Lantern Lane Primary and Nursery School

Inspection of a good school: Lantern Lane Primary and Nursery School Lantern Lane, East Leake, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 6QN

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Outcome

Lantern Lane Primary and Nursery School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love to come to Lantern Lane each day and would not hesitate to recommend it to other children.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers want all pupils to succeed, and they make education there exciting. Pupils find out how East Leake has changed over time. They go on visits to places like White Post Farm. The whole school go watch the pantomime together. From the Nursery Year onwards, skilled staff teach them quickly how to read. Pupils learn to love stories and poems. They are engaged and they want to learn. There is an unmistakable sense of enthusiasm and aspiration. Pupils leave well prepared for secondary school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are strong supporters of the school's C.A.R.E. values. They are helped to build their confidence, so that they can achieve as much as possible. They work hard in class and complete their work neatly. Behaviour is very positive, because pupils are respectful.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that they feel safe at the school, and that staff are very caring. Pupils feel listened to. Any bullying is highly unusual. When it happens, pupils say that staff deal with it quickly, so that everyone is friends again. They describe their school as 'a united community'.

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

The quality of education remains good at Lantern Lane. Staff are united, skilled and highly motivated. Senior leaders make clear to them that everyone who works at the school must want the best for every pupil. Staff do. They give pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), for example, support to learn the same curriculum. The inspector saw compelling evidence of these pupils conducting scientific investigations alongside others. He also saw work showing that their writing was improving and how, for instance, they had learned about the water cycle. 6 and 7 December 2022

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Subjects are enriched to make them come alive for pupils. In history, those in Year 3 grind grain to make flour and build axes to learn about the Stone Age. The school's oldest pupils speak eloquently about how ‘the infrastructure the Romans left after their invasion went into disrepair, so much of life went back to the old ways'.

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Staff’s high expectations begin in the Nursery Year, where children learn to count and are taught phrases, such as 'two-digit number'. They are also taught to listen for the different sounds words make. This is so that they will be fully ready for phonics learning in Reception. Learning to read without delay is a priority. Lessons are fun. Pupils in the early years listen to Robot Rick and move their robot arms enthusiastically to spell words, such as 'mug' and 'sack'. Staff give any children who need it support immediately, so that all will keep up. No pupil is allowed to flounder. This means that pupils can become accurate, confident readers. Leaders are keen to improve phonics further and are in the early stages of using a new scheme. They know they will need to check its impact over the coming months.

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Leaders have adjusted the curriculum to make sure that pupils have been able to catch up following the three national lockdowns. Pupils are now proficient and fluent again in mathematics. Those in Year 4 can, for example, quickly double 36 mentally and know their eight times table. Pupils' writing skills have also improved. They write sentences such as ‘Heracles, oblivious of what lay beneath him, prowled through the moss-infested pond.’

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Staff receive well focused and helpful training to develop their subject knowledge. Teachers ask pupils questions, and look closely at their work, so they are clear about what pupils know in different subjects. Each lesson begins with a 'flashback' to remind pupils of the things they have been taught before. Once they have checked pupils know them, teachers introduce new knowledge. Pupils say the reminders are very useful. Across subjects, pupils achieve consistently well.

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The impact of senior leaders' work is not limited to the academic curriculum. Pupils' moral development, and the building of character, is a strength of the school. Pupils learn about the importance of respect, and of standing up for what is right. They know they must behave well in class and around the school. They do not disrupt learning. They are proud to and see their name on the 'C.A.R.E.' walls for behaving in ways that uphold the school's values. They celebrate their friends' achievements in the Golden Book Awards and greatly enjoy after-school clubs, such as football, Christmas Crafts and Magic Maths.

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Staff believe strongly that senior leaders manage the school well and do all they can to minimise their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff have been thoroughly trained in safeguarding and know their pupils well. Staff are attuned to the many signs that mean a pupil could be being harmed. They understand their first duty is to do all they can to protect any who may be at risk. They do not make 6 and 7 December 2022

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assumptions. Instead, there is a ‘it could happen here’ culture. They know they must report concerns, however slight, immediately.

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Leaders keep detailed records and act accordingly to support pupils, including by the involvement of external agencies.

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There are appropriate systems in place to deal with safer recruitment and the management of any allegations against members of staff.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 While initial monitoring suggests the new phonics scheme is producing the impact leaders intend, it has not yet been embedded. Leaders cannot be sure whether it will raise achievement in reading further. Leaders should ensure that all aspects of its planning and delivery are monitored rigorously over the longer term, making any adjustments needed, so that all pupils become fluent readers as rapidly as possible.

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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 an ungraded inspection and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 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. 6 and 7 December 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. 6 and 7 December 2022

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School details

Local authority Nottinghamshire County Council

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School details

Inspection number 10227922 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 4 May 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been no significant changes since the last inspection.  The school uses no 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 school leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation.

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Information about this inspection

 In order to judge whether the school continues to be good, the inspector focused the inspection on specific subjects of the curriculum. He undertook ‘deep dives’ in reading, mathematics and history. This involved meeting with senior and subject leaders, scrutinising curriculum planning, and visiting lessons where pupils were learning these subjects. He met pupils from the lessons and looked at their work in these and in other subjects. He met with teachers about the curriculum they were delivering. He heard children in different year groups read books. He looked at other subjects of the curriculum in less depth. 6 and 7 December 2022

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 In addition, the inspector met with representatives of the governing body and the coordinator for pupils with SEND. The inspector read a wide variety of school documents, including the school development plan.  The inspector took note of the responses to Ofsted Parent View and considered the results of the Ofsted staff questionnaire. He met pupils from a wide variety of Year Groups to ask their views about the school, and what they feel it provides for them.  In order to judge the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector read the school’s relevant policies, scrutinised the single central record, checked the school’s procedures for the safe recruitment of staff and interviewed the designated lead for safeguarding. The inspector also spoke with staff to check details of their safeguarding knowledge and training, that they understood the importance of their responsibility to report any safeguarding concerns without delay, and if they knew the procedure to do this. The

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inspector also checked samples of safeguarding records.

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Inspection team

Roary Pownall, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 6 and 7 December 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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