rare. Pupils understand what bullying is. They say it has happened in the past, but detailed records show that adults dealt with it effectively and sensitively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have an opportunity to enjoy a range of extra-curricular activities. These activities include Tai Kwando, football and choir.

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better?

The school is led and managed well. Senior leaders and governors are clear in their high ambition for pupils. Every staff member plays their part in helping pupils to achieve their best.

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better?

Children in the early years get off to an impressive start. Leaders have developed the provision for children in the Nursery and Reception classes effectively. They have ensured that the early years curriculum precisely identifies the important knowledge that children will learn. Pupils throughout the school benefit from an interesting, ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum. This helps them to build detailed knowledge in a wide range of subjects. Pupils have regular opportunities to practise and develop their subject-specific skills. For instance, in art and design, pupils develop their drawing skills through using a range of tools and skills such as colour mixing. They are then able to apply these to good effect in completing self-portraits.

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better?

Teachers’ use of assessment is variable. Where this is good, it gives teachers a strong understanding of what children can do and what they need to do next. Where this is less effective, it is due to missed purposeful assessment opportunities. This can hinder pupils’ progress.

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better?

Leaders prioritise reading. Staff benefit from high-quality training and deliver a relatively new phonics programme with confidence. Children in the early years, and pupils in key stage 1, learn new sounds in a logical order. Pupils use the sounds they 1 and 2 November 2022

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know to read books with confidence and increasing fluency. Pupils practise their reading using books that are matched well to their phonics knowledge. Where leaders and teachers have identified that some pupils have gaps in their knowledge, staff ensure appropriate support is put in place to enable these pupils to catch up quickly. All staff are passionate about reading and the importance of being able to read well. Leaders foster a love of reading. For instance, pupils use the school’s outdoor reading area enthusiastically in their own free time.

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Leaders have recently introduced a new approach to the teaching of mathematics. This approach has aspirational goals for pupils. It is coherently built and makes clear the important knowledge that pupils need to learn. Leaders continue to develop staff confidence in this new approach. Leaders’ monitoring of this subject supports staff to develop their skills further. Where this practice has been embedded for longer, for example in the early years, the teaching of mathematics is particularly strong.

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Leaders are passionate about ensuring that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities learn the full curriculum. Staff know these pupils well and meet their needs effectively.

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Leaders give careful consideration to pupils’ personal development. This is woven throughout the curriculum. While this is integral to the life at the school, leaders recognise that there are aspects of this offer which would benefit from discrete teaching in defined personal, social, health and economic education sessions. Pupils are active members of the local community. The school council was instrumental in organising donations of Christmas baubles to a local care home.

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Staff are proud of their work and proud of their school. Leaders consider the well- being of all staff members. Staff are positive about the actions taken to reduce their workload. Governors share the ambition of the school’s leaders and are knowledgeable about all aspects of their work in the school and the impact of this. Local authority representatives work closely with the school. As a result, they know the school’s strengths and development points. Leaders from the school are actively involved in the local authority’s work to support schools locally.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders, including governors, take safeguarding seriously. They ensure that staff have relevant and up-to-date training, so they know how to identify any signs of concern. Staff are confident that leaders take all concerns seriously. Systems for reporting are effective. Leaders work well with external agencies to offer support to vulnerable pupils and their families. Leaders carry out appropriate checks on the suitability of staff to work with pupils.

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Safeguarding

Pupils know how to stay safe. Leaders have ensured that the curriculum supports pupils’ understanding of risk. 1 and 2 November 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 At times, teachers do not use ongoing assessment effectively to ensure that pupils build on what they already know. This means that pupils do not always achieve as well as they should. Leaders need to ensure that staff use assessment to identify precisely what pupils know and remember, and then adapt the curriculum accordingly.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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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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. 1 and 2 November 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10242442 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 26 January 2009 under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Education Ossett Community Trust which was formed in September 2008.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspector(s) carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, subject leaders and other staff. An inspector met with the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors looked in detail at art and design, mathematics, reading and science. They talked to leaders and teachers about their curriculum plans. They also talked 1 and 2 November 2022

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to pupils about what they knew and remembered in these subjects. Inspectors looked at pupils’ work and visited lessons.  Inspectors met with leaders with overall responsibility for safeguarding and looked at school records. They also scrutinised the single central record.  Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire and to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire, including free-text responses.  Inspectors talked to pupils to gather their views on school life. An inspector talked to a number of parents at the school gate.

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Inspection team

Marcus Newby, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Paul Martindale Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 November 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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