Ashbrook Infant School

Inspection of Ashbrook Infant School Victoria Avenue, Borrowash, Derby, Derbyshire DE72 3HF

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 4 and 5 February 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

The ethos of Ashbrook Infant School focuses on the care and nurture of all its pupils and families. Pupils feel safe, and their relationships with staff are positive and supportive. Pupils enjoy coming to school. Most parents and carers appreciate the school’s work.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from the wide range of activities that enrich the school’s curriculum, such as learning to ride scooters and visits to the pantomime. They enjoy sharing stories in assemblies that help them to understand positive character traits. However, pupils’ understanding of diversity and fundamental British values is less well developed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has recently introduced new behaviour systems, although pupils’ conduct remains variable in lessons and around school. Pupils know that staff will take their worries and concerns seriously. However, some pupils do not report incidents. This means that the school does not always have an accurate understanding of pupils’ behaviour throughout the school day.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s curriculum is inspired by its motto, ‘We care, we learn, we have fun’. Pupils enjoy their lessons but sometimes, the activities they complete do not help them to learn more about a subject. Systems to check on how well pupils recall the content of the curriculum are not rigorous enough. As a result, the school’s vision and ambitions for its pupils are not realised fully.

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

The school has designed its curriculum carefully in some areas. In these subjects, teachers know what to teach and when. Pupils can rehearse and repeat the important knowledge. This helps them to learn the content in a systematic and logical way. However, this is not the case in all subjects. In other subjects, the curriculum is focused more on the activities that pupils will complete, rather than on what pupils need to know. Consequently, pupils remember what they have done, rather than what they have learned. They confuse important knowledge about different subjects.

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

Systems to check on how well pupils recall the curriculum are in the early stages of development. This means that, currently, the school does not have a full understanding of how well pupils remember key curriculum content and where there are gaps in their knowledge.

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

The school strives to be inclusive for all. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified promptly and provided with additional resources and staff support. When necessary, the curriculum is adapted to meet these pupils’ needs.

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

Most pupils can read by the time they leave the school. They learn to blend sounds in words and re-read sentences to develop their fluency. Staff provide close support to pupils with gaps in their knowledge of early reading. Pupils with SEND learn to read alongside their peers. The writing tasks that pupils complete connect to the sounds and the words that they can read. This helps them to make links between their reading and writing. 4 and 5 February 2025

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In the early years, children learn in a calm and purposeful environment. There is a clear focus on promoting children’s language and communication development. Staff model spoken sentences to encourage children’s conversation. Children enjoy using books to find out information and join in with language repeated in stories. The activities children complete are meaningful and help them develop their independence and curiosity. They learn to solve problems and ask questions about the world around them. As a result, children have a positive start to their education.

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The school provides a range of opportunities, including whole-school assemblies, to teach pupils about personal development. Pupils learn how to stay safe online. The school helps pupils understand healthy friendships and how to talk about their emotions and feelings. Pupils learn about important values that uphold British society and different protected groups. However, the school does not ensure that pupils can readily recall this information.

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The school has reviewed its systems for supporting pupils’ behaviour. While this work is having some positive impact, there is more work to do to ensure that these systems are embedded fully.

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Pupils’ attendance is prioritised. When needed, the school takes appropriate action to support families to improve pupils’ attendance.

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Staff are proud to work at the school. They recognise the positive impact of changes that have taken place since the previous inspection. However, the school has not ensured that all staff have the expertise to implement the curriculum effectively or lead on further developments.

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The governing body is supportive of the school’s work. Governors consider staff well-being and workload and seek the views of parents and carers. However, some of the checks governors make are not rigorous enough. This means they do not have a complete picture of what is working at the school and what needs to improve.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The restructured governing body do not have full oversight of the impact of the school’s actions. This limits how well they can support and challenge the school’s development. Governors should establish consistent, effective and robust systems to make the necessary checks on the school’s improvements.  The school’s systems to check on how well pupils learn the intended curriculum lack rigour. As a result, pupils do not learn important knowledge as well as they should. The 4 and 5 February 2025

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school must make timely and accurate checks on its curriculum so that it has a clear understanding of how well pupils are prepared for their next stages in learning.  Activities pupils complete sometimes do not help them to recall the key knowledge of a subject. This leads to gaps in pupils’ understanding and does not prepare them well for future learning. The school should ensure that tasks deepen pupils’ understanding of the curriculum so that they are ready for their next learning steps.  The school’s behaviour systems are not implemented consistently. Therefore, some pupils do not live up to the school’s expectations of their conduct fully. The school should make sure that staff implement the behaviour systems effectively and that staff expectations of pupils’ behaviour and conduct are consistently high.  Pupils do not have an age-appropriate understanding of diversity and the values that underpin modern Britain. This hinders their preparation for life in wider society. The

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school should ensure that all pupils develop a secure understanding of different protected groups and of British values so that they are prepared for life beyond the school.

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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 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). 4 and 5 February 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.ashbrookinfantandnursery.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 18 and 19 February 2022

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, the school’s staff and its governing body have both been restructured.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  A registered external provider manages the school’s wraparound care and holiday clubs. These operate on the school site.

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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. 4 and 5 February 2025

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 Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also sampled aspects of the school’s English, art and design and computing curriculums.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and with leaders who have oversight of the early years, behaviour and the school’s personal development programme.  The lead inspector met with some members of the local governing body and held a telephone conversation with representatives of the local authority.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons, around the school and at social

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times. They also considered the school’s offer to support pupils’ personal development.  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 spoke with staff, parents and pupils on site. They considered the responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff and the views of parents expressed through Ofsted Parent View.

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Inspection team

Shaheen Hussain, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Donna Chambers His Majesty’s Inspector 4 and 5 February 2025

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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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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