Wheatfields Infants' and Nursery School

Inspection of Wheatfields Infants’ and Nursery School Downes Road, St. Albans, Hertfordshire AL4 9NT

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Inspection dates: 21 and 22 January 2025

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

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Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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The headteacher of this school is Clare Cockburn. This school is part of Ambition Education Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Alan Gray, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Deborah Strazza.

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Ofsted has not previously inspected Wheatfields Infants’ and Nursery School under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. However, Ofsted previously judged Wheatfields Infants’ and Nursery School to be outstanding for overall effectiveness before it opened as an academy. Since September 2024, schools have not been awarded an overall effectiveness grade. 21 and 22 January 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school warmly welcomes pupils and their parents and carers every day, with Koby, the school dog, adding a special touch. Staff’s genuine kindness helps children settle quickly into Nursery and Reception. These strong relationships nurture happiness and safety, shaping positive views of the school. The ‘Treetops’ before- and after-school club ensures that pupils who need an extended day eat healthily, share toys and engage in polite conversation.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils form friendships easily and play confidently. They enjoy a range of activities at playtimes, such as building forts from crates, improving their hand-eye coordination with a cup and ball or swinging on the monkey bars. The ‘gold book’ motivates them to give their best. They eagerly anticipate the celebration assemblies, where they and their peers receive recognition for their achievements and efforts, both in and out of school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This school sets high expectations for pupils’ achievement. Pupils learn well through an engaging curriculum, enhanced by trips, workshops and visitors. For example, they recall vivid details about what life was like for children in Victorian times and have a deep knowledge of artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. They take great pride in producing wonderful artwork inspired by these artists.

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

The school has worked hard to refine its curriculum in recent years. In key stage 1, it has clarified goals to ensure that teachers have a detailed plan of the concepts, skills and vocabulary pupils need to learn. This supports lesson planning and helps check pupils’ understanding. Staff typically explain concepts clearly using precise language and tools. For example, in mathematics, pupils use equipment for counting and calculation to good effect because staff first demonstrate its use.

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

The early years curriculum supports many children to achieve well. For example, a strong focus on writing enables more children to use their phonics knowledge to write correctly spelled short sentences. To build on this success, plans are in place to improve the curriculum further, aligning it more closely with key stage 1. This is because some knowledge and skills that children need to learn in the early years are too broad. Teachers do not have sufficient clarity about exactly what to check that children know and can do and when to check this. As a result, some children do not develop their understanding as well as they could.

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

Many pupils achieve highly in reading. Strong support in school and at home facilitates this, ensuring that pupils develop a love of reading. When pupils struggle to keep up, there are frequent opportunities for them to revise the letter sounds they need to know and practise reading these in an accessible book.

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

The school works with parents, the trust and the local authority to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff help pupils improve communication and self-regulation, enabling them to join lessons and activities. When a pupil receives extra 21 and 22 January 2025

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teaching, such as in reading or mathematics, staff assess their progress before and after the sessions. The school is also improving how it identifies effective teaching to share best practices and make lessons clearer for pupils who find it hard to infer meaning.

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Most pupils work hard. They follow the school’s guiding principles: being ready, respectful and safe. However, there are occasions when pupils are inattentive or impolite. Staff responses vary. Some use clear commands that pupils follow, while others rely on vague suggestions that are less effective. Leaders are aware of this inconsistency, but their efforts to address it are at an early stage.

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The school takes pride in its extensive personal development programme. Pupils and their parents highly value the range of positive experiences on offer. These experiences create lasting memories and foster a positive view of the school. There is a wide variety of extra- curricular activities. These include clubs run by external experts and visits to galleries, museums, historical sites and places of worship. There are special visitors to the school who help to broaden pupils’ knowledge of the world. Pupils also have age-appropriate opportunities to learn about fundamental British values. For example, they learn about democracy through the school council and class votes for rewards.

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Strong communication and strategic monitoring ensure that trustees and local governors understand the school well. They use this knowledge to check, challenge and praise the work of leaders and staff. The trust provides valuable networking and professional support. For example, the school appreciates advice on attendance, helping its whole- school attendance levels compare favourably with those of schools nationally.

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Parents hold the school in high regard. For example, they value its flexible before- and after-school childcare, which meets theirs and their children’s needs.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In the early years, the component knowledge that children must learn is not clear enough. Teachers do not have sufficient clarity about what children need to learn and when they need to learn it. This limits the effectiveness of assessments in guiding teaching and ensuring all children achieve their best. The school should refine the curriculum with clear, measurable checkpoints to enable more efficient, timely assessment that better informs teaching.  There are inconsistencies in how staff respond to instances of inattentive or impolite behaviour. When expectations are not communicated clearly and consistently, some pupils lose focus in lessons and do not always interact respectfully with adults and peers. The school should ensure that all staff apply consistent behaviour management 21 and 22 January 2025

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strategies so that expectations are clear and reinforced, securing positive behaviour from all pupils.

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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). 21 and 22 January 2025

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School details

Website www.wheatfieldsinfants.herts.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The trust board delegates certain functions to a local governing board.  There is before- and after-school childcare for pupils attending the school, including children in the Nursery. It is run by school staff and managed by school leaders.  The school does not make use of 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 and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 21 and 22 January 2025

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 held meetings with leaders, including the CEO, director of education, headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher, trustees and local governors.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, science and art and design. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers and held discussions with some pupils about their learning and wider school experience. They also reviewed samples of pupils’ work and listened to a selection of pupils reading to a familiar adult.

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 Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in the early years and in some other subjects.  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 documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, school improvement plan, minutes of meetings of the trust board and local governing board, and a report of a review carried out by trust leaders.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and responses to Ofsted Parent View, which included free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Daniel Short, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Laura Hewer Ofsted Inspector 21 and 22 January 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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