Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School

Inspection of Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School Maple Drive, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S81 0LR

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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?

This is a caring school at the heart of the community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers value the quality of education the school provides. Parents enjoy the opportunity to attend school 'showcase events' and to share in their children's learning and achievements. The school nurtures positive relationships with its families. As one parent, typical of the views of many, commented, 'We are kept up to date and the school always has time to listen to you.'

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is ambitious for all pupils. Pupils enjoy learning and achieve well. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), who are supported well. Children in the early years also make a positive start to their learning at school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are nurtured to show kindness towards each other. The positive ethos and high expectations the school has ensures that behavioural guidance is understood and lived. Pupils play happily together at social times.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy being leaders in school, including, for example, as school councillors or reading ambassadors. School councillors value sharing their views about school life with leaders. Reading ambassadors are proud to share book recommendations in assembly. They motivate their friends well to choose new books to read. Pupils flourish in these roles.

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better?

The early years curriculum is planned effectively to provide interesting learning opportunities for children. It includes purposeful activities that develop children’s curiosity for knowledge. For example, children investigate how to transport water using pipes. They seek out how to propel cars over long distances by joining ramps together. Children learn effectively about number as they explore addition with counters. Staff guide conversations well to support children’s’ language development and vocabulary. Children are well prepared for their next stage of education.

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better?

The curriculum is coherently linked from the early years to key stage 1. It builds important knowledge and learning over time. It is planned so that pupils revisit prior knowledge to learn and remember well. The school uses effective weekly 'flashback Friday' sessions to review key knowledge that pupils must know and remember. Staff use a range of questions and quizzes to check pupils’ understanding. Pupils use key vocabulary prompts in classrooms to help them remember new words. For example, they recall their knowledge of food chains in science well. They use accurate vocabulary such as ‘producers’ and ‘consumers’. The school is currently developing how it evaluates the impact that the curriculum has in ensuring that pupils know and remember more over time. 25 and 26 June 2024

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Reading is a central part of the curriculum and is delivered well. The school’s chosen phonics curriculum helps pupils to recognise and remember new sounds over time. Skilled staff use consistent routines to teach phonics. Pupils with SEND benefit from an adapted approach with smaller steps to learn to read. Effective support is provided for pupils who are new to learning English. Pupils enjoy phonics and reading.

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Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning. Most pupils concentrate well and listen carefully to the new information that is being taught. Those who need encouragement to concentrate respond well to reminders from staff. Pupils are proud of their work.

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The school successfully ensures that most pupils attend daily. However, despite the approaches that the school uses to encourage strong attendance, some pupils are still absent from school too often.

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Pupils are supported well with their social and emotional well-being. The school prioritises the care it gives to pupils to manage their emotions effectively and to talk about their feelings. Pupils have confidence in the support that they receive from trusted adults.

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Wider opportunities enrich and deepen what pupils learn. Pupils enjoy visits to interesting places. For example, a visit to a gallery supported learning in art and a visit to a museum enriched their history learning. Pupils recall both visits fondly. Pupils are excited to meet authors and read their books. Pupils enjoy time with their friends at clubs after school including, for example, when attending yoga and 'chit- chat chill'.

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Leaders know the school well. They review effectively much of the school’s improvement work. However, some approaches to evaluating improvements are less well developed.

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The staff are a strong team with a common purpose. They value effective training to improve teaching and subject leadership. They appreciate the open dialogue that includes views about workload. Governors consider staff well-being. Governors understand and fulfil their legal responsibilities.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 While many pupils attend school regularly, there are too many that do not. These who are absent too often do not benefit fully from the school’s good educational provision. The school should ensure that those pupils who require it receive the 25 and 26 June 2024

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necessary support to help improve their attendance, thus enabling them to benefit from learning every day.  The school has not fully refined its approach to monitoring and evaluating improvement priorities. The school is not always as clear as it could be about the positive impact that some of its improvement strategies have had. The school should ensure that its approach to evaluating the actions taken to bring about improvement provides the necessary information that enables the school to identify successes and to inform the next steps.

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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

Local authority Nottinghamshire County Council

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 22 May 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not make use of any alternative provision.  The school runs its own before-school club for pupils. The club is overseen by the governing body.

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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 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, senior leaders and staff. They met with members of the local governing body and spoke with a local authority representative. 25 and 26 June 2024

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics, science and art. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. An inspector listened to some pupils read.  Inspectors considered the curriculum in other subjects, including history, physical education and personal, social, health and economic education.  Inspectors met with groups of pupils. They spoke with pupils informally and observed the behaviour of pupils during social times.  Inspectors considered the views of parents who responded to Ofsted Parent View and the responses to Ofsted’s survey of school staff. Inspectors spoke with parents during the inspection.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and

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considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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Inspection team

Donna Moulds, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Karen Slack 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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