Tavistock Infant School

TAVISTOCK INFANT SCHOOL

Broadacres Calthorpe Park Fleet Hampshire

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TAVISTOCK INFANT SCHOOL

Inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated.

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TAVISTOCK INFANT SCHOOL

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. Tavistock Infant School - Page 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Broadacres Calthorpe Park Fleet Hampshire Postcode: GU13 8EU

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The Governing Body

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Name of chair of governors: Mr I A Cooke

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: 17 June 1996 Tavistock Infant School - Page 4

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Team members

Stuart Russell Registered inspector Moira Kerr Lay inspector Therese Kenna Team inspector

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Team members

85 Shores Green Drive Wincham Northwich Cheshire CW9 6EJ

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Team members

Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be raised with the inspection contractor. Complaints that are not satisfactorily resolved by the contractor should be raised with OFSTED by writing to:

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Team members

The Registrar Inspection Quality Division

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Team members

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Tavistock Infant School - Page 5

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 6

Information about the school How good the school is What the school does well What could be improved How the school has improved since its last inspection Standards Pupils’ attitudes and values Teaching and learning Other aspects of the school How well the school is led and managed Parents’ and carers’ views of the school

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WHAT THE SCHOOL DOES WELL 10

It is excellently led and managed The pupils are taught very well and all groups of children learn very well. They make rapid progress The school achieves very high standards

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED 13

The percentage of pupils reaching level 3 or above in writing, especially boys.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Tavistock Infant School is a popular school with almost half of its intake coming from outside the school's catchment area. It is situated in an idyllic woodland setting. There are one hundred and seventy-four pupils on roll: 96 boys and 78 girls. The age range of the pupils is four to seven. The majority of pupils are of white ethnic origin. Four pupils speak English as an additional language. This is low in comparison with the national picture. The percentage of pupils who are eligible for free school meals is below the national average. The percentage of pupils on the school’s register of special educational needs, 19.5 per cent, is in line with the national average. It includes three pupils who have statements of special educational needs. This number of pupils with statements of special educational needs, for this size of school, is typical. There is a wide range of attainment on entry at

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

four. A small minority of these four year olds has already achieved standards expected nationally of children at age five, but most have yet to do so. The ethos of the school is well expressed in the school's guiding principle, 'Achieving Happily Together'. The circumstances of the school are similar to those at the time of the last inspection.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

Overall since 1997, the standards achieved by the seven year olds in reading, writing and mathematics have been among the top five per cent in the country. Nearly all of the pupils before they leave, achieve the standards expected nationally for seven year olds, many achieve the standards expected of nine year olds and a few even reach those standards expected nationally of 11 year olds. This is rapid learning and very good progress. The school achieves these very high standards because it is excellently led and managed, because the pupils are taught very well throughout the school and because the school, parents and pupils aim for high achievement. The school provides very good value for money.

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What the school does well

• It is excellently led and managed. • The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make rapid progress. • The school achieves very high standards.

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What could be improved

• The percentage of pupils reaching level 3 or above in writing, especially by boys.

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What could be improved

The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

Since its previous inspection in 1996, the school has gone on to raise the high standards that were reported at that time. The improvement it has made in doing so, is very good. The key issues that the inspectors left with the school for it to address were to do with improving the delivery of the curriculum in some classes and using assessment procedures better to plan lessons that meet the needs of all pupils. The school has done this very well. Consequently teaching for all groups of pupils now focuses upon clear learning objectives. These are based upon accurate assessment of the pupils’ progress towards their attainment targets. The quality of learning has risen and consequently standards. Very good improvement has been made in the school’s provision for Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This subject is now a strong subject. Tavistock Infant School - Page 7

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STANDARDS

The table shows the standards achieved by 7 year olds based on National Curriculum tests.

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Key

English A* A* A* A well above average above average A B mathematics A* A* A A Average below average C D science A* A* A* A* well below average E

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Key

This is a very high achieving school. Some pupils even reach level 4 in reading, writing and mathematics. This is the standard normally expected of eleven year olds. Ninety-five per cent of parents who responded to the parents’ questionnaire considered that their children were making good progress. The figures indicate that this is so. Between 1996 and 1999, the pupils’ overall results were very high in comparison with schools across the country. In fact, the school is in the top five per cent. Compared to similar schools across the country, the pupils’ results in reading and writing are well above average and in mathematics, very high. Standards have risen since 1996 and dramatically so in writing. Yet the school has quite rightly targeted writing for further improvement. This is because more pupils are reaching level 3 in reading than in writing; hence the A grade for writing rather than A*. The school has high aspirations for all its pupils and sets appropriately

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Key

challenging targets for them as soon as they start at the school. The pupils make very good progress towards these targets which are adjusted in the light of the pupils’ progress. Boys and girls generally do equally well though in 1999 the girls did slightly better than the boys in writing. The standards that the pupils reach in science are above national standards with 55 per cent achieving level 3 in science compared to 20 per cent nationally. During the inspection, the pupils were seen to be achieving high standards in subjects across the curriculum. Particularly high standards were observed in the pupils’ command and use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

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Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school The pupils apply themselves very well to their work and are keen to take up the opportunities provided for them.

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Aspect Comment

Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Very good. High standards of behaviour both in the classroom and about school are very important to the school.

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Aspect Comment

Personal development and relationships The school very successfully lays emphasis upon developing the social skills of the pupils and helps them to develop into responsible people who relate very well to one another.

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Aspect Comment

Attendance Last year the rate of attendance was 96.6%. This was well above the national average.

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Aspect Comment

The pupils have high expectations of what they can achieve. This stems from their parents’ and teachers’ high aspirations for them. The pupils’ positive attitudes and very good behaviour mean that

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Aspect Comment

lessons can include many practical activities that involve pairs of pupils or small groups working Tavistock Infant School - Page 8 together on investigations. Although they are so young, the school nevertheless gives its pupils an opportunity to play a part in the development of the school. In circle time and assemblies, and through their representatives on the School Council and questionnaires, the pupils enthusiastically suggest ways in which school life can be improved. Over the last three years, attendance has improved year on year. Parents say that the reason for this very good attendance is because their children like coming to school.

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Teaching of pupils: Aged up to 5 years aged 5-7 years aged 7-11 years

Lessons seen overall Very Good Very Good N/a Inspectors make judgements about teaching in the range: excellent; very good; good; satisfactory; unsatisfactory; poor; very poor. ‘Satisfactory’ means that the teaching is adequate and strengths outweigh weaknesses.

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Teaching of pupils: Aged up to 5 years aged 5-7 years aged 7-11 years

The pupils are taught very well. The overall standard of teaching seen was much higher than at the time of the last inspection. The strength of the teaching stems from the teachers’ high expectations for all their pupils; their good subject knowledge; the way they challenge and inspire all their pupils; and the way that they select appropriate methods to enable all pupils to learn very well. A good example of this is the way that the school is adapting its teaching methods for boys because their standards in writing in 1997 were not as high as the girls’. This is being done irrespective of the fact that the boys' standards were nevertheless well above those of most boys across the country. This is an illustration of the high aspirations of the teachers for all their pupils. The skills of literacy and numeracy are taught very well throughout the school and at times excellently. All the lessons seen

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Teaching of pupils: Aged up to 5 years aged 5-7 years aged 7-11 years

during the inspection were at least good. Fifty-two per cent were very good and 31 per cent, excellent. The quality of learning is very good and this is because the pupils are clear about what they are intended to learn. They understand what they are doing, work out how well they have done and grasp how they can improve. This promotes interest, concentration and a very good rate of progress.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

The quality and range of the curriculum Very good. All subjects of the National Curriculum and religious education are given due weight. Extra-curricular activities enrich the curriculum very well. All pupils, including the under fives, have swimming lessons.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Provision for pupils with special educational needs Very good provision is made for pupils with special educational needs both in lessons and when they are withdrawn for extra help. Pupils with special educational needs take a full part in all school activities. Support assistants make a very effective contribution to this provision.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Provision for pupils with English as an additional language There are very few pupils in the school who have English as an additional language. They are fully and happily involved in all aspects of school life.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development All aspects of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development contribute very well to the pupils’ personal development. Extra-curricular activities make a very valuable contribution to the pupils’ cultural development.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

How well the school cares for its pupils The school promotes the safety and health of its pupils very effectively. Their welfare is very well safeguarded.

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL

The school’s extra-curricular activities include Maypole dancing, Internet clubs, a French club, library clubs, musical activities and a drama club. The school provides educational outings that relate to topical work in school and links with industry and business that connect projects with real life. For instance, the Environment Agency recently worked with the pupils on a technology project. Tavistock Infant School - Page 9

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Aspect Comment

Leadership and manage- ment by the headteacher and other key staff The school is excellently led and managed by the headteacher. Staff, governors, parents and pupils operate as an effective team under her inspirational leadership. She is very well supported by the deputy head. An over-riding characteristic of the leadership of this school is high expectation and clear planning for success.

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Aspect Comment

How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Governors fulfil their roles excellently and are most effectively led by their Chair of Governors. The governors are very well informed about both the life of their own school and what is going on in education nationally.

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Aspect Comment

The school’s evaluation of its performance The school’s highly developed self-evaluation procedures enable it to set sharp improvement targets.

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Aspect Comment

The strategic use of resources Staff, accommodation, funding and time are used most efficiently. The school is very well maintained.

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Aspect Comment

Under the guidance of the local education authority’s advisory service, the headteacher and staff have devised very effective ways of setting precise improvement targets for individual pupils and for groups of pupils. This has been very effective in raising standards. The governors and staff are very careful to achieve best value for money out of their financial allocation.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

• Their children like school. • Their children are making good progress. • They feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. • The teaching is good. • The school expects their children to work hard and achieve their best. • The school is helping their children to become mature and responsible. • Some parents would like more information on how well their children are getting on. • Some parents would like the school to work more closely with parents. • Some parents are discontented about recent changes to the way that reading is taught by the school.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

The inspectors endorse the positive comments of parents about the school. They find that the school makes every effort to work closely with parents and provides a wide range of opportunities for parents to find out how well their children are getting on. As well as annual progress reports and two open evenings, the teachers are available every Thursday afternoon to talk to parents about their children. No restrictions are made on the number of times parents may avail themselves of this facility. If Thursday afternoon is inconvenient, appointments for other times may be made. The headteacher is also available to talk to parents. The school also informs and involves parents in its life, through workshops on curricular issues and curricular newsletters. There is a full complement of parent-governors and a parent-teacher association. Many parents voluntarily help in school and there are special occasions to which parents are invited. These include concerts and ‘bring a dad to

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

school’ day. Recent changes to the teaching of reading, however, have left some parents both unsure of the effectiveness of these changes and feeling unclear about their children’s reading standards. The school’s new policy effectively implements The National Literacy Strategy and the school is committed to it. The school has attempted to reassure parents; providing workshops and letters explaining how the school’s reading policy works. Standards of reading in the school are very high, the pupils enjoy reading and the high standard of their reading enables them to achieve high standards across the curriculum. Tavistock Infant School - Page 10

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It is excellently led and managed

1. The previous inspection reported ‘high standards of leadership and management’ that were ‘clear and purposeful’. These high standards have been maintained and developed. This has had a very good effect on the quality of provision that the school makes for the education of its pupils and the very high standards that they achieve. Leadership and management are now excellent. The school has the highest expectations on the part of the headteacher, deputy headteacher, staff, governors, parents and pupils. This is the ethos of the school. High expectations can be seen in everything that the school does; from the very high standards of cleanliness in the school through to its academic standards being among the country’s top five per cent.

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It is excellently led and managed

2. The school is clear about what it wants to achieve. This clarity arises from its excellent self-evaluation procedures. The school knows where it is and can therefore plan precisely how to get to where it wants to be next. A fine example of how it goes about doing this, is the ‘Raising Standards Team’. There is a Raising Standards Team for each year group. It consists of those teachers who teach the pupils in that age group, the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and the core subject co-ordinators. Termly meetings are planned for these teams in the school’s Strategic Improvement and Development Plan. At these meetings pupils’ progress since the last meeting is assessed against National Curriculum criteria. The reasons for the progress are analysed; including the effectiveness of the curriculum and teaching methods. Using this clear mechanism for assessing pupils’ progress, the team goes on to adjust their attainment-targets for their pupils and to set clear

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It is excellently led and managed

learning objectives. In this way the school is able to track precisely the progress of individuals, classes and cohorts of pupils towards the expected end-of-key-stage standards predicted from baseline assessment.

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It is excellently led and managed

3. The school’s Rising Standards Teams and their effective practice owes much in the opinion of the school, to the advice and guidance of the local education authority’s inspector. The teams typify the corporate planning and shared management style of the school that involves all parties, including the pupils, in the development of the school. Because all are invited to be part of development planning, the school expects everyone to take some responsibility in implementing decisions. Teamwork is a characteristic of the school. It provides strength. The effectiveness of teamwork can be seen in the school’s outstandingly attractive and stimulating environment, many of whose facilities have been provided through corporate efforts. Each element of the school’s leadership and management – governors, headteacher, deputy headteacher, staff with management responsibilities – are most effective discretely but together, in the team work that they display, they multiply their

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It is excellently led and managed

4. The headteacher provides inspirational leadership for the team. She and the Chair of Governors are a most effective partnership and have vision. Their determination is the driving force in the school and they guide the school towards achieving one priority after another until the school’s targets are achieved. The following key words pin-point the characteristics of the excellent leadership and management to be found in this school and explain how the school achieves such high standards: Tavistock Infant School - Page 11 high expectations, clarity, data analysis, target setting, shared expectation, teamwork, priorities, vision and the support of the local education authority.

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

5. The school is committed to high achievement and teaching is recognised as the pivotal device through which it achieves this aim. It has clear policies for teaching and learning and the effectiveness of these policies is carefully monitored. As are other aspects of school life that effect how well the pupils learn and how successful the teaching is. These include curricular provision, the care and welfare of the pupils, links with the community and the educational resources and accommodation of the school provides. For example, the governors are involved at present in providing the school with better library accommodation and an information and technology suite.

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

6. At this school, the teaching is consistently very effective because of the teachers’ high expectations, their good subject knowledge, the way they challenge and inspire their pupils and the way in which they select appropriate teaching methods to enable all their pupils to learn well.

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

7. The teachers have high expectations for all their pupils and are concerned about the rate of progress that all make irrespective of age, gender, ability or background. To ensure appropriate rates of progress, they identify precisely where their pupils are in terms of expected achievement and plan precisely what the pupils need to learn next in order to move on rapidly. They then plan lessons that will achieve this. At the beginning of lessons the teachers share with their pupils what they are going to learn. This enables the pupils to understand why they are doing what they are doing, how well they have done and how they can improve. Literacy and numeracy are taught very well and at times excellently. In these lessons the teachers’ good subject knowledge shines through. Rate of progress is consistently very good and at times excellent. The pupils bubble with enthusiasm about reading, writing and

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

number work. For instance, seven year olds jumped on the opportunity to square 14 in their heads; rapidly realising that they could multiply 14 by ten, then by four and add the sums together. They got 196 in no time. Good subject knowledge is also evident in the way that the teachers use Information and Communications Technology with their pupils; using, for example, the most up-to-date e-mail equipment to keep in touch with a member of staff as she climbed five mountain peaks across Gt. Britain.

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

8. High expectation, good subject knowledge and challenging learning objectives that the pupils understand, result in the pupils being inspired by their lessons. They respond with enthusiasm and not only during lessons, but after them. Pupils were so enthusiastically involved in writing holiday diaries that as their literacy lesson progressed, they begged to be able to take them home to continue working on. Even reception class children voluntarily attend after-school parent and child Internet Clubs. The teachers are skilful at tuning tasks to suit different ability groups. They are able to do this because they know their pupils so well. Sometimes they plan different work for different ability groups - in literacy and numeracy sessions, for example - and sometimes they look for different responses from different pupils to the task that has been set. In either case the result is that pupils from different ability groups make very good progress happily, work at an

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

Tavistock Infant School - Page 12 appropriate pace and are productive. In the last report, teaching was criticised for not giving the pupils enough opportunity to work in pairs or small groups on investigative work. This is no longer the case. Investigative work is a feature of most lessons and one that is used very effectively to achieve the learning objective of the lesson. For instance, the learning objective of one lesson as it was shared with the pupils, was as follows, ‘We shall be able to use different ways to join materials’. The context of the lesson was making finger puppets. The pupils were given a wide but appropriate range of substances to join the parts of the puppet, such as needles and thread, glue, ‘sellotape’, etc. They discovered for themselves that in this case sewing was the best way to join the parts of the puppet together. Their learning was rapid, they enjoyed learning, they were totally involved in what

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

they were doing and their behaviour was excellent, and the collaborative learning contributed very well to their social development. Pupils at this school acquire new knowledge and skills, develop their ideas and increase their understanding at an impressive rate because of the very good teaching that they receive. This, in turn, is the outcome of excellent leadership and management. The school is successfully fulfilling its mission statement, ‘Achieving Happily Together’.

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

The school achieves very high standards.

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

9. As a result of the high expectations of the pupils’ parents, the school and the pupils themselves; because of the excellent way in which the school is led and managed; and because of the very good teaching and learning, the pupils achieve very high standards.

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

10. Every year about 12 to 15 per cent of the pupils come into the school at four having achieved the Desirable Learning Outcomes. That is, they are about a year ahead of what is expected of them. In the 1999 National Curriculum Tests at seven, 12 per cent of its pupils reached level 4 in reading, five per cent in writing and five per cent in mathematics. These pupils are achieving standards four years ahead of national expectations. Their progress is very rapid and their achievement very high. The percentage of seven year olds achieving level 4 across the country, was so small that the percentages have not been calculated. This indicates how highly the pupils at this school are achieving.

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

11. Between 1996 and 1999 the percentage of pupils reaching the expected level for seven year olds, level 2, or the higher levels of 3 or 4, in reading, writing and mathematics were consistently very high in comparison to the national picture. The school's overall performance is among the highest 5% nationally. Since the last inspection in 1996, standards have risen and dramatically so in writing; from ten per cent below the national average to 12 per cent above; a twenty-two percent rise in four years.

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

12. Over half (52 per cent) of the seven year olds who left the school last July were able to read at the standard expected of a child at least nine. In mathematics the percentage was higher. Fifty-four per cent reached the standard of a nine or an eleven year old. In writing, 19 per cent did so. Nationally, 29 per cent achieved this in reading, 21 per cent in mathematics and eight per cent in writing. In each case the school’s percentages were above the national average and notably so for reading and mathematics. Using teachers’ assessments, 92 per cent reached level 2 or above in science compared to 87 per cent nationally and 55 per cent achieved level 3 compared to 20 per cent nationally. Generally across the core subjects of English, mathematics and science the pupils are achieving standards that are very Tavistock Infant School - Page 13 high, particularly in terms of level 3. This indicates that the school is successfully

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

challenging and stretching not only its able pupils but all its pupils. 19.5 per cent of the school’s roll is on the school’s register of special educational needs. This is in line with the national average of 20 per cent. Yet in 1999, only five per cent of the year did not achieve national expectations for reading, five per cent for writing and three per cent for mathematics. This indicates that the school is doing equally well for pupils with special educational needs as it is for the average and able pupils. Through its clubs as well as lessons, the school also caters for pupils with talent. Music has a high profile in the school, Information and Communications Technology and dance and drama. The results of the boys and girls in reading and mathematics match, with both exceeding other boys and girls across the country to the same extent. In writing, though, the girls do slightly better than other girls than

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The pupils are taught very well and all groups of pupils learn very well. They make

boys do against other boys. In both cases, however, the boys and girls at this school do better than boys and girls nationally in reading, writing and mathematics.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

The percentage of pupils reaching level three or above in writing, especially by boys.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

13. Although the percentage of pupils achieving level 2 or above in reading and writing was the same in 1999 at 95 per cent, fewer pupils reached level 3 and above in writing than in reading; 19 per cent compared to 52 per cent. The school has detected this difference and has correctly identified improvement in standards of writing for its attention; with particular attention to boys who did slightly less well than the girls. This high aspiration for all its pupils reflects the high expectations of the school.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

14. In its Strategic Improvement and Development Plan, the school targets improvement in standards of writing as a priority. It has given itself a target date to improve standards in writing, two years. It aims to reduce the number of pupils only achieving levels 1 or 2c with particular reference to boys, and to increase the number of pupils reaching level 3, especially boys. The school has taken advice on how to achieve this from the local education authority’s advisory service and assessed the quality of its teaching of writing with the help of the local education authority’s inspector. This was judged to be ‘very good’.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

15. The school’s Raising Standards Teams are identifying target groups of pupils for specific improvement. Teaching will be informed by very sharply focused learning objectives to achieve specific improvement. As pupils move through the school from year to year, the school will analyse writing skills to assess its progress towards these improvement targets and the effectiveness of its strategies to do so. The staff also intend to continue to develop their skills in the teaching of writing and the assessment of progress in writing, through in-service training.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

16. The school is expanding the reading opportunities of its pupils in order to give them greater access to a range of ideas for writing. It is also adding to their opportunities to write. Planning is taking account of a variety of preferred reading material and writing styles, including those favoured by boys. Other initiatives have included, for example, a week that focused on writing. The school intends to repeat this. Tavistock Infant School - Page 14

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

17. The governors, headteacher and staff should

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(1) Raise standards in writing even higher;* by a. achieving standards in writing at age seven closer to those being achieved in reading; b. raising the standards of the boys writing to standards similar to those being achieved by the girls. (Paragraphs 10 to 13)

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

* This issue has already been identified as a priority in the school’s development plan. Tavistock Infant School - Page 15

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Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 6

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Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very Poor

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Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

31 52 17 Nil Nil Nil Nil The table gives the percentage of teaching observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about lessons.

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils on the school’s roll Nursery YR– Y2

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) 174

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of full-time pupils eligible for free school meals 8 FTE means full-time equivalent.

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Information about the school’s pupils

Special educational needs Nursery YR– Y2

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 3

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 34

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Information about the school’s pupils

English as an additional language No of pupils

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with English as an additional language 4

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupil mobility in the last school year No of pupils

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 4

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 6

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Attendance

National comparative data 5.4 National comparative data 0.5 Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Tavistock Infant School - Page 16

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 1 for the latest reporting year 1999 29 36 65

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

National Curriculum Test/Task Results Reading Writing Mathematics

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Boys 27 27 29 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 35 35 34

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Percentage of pupils School 95 (92 ) 95 (93 ) 97 (94 ) at NC level 2 or above National 82 (80) 83 (81) 87 (85)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Boys 27 29 27 Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 31 30 33

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Percentage of pupils School 94 (89 ) 97 (94 ) 92 (92 ) at NC level 2 or above National 82 (81) 86 (85) 87 (86)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year. Tavistock Infant School - Page 17

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black – Caribbean heritage Black – Caribbean heritage

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black – African heritage 1 Black – African heritage

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Any other minority ethnic group Other minority ethnic groups This table refers to pupils of compulsory school age only. This table gives the number of exclusions of pupils of compulsory school age, which may be different from the number of pupils excluded.

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Qualified teachers and classes: Y[ ] – Y[ ]

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 7.2 Financial year 1998-99

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 24.1

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Education support staff: Y[ ] – Y[ ] Total expenditure 313384

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 11.0 Expenditure per pupil 1833

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 160 Balance brought forward from previous year -4297

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Balance carried forward to next year 4439

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Qualified teachers and support staff: nursery

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE)

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per FTE adult FTE means full-time equivalent. Tavistock Infant School - Page 18

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Percentage of responses in each category

Strongly agree Tend to agree Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don’t know

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Percentage of responses in each category

My child is making good progress in school. 32 63 5

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Percentage of responses in each category

Behaviour in the school is good. 10 62 19 3 6

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Percentage of responses in each category

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 23 55 18 3 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 19 43 30 6 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 43 49 6 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 38 52 5 3 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school works closely with parents. 26 45 24 3 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school is well led and managed. 34 42 10 10 5

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 37 53 5 2 3

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 27 46 19 2 6

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Other issues raised by parents

This year has seen much discussion with parents about the National Literacy Strategy and in particular parental involvement in supporting reading at home. Parents no longer take home the main reading scheme books that are used in guided reading sessions, to ‘hear’ their children read at home. The emphasis is now on parents sharing a variety of books with their children. To do this, parents are encouraged to select from a large variety of reading schemes and non-reading scheme books. Curricular newsletters, curriculum evenings and three workshops have been held to provide parents with as much support as possible to develop this new approach. Some parents, however, regretted the change. They would have preferred their children to have been taught to read in the way that the school taught reading before the advent of the National Literacy Strategy. That is, with a reading scheme whose books the children brought home to read as they progressed through the

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Other issues raised by parents

scheme. These parents felt that at that time the teaching of reading and in particular home support, was more structured and that they had a better grasp of the standards of their children’s reading. The Tavistock Infant School - Page 19 school took the advice of the local education authority’s inspector who gave support to the school’s adaptations to the National Literacy Strategy. The school’s parent teacher association has contributed additional books for home reading to support the new system. A new parallel reading scheme to the one used in literacy lessons is being added to the supply of books available to parents, for those who want this choice. This provides a scheme for home reading directly linked to the levels of reading in lessons. The school provides a range of opportunities for parents to discuss their children’s reading standards. The school’s reading policy which includes its policy on supporting

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Other issues raised by parents

reading at home, is set out in a written policy that is signed and dated by the Chair of Governors on their behalf. The school is committed to its current way of working and is monitoring the implementation of its policy. At their meeting with the Registered Inspector some parents expressed their doubts about the effectiveness of current practice but others were enthusiastic about it. The inspection found that it appropriately implemented the National Literacy Strategy and that standards of reading in the school are very high.

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