Furze Infant School

101203 Unique Reference Number Barking and Dagenham Local Authority 276468 Inspection number 9 °10 May 2006 Inspection dates Barry Jones Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Infant Type of school Community School category 3 °7 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs G Paddle Chair Mrs J Roberts Not previously inspected Date of previous school inspection Bennett Road School address Chadwell Heath Romford RM6 6ES

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020 8270 4420 Telephone number 020 8270 4421 Fax number

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3 °7 Age group 9 °10 May 2006 Inspection dates 276468 Inspection number .

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report 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.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This is a large infant school in which the pupils come from homes which have average levels of disadvantage. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is average although the proportion with statements of special educational need is less than in most schools. There are more pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds but there are few who are at the early stages of learning English. The school has received almost half a million pounds extra funding over four years as part of a national information and communications technology (ICT) project (TestBed project) which finishes this year. This funding has enabled the school to purchase resources and employ more staff including a teacher to support gifted and talented pupils for the last three years as part of her duties.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 7 Inspection Report: Furze Infants' School, 9 °10 May 2006

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What the school should do to improve further

• Ensure that the teaching provides challenging work for more able pupils in Years 1 and 2. • Update the school development plan.

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Grade:

Teaching and learning are good throughout the school. Teachers have good subject knowledge, prepare their lessons thoroughly, and make effective use of a wide range of resources, including ICT, to make lessons fun and interesting. They foster good relationships with pupils who respond well so that there is a positive atmosphere in classrooms. Teaching assistants are managed well and give effective support to pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities. In an outstanding science lesson, the teacher was enthusiastic and very effectively involved all pupils in a discussion about machines and how they work; pupils were encouraged to develop and refine their ideas and therefore made very good progress. The school has given a high priority to improving assessment procedures and consequently teachers are assessing pupils' work thoroughly and accurately. The quality of marking is good and the teachers give constructive feedback to pupils which shows them how they might improve

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Grade:

their work. However, teachers in Years 1 and 2 do not use assessments consistently well to provide challenging tasks for more able pupils.

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Grade:

The school provides pupils with a rich range of experiences. The curriculum in the Foundation Stage meets the children's needs well and recent improvements include more opportunities for children to be creative and to explore their surroundings. The reception rooms are set up to encourage independent, active learning by the children. Throughout the school there is good consideration of multicultural issues and other aspects which contribute significantly to the strong personal development of pupils. The school makes effective use of the local authority's schemes for English and mathematics. Participation in the TestBed project has led to a substantial increase in the number of computers. These are also used well to improve pupils' skills in other subjects such as art and English. Pupils are taken on a good range of visits including an exciting trip to an old manor house as part of their historical Victorian topic.

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Grade:

4 of 7 Inspection Report: Furze Infants' School, 9 °10 May 2006

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Grade:

The quality of care and support is outstanding. There are excellent links with other agencies, the local authority and the parents. This includes visits from the road safety team, a behaviour support group, a drug theatre group and the police; a visiting art therapist works weekly with vulnerable pupils and has improved their self-esteem. This means there is coordinated and timely support for vulnerable pupils which greatly adds to their quality of life. There are very good arrangements within the school to support pupils at lunchtimes. The school provides outstanding support for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities and these pupils are given the confidence to play their full part in the life of the school. There are very secure and sensitive child protection procedures and staff have been suitably trained. Health and safety and security, including careful attention to risk assessments, are promoted and monitored well.

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Grade:

Pupils are guided well and know how to improve.

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Grade:

5 of 7 Inspection Report: Furze Infants' School, 9 °10 May 2006 .

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Grade:

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 of 7 Inspection Report: Furze Infants' School, 9 °10 May 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Pupils I write to thank you for the way in which you made us feel welcome in your school. Quite a number of you wondered what my job was. Well, it is to inspect schools and in the case of Furze Infants' that was a very pleasant task because it is a good school and excellent in a number of ways. You play your part in that by coming to lessons ready to learn, by behaving well and in the way you show consideration for one another. You told us how much you enjoy coming to school and that the teachers make lessons fun and interesting. We saw that for ourselves when we came into classrooms. We saw how much the children in the Cats and Dogs nursery classes enjoyed their dancing and the enthusiasm and good work of Year 1 pupils in science when they were talking about robot cars. The staff work very hard on your behalf and we were very impressed by the way your school cares and looks after some of you when you have a problem. They use people well from outside

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

the school to help them do this. Some of you benefit by working with the art therapist or the Acorns group but there are others too. For the last four years your school has been involved in a project which has brought a great deal of extra money into the school. It has been used to buy extra computers, to provide a community room that local people can use and to pay for extra staff. This has helped the school, the community and yourselves. Over the last three years you have improved very much in your work especially in reaching the highest level in the SATs. The extra money is now stopping but the good work will go on. We are asking the school to make sure this happens and the school governors have given this much thought. It is now time to put those intentions into a plan for the future.Once again thanks. You are rightly proud of your school. Yours sincerely, Barry Jones Lead Inspector 7 of 7 Inspection Report: Furze Infants' School, 9 °10 May 2006

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