Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School

Inspection Report Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School

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122729 Unique Reference Number NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Local Authority 292489 Inspection number 15 °16 January 2007 Inspection dates Sue Hall 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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Maple Drive School address Infant Type of school Worksop Community School category Nottinghamshire S81 0LR 3 °7 Age range of pupils 01909 486374 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01909 486374 Fax number 203 Number on roll (school) Mrs D Mariner Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs K E Lancaster Headteacher 15 October 2001 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 292489 15 °16 January 2007 3°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 two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This is an average sized infant and nursery school in North Nottinghamshire. The number of children eligible for free school meals is below average. The large majority of children are of White British heritage with only a very small number speaking English as an additional language. The proportion with learning difficulties or disabilities is below the national average. The school has achieved an Investors in People award and Healthy Schools (Gold) award.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, 15 °16 January 2007

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Grade: 2

This is a good school. Parents think well of the quality of education and care with one noting, 'As a parent I feel that all the staff are approachable should I need to raise any concerns and discuss any issues. I have a very happy child at Prospect which makes me a very happy parent'. Children enter the school with a wide range of early experiences and skills which are average overall. They make good progress in the Foundation Stage where teaching and support staff work closely together which enables children to settle quickly and achieve well. By the time they enter Year 1 children reach, and often exceed, the goals expected of their age. In Years 1 and 2 children continue to make good progress and at the age of seven attain standards that are above average in reading, writing and mathematics. Across the school children of all abilities achieve well. Children's personal development is good as is their spiritual, moral, social and cultural

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Grade: 2

development. The behaviour of the majority of children is good. The school has done much to encourage healthy lifestyles. While the attendance of children is slightly below average, this is satisfactory overall because the school monitors this carefully and takes action where necessary. The quality of teaching and learning is generally good. Staff make very effective use of information from the tracking of progress. Target grouping arrangements in literacy and numeracy are effective in ensuring the level of challenge is appropriate for higher achievers and those who find learning more difficult. The curriculum is good and staff ensure that the two-year cycle of topics is appropriate in mixed age classes. The care, guidance and support of children are good with some strong features in the way staff gather and use an extensive range of information about progress. While the marking of children's writing is very effective, that in numeracy is often brief and does not

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Grade: 2

always identify what they have to do to improve. The leadership and management of the school are good. The headteacher provides determined leadership with a feature being the way in which she encourages staff to develop their roles in areas for which they hold responsibility. Governance of the school is good. While there are appropriate procedures to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and learning this is sometimes generous, lacks evaluative rigour and does not always identify clearly enough the further areas for improvement. The school has improved well since the previous inspection, provides good value for money and has a good capacity to continue to improve.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Ensure that the monitoring of teaching and learning is rigorous and enables staff to identify areas for further improvement. • Provide children with more guidance on how to improve their work, especially in numeracy. 2 Inspection Report: Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, 15 °16 January 2007

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Grade: 2

The school has very effective procedures to check and track the progress children make from entry and throughout school. Overall the majority of children have average skills for their age when they start school. Few initially attain above average standards. In the Foundation Stage they make good progress in all areas of their learning and when they enter Year 1 the majority achieve the targets expected of them and several exceed these. In Years 1 and 2 children continue to make good progress. Previously the school recognised that standards in writing could be higher and successfully put in place more opportunities for extended writing. More recently staff noted that girls often did better in reading and writing while boys did so in mathematics. Staff then extended the ways in which they check and track the progress of different groups in order to put in additional support where necessary. This is having a positive impact on standards.

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Grade: 2

The needs of higher and lower attaining children are met well in target groups for literacy and numeracy and this enables those of all abilities and backgrounds to achieve well. The inspection identified no significant differences in the achievement of boys and girls. Overall by the end of Year 2 standards are above average and a good proportion achieve the higher levels in national tests.

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Grade: 2

The personal development of children is good overall but slightly below the school's own evaluation. The large majority of children are well behaved and positive about school. Bullying is rare. They enjoy learning, developing new skills and taking part in all that the school provides. The school council makes a valuable contribution to the school community through its work in letting the staff know what children think and suggesting ideas for improvements. Attendance is improving because the school works hard to promote it. Varied and sometimes outstanding assemblies significantly promote children's good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Adults in school provide good role models and as a result children learn to value and respect others. They develop self-esteem and confidence because their efforts and achievements are valued and rewarded. This is seen in celebration assemblies and through the use of children's

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Grade: 2

independent learning (Ch.I.L) time, where children choose how to spend a given amount of time. They understand well the importance of keeping safe. Children benefit from the high profile given to the promotion of healthy lifestyles, including the good quality healthy lunches. However, staff realise there is more to do to help children and their parents make the best choices, especially in their packed meals. 3 Inspection Report: Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, 15 °16 January 2007

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Grade: 2

The staff have developed very effective procedures to check and track the progress children make. The extensive range of information available is then used well to inform the planning of lessons. Teaching and support staff work well together and form an enthusiastic teaching team and provide a consistent approach. This ensures all children, including the more able, are offered a good level of challenge; and effective support is provided for those with learning or behavioural difficulties. While the quality of teaching and learning observed in the inspection was good overall, in some lessons there were features that were not entirely effective. For example, teachers do not always make it clear to children what they are learning and miss opportunities for them to discuss their ideas together. Staff give good verbal feedback to children but the marking of work in mathematics is not entirely effective.

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Grade: 2

High quality displays provide evidence of the school's good curriculum, which is diverse, creative and inclusive. Children steadily develop knowledge and understanding as they move through the school. Their literacy, numeracy and information communication and technology skills are used well to support work in other subjects and prepare them for their future economic well-being. Staff work hard to lessen the impact the accommodation has on the curriculum. They plan carefully to provide practical activities in restricted space and ensure that quiet times are shared so that noise does not intrude too much in open-plan areas. Personal and social development is given strong emphasis and lies at the heart of the school's work. Visits and visitors, such as the Fire Service, help to broaden children's horizons and their understanding of the community as well as bringing learning to life. Experiences, such as World Book Week, help stimulate interest, break down barriers

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Grade: 2

between subjects and promote learning. Some children enjoy and benefit from a small range of clubs and activities, including sport, which helps them develop healthy and varied lifestyles.

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Grade: 2

Pastoral care is good with many successful initiatives established to keep children safe and happy. Procedures for ensuring children are protected are embedded in the school's work. The school has satisfactory arrangements for ensuring that all new staff are appropriately checked. It does much to ensure a smooth transition when children move to the junior school. Good information is provided and parents express confidence in the school. Support for children with learning difficulties is well organised and effective. 4 Inspection Report: Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, 15 °16 January 2007 Staff support children well overall but miss opportunities at lunchtime to help them further develop their social skills and table manners. Systems for monitoring academic achievement are very effective. The school has rigorous approaches for tracking children's progress to help them achieve well. Children

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Grade: 2

know what they must do to improve through the use of targets and helpful marking in literacy. However, these successful approaches to help children learn are not yet as well developed in mathematics.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher provides a good lead to school improvement. She effectively draws out the skills of colleagues which enables them to provide good leadership in areas for which they hold responsibility. This has led to a good team approach and enthusiasm from teaching and support staff who feel valued. This is epitomised in the arrangements where three Foundation Stage staff are currently sharing temporary responsibility for the key stage in an enthusiastic and effective manner. Subject leaders monitor pupil performance carefully and use the range of assessment information well to inform school improvement planning. School self-evaluation is therefore good overall and inspection judgements largely match those of the school. However, the monitoring of teaching is not as effective as it might be as some evaluations are overly supportive rather than rigorously evaluative. Governance of the school is good overall. While there

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Grade: 2

are less formal governing body meetings than in many schools, several governors are well involved in the work of the school, and this includes focused visits. 5 Inspection Report: Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, 15 °16 January 2007 .

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Grade: 2

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, 15 °16 January 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 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 2 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

2 How well do learners achieve? 2 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The behaviour of learners 3 The attendance of learners 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 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?

2 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. 7 Inspection Report: Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, 15 °16 January 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? 8 Inspection Report: Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, 15 °16 January 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

17 January 2007 Dear Children Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, Maple Drive, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, S81 0LR Thank you very much for looking after us when we visited your school recently. We enjoyed speaking to you in lessons, at lunchtime and in discussions, including those with members of the school council. We think that there are lots of good things about your school. These are the things that we think are best: • The staff track the progress you make very well. • Teachers and classroom support staff work really happily together with you. • You enjoy your time in school and like to see your work on display. • You make good progress and most of you try hard. There are two things we think could be better. We have asked the staff to have a really good look at how their lessons could be even better when they watch each other teach. We have also asked the teachers to give you more help when they mark your maths so that your work

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

can be even better. Thank you again for chatting to us. Enjoy your time at Prospect Hill, make sure that you come to school regularly and remember to try to do things that will help you to stay healthy! Yours sincerely Sue Hall Lead Inspector 9 Inspection Report: Worksop Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School, 15 °16 January 2007

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