Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School

Inspection Report Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School

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112890 Unique Reference Number DERBYSHIRE Local Authority 289453 Inspection number 22 February 2007 Inspection date Sheelagh Barnes 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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Trent Lane School address Infant Type of school Newton Solney, Burton-on-trent Voluntary aided School category

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Staffordshire DE15 0SF 4 °7 Age range of pupils 01283 703461 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01283 703461 Fax number 42 Number on roll (school) Mrs Chris Pooler Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Linda Latchford Headteacher 24 June 2002 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 289453 22 February 2007 4 °7 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 an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

Newton Solney is a much smaller than average school. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or statements of special educational need is below average. Hardly any of the pupils speak English as an additional language and even fewer are eligible for free school meals. Attainment on entry to the Reception class varies slightly year on year due to the very small size of the school. It covers the full range and is above national expectations for children's ages overall. The school has recently been accredited with Basic Skills Quality Mark, Health Promoting School accreditation and has a commitment to the Anti-Bullying Initiative.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School, 22 February 2007

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Grade: 1

This school provides an outstanding standard of education. Pupils enjoy school and are extremely well behaved and rarely absent as a result. Systems for their care and welfare are excellent. Parents have positive feelings about the school. In questionnaires they say such things as 'To say our child has thrived and improved is an understatement.' The main reason for the outstanding standards the school achieves is the commitment of all staff and governors. The leadership of the headteacher is excellent. The school's accurate self-evaluation has identified some minor areas for improvement in its ongoing efforts to aim for the very highest standards. These areas are already being tackled successfully by the hard working team of teachers, governors and support staff. For example, governors have identified the need for training to enable them to develop their role as a critical friend of the school even further.

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Grade: 1

Children in the Reception class settle quickly and easily into school because of the good provision. They make good progress overall in all of the areas of learning. The school has identified that the development of the Reception curriculum to include more outdoor physical and child initiated activities for children is an area for improvement. Across the school, the curriculum is good and provision for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is excellent. This helps them to make progress towards their targets in line with their peers. Teaching and learning are outstandingly good and result in all pupils making remarkable progress in their learning and achieving exceptionally well. Standards are extremely high by the end of Year 2 and there has been a consistent pattern of very high standards and outstanding achievement over many years. The most recent assessment results in 2006 continue this trend. Pupils make excellent progress in learning personal and

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Grade: 1

social skills. They make an excellent contribution to the community because of the strong emphasis the school places on these aspects of learning. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is extremely good. Assessment is good and is used effectively to accurately tailor learning situations to individual pupils' needs. However, the systems used do not give a quick and easy view of overall trends and value added. As a consequence, this has been identified as an area of focus for school development and new systems are being trialled.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Refine assessment and tracking systems to make it easier to extract information about the overall gains pupils make in their learning. • Review the curriculum for the Foundation Stage to provide a greater balance of physical and child-initiated outdoor activities. 2 Inspection Report: Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School, 22 February 2007

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Grade: 1

Achievement is outstanding. Boys and girls of all levels of ability do extremely well. Children in Reception make good progress and by the time they start in Year 1, standards are above those expected for their ages. By the end of Year 2, standards in reading, writing and mathematics are exceptionally and consistently very high and pupils' achievement is exceptional. Pupils from all groups, including those with learning difficulties and disabilities, make excellent progress towards their targets because of the high quality of support they receive.

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Grade: 1

Personal development and well-being are outstanding. Pupils enjoy school a great deal and, as a result, their attendance is excellent. They show very good consideration for others, taking turns, sharing and looking after each other well, for example at lunchtime. They learn effectively about the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle. Pupils from both classes eat, work and play together exceptionally well. The extent to which pupils make a positive contribution to the community is excellent; for example, celebrating the Queen's birthday with a party and a procession through the village. Pupils learn about the benefits of expressing their views through the school representatives and through personal, social and health education and they talk with confidence about their school.

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Grade: 1

The overall quality of teaching and learning is excellent. It is of a consistently very high quality in the class for the oldest pupils, where teaching builds exceptionally well on the good work in the younger class. In both classes teachers set high standards, both academically and socially, to which pupils respond extremely well. Assessment is good and is used extremely well when planning lessons. Because of this, pupils build swiftly and steadily on what they have already achieved. However, the school acknowledges that tracking systems need refining to better provide data on trends in pupils' achievements and overall progress.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good. Planning of individual lessons ensures that pupils of all abilities in the mixed age classes do work that is at the right level for them. The curriculum for the Foundation Stage is good. The school has identified the need to develop the 3 Inspection Report: Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School, 22 February 2007 curriculum for Reception children to include more use of the new outdoor areas and more physical and child-initiated activities. There is an extremely good range of extra-curricular activities, especially in relation to the size of the school. Pupils benefit from the very good range of sporting and other activities. This includes the opportunity to learn French and Spanish in the after school Activity Club.

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Grade: 1

The care, guidance and support the school provides are of an extremely high standard. Pupils' happiness and safety are promoted extremely effectively. One of the main things pupils say they like about school is that they all play together and have fun. The systems to monitor individual pupils' progress are rigorous. Teachers set challenging targets for pupils to improve their work and share the information with them regularly, including letting pupils know the learning targets for each lesson. Health and welfare is promoted very well. It is threaded effectively through all that is done, including extra-curricular opportunities, such as taking part in sport.

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Grade: 1

Leadership and management are exceedingly good and are strongly focused on maintaining high standards and improving them further still. The headteacher has a good understanding of the strengths of the school and of what needs to be improved. Self-evaluation is accurate and realistic. Monitoring is rigorous and takes suitable account of the views of pupils and parents. The governors support the school well. They have identified the need for further training to give them more confidence to evaluate standards and to provide challenge to the leadership. The school has an excellent capacity to continue to improve and maintain exceptionally high standards. It provides excellent value for money. 4 Inspection Report: Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School, 22 February 2007 .

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Grade: 1

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 5 Inspection Report: Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School, 22 February 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 1 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 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. 6 Inspection Report: Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School, 22 February 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? 7 Inspection Report: Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School, 22 February 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

22 February 2007 Dear Children Newton Solney C of E (Aided) Infant School, Trent Lane, Newton Solney, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire, DE15 0SF I did enjoy visiting your school and talking to you. Thank you for being so polite and friendly. The things that particularly impressed me were: • you like coming to school, you behave extremely well and work hard • your teachers teach you exceptionally well • you make excellent progress and standards are extremely good • school looks after you exceptionally well and makes sure you are all safe and healthy • your headteacher works very hard and knows a lot about just how well each one of you is getting on. The things I have asked your school to do next are: • make sure that even more of the work that the youngest children do enables them to learn to make choices and to develop their physical skills • slightly change the way the records that teachers keep are laid out to show even more

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

clearly how much progress you are all making. I really enjoyed talking to you and watching you learn. I wish you all well for the future. Yours sincerely Mrs Barnes Lead inspector 8 Inspection Report: Newton Solney CofE (Aided) Infant School, 22 February 2007

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