Waterthorpe Infant School

Inspection of Waterthorpe Infant School Thorpe Drive, Waterthorpe, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S20 7JU

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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 25 and 26 June 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Waterthorpe Infant School is highly inclusive. A high number of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities attend. All pupils and families are made to feel welcome and a given a sense of belonging. There is a distinctly nurturing ethos that runs through the school. Staff know pupils very well. This is evident in the strong relationships between staff and pupils. Pupils feel safe and secure. They are accepted and able to be themselves.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders do not limit their high expectations for any of their pupils. The curriculum is ambitious. It is adapted so that most pupils, including those with SEND, achieve well and are prepared for their next steps. Those that need additional support make strong progress towards personalised end points.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value their school roles and responsibilities, such as being part of the school council. Healthy mind champions are proud to choose others who have shown acts of kindness. These pupils are celebrated in assembly. They are delighted to receive this recognition from their peers. The school offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities such as cooking, football and science clubs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school recognises there is even more work to do in partnership with families to improve everyday attendance and punctuality. Some pupils do not attend regularly enough. They are missing important learning and do not fully benefit from all the school has to offer.

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better?

The school educates and cares for pupils with SEND, both in classrooms alongside their peers, as well as within a more bespoke provision, ‘The Rainbow Room’. Pupils with highly complex needs are supported extremely well by a dedicated staff team who pay meticulous attention to meeting their needs. Staff have a ‘can-do’ approach to ensuring that pupils make individual steps of progress. Those pupils with SEND who access learning alongside their peers in classrooms, are well supported to do so. Across school, staff model important language and vocabulary well. They help pupils to communicate their ideas, feelings and thoughts clearly.

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better?

Staff use behaviour management strategies consistently. Effective routines make it clear what pupils need to do and ensure that the school remains a positive place in which to learn. Staff provide effective help to pupils that find managing their emotions more difficult. This supports those pupils to manage their behaviour. Where needed, staff arrange further professional support for pupils and their families.

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better?

The school has developed a curriculum, which they continue to review in light of recent changes to classes. The curriculum is broad and consistent with the national curriculum. In most subjects, planning is sequenced appropriately, allowing pupils to build on what they already know and understand. In religious education (RE), 25 and 26 June 2024

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teachers ensure that this learning is carefully repeated and reinforced. Pupils remember the intended learning exceptionally well. However, in a small number of subjects such as design and technology (DT), teachers do not check pupils’ understanding precisely enough within lessons or when setting tasks for pupils to complete. As a result, pupils’ learning is not built on as effectively as it could be, and they do not remember key knowledge.

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The school has redesigned the early reading curriculum since the last inspection. There is now a common approach to teaching phonics across the school. Pupils have been carefully grouped to ensure that they receive teaching that matches their current knowledge. Training has been used well to ensure that staff know how to teach phonics well. Staff ensure that the large majority of pupils can remember and use the sounds that they have learned. Tailored support is given to any pupils who need help to catch up to their peers.

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The mathematics curriculum is well established. The teaching of mathematics provides pupils with a wide range of opportunities to develop their numerical skills and vocabulary. This starts in Nursery, where children use construction materials and water play to practise using mathematical words in their play. Teachers in key stage 1 continue to use practical resources, pictorial representations and modelled examples to help pupils understand mathematical concepts and processes accurately. Work in pupils’ folders show that basic errors in mathematics are sometimes not identified and addressed. As a result, pupils continue to make these errors for too long and do not learn the improvements needed in a timely way.

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From Nursery, staff encourage supportive and nurturing relationships. Children quickly settle into routines and develop positive learning behaviours. Children in the Nursery and Reception benefit from a learning environment, which allows them to practise and consolidate key learning. The teaching of communication skills is integral to daily life. Staff know how to promote children’s language skills and collaborative play well.

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Pupils receive a well-planned programme of additional personal development learning that, for example, deepens their understanding of bullying and how to keep safe, including online safety. Pupils learn about responsibility, resilience and aspirations. They are respectful to difference and understand that some of their friends in school may need additional support to join in.

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Governors are keen to help leaders to achieve their vision for further improvements. Staff are very positive about the school. They appreciate leaders’ efforts to ensure that their well-being is taken into consideration. Leaders have made staff training and development central in ensuring they can effectively support the pupils who attend this caring school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 25 and 26 June 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some groups of pupils do not attend school regularly enough or on time. Consequently, some pupils miss out on the education and wider offer that the school provides. The school should continue to strengthen its work in ensuring pupils get the help they need to attend regularly and promptly.  The basic errors that pupils make in mathematics are sometimes not identified and addressed in a timely and consistent way. Pupils continue to make these errors for too long. The school should ensure that there is more rigour in the identification and addressing of basic errors and misconceptions so that pupils learn how to make improvements in a timely way.  In some subjects, such as DT, pupils are unable to draw on what they know and remember over time. This prevents them from deepening their understanding of important concepts. The school should continue to embed the curriculum and develop further strategies, through teaching opportunities and activities, to

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

ensure that pupils successfully retain knowledge in their long-term memory in 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’ 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). 25 and 26 June 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.waterthorpeinfantschool.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 21 and 22 March 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There is a much larger than average proportion of pupils with SEND who attend the school.  There is a breakfast club for pupils who attend the 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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, school staff, parents, pupils, governors and a representative on behalf of the local authority. 25 and 26 June 2024

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, design and technology and religious education. 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. Inspectors also met with curriculum leaders and looked more widely at pupils’ work in history, geography and science.  Inspectors listened to pupils from Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 read to a known adult.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, 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.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school, including

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at lunchtime. In addition, the inspector met with pupils formally and informally to hear their views.  Inspectors considered responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including free-text responses. They also looked at responses to the staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Sarah Gordon, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Louise Greatrex Ofsted Inspector 25 and 26 June 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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