Inglehurst Infant School

Inspection Report Inglehurst Infant School

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120015 Unique Reference Number Leicester City LEA 280708 Inspection number 24 November 2005 to 25 November 2005 Inspection dates Rajinder Harrison RISP Reporting inspector

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

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Ingle Street School address Infant Type of school Leicester Community School category Leicestershire LE3 9FS 3 to 7 Age range of pupils 0116 2622479 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0116 2622479 Fax number 243 Number on roll Mr Rob Johnson Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Sue Palmer Headteacher 20 March 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 280708 24 November 2005 - 3 to 7 25 November 2005 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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Inglehurst Infant School is a large infant school. Attainment on entry to the nursery is well below the levels expected of children aged 3. The number of children eligible for free school meals is very high. The proportion of children with learning difficulties and disabilities is similar to that found nationally. There are many children whose ethnic origin is other than White British and they come from a wide range of multicultural backgrounds. Seventeen children are from families where English is not the home language and six are at an early stage of learning English. The level of attendance is below that expected nationally and the movement of children into and out of the school is high. These last two factors impede children’s progress.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Inglehurst Infant School, 24 November 2005 to 25 November 2005

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Grade: 2

Inspectors and the school agree that this is a good school. The warm, welcoming environment makes children feel safe, well cared for and happy. Children make a good start in the nursery where provision is inviting and fun. Throughout the school, children take great delight in all that is provided and enjoy learning. Teaching is good and children of all ages and ability make good progress. Staff are particularly sensitive in the way they support children who need individual help in order to achieve well. Procedures to monitor children’s progress are very good. Whilst teachers’ assessments are very thorough, occasionally, their marking does not give children enough clear instructions as to how to improve their writing. In addition, expectations of the more able children are not always high enough in some lessons. Children’s personal development is good and they respond positively to the responsibilities placed on

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Grade: 2

them to care for others. Parents speak highly of all that the school does to support their children‘s development. Despite the school’s best efforts, a few children still have far too many absences. Leadership and management are good. The school’s self-evaluation procedures and improvement planning are good. The information these generate provides staff and governors with a clear picture as to the school’s strengths and where improvements need to be made. For example, following the dip in the reported standards in 2004, very effective action was taken to monitor individual pupils’ progress more closely and target additional support more accurately. As a result, standards have improved. Improvement since the last inspection has been satisfactory. The school is well capable of further improvement. The school provides good value for money.

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What the school should do to improve further

•Ensure that the more able children are challenged sufficiently in all lessons. •Implement consistent marking guidelines that all children can follow in order to improve their writing. •Improve children’s attendance by continuing to work with parents .in ensuring children attend school each day.

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Grade: 2

On joining the nursery at the age of 3, children have levels of skills and knowledge that are well below those normally expected at this age. Their skills in communication and literacy are particularly poor. This weakness continues to impact on children’s overall progress as they move through the school. Hence, standards at the end of Year 2 are generally just below average. Good teaching throughout the school results in children making good progress. A significant minority achieve particularly well through the sensitively planned individual support and guidance they receive from all the staff who work with them. By the end of Year 2, the children reach standards that are just below average in reading, writing and mathematics. From the results of national tests and assessments in 2005, there is clear evidence that the school’s efforts to improve 2 Inspection Report: Inglehurst Infant School, 24 November 2005 to 25 November 2005

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Grade: 2

the numbers of children reaching the higher levels have had a positive impact. The school is meeting the challenging targets it sets itself successfully.

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Grade: 2

Children’s personal development is good and is supported well by their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Their awareness of other cultures is promoted well. For example, in assemblies, they listen to stories and sing songs from around the world. Children in Year 2 have the opportunity to take part in a residential ‘sleep over’. This exciting experience helps them gain confidence, become aware of the needs of others and learn how to live within a community. Children feel they are valued because the school treats them as ‘young people’. For example, the older children take children from the reception age classes to the playground after lunch and make sure they play appropriately. They take this responsibility very seriously and feel quite grown up when their efforts are acknowledged. Relationships and behaviour are good, because staff have high expectations of them. Children love school and are keen to learn,

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Grade: 2

looking forward to every new activity with eager anticipation. They learn about the importance of living a healthy and safe lifestyle. For example, children know how to conduct themselves safely around the school and when they play out and understand about ‘stranger danger’. They enjoy physical exercises and are encouraged to bring healthy snacks to eat at break. From an early age, children learn that there are people in the wider world less fortunate than themselves. They raise a considerable amount of money for world charities such as the Tsunami appeal, when they became concerned for ‘children whose homes had been washed away’. Attendance is improving but remains below average. The school works very hard to make all parents aware of the necessity to send their children to school each day.

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good throughout the school. Classrooms are bright and cheery and invite children to want to learn. Teachers display children’s work effectively. This makes children feel proud of their achievements and motivates them to try even harder. Relationships between staff and children are very good. Well qualified teaching assistants work in close partnership with teachers to involve every pupil fully. Children who need individual support to overcome specific difficulties are provided for very sensitively. Planning is good and resources are carefully selected to make activities interesting and fun. Children are encouraged to work with others and develop independent skills. Target setting is generally good but occasionally higher attaining children are not challenged enough. Teachers involve children in assessing their own work and encourage them to think about how they could improve. Marking is

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Grade: 2

3 Inspection Report: Inglehurst Infant School, 24 November 2005 to 25 November 2005 satisfactory but varies in its effectiveness, particularly in writing, where children do not always understand what they need to do to improve their work.

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Grade: 2

Curriculum provision is good. There is a fair balance between preparing children in their basic skills and activities that enrich their experiences. Lessons are planned to give children something to look forward to every day. Provision is organised well for children with learning difficulties and disabilities and those learning English as a new language. This good provision helps these children to do well. Occasionally, more able pupils are not challenged sufficiently. Visitors are invited in and this helps children relate to and learn from new people. Visits to places such as Beaumanor Hall, for example, help learning about the Victorians come to life. In physical education and science, there is a strong focus on developing healthy lifestyles and children in Year 2 speak knowledgeably about what happens when they exercise. One pupil said ‘When you exercise, your blood is pumped around your body and your heart goes faster.’

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Grade: 2

Children’s development is promoted well through a satisfactory range of activities outside lessons and in the local community. The previous report criticised the outdoor environment and the toilets used by children in the mobile classrooms. These issues have been satisfactorily addressed.

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Grade: 2

The school provides good levels of care and support and a safe learning environment. Children say that they feel safe and are happy to approach any adult in the school for help and advice. Occasional incidents of difficult behaviour are dealt with promptly. Child protection procedures are good and all staff are well briefed. Parents and carers have good opportunities to be involved in their child’s education. Many take part in the ‘start of the day activities’ in each classroom as they drop their children off. Parents feel this provides them with valuable insight into the school’s work. The school’s tracking of children’s academic and personal development is very good and the information generated helps to identify early, any children who need additional support and guidance. Children are not always provided with sufficient clear guidance about how to improve their writing. Partnerships with outside agencies are good to provide

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Grade: 2

individual children with any additional support necessary to promote their well-being.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good. The headteacher provides strong leadership and has established an effective team that is keen to take the school forward. Relationships are good and teaching assistants work in very close partnership with teachers to support the initiatives the school has taken on to raise standards. Very 4 Inspection Report: Inglehurst Infant School, 24 November 2005 to 25 November 2005 good opportunities to attend training have helped staff to develop the skills and expertise necessary to carry out their roles effectively. Governors, leadership teams and coordinators are all involved in monitoring and evaluating the work of the school. They accurately identify areas for further improvement and work together to resolve solutions. For example, staff and governors devised and tested the new procedures to monitor individual pupils’ performance and personal development. This activity has been an effective tool in identifying where

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Grade: 2

the school needs to target additional support if the number of children achieving the higher levels at the end of Year 2 is to improve. Governors provide good support and, despite recruitment problems, they are increasingly involved in the day-to-day work of the school. Teaching resources are deployed efficiently and effective use has been made of the surplus budget to refurbish the playground and improve accommodation and resources. The school has an accurate picture of its strengths and areas requiring improvement. It works well with other schools and institutions in seeking solutions to issues that are common to them. Parents are very appreciative of all that the school does to keep them informed about developments in the school and feel their views are taken into consideration when appropriate. These effective partnerships suggest there is good capacity to improve further. 5 Inspection Report: Inglehurst Infant School, 24 November 2005 to 25 November 2005

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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: Inglehurst Infant School, 24 November 2005 to 25 November 2005

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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 2 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 2 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 2 How well do learners achieve? NA 3 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 2 The behaviour of learners NA 4 The attendance of learners NA 2 How well learners enjoy their education NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 3 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 3 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 2 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 2 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 2 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 2 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 2 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

Inglehurst Infant School Ingle Street Leicester Leicestershire LE3 9FS 30 November 2005 Dear Children You may remember we came to visit your school to see how good it was and how well you were doing. Thank you for being so friendly and talking to us about all the exciting things that you do in school! I am writing to tell you what we found out about your school •We think you are very lucky to be at such a good school where all your teachers and other helpers work hard to make school fun and help you do so well. •We know you are really well looked after and that you can go to any of the grown ups that work with you if you need to ask for help or tell them anything. •You have lots of lovely things to play with and you go on exciting trips to interesting places like parks and museums; the ‘sleep over’ trip, when you are in Year 2, sounds great fun. •It was really lovely to see how you help to keep your classrooms

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

tidy and look after each other; we think it is very kind that children in Year 2 look after reception children so sensibly. •We are really pleased that you think about people in the world who do not have all the things you have and raise money to help others. •Your behaviour is really good - well done for being so sensible and polite. To make the school even better, we have asked your teachers to •Make sure that you always have work that helps you learn even more. •Give you more help to make your writing even better. Thank you again for showing us your school and good luck in everything you do. Yours faithfully Rajinder Harrison Lead Inspector

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