Pinewood Infant School

Pinewood Infant School Inspection report

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116158 Unique Reference Number Hampshire Local Authority 312195 Inspection number 14 February 2008 Inspection date Lily Evans 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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Infant Type of school Community School category 4 °7 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 86 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Graham Ellicott Chair Mrs Sue Harris Headteacher 15 September 2003 Date of previous school inspection Pinewood Park School address Farnborough GU14 9LE 01252 511885 Telephone number 01252 545182 Fax number

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4-7 Age group 14 February 2008 Inspection date 312195 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

This is a much smaller than average school. It has a 15 place resourced provision for children with speech, language and communication disorders. Half of all pupils come from outside the area, including all of those who attend the resourced provision. The proportion of pupils with statements of special educational needs (SEN) outside the resource is four times the national average. The proportion of pupils identified with learning difficulties is currently 50% of the school roll but this fluctuates. A small but increasing proportion of pupils are entering school with a first language other than English. The school has recently been rebuilt following a fire which destroyed the old building four years ago. The new building opened in September 2007. An independently run pre-school provision occupies part of the same building.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Pinewood Infant School, 14 February 2008

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Grade: 3

Many parents are complimentary about the school, in particular, parents of pupils with special needs. One parent wrote 'I cannot praise the work of the school enough.' Pastoral care is excellent because of the nurturing and inclusive nature of the school. The generous staffing support for learners, interventions of speech and language therapists, the school nurse and other professionals, contribute to the ethos and desirability of the school. Close inspection of tracking documentation shows that more than half of pupils enter Reception with less well developed skills than those expected for their age. Through satisfactory teaching, they make satisfactory progress. By the end of Year 2, standards are well below average. When each group of pupils is tracked, it is clear that the overall achievement is as expected, with some good progress in communication skills among those pupils with special needs. Pupils who

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Grade: 3

enter school with the expected skills for their age, reach average standards by the end of Year 2. Personal development is good overall. Pupils are clear about school rules and enjoy gaining rewards for good work. They know right from wrong and have an awareness of healthy living. They are kind and helpful and staff provide good role models. Pupils are encouraged to think about others and to help those who are less fortunate than themselves. They have enjoyed the popular football club that the school offers in the summer term. They widen their experiences through visits and visitors. At present, there are too few opportunities for pupils to practise reading and writing in order to improve their skills. Teachers are beginning to involve pupils in progress towards their next goals. They encourage pupils to assess their own learning in lessons and they have individual targets for reading and writing. These targets are often in language

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Grade: 3

which is too difficult. Teachers' marking is not linked closely enough to the pupils' targets. This lack of consistency diminishes the impact on pupils' progress. The leadership and management of the headteacher and acting deputy headteacher are satisfactory. They are committed to improving the school's performance. Since the last inspection, they have put in place good tracking systems. Despite this, standards have not risen. The turmoil of rebuilding the school, and staff changes have hampered the school's aim to improve the quality of teaching. The daily use of assessment to plan for the next stage of learning is not yet consistent. The leadership has yet to develop robust systems for monitoring and evaluating teachers' use of assessment and making them accountable for the standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Governors have given staunch support to the school in practical matters. Through the relatively recently convened standards committee, they are now

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Grade: 3

putting emphasis on raising standards and achievement. The school has a sound capacity for improvement.

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Grade: 3

Children are happy and enjoy school because learning is fun. From the start, parents feel well supported and appreciate the helpfulness of the staff, for example through home visits. Many children enter the Foundation Stage with skills that are well below expected levels particularly in communication, language and literacy and social and emotional development. They make overall satisfactory progress in all areas of learning and many pupils with statements of special need make good progress in communication skills. There are good opportunities for learning 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Pinewood Infant School, 14 February 2008 through directed activities. Pupils practise learning sounds and letters and a few can write their names legibly. Although they are assessed at regular intervals, their ongoing systematic recording of progress is not consistent. Some opportunities are missed to record what pupils can do. For

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Grade: 3

example, progress in knowledge and understanding of the world is often unrecorded.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Raise standards and achievement in English by providing more opportunities for reading to adults and writing practice. ■ Improve the use of assessment in planning teaching and learning, in setting targets, marking and involving pupils in understanding how to reach their next goals. ■ Ensure the systems to monitor and evaluate teachers' use of assessment are robust and applied with rigour so that they lead to faster progress and higher standards. A small proportion of the schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory but which have areas of underperformance will receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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Grade: 3

The high proportion of pupils with statements of special need means that comparisons with the national picture must be made with care. The complexity of the needs of some pupils, particularly with communication difficulties, results in slower, but nevertheless, satisfactory progress. Standards fluctuate from year to year depending on the proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and statements of special educational need. Currently, overall standards are below average. In national tests at the end of Year 2 in 2007 there was a downturn except in mathematics. Progress is satisfactory in reading, writing and mathematics from Reception through to Year 2. However, those pupils who have learning difficulties do not make enough progress in their reading because they have too few opportunities to practise these skills. Standards in writing are weak for all groups. Scrutiny of work suggests there are too few planned opportunities to

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Grade: 3

practise the skills for writing in Years 1 and 2.

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Grade: 2

Pupils' personal development and well-being are good. The pupils say they enjoy coming to school. Their attendance is satisfactory despite a very small minority, whose attendance falls below expectations. Pupils' cultural development has improved since the previous inspection. They explore how people live in different parts of the world and they share this learning with parents during 'World Week'. They learn to be thoughtful of others by raising money for charities. They have already supported an Indian Charity by providing a bicycle. Assemblies guide pupils to explore their feelings and beliefs. Pupils join in drawing up the school rules and enjoy rewards for good behaviour. Behaviour is good but some parents' comments suggest that this is not always the case. Pupils play and work agreeably together. They are aware of the importance of healthy eating and regular exercise. They hope to gain the Healthy School

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Grade: 2

status soon. Pupils prepare satisfactorily for their future economic well-being through improving their basic skills in literacy, numeracy and information technology. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Pinewood Infant School, 14 February 2008

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Grade: 3

The quality of teaching and learning are satisfactory. Classroom management is good. This is because pupils understand what teachers expect of their conduct. Relationships are strong, within a supportive ethos. There is good emphasis on speaking and listening skills especially through drama and role-play which help pupils to gain confidence. Teachers plan lessons to meet a very wide range of needs and often divide the class in two so that, for example, half the pupils are doing mathematics whilst the others have physical education. There are times when the lessons do not fully meet the needs of the whole class, which includes pupils from the resource base. For example, the use of an incorrect statement in a numeracy lesson confused all but the most able in the class. Pupils enjoy phonic skills in small groups because they are working at appropriate reading levels and pace. Teachers share learning objectives at the

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Grade: 3

beginning of lessons. When they review them at the end, they involve pupils in explaining what they have learned. However, marking does not refer clearly enough to the objective of the lesson or to learning targets.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum is satisfactory for all stages of learning and is under review. There is good planning for speaking and listening but too few daily planned opportunities for practising reading and writing skills in Years 1 and 2. The school is developing a topic-based approach to learning, encouraging pupils to apply their basic skills across the curriculum. Pupils have writing targets in their books but at times the targets are in language that is too technical. Good use is made of the school grounds as a teaching resource. Visits from people who live in the area of the school help pupils to understand the ways in which they can contribute to their community.

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Grade: 3

Care, guidance and support are satisfactory overall but pastoral care in this highly inclusive school is outstanding. Adults know pupils well and parents agree that the school fully deserves their trust. Child protection and risk assessment procedures are fully in place, understood by all adults and support pupils' health, safety and well-being. Staff ensure pupils feel safe, are treated with sensitivity and are praised for their successes. Parents praise the school for keeping them well informed and the school offers occasional courses which help parents better support their children. The pre-school provision on the premises enables close links to ease pupils' entry to school. There are good links with local schools to promote smooth transition to junior school. Since the last inspection, good tracking systems have been introduced enabling teachers to record pupils' progress. The use and recording of assessment information from lessons and

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Grade: 3

pupils' work is not yet consistent. Pupils are beginning to assess their progress in lessons but are not sufficiently engaged in understanding what they need to do to reach the next level. 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Pinewood Infant School, 14 February 2008

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Grade: 3

Under the leadership of the headteacher parents recognise the school as 'a caring, nurturing environment'. The headteacher supported by her acting deputy head is giving satisfactory leadership and has clear plans for improvement. Since the last inspection, there have been a number of improvements but they have not yet led to significantly improved standards. The school has been through a long period of uncertainty about whether it would be rebuilt. Staff changes have led to discontinuity of practice in such a small school. Since September and the move to this new building, changes such as new teaching teams, different class groupings and rearrangement of responsibilities have been made. There is a determination to raise standards despite the increasing complexity of needs of some of the pupils entering the school. The headteacher is increasingly holding the staff to account through performance management.

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Grade: 3

However, the monitoring of teachers' use of assessment information to plan learning and move pupils on to their next steps are not rigorous enough to ensure they make faster progress and reach higher standards. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Pinewood Infant School, 14 February 2008 .

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Grade: 3

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Pinewood Infant School, 14 February 2008

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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? Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 3 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 3 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

3 How well do learners achieve? 4 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 3 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 extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 How well learners enjoy their education 3 The attendance of learners 2 The behaviour of learners 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?

3 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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Pinewood Infant School, 14 February 2008

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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 3 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Pinewood Infant School, 14 February 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

29 February 2008 Dear Children Inspection of Pinewood Infant School,Farnborough,GU14 9LE Mr Iles and I would like to thank you for making us so welcome when we visited your school the other day. You are so fortunate to have such a beautiful new school in which to work and play. We enjoyed talking to you. It is good to know you enjoy coming to school and working with your friends. We agree with you and your parents that the staff care for you very well indeed. We were pleased to hear that you helped to make the school rules and we think they are sensible. We wish you luck in gaining your Healthy Schools Award. We saw you eating healthy fruit and taking lots of exercise. When we were in the classrooms you showed us your writing and number work. We heard you reading and telling stories. Mr Iles enjoyed looking at some of the work you brought along to show us. We have asked all your teachers to make sure you make good progress in your reading, writing

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

and number work. We have asked them to give you more chances to read and write so that with lots of practice you can make better progress. You have targets for learning in reading and writing and we have asked your teachers to make sure the targets are in words that you can read and understand. We have also asked your headteacher to check that you are all making good progress. In this way we think you could improve your work. We think you could help your teachers and yourself if all of you practise reading, writing and number work at home. With best wishes for your future. Lily EvansLead Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Pinewood Infant School, 14 February 2008

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