Scawsby Saltersgate Infant School

Inspection of a good school: Scawsby Saltersgate Infant School Windsor Walk, Scawsby, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN5 8NQ

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Outcome

Scawsby Saltersgate Infant School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are high expectations at Scawsby Saltersgate Infant School and pupils rise to these expectations. Pupils achieve well in reading and mathematics but do not achieve as well as they should in some other curriculum subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The behaviour policy is child friendly, and all pupils understand the ‘golden rules’. Most pupils behave well consistently. For the very small proportion of pupils who struggle with self-regulating their behaviour, the school is creative in finding ways that help individual pupils calm down.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe. They are happy that their older siblings at the junior school are welcome to come and join them at breakfast club. Many parents are ex-pupils themselves, and this adds to the ‘family-feel’ of a school that is at the heart of the community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are lots of opportunities to develop pupils’ talents and wider interests. The school makes reasonable adjustments so that all pupils can participate fully in residential and other educational visits. The school makes the most of the local community to enrich the curriculum. When pupils learned about the religious ceremony of welcoming someone into the Christian church, in religious education, the vicar re-enacted a baptism. Pupils enjoyed pretending to be proud pupil ‘parents’ and ‘godparents’ cradling their doll in the local church. Such vivid experiences help to bring learning to life.

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

This school is well led and managed. Staff appreciate leaders’ support for their workload, their health and well-being.

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

The school has designed an ambitious key stage 1 curriculum in all subjects. In some subjects, such as mathematics, pupils are achieving well. This is not the case in some 22 and 23 May 2024

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other curriculum subjects. The school offers some whole-class teaching, and some opportunities for pupils to work in groups with an adult. However, for much of the time, the school has planned opportunities for pupils to self-direct their own learning throughout the curriculum. Lots of the work provided is easy enough for pupils to get on with it independently. However, some pupils are not able to select the most appropriate task to match their academic ability. Some pupils are capable of more challenging work.

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The school introduced a new curriculum for phonics in September 2022. All staff are well trained in this, and they teach early reading and phonics consistently well. The school uses all the resources and reading books that match the phonics curriculum. As a result, pupils’ achievement in reading improved significantly in 2023. Pupils are now achieving as well as they should for their age. The school knows that in their context, a larger proportion of pupils should be achieving at the higher standard. The governing body is effectively challenging leaders to help them achieve this.

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The school has recently improved its assessment arrangements. This includes breaking learning down, into much smaller steps, to track the incremental progress made by pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This is helping the school to identify the next learning step for each pupil with SEND accurately.

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The school adapts the curriculum well for pupils with SEND. They adapt resources so that all pupils with SEND can take part in lessons with their peers. Parents and carers are fully involved in discussions about their child. These discussions start well before children start Nursery. This helps parents to support their children in their learning. Pupils with SEND are achieving well.

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The school identified that pupils’ behaviour sometimes disrupted learning. All staff were trained to help them meet the needs of pupils with communication and language, additional sensory or social and emotional needs. Pupils are also learning strategies to help themselves stay calm independently. This combination has led to a significant improvement in pupils’ behaviour so that disruption to learning happens very rarely now. This work undertaken by the school has been highly successful.

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The school has trained all early years staff to improve the quality of adult-child interactions. The Nursery learning environment is rich and enabling. Every opportunity is taken to help children learn when they are playing. Children show resilience and perseverance when they use tools safely. The school prioritises language development in all interactions, whether with other children or with adults. Children’s understanding of the world is enhanced by thrilling real life opportunities to make observations. For example, children draw detailed pictures of real chicks and ducklings that children have watched hatch from eggs in Nursery. Children grow their own vegetables and then make their own soup. Children are happy, learning well and thriving in the early years.

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The school has designed an effective curriculum for pupils’ wider development. Pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of equality and diversity. They know that there are different types of family structures with equal value. The school uses stories, such as ‘Katie Morag Delivers the Mail’, to discuss moral dilemmas, including the importance of 22 and 23 May 2024

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telling the truth and making mistakes and learning from them. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some pupils in key stage 1 are not developing detailed knowledge and skills in some curriculum subjects. The work set for pupils in these subjects does not enable pupils to achieve as well as they should. Leaders should review their pedagogical approach to curriculum implementation so that all pupils have greater opportunities to achieve the school’s ambitious curriculum intent.

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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 October 2014.

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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’ is used to mean pupils with SEND; pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local 22 and 23 May 2024

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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). 22 and 23 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.saltersgate-inf.doncaster.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 May 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher has changed since the previous inspection. The previous headteacher left the school at the end of the summer term in 2023. The governing body appointed the deputy headteacher to the post of interim headteacher from September 2023 onwards. The recently appointed permanent headteacher will take up the substantive post in September 2024.  The local authority brokered support for the interim headteacher through The Rose Learning Trust. The local authority plan to continue this arrangement during the new headteacher’s induction period, to support a smooth leadership transition.  The school uses no alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education 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 this into account in her evaluation of the school. 22 and 23 May 2024

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 The inspector met the interim headteacher, the interim deputy and assistant headteachers and the SEND coordinator. The reading, mathematics and geography subject leaders met the inspector separately.  The multi-academy trust professional, brokered by the local authority, attended all meetings, at which the lead inspector kept leaders informed of progress throughout the inspection, contributing fully to that professional dialogue.  A meeting was held with the several governors, including the chair of the governing body.  The inspector met the local authority senior learning, standards and effectiveness officer.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, the inspector met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.

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 The inspector met with senior staff who lead the wider curriculum. The inspector also discussed this with pupils.  Pupils’ behaviour and safety was evaluated at breakfast club, in lessons and at lunchtime.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: 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 inspector reviewed Ofsted Parent View and spoke to several parents before the start of the school day. The inspector also considered responses to the staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Tracey Ralph, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 22 and 23 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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