Hindhayes Infant School

Inspection of a good school: Hindhayes Infant School Leigh Road, Street, Somerset BA16 0HB

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Outcome

Hindhayes Infant School continues to be a good school. There is enough evidence of improved performance to suggest that the school could be judged outstanding if we were to carry out a graded (section 5) inspection now. The school’s next inspection will be a graded inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children get off to a great start in Reception. They learn important routines quickly. They form strong relationships with adults. Learning spaces are well equipped and inviting. This motivates children to explore, practise and deepen their prior learning. Children sustain their learning exceptionally well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Across the school, pupils benefit from a strong focus on learning foundational knowledge and skills in reading, writing, mathematics and speaking and listening. Alongside this, pupils study a broad and ambitious curriculum. They remember subject content well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Lunchtimes are fun. Pupils learn to make friends and play together because adults support them to join in with the wealth of activities on offer, including small team games and construction. Other highlights include visiting the ‘yoga tepee’ or dressing up and storytelling at the reading cabin.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The wider curriculum broadens pupils’ horizons well. Visits and visitors enrich the curriculum. For example, pupils visit the Fleet Air Museum and learn about ‘times gone by’ in the local area. There are lots of memorable experiences, such as performing at a local auditorium or honing their teamwork as part of the ‘forest curriculum’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well and persevere with their learning. Staff champion pupils’ well-being. Pupils are confident that staff are always close to hand to support them should there be any disagreements.

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

Strong leadership at every level enables the curriculum to improve constantly. Many staff are experts in the subjects they lead. They provide teachers with ongoing subject-specific 28 and 29 June 2023

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training, which is based on relevant, up-to-date research. This ensures that staff across the school have strong or improving subject knowledge in the subjects they teach. Subject leaders check that the curriculum is being implemented as they intend. They are astute in their evaluations. For example, when relative weaknesses in sequences of work arise, leaders are proactive in addressing this directly by providing whatever support staff require to improve the impact of their teaching.

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The curriculum is very well sequenced in the early years and builds effectively across Years 1 and 2. This means that pupils’ knowledge deepens over time and across the curriculum. Staff use carefully chosen resources to scaffold learning well. Teaching builds on what pupils already know. Leaders identify pupils’ special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) accurately. Leaders support staff to break down learning into manageable chunks. Consequently, pupils with SEND usually learn well.

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Leaders are adept at adapting the curriculum to consider any previous gaps in pupils’ learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is pertinent because many pupils currently in Year 1 missed much of their Nursery education. In addition, on entry to Year 2, some pupils did not have the resilience and/or fluency to recall number facts as well as is expected in the school’s ambitious curriculum. Leaders’ have successfully adapted the curriculum to address these issues. Pupils now have more opportunities to secure and practise these important early building blocks of learning. As a result, pupils across the school are achieving very well across the curriculum.

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Learning to read sits at the heart of the curriculum. Consistent approaches are in place to ensure that pupils gain the phonic knowledge they need to read and spell accurately. All staff follow the teaching programme consistently. The books that pupils read match the sounds that pupils already know. Older pupils talk about the books they read with confidence and understanding.

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In Reception, staff select specific vocabulary across all seven areas of learning for adults to model when children visit places like the ‘literacy shed’ or the pond area outside. Precise speech and language support by skilful staff enables children who struggle with their speaking and listening to catch up quickly. The focus on high-quality modelling of new vocabulary is now extending across key stage 1. Pupils are increasing their vocabulary well. This supports pupils to write interesting stories and reports.

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The curriculum to promote pupils’ personal development is effective. It enables them to become responsible and build effective relationships. Leaders ensure that pupils follow the school’s behaviour policy well. Staff foster pupils’ mental health. For those pupils who need it, additional support is in place to help them to learn how to communicate socially and make friends.

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Leaders and governors consider staff workload when making decisions. Staff morale is typically high. Governors perform their statutory duties well. They are strategic in the decisions they make. In recent months, their work to gain greater oversight of the quality of education pupils receive is paying off. 28 and 29 June 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The safeguarding team provides exceptionally strong intervention to support the most vulnerable children and families. All staff training is up to date. Staff apply their training well. They are knowledgeable about any contextual safeguarding risks, such as county lines. Staff are swift to refer any concerns to leaders. Leaders work closely with external agencies, as necessary.

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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 2011.

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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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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. 28 and 29 June 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10256770 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 14 September 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There is a before- and after-school club.  Rainbow pre-school is separately registered with Ofsted and was not part of this inspection.  The school does not use 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 met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, other leaders and staff. The inspector also met with representatives of the governing body and held conversations with representatives of Somerset local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in the following subjects: reading, mathematics, and art. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to children about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also held discussions with staff 28 and 29 June 2023

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about the science, English and personal, social and health education curriculums and reviewed pupils’ work.  The inspector reviewed the school’s safeguarding documentation and discussed safeguarding with leaders, governors and other staff.  In making her judgements, the inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for parents, Ofsted Parent View. She also considered responses to the pupil and staff surveys.

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Inspection team

Julie Carrington, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 28 and 29 June 2023

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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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