Featherstone Purston Infant School

Inspection of Featherstone Purston Infant School Nunns Lane, Featherstone, Pontefract, West Yorkshire WF7 5HF

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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 Good 2 and 3 February 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

There is a strong sense of community at Featherstone Purston Infants School. Pupils, parents, carers and staff are proud to be part of this community and work in partnership together. Leaders and staff are caring and nurturing. These qualities spread throughout the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and enjoy coming to school. They are keen to take part in their lessons and enjoy their learning. All staff maintain high expectations for pupils in lessons and around the school. Pupils get on well together and care about each other. Pupils take part in a range of extra-curricular visits and clubs and often participate in charity fundraising activities.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know what bullying is. They say it does not happen at school but are sure that adults would act quickly if it did. Staff model healthy relationships and this supports pupils in being kind and in showing respect for one another.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents have highly positive views of the school. One parent reflected the views of many in saying: ‘I can’t possibly give enough praise to this school. It really is amazing. The teachers are all lovely and really go above and beyond for the children.’

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better?

Leaders have developed an effective curriculum. Pupils benefit from this. Leaders have developed the expertise of staff. Staff are given responsibility to lead the curriculum. They value the trust placed in them. Despite this, systems for checking the curriculum are not strong enough. At times, leaders do not have a clear enough picture of what is working well and what could continue to improve.

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better?

Pupils start learning to read in the early years. Leaders make sure there is a consistent approach to teaching reading across the school. Books are well matched to the sounds that pupils learn. Pupils take these books home to practise reading. Teachers encourage pupils to read regularly. This is helping pupils to become fluent and independent readers. Leaders have revitalised the school library and pupils take books home that interest and excite them. This further develops reading for pleasure. Parents are encouraged to read to their children to develop their interest and their vocabulary.

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better?

The mathematics curriculum is well established and carefully mapped out. This begins from the start of Nursery and is tailored to pupils’ learning needs. Leaders have identified the essential knowledge that pupils should understand and apply. They have made sure that content is taught in a well-sequenced way. This helps pupils to build on what they already know. By Year 2, pupils are able to explain why certain mathematical strategies are the most effective for them. 2 and 3 February 2023

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Leaders ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. Leaders engage with outside agencies to make sure that pupils receive support that is specific to their learning needs. Teachers help pupils to access the curriculum by adapting the way they teach. They use scaffolds and ‘knowledge organisers’ to help pupils to build knowledge. These approaches are effective in ensuring that pupils can access learning and succeed. Staff regularly check that this support helps pupils with SEND in their learning.

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In some subjects, leaders have clearly identified and set out the knowledge and skills pupils need to learn. In these subjects, such as mathematics and science, pupils are confident, excited by the learning and do well. However, this is not the same for all subjects. In subjects such as computing and history, key skills and knowledge have not been defined precisely enough. As a result, pupils are not learning as much as they could.

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The early years provision is well structured and focuses on establishing routines and the key areas of learning. Staff are aware of specific needs and focus on the development of communication and language. Staff use questions and prompts skilfully to encourage children to explain their thinking. This prepares the children well for their move into key stage 1.

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Leaders provide opportunities for pupils’ wider development. They are committed to providing a range of experiences and activities for all pupils. For example, when a trip to the seaside was unable to go ahead due to COVID-19, leaders brought the seaside to the school. They put on seaside activities and organised for an ice cream van to visit the school. Pupils take on positions of responsibility that help to develop their character and self-confidence. This includes roles such as playtime buddies and school council members.

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Governance is strong. Governors have expertise across a range of areas, which enables them to work effectively in supporting leaders and holding them to account. Governors understand their statutory responsibilities, have a clear understanding of the school and know what they need to do to help it improve further.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding at the school. Leaders provide staff with important safeguarding training and they check that they have understood important messages. Leaders build positive relationships with pupils and families. This supports their safeguarding work. Staff know pupils well and parents trust the school and hold open conversations to support pupils’ welfare.

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Safeguarding

While leaders act effectively to address any concerns over pupils’ welfare, their written records do not fully reflect the actions they have taken to keep pupils safe. 2 and 3 February 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The processes that leaders use to check the quality of the school’s work, including the quality of education, are not strong enough. This means that leaders are not able to identify strengths and areas for improvement as effectively as they could. Leaders should develop better ways to check how well the curriculum is being implemented in order to sustain ongoing improvement.  Leaders have not identified the sequence of knowledge that pupils must learn in sufficient detail in some subjects. Consequently, pupils do not learn consistently well across all subjects. Leaders should continue to develop the curriculum in detail across all subjects.

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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. 2 and 3 February 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10240894 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 27 June 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors 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, governors and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including those relating to safeguarding and SEND.  Inspectors conducted deep dives into reading, mathematics, computing and science. As part of the deep dives, inspectors visited lessons, listened to pupils 2 and 3 February 2023

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read, reviewed curriculum plans and spoke with curriculum leaders, pupils and teachers.  Inspectors visited lessons and observed pupils at various times of the school day. Inspectors considered the views of pupils, parents and staff through discussions during the inspection and through the Ofsted surveys.

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Inspection team

Andrew Yeomans, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Jo Bentley Ofsted Inspector 2 and 3 February 2023

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