Badshot Lea Village Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

One parent accurately captured the essence of this good school when commenting that 'Parents and children alike feel welcome and there is a warm, kind, caring environment in which every child is happy and secure.' The school very successfully teaches pupils important values such as respect and good manners, as well as giving them many opportunities to learn about the diversity of the world around them.

Pupils' achievement is good because they are taught well. Children get off to a good start in the Early Years Foundation Stage and then continue to make good progress in the rest of the school. Consequently, pupils learn quickly in lessons and their attainment is above average by the end of Year 2.
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Teachers have successfully closed the gap between boys' and girls' attainment in writing by giving pupils many opportunities to write purposefully in different subjects. This means that pupils make good progress and develop very positive attitudes towards writing. However, pupils have too few opportunities to practise and improve information and communication technology (ICT) skills by using them in different subjects and this slows the rate at which skills can improve.

Pupils in the special educational needs support centre are given good-quality support and they make good progress. Provision for these pupils is well managed and there are excellent partnerships with outside agencies to provide specialist support in response to individual needs. Pupils' learning is assessed carefully and this then feeds well into individual programmes which effectively respond to differing needs.

Resources such as the soft play area are used well to support learning. There are good plans in place to develop the outdoor area so that it can be used whatever the weather. Adults provide very high-quality care for the pupils and ensure that they feel very safe.

Pupils behave well and try hard although not all teachers expect pupils to work neatly in their numeracy books. Consequently some numeracy work is poorly presented. Pupils especially like the clubs and visits that greatly enrich the curriculum and contribute strongly to their outstanding spiritual, social, moral and cultural development.

Pupils take responsibility keenly through the school council. They make an excellent contribution to the community by taking part in local events such as the Farnham Festival and by working very closely with other schools. Pupils are very clear about the importance of adopting healthy lifestyles.

The uptake of the nutritious school dinners is good and pupils learn about healthy diets by growing and cooking their own food. The reflective and purposeful leadership of the headteacher has ensured that the school has continued to move forward quickly since the last inspection. Development planning is thorough and is based on good self-evaluation procedures.

However, too much responsibility for this falls on the headteacher and there is not enough systematic monitoring of teaching and learning by middle managers and subject leaders for them to get a full picture of provision in their areas of expertise. The governing body provides good support and challenge to the school. They share the headteacher's ambitions and have helped her to build on strengths from the last inspection.

Significant achievements such as the success of recent work to improve pupils' writing demonstrate the school's good capacity for further improvement. The school engages extremely well with parents and carers. They are regularly consulted and are kept well informed about how they can help their children.

This helps them to make a very positive contribution to their children's learning.

Information about the school

Most pupils come to this smaller-than-average-sized infant school from the local village. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average.

Nearly all pupils are from White British families. The 45 children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught in a Reception class which has two teachers. The proportion of pupils identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities is high.

This is because the school includes a special educational needs support centre for 15 pupils from across the county. Most of these pupils have a statement of special educational needs for a range of complex needs including physical difficulties, autistic spectrum disorders and speech, language and communication difficulties. The school has several awards including International School accreditation and Eco-School status.

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