Netley Abbey Infant School

Netley Abbey Infant School Inspection report

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116070 Unique Reference Number Hampshire Local Authority 326324 Inspection number 27–28 January 2009 Inspection dates John Earish Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The registered childcare, managed by the governing body, was inspected under section 49 of the Childcare Act 2006.

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Infant Type of school Community School category 4–7 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 173 School (total) 0 Government funded early education provision for children aged 3 to the end of the EYFS 0 Childcare provision for children aged 0 to 3 years The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Stephen Carr Chair Mr Jonathan Le Fevre Headteacher 4 October 2005 Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous funded early education inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous childcare inspection Westwood Road School address Netley Abbey Southampton SO31 5EL 0238 0452263 Telephone number 0238 0457931 Fax number

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4–7 Age group 27–28 January 2009 Inspection dates 326324 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. 2 of 11 Inspection Report: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

This average-sized infant school admits pupils from the age of four to seven. As with other local schools, the number on roll has fallen in recent years. The vast majority of pupils are of White British origin. Attainment when children start school in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is lower than that expected for the age group. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is similar to that found nationally; learning difficulties are mostly connected with reading and writing. One child has a statement of educational needs. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is below average. The school has achieved the Sport England Activemark and the Enhanced Healthy School Award. A new headteacher, in post since September 2007, is leading the school. A privately run pre-school occupies buildings in the grounds of the school.

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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: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009

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Grade: 3

This rapidly improving school provides a satisfactory standard of education. The procedures for monitoring the work of the school are both rigorous and well understood. This has resulted in the accurate identification of the main issues for development. Under the very effective leadership of the headteacher, the newly appointed senior leadership team influences the work in all classes. They are a cohesive team who are committed to ensuring consistency of practice across the school to improve both standards and achievement. The overwhelming majority of parents support the school and all that it does. Leadership and management are good. On his appointment, just over a year ago, the new headteacher drew up an action plan to deal with underachievement and weaknesses in teaching and learning. The impact of this very effective leadership quickly became apparent through rapid and sustained improvements in both of these areas of the school's provision. This has

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Grade: 3

resulted in an improving profile of progress across all classes. This is a considerable success and an excellent foundation for future learning and progress. In addition, there are good partnerships with the community and with outside agencies to promote learners' well-being. Governance is satisfactory. The new governing body is very supportive of the school and is increasingly involved in strategic management. Governors are aware of their previous weaknesses at holding the school to account for its performance. However, although they are addressing this satisfactorily, more needs to be done. Standards and achievement are satisfactory overall. Standards are rising, even though they were below average in reading, writing and mathematics in 2008. A thorough and meticulous examination of the tracking data for the current Year 2 confirms that improvements continue. These pupils are well on track to achieve average standards overall this year. This represents

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Grade: 3

satisfactory achievement from their staring points in Year 1 and a considerable improvement on previous years. Pupils in Year 1 are achieving well and are successfully building on the good progress they make in the EYFS. This is further evidence that successes are not short-lived and improvement plans are appropriate and are working well. Those pupils who have difficulty reading and writing are well supported and are making satisfactory progress overall. Pupils' personal development and their care, guidance and support are good. Pupils are well cared for and feel safe. They behave exceptionally well and are knowledgeable about how to stay safe and healthy. There are good systems to track their performance so that teachers can quickly identify underachievement and deal with it. A new system for marking pupils' work and setting individual targets for them to achieve has recently been introduced in English. Pupils

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Grade: 3

say they find this very helpful because 'it helps us remember what we have to improve next time'. However, this is not as yet as effective in other subjects, particularly mathematics and science. Teaching and learning are satisfactory. Evidence from the school's accurate evaluations shows the amount of good or better teaching is increasing. This is the result of actions based upon the outcomes of the rigorous monitoring and evaluation of teaching by the headteacher, senior leaders and the local education authority. However, teaching is not yet consistently good across all classes, which results in some uneven progress. Leaders have also improved the curriculum, which is now satisfactory. It provides well for pupils' personal, social and health education and makes a positive contribution to their good personal development. For example, there are good opportunities for pupils to develop respect for others

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Grade: 3

4 of 11 Inspection Report: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009 and an understanding of their rights and responsibilities. The newly introduced International Primary Curriculum is enabling subjects to be linked together thematically to increase the pupils' enjoyment of their learning. This is developing well. The school's recent record of accomplishment in increasing attainment and achievement, and its clear view of what needs to be done next, means there is a good capacity for further improvement.

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Grade: 2

The quality of education in the EYFS is good. Children start school with below-average skills, especially in communication, language and literacy, and numeracy. They make good progress and achieve well because teaching and learning are of good quality. Most children are starting Year 1 with abilities similar to those expected for their age. They behave very well and thoroughly enjoy the variety of learning opportunities organised for them. Adults ensure there is a good balance between activities chosen by the children and those planned for them by the teacher. Occasionally too much emphasis is put on what the teacher is saying rather than on what the children are doing and some children become distracted. The outdoor area is used well and the range of activities is being increased. Adults are good at using opportunities to develop and increase children's numeracy, language and communication skills. For example, they prompt

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Grade: 2

children to estimate the size of their trays and explain the best way to fit them into the containers when tidying away. Observations and assessments of the children as they work are detailed and helpful. Adults are starting to share these assessments so that activities can be better adapted to meet children's individual learning targets and used to guide their learning.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Increase the proportion of good or better teaching to accelerate pupils' progress and further raise standards. ■ Extend the good target-setting and marking in English to other subjects so that pupils have a clearer understanding of how they can improve. ■ Build on the good start made by governors at holding the school to account for its performance in order to sustain recent improvements to achievement. 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

Standards are broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics and achievement is satisfactory. The vast majority of pupils make the progress which is expected of them, or better. They meet their challenging targets. This is due to the rigorous approach to tracking pupils' progress, and the work of the teachers in monitoring and supporting learning. Children in the EYFS are achieving well against the national expectations. Pupils in Year 1 are building well on this good start to their education and are also achieving well. This is an appreciable success and is further evidence that standards are rising. Those pupils who have difficulty with reading and writing are well supported and are making satisfactory progress. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009

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Grade: 2

Pupils enjoy school, are keen to learn and behave exceptionally well. The rate of attendance is satisfactory and this represents an improvement on previous years. This is further evidence that pupils are happy and enjoy being at school. Spiritual, social, moral and cultural development is good. Pupils respect the feelings of others and have a good awareness of their beliefs. They have good relationships with teachers and other adults. Pupils say that any bullying or misbehaviour is dealt with quickly by the adults. The school council takes its responsibilities seriously and pupils are confident that their views are listened to. Pupils have a good awareness of the benefits of choosing healthy food and enjoy the good range of clubs and activities organised for them. This has been recognised through the Sport England Active Mark and the Enhanced Healthy Schools Award. Pupils' improving skills in reading, writing and mathematics

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Grade: 2

prepare them appropriately for the next stage in their education.

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Grade: 3

A significant proportion of good teaching was observed during the inspection. This is the outcome of the rigorous monitoring and evaluation by the headteacher, senior leaders and local authority. However, good practice is not yet consistent in all classes. Pupils make the most progress when their work is well matched to their needs and captures their interest and enthusiasm. For example, pupils in a Year 1/2 mixed-age class worked at partitioning numbers into tens and units to find ways of adding two digits together quickly and accurately. They rose to this challenge and were determined to succeed. Pupils worked well together and helped each other. The teacher and classroom assistant moved from group to group helping, encouraging, clarifying and moving pupils on to harder work when they were ready for it. Those pupils who had difficulty with reading and writing were well supported and had full access to

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Grade: 3

the activities. However, there are still some lessons where teachers do not always pitch work at suitably challenging levels or spend too much time explaining tasks. As a result, the pupils do not always learn as well as they should.

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Grade: 3

There have been considerable improvements to the quality of planning so that activities meet the learning needs of all pupils. Pupils are now taught in carefully selected ability groups for literacy and numeracy using specially designed commercial materials. This is having a positive effect on progress. The newly introduced International Primary Curriculum is allowing teachers to link subjects together thematically to increase the pupils' enjoyment of their learning. For example, pupils talk enthusiastically about projects such as 'Places people go to'. They explained that one morning they were given their own passports and plane tickets and were 'flown' to far away countries such as Kenya. They excitedly explained about the people and animals and plants and the trees and houses and the children that were new to them. To complement this, the school are in the process of giving pupils more opportunities to apply their skills to

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Grade: 3

investigative work and problem-solving based on their own locality and to introduce more opportunities for outdoor learning. The good range of clubs and activities supports other aspects of pupils' personal development well. 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009

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Grade: 2

The school provides a safe, secure environment in which pupils feel happy and well cared for. Pastoral care is good and the school works well with parents and outside agencies to ensure pupils' well-being. Child protection procedures are thorough and risk assessments are of a good quality. Parents fully appreciate the good level of care their children receive. Much-improved procedures for monitoring academic progress are enabling staff to identify quickly those who are falling behind or having difficulties. This information is used well to set challenging targets for improvement and underpins much of the recent successes. The use of marking and target-setting is developing well in English to guide pupils' academic development. However, not enough is yet done across other subjects to give pupils a consistent, clear understanding of what they must do to improve.

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Grade: 2

The very good leadership of the headteacher has built a committed and effective leadership team that shares a common sense of purpose. Clear systems for appraising the school's work, involving staff at all levels, have identified key priorities for development. These are manageable and well directed where they are needed most. Senior leaders are effective at influencing the quality of learning across the school to ensure greater consistency in pupils' progress. This is resulting in sustained school improvement. Standards and achievement are rapidly rising because the school is setting challenging targets and achieving them, although more needs to be done. Community cohesion is of satisfactory quality. The school has plans for increasing its engagement with the wider community and building on their relationships with parents and carers. Governance is satisfactory. The new chair of governors and chair of the standards committee have a good

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Grade: 2

knowledge and understanding of the issues facing the school. The recent work of the governors shows they are much more effective at holding the school to account for its performance. For example, they have started to regularly monitor the progress of different groups of pupils through the work of the newly formed standards committee. Governors are aware that they must continue to strengthen this area of their work, as it was previously not sufficiently rigorous to gain an accurate overview of standards and achievement. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009 .

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Grade: 2

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009

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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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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? 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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EYFS?

2 How well do children in the EYFS achieve? How good are the overall personal development and well-being of the children in the EYFS? 2 How effectively are children in the EYFS helped to learn and develop? 2 How effectively is the welfare of children in the EYFS promoted? 2 How effectively is provision in the EYFS led and managed?

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Achievement and standards

3 How well do learners achieve? 3 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/or disabilities make progress

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Achievement and standards

1 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: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009

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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 The extent to which learners enjoy their education 3 The attendance of learners 1 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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learners' needs?

How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? 2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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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 2 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 2 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination eliminated 3 How well does the school contribute to community cohesion? 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: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

11 February 2009 Dear Pupils Inspection of Netley Abbey Infant School,Southampton,SO31 5EL Thank you very much for making us so welcome when we visited your school recently. We enjoyed talking to you and your views and opinions have given us a lot of helpful information. We thought you might like to know more about what we found out. Your school is giving you a satisfactory education, but we could see that it is getting better. Here are a few of the things we liked most of all.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Your headteacher and the teachers are all working well together to make your school even better than it is. ■ You listen carefully to what your teachers say and behave exceptionally well.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Your work is improving and you are making much better progress in classes.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ The school council represents your views well and you all help the school to run smoothly.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ All of the adults in your school make sure that you are well looked after and are helping you to improve your work. There are three things to do next to make your school even better.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ There are more good lessons than there used to be and we are asking your teachers to try to improve on this and make all of their lessons good or better. This will help all of you to make good progress. ■ Your teachers need to give you more help to understand how to improve your work, as they are already doing in English. ■ We would like the governors to find out even more about your school so they can make certain it continues to improve and so that you can all be successful. You can all help by continuing to work hard and by listening carefully to your teachers' advice. We are sure that you are ready for this challenge! Yours faithfully John Earish Lead Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Netley Abbey Infant School, 27–28 January 2009

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