Catherington Church of England Infant School

Inspection of Catherington Church of England Infant School 316 Catherington Lane, Catherington, Waterlooville, Hampshire PO8 0TD

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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 Outstanding Previous inspection grade Good 14 and 15 May 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s ethos of ‘Respect the past, love our world and face the future with courage’ is understood deeply by staff and pupils. Pupils make an exceptional start to their school lives in Reception, developing caring relationships for each other and for their environment. Children in the early years develop knowledge and skills exceptionally effectively. They respond well to tasks which develop pupils’ creativity when designing and making. Across the school, staff have high expectations for what pupils can achieve. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well in reading and mathematics by the end of key stage 1.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have very positive relationships with staff and each other. Pupils value their school roles and responsibilities, such as being part of the pupil well-being team, school councillors or ‘buddies’ who offer help and support to each other on the playground. The school offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities such as choir, cooking, football and drama clubs. These support pupils in building confidence and independence. Leaders are meticulous in their approach to supporting good attendance and punctuality. Close relationships between staff and parents helps to ensure that pupils attend school regularly.

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better?

Phonics and early reading provision is a strength of the school. From the beginning of Reception, pupils learn to read well. If pupils need extra help, they are given close support and catch up to their peers quickly. Reading books are matched closely to the sounds that pupils have learned. Staff have excellent phonics knowledge which leads to very positive learning for all pupils. Staff choose texts thoughtfully. They use culturally rich, diverse prose texts and poetry to help pupils develop a love of reading. In mathematics, lessons help pupils to build knowledge cumulatively. Pupils are increasingly confident with arithmetic and mathematical fluency. In core subjects, staff check pupils’ learning constantly and further adapt the curriculum in response to pupils’ strengths and weaknesses. Pupils with SEND have their needs identified quickly. The school works effectively with external agencies, where necessary, to ensure that pupils with SEND access the curriculum

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better?

successfully. Disadvantaged pupils, including pupils with SEND, achieve well.

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better?

In subjects in the wider curriculum, such as history and computing, the school has identified the precise knowledge and vocabulary that pupils need to remember. Many aspects of the curriculum contribute to pupils’ learning successfully, including trips and visits. This helps pupils to build their core knowledge. However, some pupils are not learning as much as they could because activities that teachers use do not always promote deeper understanding. Pupils’ work is not of a consistently high standard, and staff do not check pupils’ learning as effectively as in other areas of the curriculum. This means some pupils do not achieve as highly as they could. 14 and 15 May 2024

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Pupils feel very safe in school. Staff use behaviour management strategies consistently and maintain a very positive atmosphere, particularly in the early years. Pupils feel empowered to help each other with managing their behaviour, for example by using the school’s ‘trick box’ approaches which give pupils help to manage their own emotions positively. Behaviour around the school, as well as at breaktimes and lunchtimes, is calm and purposeful. There is no low-level disruption in lessons and pupils generally have very positive attitudes to their learning.

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Pupils appreciate their teachers and the opportunities they receive for wider development. For example, community visits, spirituality days and visiting theatre performances are all used to support pupils’ learning. Pupils have thoughtful opportunities to promote broader understanding and learn to navigate the world around them respectfully. Pupils enjoy the school’s programme of assemblies and celebrations, such as ‘Golden Ticket’ awards which recognise pupils’ efforts both in school work and in fostering positive relationships with each other.

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Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school. They appreciate the hard work of the whole staff team. Many parents shared positive comments such as, ‘Our child has flourished...it is such a happy, welcoming community with so much to offer.’ Staff feel incredibly well supported with their workload and benefit from the strong sense of teamwork and mutual support for each other. Governors recognise the school’s strengths and are committed to the continued journey of improvement. They understand their statutory functions and responsibilities and promote the highly inclusive, thoughtful and caring practice which defines the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, activities to deepen and strengthen learning are not as effective as they could be. This means that some pupils are not building on their prior knowledge as securely as they could, and this is reflected in the written work that pupils produce. The school should ensure that pedagogical approaches are developed consistently well across the staff team and across all subjects to help pupils build on their successes in the early years and progress to achieve highly.  Assessment information in the wider curriculum is not always precise enough to inform teachers about what pupils know and understand. This means that some pupils have gaps in their subject-specific knowledge. The school needs to ensure that teachers check what pupils know and can do in efficient and effective ways. 14 and 15 May 2024

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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). 14 and 15 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 22 November 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use any alternative providers.  The school is part of the Church of England Diocese of Portsmouth. The school’s last section 48 inspection was carried out in May 2019.  The school offers a breakfast and after-school club.

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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

 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.  The inspectors met with the headteacher, the staff and the members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. The inspector also met with a 14 and 15 May 2024

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representative from the Diocese of Portsmouth, a representative of the local authority and other leaders within the school.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, history, and computing. 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, where possible.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspectors considered the views of parents shared through Ofsted Parent View. They gathered the views of pupils and staff through surveys, interviews and

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discussions conducted throughout the inspection.  The inspectors reviewed a range of the school’s documentation, including self- evaluation reports, minutes of governing body meetings, local authority visit reports and behaviour incident logs.

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Inspection team

Carl McCarthy, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Mark Cole Ofsted Inspector 14 and 15 May 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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