William Lilley Infant and Nursery School

Inspection Report William Lilley Infant and Nursery School

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122551 Unique Reference Number NOTTINGHAMSHIRE LEA LEA 281295 Inspection number 19 October 2005 to 20 October 2005 Inspection dates Ms. Mary Hamby LI Reporting inspector

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

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Halls Road School address Infant Type of school NG9 7FS Community School category 3 to 7 Age range of pupils 0115 917 9277 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0115 917 9277 Fax number 205 Number on roll Mrs.Ruth Kitchin Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs. Jeanne Wilson Headteacher 20 September 1999 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 281295 19 October 2005 - 3 to 7 20 October 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 of Her Majesty's Inspectors of schools.

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Description of the school

The children attending the William Lilley School come mainly from white British backgrounds. The percentage of them with learning difficulties is slightly lower than average and a very small proportion of them have a statutory statement of special educational need. Most of the children's learning difficulties are to do with reading and writing. The proportion of pupils who are entitled to receive a free school meal is average. The school admits children to the nursery and reception classes at three points during the year. Children are admitted to the nursery at three years and five months of age and they attend on a part-time basis. They transfer to this school, or another one in the locality, in the term in which they are five.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: William Lilley Infant and Nursery School, 19 October 2005 to 20 October 2005

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Grade: 2

This is an effective school which has a clear and accurate view of its strengths and weaknesses. The parents and pupils are rightly pleased with what is provided by the caring and dedicated school team. The leadership and management of the school are good, underpinned by the headteacher's strong vision and drive for the school to succeed. Governors play an important part in the development of the school and carry out their roles efficiently and effectively. Together with the staff, they have ensured that the school has improved since the last inspection. All the issues which were identified have been resolved and the school is very well placed to continue its successful path. In the last few years standards have risen year on year. The school gives good value for money. Children in the Foundation Stage (nursery and reception) are well settled and make good progress. The children make good progress through

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Grade: 2

Key Stage 1 with a significant proportion of the girls making remarkable progress. The school has identified that boys do not do as well as girls through Key Stage 1 and has started to take action to redress this. However, it is early days and their actions have not yet had sufficient impact. The staff provide very interesting learning opportunities for the children and the teaching is good. Most lessons provide activities that challenge the children's thinking. Children who have special needs benefit really well from targeted support that encourages them to try their best and grow in confidence. The children's personal development is central to the school's work and is good. The provision of care, guidance and support is outstanding. This helps all the children to enjoy learning, feel safe and know that the staff care for them.

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What the school should do to improve further

- Continue to improve the achievement of boys.

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Grade: 2

All the children achieve well throughout the school with some very good achievement from a significant proportion of girls in Year 1 and Year 2. The school does well to ensure that the children with special needs make good progress to reach their challenging targets. On entry to school the attainment of boys and girls is similar to other three-year olds, but the by the end of the Foundation Stage it is higher than that seen nationally. The children who have birthdays in the autumn term are further forward in their learning than those with birthdays in the spring and summer. Through Key Stage 1 the children make good progress. The girls' results in the 2005 national tests were impressive, particularly so for the proportion attaining Level 3, which is the usual benchmark for pupils in their first two years at junior school. Although boys make good progress, their attainment in Year 2 is below that of girls in English,

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Grade: 2

mathematics and science. The school sets itself high targets each year, based on its good understanding of the pupils' abilities and the aspirations it has for them to 2 Inspection Report: William Lilley Infant and Nursery School, 19 October 2005 to 20 October 2005 succeed. Last year the targets were reached in reading and mathematics, but fell just short in writing.

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Grade: 2

The inspectors agree with the school's judgement that provision for personal development is good. The children enjoy being at school, look forward to lessons and know their targets. They behave very well and understand the 'Golden Rules'. Parents value the strong moral ethos which the school provides and are pleased with the way that their children develop. The children's spiritual development is promoted well through regular opportunities to reflect on issues, such as assembly themes, and through drama where feelings are frequently discussed. The children have numerous opportunities to develop their social skills, but girls tend to show more maturity than boys, for example, by showing initiative and organising equipment. Girls concentrate harder and persevere for longer periods than boys. The children's cultural development is enhanced through activities such as art and drama which cover a wide range of

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Grade: 2

cultural perspectives. There are very good links to the local community, for example, through the recent centenary celebrations, which help the children to develop an awareness of citizenship. Links with local shops and the emphasis that the school places on the development of literacy and numeracy contribute well to the children's potential economic well being. The children help to raise money for charities and are sponsoring a tiger as a result an initiative from children in Year 1. There is high emphasis on healthy eating and drugs awareness; visitors, such as the school nurse and a local pharmacist, have helped to improve children's understanding of such issues. Attendance is satisfactory.

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Grade: 2

The teaching is good throughout the school and so all children achieve well. The headteacher is right in identifying that the teachers have good subject knowledge and manage the children's behaviour effectively. Most of the teaching is matched well to the range of children's abilities. Occasionally, however, the work is too easy for some of them and they do not learn as much as they might. When there is insufficient challenge the boys in particular start to fidget and lose concentration. The teachers think hard about how to make their lessons interesting, ensure that children understand what they are going to learn, and why the lesson will help them. The staff know that the boys are not doing as well as the girls and have started to plan lessons which will appeal to them and help them to learn. The impact on their learning is clear. Boys respond much better to reading and writing about facts, and enjoy fiction where there

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Grade: 2

is an element of adventure. They are less well motivated to write about other topics, such as what happened at the weekend, and do not try as hard as the girls with this 3 Inspection Report: William Lilley Infant and Nursery School, 19 October 2005 to 20 October 2005 sort of activity. The teachers assess children's work accurately and help the children to make good progress by the quality of their marking.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is wide and interesting and is enriched by visits and visitors. Regular focus days, for example, on topics, such as the seaside or dinosaurs, increase pupils' understanding and contribute to their enjoyment. The curriculum in the Foundation Stage is stimulating and includes suitable opportunities for play and discovery. The curriculum is considered carefully to promote effective transition between the Foundation Stage and Year1 and there are good links to the next schools so that the pupils are prepared well for this move. This is particularly true for those pupils who have special educational needs whom the school supports by making individual books to prepare them for what is described as their 'New Journey'. The leadership team consider the curriculum carefully and have identified some weaknesses in it in the past. In consequence, they have strengthened the provision for information and

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Grade: 2

communication technology and increased the opportunities for reading and writing to be taught in a range of subjects. They are now considering how they can improve the appeal of reading and writing to boys and have some useful strategies in place to do this.

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Grade: 1

The school takes excellent care of its pupils and provides a safe and caring environment for them. All staff have had child protection training and thorough risk assessments are carried out. The children have overwhelming confidence in all the staff at the school. They know that they can talk to an adult about any worries and that if they have any concerns about bullying, someone will listen to them. There are very good arrangements to support children who have special educational needs, and reviews of their progress are well organised and supported by representatives from external agencies. As a result of this good support these children make good progress. The school is highly responsive to the individual needs of gifted or talented children and this contributes very well to the progress that these children make.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good. The school's self-evaluation rightly identifies this and also outlines the school's strengths and areas of further development. The leadership team have identified that boys, despite their good progress, are not achieving as well as girls. Some action has already been taken to try and redress this, for example by ensuring that boys' interests are taken into account when planning topics and visits, or when visitors are invited to the school. It is early days with these improvements and, as yet, there has been no direct impact on standards. The headteacher leads the 4 Inspection Report: William Lilley Infant and Nursery School, 19 October 2005 to 20 October 2005 school very well, drawing on her significant experience and high level of commitment to the school's community. She is tireless in her efforts to ensure the very best for the school and is keen to ensure that parents and the pupils themselves are consulted

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Grade: 2

appropriately. Questionnaires received from parents and responses from pupils are overwhelmingly positive in their support for the school. One of the parents reported that the education provided for her child was 'a journey which we are all part of'. This sums up how others feel. Staff on the leadership team make a significant contribution to school improvement, benefiting particularly from the headteacher's excellent model of monitoring the teaching and learning. The leadership of provision for children with special needs is extremely effective. The governors are highly involved and exercise their duties effectively. They have supported the school very well since the last inspection and seen it go from strength to strength. Standards have risen steadily in the last few years because of the good teaching and the effective way that school leaders monitor pupils' progress. Based on the school's good track record it is well

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Grade: 2

placed to continue to improve. 5 Inspection Report: William Lilley Infant and Nursery School, 19 October 2005 to 20 October 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: William Lilley Infant and Nursery School, 19 October 2005 to 20 October 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 2 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 1 The behaviour of learners NA 3 The attendance of learners NA 2 How well learners enjoy their education NA 2 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 2 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 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

We are writing to you all about the visit that we made to your school. You will remember that we came to look at all the work that you were doing and to talk to you and your teachers. Thank you all for the friendly welcome that you gave us and for sharing your work with us. It helped us to get a good picture of your school in the short time we were there. There were lots of good things that we will remember about your school. These include: - How your wonderful headteacher works very hard to make sure that everyone works together well. - The way your teachers plan really interesting lessons for you which help you learn. - The way that governors take a lot of interest in how well you are doing. - The way all the staff in the school look after you and encourage you to think of other people. - How much you enjoy your lessons and your playtimes. - The way you are polite to each other and to all adults in the school, including

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

visitors. - How you feel safe and cared for and have someone to turn to if you need it. To make your school even better, we have asked the governors and staff to: - Think about how they can help the boys to do as well as the girls in their work. Keep trying hard to do your best and make sure you enjoy all the things that your school does for you.

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