Coalway Community Infant School

Inspection of Coalway Community Infant School Coalway Road, Coleford, Gloucestershire GL16 7HL

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 19 and 20 March 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Coalway Community Infant School is ambitious for pupils and wants them to achieve well. It is bringing about positive changes to ensure the curriculum provides pupils with the knowledge and skills they need. Nonetheless, the quality of education is not yet good.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is working hard to ensure pupils learn how to behave. The ‘Coalway Bees’ are known and understood by pupils as, ‘be kind’, ‘be supportive’ and ‘be respectful’. Pupils understand the difference between right and wrong. Social times are enjoyable. Pupils engage in a wide range of activities that includes the trim trail and ball games. Typically, they play happily together, and any squabbles are sorted quickly. However, in lessons, pupils can lose focus and disrupt others. This limits everyone’s learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value the wide range of opportunities on offer. These develop their skills and interests in many areas, such as sport, music and reading. The school ensures that these opportunities are open to all.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school offers effective pastoral support to pupils and their families. It works closely with parents to ensure pupils attend regularly. This means that pupils are in school and feel happy, safe and ready to learn.

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better?

The school has been through a turbulent time since the previous inspection. Recent staffing and recruitment challenges have stalled improvements to the curriculum. Despite this school leaders provide clarity and direction. They have accurately identified the improvements necessary to ensure pupils receive a good quality of education.

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better?

Significant work has been undertaken to implement an ambitious and exciting curriculum. However, it is too soon to see the full impact of this work. While the curriculum is in place, some pupils are not able to make links between their learning across subjects. This hinders the depth of their learning.

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better?

The school is clear about the knowledge it wants pupils to learn and remember, including children in the early years. However, it does not have rigorous systems in place to assess how well pupils remember the knowledge they have been taught. Therefore, some pupils’ recall of prior learning is insecure. This means pupils are not well prepared for future learning.

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better?

The school has robust and clear processes for identifying pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school monitors, evaluates and reviews interventions to check if they are meeting pupils’ needs. The school is aware 19 and 20 March 2024

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that the improvements needed in the quality of education are the same for all pupils.

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The school expects every pupil to leave the school as a fluent reader. Its work is having a positive impact. The implementation of the school’s phonics programme is securely in place. Pupils’ reading books closely match the sounds they know. This helps them to get off to a great start with their reading. This is reflected in the continuous improvements seen in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Staff choose books to help extend pupils vocabulary and enhance their love of reading.

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The wider curriculum offers experiences such as trips and speakers into school. Trips inspire pupils and help to build their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. The school plans trips carefully to enhance learning, such as visits to St Fagan’s, Gloucester Cathedral and Bristol Zoo. There is a range of opportunities to develop and stretch pupils’ talents and interests including gymnastics, swimming and music.

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Pupils learn about different faiths and cultures, respect and democracy. They learn the importance of healthy eating, maintaining an active lifestyle and keeping mentally healthy. They know how to stay safe online, for example, by not sharing personal information with people they do not know.

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Over time, governors have not held school leaders accountable for the quality of education pupils receive. This means that until recently improvements have not happened as quickly as required.

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Parents who communicated with inspectors have mixed views about the school. Some share frustration with communication and the on-going staff changes. However, other parents are very positive about the school’s work and are confident their children are happy and safe.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school has an ambitious curriculum in place. However, some pupils are not able to make links between their learning across the subjects they study. This can hinder the depth of their learning. The school must ensure that all components are consistently in place so that pupils are able to connect their knowledge more securely. 19 and 20 March 2024

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 The school has not established rigorous systems to assess how well pupils remember the knowledge they have been taught. Therefore, pupils’ recall of prior learning is insecure. The school need to ensure assessment is used effectively to check what pupils know and remember across all subjects.  At times, a minority of pupils do not behave well. This can disrupt learning and hamper the amount of progress pupils make. The school must ensure that all staff follow the agreed approaches to manage pupils’ behaviour.  Over time, governors have not held school leaders accountable. This means that until recently improvements were not happening as quickly as required. Governors must ensure that systems are in place to provide an effective level of challenge to school leaders.

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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' is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school's pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 19 and 20 March 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 10–11 November 2021, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher started in post September 2022. The deputy headteacher started in post September 2023.  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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, other senior leaders and staff.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body. 19 and 20 March 2024

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: Reading, mathematics and art and design. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The lead inspector met with the science leader and sampled work in science.  The lead inspector listened to pupils in Year 1and 2 read to an adult. The lead inspector visited story time in Reception and Year 1.  The lead inspector spoke with the school improvement adviser for Gloucestershire.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors considered key documentation, including school development plans

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and governors’ minutes.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. The inspectors met with school leaders to discuss and scrutinise how they respond to behaviour incidents and pupils’ attendance.  Inspectors considered the responses to the staff survey, Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including free-text replies. They considered other correspondence sent in from parents. Inspectors spoke with parents at the beginning of the first day of the inspection.

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Inspection team

Jen Southall, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Sean McKeown Ofsted Inspector 19 and 20 March 2024

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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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