Dronfield Infant School

Inspection of Dronfield Infant School School Lane, Dronfield, Derbyshire S18 1RY

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Inspection dates: 15 and 16 October 2024

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Until November 2020, the school was exempt from routine inspection because it was judged as outstanding for overall effectiveness at its previous inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The school has not been inspected under section 5 of the Act since June 2013. Since September 2024, schools have not been awarded an overall effectiveness grade. 15 and 16 October 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Dronfield Infant School aims for everyone to ‘learn together, believe and achieve.’ This aim is realised. Pupils work hard, grow in confidence and achieve well. They are helped to do this by a strong team of staff who are united in their ambition. The school is a cohesive community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They are polite and courteous. They enjoy the wide range of rewards on offer. For example, ‘Hot Choc Fridays’ with the headteacher, ‘wow moments’, earning tokens and special awards. These all motivate pupils to behave well and to work hard. Pupils know that the school expects them to be ‘ready, respectful and safe’. They live up to these expectations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to represent their school in the many sporting tournaments, events and competitions that the school enters. They take great pride in the positive contribution that they make to their community, including through the roles of school councillors, ‘Eco Green Team’ and mindfulness ambassadors. The mini play leaders make sure that no one is left out at playtimes. They wear their caps with pride!

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are well looked after. They know who to go to if they have a worry or concern. They have an impressive understanding of how to stay safe online.

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

Due to a change in the number of pupils on the school’s roll, the school is in the process of reorganising its curriculum. It is doing this well. The curriculum continues to take full account of what pupils have learned before and prepares them well for what will come next. However, this work is at an early stage. While the first year of the curriculum is well organised and fit for purpose, the school has yet to complete this work ready for its second year of implementation.

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

In the majority of subjects, and across the early years, pupils remember what they have been taught. In some cases, this is to an impressive degree. For example, in geography, a group of Year 2 pupils talked confidently about what they had learned the previous year. They were able to recall the names of the countries that make up the United Kingdom and name the seas that surround them. However, this is not consistent. In a small number of subjects, the curriculum does not make clear the content that pupils are expected to learn and remember. In these cases, pupils’ recall is inconsistent.

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

Pupils at an early stage of learning to read get on well. The school’s phonics programme is taught consistently well. Phonics lessons are fast paced and energetic. Pupils enjoy them. Children in the early years pay close attention and are eager to practise new sounds. The school uses a wide range of strategies to promote a love of reading. These have the desired effect as pupils quickly develop a love of books. They read widely and often. However, the reading curriculum, beyond the phonics programme, does not make clear how pupils will build their knowledge over time. Although it sets out the books that pupils will study, it is not always clear what pupils are expected to learn from them. 15 and 16 October 2024

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive expert help and support. This enables them to learn the same curriculum as their peers. The school identifies these pupils’ needs well. In classrooms, staff know when to step in and when to step back, allowing pupils to develop independence and to grow in confidence. Pupils with SEND achieve well.

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The school provides many enriching experiences, including a wide range of educational trips, visits and visitors, to enhance pupils’ personal development. This is underpinned by a well-designed curriculum for personal, social and health education. Pupils enjoy the daily ‘mindfulness’ sessions. They said that these help them to concentrate. Children in the early years have an impressive concentration span. Pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of the protected characteristics. They recognise that relationships can take many different forms.

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At all levels, including governance, leadership is strong. The school has a committed and talented team of staff. Staff share a determined ambition for all pupils to achieve highly. Staff report that the school is considerate of their workload. Leaders know their school, its pupils and families well. Subject leaders have a good understanding of what is working well in their subjects and what can be improved.

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Pupils, staff and the vast majority of parents and carers hold the school in high esteem. One parent summed up the view of many when they said: ‘Every child is treated as an individual, and staff really take time to recognise each pupil. My child skips into school every day and cannot wait to tell me everything that they have done.’

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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 not completed its revised curriculum. While the first year, ‘Cycle A’, is well designed and ordered, the work on ‘Cycle B’ is at an early stage of development. This means that the school cannot be sure that pupils’ knowledge builds cumulatively over time. The school should ensure that, across both cycles, its curriculum is fully planned and sequenced.  In a small number of subjects, the curriculum does not make clear the content that pupils are expected to know and remember longer term. In these cases, pupils’ recall is inconsistent. The school should ensure that its curriculum, across all subjects, makes explicitly clear the content that pupils are expected to commit to their long-term memory.  Beyond the phonics programme, the school’s reading curriculum does not make clear how pupils will build their knowledge over time. Although it sets out the books that 15 and 16 October 2024

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pupils will study, it is not always clear what pupils are expected to learn from them. This means that the school cannot be sure that content is taught in the best possible order. The school should ensure that its reading curriculum, beyond phonics, makes clear what pupils are expected to know at each stage of their education.

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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 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). 15 and 16 October 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.dronfield-inf.derbyshire.sch.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 12 and 13 June 2013, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school was last inspected in June 2013. Since this time, there has been a change of headteacher, deputy headteacher and chair of the governing body.  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. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 15 and 16 October 2024

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 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.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, curriculum leaders, the special educational needs coordinator, the early years leader and groups of staff and pupils.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in four subjects: reading, mathematics, geography and physical education. To do this, they met with curriculum leaders, visited lessons, looked at pupils’ work and met with teachers and pupils. Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects.  The lead inspector met with representatives of the governing body, including the chair. He also met with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the responses to the Ofsted Parent View survey. They also

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considered the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.  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.  Inspectors reviewed school documents, including those relating to governance, behaviour and attendance. Inspectors scrutinised leaders’ plans for improvement and their assessment of the school’s effectiveness.  An inspector spoke to pupils at breaktimes, in the dining hall and in the playground. Inspectors spoke to parents outside the school.

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Inspection team

Vic Wilkinson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Mark Anderson His Majesty’s Inspector 15 and 16 October 2024

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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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