Beighton Nursery Infant School

Beighton Infant and Nursery School Inspection report

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107036 Unique Reference Number Sheffield Local Authority 287685 Inspection number 14 °15 March 2007 Inspection dates Philip Cole 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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Primary Type of school Community School category 3 °7 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 312 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Neil Bowles Chair Mrs Irene Eccles Headteacher 11 June 2001 Date of previous school inspection School Road School address Sheffield South Yorkshire S20 1EG

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0114 2486572 Telephone number 0114 2475653 Fax number

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3 °7 Age group 14 °15 March 2007 Inspection dates 287685 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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Beighton is a large infant and nursery school. It serves a suburb of Sheffield with mainly owner-occupied housing. Almost all the pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is below average, as is the proportion with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, although slightly more have statements of special educational need than is usual.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 10 Inspection Report: Beighton Infant and Nursery School, 14 °15 March 2007

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Grade: 1

Beighton is an outstanding school which has shown excellent improvement since its last inspection. The school was somewhat modest when judging its own performance as good. Parents are overwhelmingly supportive with many saying how much their children love coming to school and how well the school cares for them. Pupils' personal development is outstanding. Their behaviour is excellent, their attitudes are extremely positive, they get on very well with each other and they relish the many jobs they are given in school. A particular strength is their understanding of what they need to do to be healthy, even nagging their parents about what they are given to eat at home.Standards and achievement are outstanding. Children come into Nursery with attainment broadly in line with the national average. They make consistently good progress in the Nursery and Reception classes to reach above average standards. Their progress

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Grade: 1

accelerates in Key Stage 1 so that by the end of Year 2 pupils attain impressive results in national assessments. This has been a feature for several years. The current Year 2 pupils are on track to exceed the challenging targets set for them in 2007. Teaching is outstanding. Starting in Nursery and continuing throughout the school, teachers ensure that pupils fully understand what they should be able to do by the end of lessons. They use skilful questioning to challenge pupils to think hard and express themselves clearly. Consistent feedback helps pupils understand what they can do to make their work even better in all subjects. Teachers' expectations are very high and pupils respond particularly well with carefully presented work and high levels of involvement in lessons. The curriculum is good, with particular strengths in the provision for personal, social, health and citizenship education. This successfully promotes pupils' personal

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Grade: 1

development. In Key Stage 1, very effective links are made between subjects. This ensures efficient delivery of the curriculum and purposeful contexts for the development of basic skills, including information and communication technology. Provision in the Foundation Stage is good and supports children's good progress across all areas of learning. Sometimes opportunities are missed to enable the children to develop their own ideas in creative activities, and the quality and challenge of the activities that children can choose to do are uneven between the classes.Outstanding care, guidance and support underpin pupils' personal development very well and ensure their safety. Excellent academic guidance and support ensure that all pupils make consistently strong progress. Pupils' progress is tracked closely in reading, writing and mathematics in Key Stage 1 and across the areas of learning in the Foundation Stage. All pupils

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Grade: 1

are involved in this process and have a very good understanding of how well they are doing and, particularly for older pupils, what they need to do next. Any difficulties they have are tackled promptly and effectively. The headteacher and her senior management team provide excellent leadership. This promotes a shared desire to raise standards and improve quality. It has created a learning community in which changes are based on research and are carefully planned and implemented. Governors and all staff are actively involved in the development process. Good account is taken of parents' and pupils' views when deciding what should be done. Self-evaluation is rigorous and regular and ensures that initiatives are effectively implemented and that there is excellent equality of opportunity for pupils. The school has shown very strong improvement in all aspects since its last inspection and standards have risen

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Grade: 1

impressively. It is extremely well placed to improve in the future. It provides excellent value for money. 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Beighton Infant and Nursery School, 14 °15 March 2007

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What the school should do to improve further

• In the Foundation Stage, provide more opportunities for children to express their own ideas creatively, and offer more consistent quality and challenge in the activities that they can choose to do.

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Grade: 1

Standards at the end of Year 2 have been consistently above and often significantly above the national average since 2002. Particular strengths have been in reading and mathematics. Over the last 18 months, much improved use of assessment has helped to raise standards in writing. As a consequence, results were also significantly above the national average in 2006. Given children's starting points, this represents excellent achievement by the end of Year 2. Progress is good across all the areas of learning in the Foundation Stage and children comfortably achieve above national averages by the end of Reception. All groups of pupils make impressive gains in their learning.

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Grade: 1

Pupils are excited about learning. They eagerly join in discussions and work with great concentration and care on tasks, happily talking to each other about what they are doing. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent. They have surprisingly good self-awareness for their age and a strongly developed sense of right and wrong. They enthusiastically take on responsibility, for example as library, telephone and stairs monitors, playground friends and school councillors. Pupils are developing a good awareness of cultures other than their own. Excellent basic skills and very strong personal and social skills ensure that they are very well prepared for future life.

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Grade: 1

The consistency in the use of the agreed and very effective approaches to teaching is a striking feature and ensures that pupils achieve very well indeed. High quality relationships and teachers' high expectations of work rate and behaviour underpin learning particularly well. All classes have very well trained teaching assistants and they work seamlessly with teachers ensuring excellent preparation of lessons. As a result, the needs of different groups are very effectively met. They have a strong impact on the learning of all pupils. For example, they deliver physical therapy for groups and lead the reading club which successfully challenges high-attaining pupils.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is particularly good in Key Stage 1 and includes imaginative provision which enhances pupils' learning. Higher-attaining pupils are really stretched by the challenge provided in the reading club. This requires them to discuss and research the background to the books they are reading. The physical therapy programme for pupils with learning difficulties and/or 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Beighton Infant and Nursery School, 14 °15 March 2007 disabilities is successfully improving their physical coordination and hence their ability to write and use implements. There is good enrichment through visits, including a residential week for Year 2 pupils, theme weeks and days such as the Arts Week and Puzzle Day and out-of-class clubs including gardening and sporting activities led by coaches. The Foundation Stage curriculum is good. Changes have recently been made to improve it further, following an

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Grade: 2

extensive review. These are not yet fully embedded and there is some unevenness in provision which the school is aware of.

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Grade: 1

Academic support and guidance are outstanding and make an excellent contribution to the rapid progress made by pupils. Their learning is regularly assessed and progress and targets for improvement are shared with pupils and their parents. Together with the detailed comments made on work across the curriculum, this is ensuring that pupils and their parents have a very clear understanding of how well pupils are doing and how they can improve. Programmes devised for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are precise and well matched to their needs and ensure that they make excellent progress. Outstanding care is based on trusting relationships, robust and effective policies and practices and parental involvement. In addition, all staff are trained in first aid and there are multi-agency meetings each term to discuss problems that vulnerable pupils may have.

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Grade: 1

Several years ago the school established a broadly based management structure. This has resulted in leadership and responsibility being distributed across the school. All staff are involved in leadership teams and in the very robust monitoring and evaluation of the school's work. This in turn has very effectively raised the professional skills and confidence of staff and helped to ensure great consistency in the effectiveness of teaching and learning across the school. Governors are regularly involved in focused visits to the school and have the knowledge, understanding and confidence to hold it to account. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Beighton Infant and Nursery School, 14 °15 March 2007 .

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Grade: 1

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Beighton Infant and Nursery School, 14 °15 March 2007

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Inspection judgements

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

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 2 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

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

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Beighton Infant and Nursery School, 14 °15 March 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 9 of 10 Inspection Report: Beighton Infant and Nursery School, 14 °15 March 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I would like to thank you for making our visit to your school so enjoyable. You impressed us with the high quality of your work, your excellent behaviour and your friendliness. For many years, the pupils in Year 2 have done extremely well in the national tests and we think that you are on track to do equally well. This is because you try so hard in lessons and because your teachers and their assistants are excellent at their jobs.Many of you told us how well the adults look after you and talked about the really interesting things that you do in school, such as the Arts Week and the visits you go on. We agree and are particularly impressed with the helpful comments that teachers make about your work. You have a very good idea of how well you are doing in school and what you can do to make your work better.Your headteacher, all the staff and the governors have worked really hard to make this such an excellent school. We think that

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

it can be even better. We have asked them to give the children in the Nursery and Reception classes more opportunities to use their own ideas when they are creating pictures and other things. We have also asked them to make sure that the activities these children can choose from make them think as much as possible.Your parents are right to be extremely pleased with what the school does. We are sure that you will all continue to be very happy there. 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Beighton Infant and Nursery School, 14 °15 March 2007

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