Fairfield Infant and Nursery School

Inspection Report Fairfield Infant and Nursery School

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112699 Unique Reference Number DERBYSHIRE LEA LEA 278997 Inspection number 14 March 2006 to 15 March 2006 Inspection dates Mrs. Georgina Beasley LI Reporting inspector

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

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Bench Road School address Primary Type of school SK17 7PQ Community School category 3 to 7 Age range of pupils 0129822441 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0129827573 Fax number 244 Number on roll Mr.Stuart Percival Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs. Sue Coackley Headteacher 15 May 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 278997 14 March 2006 - 3 to 7 15 March 2006 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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

Nearly all children who attend this average sized school come from White British backgrounds. A very small number of children speak English in addition to another language. A higher than average proportion of children is entitled to free school meals reflecting some social deprivation in the area. More children have learning disabilities and/or difficulties than found in other schools of the same size.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Fairfield Infant and Nursery School, 14 March 2006 to 15 March 2006

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Grade: 1

Fairfield Infant and Nursery is an outstanding school. It gives excellent value for money. Children thoroughly enjoy school and many 'just cannot wait to get into their classrooms in the morning,' standing with faces pressed eagerly against the doors waiting for them to open. Children particularly enjoy the special times and remember funny moments. The children themselves want just one improvement, to have more time at school to go on enjoying all the things they like. All children get off to a flying start in the Nursery and Reception. The children make excellent progress from their low starting points to reach average standards by the end of the Reception year. The children's excellent progress continues in Years 1 and 2 and standards are significantly above average by the time they move to the junior school. They are all engrossed in activities because they are excited by them, and they respond extremely positively to

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Grade: 1

the high quality teaching and curriculum. A small proportion of children have poor attendance and this affects the results that the school achieves in some year groups. Outstanding leadership and management at all levels are driving up standards through high expectations and a very clear structure of how to achieve this. The school views itself as good in all respects because its strive for perfection has stopped it judging itself higher than this, always recognising that there is more that can be done. Excellent improvement has been made since the previous inspection. Assessment information is used extremely well to track the children's progress, to plan well-matched learning and to check how well the school is doing. The school is extremely well placed to make further improvements.

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What the school should do to improve further

- Continue to search for ways of getting the small proportion of children whose attendance causes concern to come to school more regularly.

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Grade: 1

The children achieve high standards because the school always believes they are capable of doing even better. Despite recent changes to staffing and disruption caused by the building developments, all children get a really good deal in Nursery and Reception. The emphasis on personal development ensures children soon develop a love of learning on which to build as they get older. By the time they start in Year 1, standards are above average in their personal development and average in all other areas of learning. Standards are significantly above average in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 2 because all children continue to make excellent progress. Standards have been exceptionally high in some years in the past when children's attendance has been good and the proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities has been smaller. Children are on track to reach the challenging targets set

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Grade: 1

for them this year and standards remain high. Children with learning disabilities and/or difficulties make exceptional progress and most reach standards appropriate for their 2 Inspection Report: Fairfield Infant and Nursery School, 14 March 2006 to 15 March 2006 age. Teaching assistants provide high quality support in lessons and when working with individual children on specific targets, for example, in the Rainbow Room to help with literacy and social skills.

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Grade: 1

Pupils' personal development is outstanding. Children attach huge importance to the Golden Rules, which they have played a significant part in establishing. These set high expectations for behaviour and guide children extremely effectively. Children like earning Golden Time and choosing something from the Golden Box when they get ten stickers. This system rewards everyone's good behaviour and results in exemplary attitudes and behaviour for children of this age. Children are fully involved in helping the school deal with bullying and there are very few incidents. Children learn to say 'I don't like that' from an early age. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent due to the close attention given in lessons and assemblies. Children go out of the way to help each other. Those who need someone to play with can find a friend at the 'friendship stop' or simply ask someone if they can join in their game. Everyone

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Grade: 1

contributes well to the school and local community by planning how they want to improve the playground, taking responsibility for choosing items to go in the Golden Box, and raising money for charity. Children are very conscious of eating healthily and taking care of themselves because the school places high emphasis on these. The children's good literacy, numeracy and computer skills and the excellent way they work together in pairs and teams ensure they have the skills they will need in later life. The large majority attend well and are on time each day. However, a small proportion of children have poor attendance and this affects the school's results.

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Grade: 1

The quality of teaching and learning is consistently good with important elements that are outstanding. This excellent practice overall is one reason why children achieve so well. Very high expectations of what children can achieve enable them to thrive. The school's 'can do' philosophy underpins all aspects of the staff's work in supporting children's personal development and their learning. Relationships between staff and children are very strong. Through constant encouragement, all children very successfully develop their independent working and thinking skills. Children are well managed and their enthusiasm for learning is infectious. The leadership team is highly focused on ensuring that teachers have the right tools to do their job so well. Teaching assistants are well briefed and make a first-class contribution to helping children succeed. Rigorous assessment procedures are straightforward, enabling staff to concentrate

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Grade: 1

on making the very best use of the information they collect to help them plan their lessons. Lessons are carefully matched to the children's interests as well as their ability. Staff inspire children's confidence by ensuring that new work is presented in small 3 Inspection Report: Fairfield Infant and Nursery School, 14 March 2006 to 15 March 2006 'chunks' and that supporting activities consolidate their learning before moving on to the next step. Children know their targets for improvement and are fully involved in assessing how well they are doing towards reaching these.

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Grade: 1

Children are pleased to be in school because they get such a wide range of fun things to do and extremely good opportunities to play and learn. Links between subjects and the many varied opportunities for the children to enjoy experiences from first-hand bring learning to life. The interesting curriculum transforms into exciting activities in the classroom and so engages the children's interest and motivates learning. Personal, social and health education programmes build high levels of self-confidence and self-esteem and give the children an excellent insight into their feelings and emotions. The curriculum builds skills that the children will need in later life highly effectively. A wide range of varied activities enrich the curriculum extremely well. Fun and fitness, football and computer club meet the many interests of all children. A wide range of visits into the local community and visitors into school bring added interest and

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Grade: 1

experiences to the children's learning and make a very strong contribution to their personal and academic development.

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Grade: 1

The school has an excellent knowledge of its children and a clear understanding of how best to meet their needs. It uses information from detailed and focused assessments to build up a clear and accurate picture of how well each child is doing and to set challenging targets for children to achieve. Care has a high priority and all procedures, including child protection, to ensure children are kept safe in school are stringent. The school supports the work of other professionals and community groups highly effectively by following up their advice and developing their work with families and children, for example by working with families to try to improve the poor attendance of a few children. The school regularly talks to parents and this provides a positive on-going partnership. Children get off to such a good start in the Nursery partly because their attendance in toddler group and visiting club helps them and their

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Grade: 1

families to get to know the school and staff before they come. The school provides exceptional care and support for children with a physical disability or medical condition to enable them to make excellent progress in school.

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Grade: 1

The headteacher's leadership of the school is outstanding. Working with a highly effective leadership team, the determination to give the children the very best start to their education is driving the school forward at a pace. Her imaginative vision for the school's future development, fully supported by the whole staff team and 4 Inspection Report: Fairfield Infant and Nursery School, 14 March 2006 to 15 March 2006 governors, is firmly focused on high standards and creating an excellent learning environment. In all aspects of the school's work, expectations are demanding but achievable. The school's analysis of its performance is very thorough and underpins the high quality teaching and learning. Regular, rigorous monitoring of teaching, learning and children's progress provides leaders and governors with a very clear and accurate knowledge of good practice, indicates where there is scope for improvement

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Grade: 1

and what needs to be done to ensure success. It constantly looks for ways in which it can do better, and actively involves staff, parents, governors and children in this process. Priorities for improvement are accurate. Targets for judging success are challenging, with timescales and responsibilities clearly defined. Staff development is well focused and effectively supports planned improvements. The day-to-day management supports the school's work very efficiently and effectively, enabling teachers to concentrate on teaching and children on learning. The school has the skills and determination to ensure it can continue to go from strength to strength. 5 Inspection Report: Fairfield Infant and Nursery School, 14 March 2006 to 15 March 2006 .

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set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Fairfield Infant and Nursery School, 14 March 2006 to 15 March 2006

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Overall

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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learners?

NA 1 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 2 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA Yes The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

NA 1 How well do learners achieve? NA 2 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 1 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 1 The behaviour of learners NA 3 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 1 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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needs and interests of learners?

NA 1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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needs and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low.

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and supporting all learners?

NA 1 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 1 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 1 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 1 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 2 The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities NA Yes The adequacy and suitability of staff to ensure that learners are protected

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The extent to which schools enable learners to be healthy

Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to eat and drink healthily Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to take regular exercise Yes Learners are discouraged from smoking and substance abuse Yes Learners are educated about sexual health

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The extent to which providers ensure that learners stay safe

Yes Procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements Yes Risk assessment procedures and related staff training are in place Yes Action is taken to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as bullying and racism Yes Learners are taught about key risks and how to deal with them

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The extent to which learners make a positive contribution

Yes Learners are helped to develop stable, positive relationships Yes Learners, individually and collectively, participate in making decisions that affect them Yes Learners are encouraged to initiate, participate in and manage activities in school and the wider community

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The extent to which schools enable learners to achieve economic well-being

Yes There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills Yes Learners have opportunities to develop enterprise skills and work in teams NA Careers education and guidance is provided to all learners in key stage 3 and 4 and the sixth form NA Education for all learners aged 14–19 provides an understanding of employment and the economy

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for making us feel so welcome and for sharing your feelings and thoughts about your school with us. We were really impressed that you knew all of our names and the way you said hello to us every time you saw us. You told us how much you liked your school, and all of your parents we talked to like it too. You will be pleased to hear that we think your school is doing a fantastic job. You are all doing really well at school because you work so hard and because your teachers plan some really fun and exciting things for you to do. We think you all behave extremely well in lessons, when walking about the school and when you are outside playing. Everybody we talked to said they are happy to come to school and that the time just whizzes by. You know how to take care of yourselves and know that if you have any problem or have some good news to share, you can go to any adult at any time. We are pleased with

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

the way Mrs Coackley, the governors and the adults in school encourage you to be healthy and make sure you are safe. We think you make a good contribution to the school and wider community by helping to plan the improvements you want to make to the playground and by raising money for many charities. We have asked Mrs Coackley to try to make sure that some of you, who don't come to school as often as you should, come to school more often. Well done to those of you who come to school every day except when you are ill. Mrs Coackley is an excellent headteacher and she works hard to make sure that the school is a happy place where you can all learn and grow into confident young people. We hope you will continue to like going to school and wish you all the very best.

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