Polesden Lacey Infant School

125052 Unique Reference Number Surrey Local Authority 293181 Inspection number 27 °28 February 2007 Inspection dates Peter Thrussell 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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Oakdene Close School address Infant Type of school off Howard Road, Great Bookham Community School category

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Leatherhead KT23 4PT 4 °7 Age range of pupils 01372 456533 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01372 450944 Fax number 67 Number on roll (school) Dr Chris Middleton Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Rosie Keedy Headteacher 29 April 2002 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 293181 27 °28 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

South Bookham is a small infant school. It serves an area of low social deprivation, with few pupils known to be eligible for free school meals. The majority of pupils are from White British heritage.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: South Bookham School, 27 °28 February 2007

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Grade: 2

South Bookham is a good school with several outstanding features. The headteacher sets a very clear direction for the school. She works diligently and has gained the very strong support of parents, staff and governors for the life and work of the school. A parent commented, 'I feel that South Bookham puts a lot of effort into understanding the needs of each and every child and treats them all as individuals'. As a result, pupils achieve well and make good progress throughout the school, both in their personal development and academic learning, reaching exceptionally high standards. Outstanding care, which draws on the extremely close links established with parents and other agencies, ensures that children are safe and that particular difficulties met by pupils are effectively identified and supported. Excellent behaviour and very positive attitudes to learning contribute to pupils' success in school. They enjoy lessons and the opportunities offered through an outstanding,

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Grade: 2

very well enriched curriculum. Special weeks, such as Story Week, are readily recalled by pupils. A parent confirms that 'Children really enjoy the special themed weeks, especially as lots of parents are involved'. Pupils are very aware that the different sporting activities help them to keep fit. They recognise the importance of a healthy diet. Many benefit from the nutritious meals cooked at the school. A competition to plan a healthy lunch box, initiated by the school council, made both parents and children think more carefully about the contents. By sponsoring a Nigerian child and through visits to different places of worship, including a church, synagogue and mosque, pupils are being helped to develop extremely good spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness. Pupils are increasingly involved in their own learning. Lessons are planned with clear learning outcomes, which are displayed and discussed fully with pupils, providing a

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Grade: 2

measure against which they can assess how well they are doing. Pupils know what they expect to gain from lessons and discuss how well they have done at the end of them. The good provision in Reception recognises the importance of carefully assessing and recording the small steps children make in their learning in order to plan the next steps. Good teaching throughout the rest of the school makes full use of teachers' assessment information to ensure that work is challenging and well matched to individual ability. However, the school recognises that it needs to have a more consistent approach to recording and tracking pupils' progress so that all staff have an even clearer picture of how well each pupil is doing and where future difficulties could possibly occur. The school is accurate in the evaluation of its performance, particularly in English and mathematics. It has identified areas to work on. Differences in the attainment of boys

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Grade: 2

and girls are being addressed. A whole school focus on handwriting is bringing about improvements. Leadership and management have recently been reorganised so that all staff now have clear areas of responsibility linked to the six areas of learning in the Foundation Stage. This is expected to focus monitoring and evaluation more readily on all curriculum areas as well as on English and mathematics. These roles are in their 2 Inspection Report: South Bookham School, 27 °28 February 2007 infancy and have yet to be fully established. Given its record of success since the last inspection, the school has a good capacity to make further improvements.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Introduce a whole school approach to recording and tracking progress so that all staff have an even clearer picture of how well pupils are doing. • Develop the monitoring role of the reorganised leadership team to ensure that pupils make the best progress in all curriculum areas.

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Grade: 2

Standards overall are exceptionally high and achievement is good. Children enter the school with an above average level of skills. They make good progress in Reception. Many achieve the learning goals expected at the end of Reception and a significant number exceed them. Good progress continues in Years 1 and 2 and overall standards by the end of Year 2 are well above average in mathematics and generally exceptionally high in reading and writing. Within a small year group, pupils with particular learning difficulties lowered overall standards in 2006. However, pupils with learning difficulties make similar progress to their classmates due to the well targeted support they receive. End-of year predictions for the current Year 2 are showing that standards are likely to remain exceptionally high overall. An improvement is expected in mathematics. This is due to an emphasis on problem solving with greater encouragement for girls

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Grade: 2

especially to talk about their work and explain their strategies, so helping to ensure that all pupils make similar progress. Boys are being encouraged in their writing through topics such as outer space and dinosaurs.

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Grade: 1

Pupils' personal development and well-being are outstanding. They are confident, polite and extremely well behaved. Pupils thoroughly enjoy coming to school and this is reflected in the above average attendance. Where there are problems over attendance, the school is extremely vigilant and works hard to address them. Pupils have an excellent understanding of healthy lifestyles, recognised by the Healthy Schools Award. They agree that school is a very safe place and know that if they have any concerns these are quickly sorted out. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. Pupils make an excellent contribution to both the school and wider communities. They are keen to take on responsibilities in school, taking their roles as classroom monitors and playground buddies seriously. Pupils are regularly involved in charitable fund raising and take part in different local events such as the

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Grade: 1

annual Village Day. Good progress and exceptionally high standards, with frequent opportunities to use information and communication technology (ICT), mean pupils are extremely well prepared for their later life and learning. 3 Inspection Report: South Bookham School, 27 °28 February 2007

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good. Outstanding relationships encourage pupils and they are eager to learn. Lessons are planned well, taking good account of pupils' previous learning. Some lessons approach learning in different subjects through a carousel of activities. Pupils are particularly enthusiastic about these lessons, which provide good opportunities for them to work independently, using and developing previously taught skills. Good opportunities for speaking and listening, for example through talking partners and open questioning, are effective in developing pupils' ideas and understanding. Throughout the school, teachers and teaching assistants generally work well as a team. In some lessons, however, teaching assistants could be better prepared and take a more active role throughout in supporting pupils in their learning. Teachers use a good range of techniques to make lessons interesting and enjoyable.

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Grade: 2

ICT equipment, such as interactive whiteboards, laptops and digital cameras, is used to good effect.

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Grade: 1

The curriculum is outstanding. Work is very well planned for different abilities, with particularly good provision for those with learning difficulties and those who are more able. There is a very strong emphasis on combining different subjects in topic work. This enables pupils to use and develop their different skills in interesting and purposeful situations. There is good provision for ICT and pupils have many opportunities to use these skills to support their learning. Pupils have the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument. An impressive range of visits, visitors, and a good number of additional activities, greatly enrich the curriculum. These add interest and enjoyment to pupils' learning and promote their personal and social development. Work in the Foundation Stage is very well planned to provide a good balance between structured sessions and activities chosen by children. The school's comprehensive programme of

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Grade: 1

personal and social development includes very useful life skills that help pupils to become healthy, safe and responsible people.

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Grade: 1

The care, guidance and support of pupils are outstanding. The school has an extremely strong commitment to caring, which is reflected in the very good arrangements for safeguarding the welfare of pupils. This starts with the very good arrangements for children starting school. They become acquainted with the staff and surroundings by spending time in school and are therefore keen to start school and settle very quickly. Procedures for safe recruitment and for child protection are very clear, well known and rigorously applied. Learning support assistants provide good support for pupils 4 Inspection Report: South Bookham School, 27 °28 February 2007 with social and behavioural needs and for those with learning difficulties, enabling them to take a full part in school life and achieve as well as their classmates. Pupils' progress is assessed well, particularly in English and mathematics, enabling teachers

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Grade: 1

to guide pupils forward in their learning. The school is in the process of transferring records to computer in order to give staff an even clearer view of how well pupils are doing. Through knowing what they need to achieve in lessons and many opportunities to talk about their work with teachers, pupils become very aware of how well they are doing and how they could make their work even better.

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good. The school carefully monitors its work and accurately evaluates it, identifying appropriate areas for action. To further improve these procedures, the school has reorganised its leadership responsibilities. This is in the early stages and staff have not yet had the chance to extend their monitoring to cover the whole curriculum. Regular classroom observations provide teachers with areas for improvement. Good performance management procedures encourage staff, through further training and research, to improve their performance in line with the actions the school is taking. Governors are supportive of the work of the school. Helped by their monitoring role, which is developing, they have a good understanding of the school's strengths and developments. The school has very good links with parents, many of whom support classroom activities. The close links with other schools, including

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Grade: 2

the on site playgroup, effectively foster curriculum development and different approaches to teaching and learning. 5 Inspection Report: South Bookham School, 27 °28 February 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: South Bookham School, 27 °28 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 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? 1 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?

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. 7 Inspection Report: South Bookham School, 27 °28 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? 8 Inspection Report: South Bookham School, 27 °28 February 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I am writing to let you know what I found when I visited your school. Thank you for taking part in the inspection. I spoke to some of you during my visit and you were interesting to talk to, extremely polite and helpful. You spoke very enthusiastically about enjoying school and all of the things you take part in. South Bookham School is a good school with excellent features. I liked these things the most: • you do extremely well in reading, writing and mathematics • children get a good start to school in Reception • you behave exceptionally well, work hard and enjoy your lessons and playtimes • the school is extremely caring; pupils who need extra help are well supported • the school provides you with very many interesting things to do. You, and some of your parents, were really enjoying Story Week • you understand the importance of eating the right things and taking plenty of exercise. You enjoy wonderful school meals and know what should be in your lunchboxes

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

• the school listens to you when you suggest how things could get even better and are keen to take on responsibilities. I saw the friendship bench being used and a playground buddy coming to help • your parents are keen to help you and give very good support to all that the school does • your headteacher does a very good job and is very well supported by the staff and governors. I have asked the school to work on this now: • enter information on how well you are doing onto the computer, so that all your teachers can see even more clearly how well you are doing and what you need to learn next • look more closely at how well you are doing in all subjects, as well as in reading, writing and mathematics. Thank you again. Yours sincerely Peter Thrussell Lead Inspector 9 Inspection Report: South Bookham School, 27 °28 February 2007

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