Telford Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Telford Infant School

Following my visit to the school on 20 November 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in February 2014. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You were appointed as headteacher in September 2014 after being the deputy headteacher for several years before this. You and other leaders demonstrate enthusiasm and commitment to ensuring the best possible outcomes for pupils.

You place... importance on the personal, social and emotional development of pupils as well as their academic success. As a result, pupils are happy to come to school, where they learn and achieve well. You have an accurate view of the school's strengths and areas for improvement.

This is because you and other leaders carry out carefully planned checks on the quality of teaching and pupils' progress. Leaders' action plans are clear, and they include appropriate actions to bring about further improvement. For example, assessment information shows that the proportion of pupils who attain the expected standard and at greater depth in writing at the end of key stage 1 has been above the national average for the last two years.

However, your analysis shows that pupils do even better in reading and mathematics, and so your current focus is on ensuring that they achieve as well as they can in writing. Parents hold you and the school in high regard. The parents I spoke to during the inspection and those who responded to Parent View, Ofsted's online questionnaire, are overwhelmingly positive about the work of the school.

Parents said that their children are happy and safe. Parents are confident that their children make good progress. One parent captured the views of many others by saying that school staff 'foster an enthusiasm for learning'.

At the last inspection, leaders were asked to provide more opportunities for pupils to write at length in different styles. Leaders ensure that pupils complete writing tasks in a variety of subjects across the curriculum. As a result, pupils have the opportunity to write in a range of genres, including stories, reports, fact files and recounts of memorable events.

Leaders were also asked to ensure that the teaching of phonics helped less-able readers with their reading. The quality of teaching of phonics is strong, and the proportion of pupils who meet the expected standard in the phonics screening check has been above national averages for the last three years. School assessment information shows that pupils, including the least able, make good progress in reading.

Since the last inspection you have clarified and developed the role of all phase and subject leaders. You ensure that each member of the leadership team benefits from coaching and mentoring from you or the deputy headteacher. In addition, you provide time for leaders to carry out their roles effectively.

As a result, all leaders can demonstrate their impact on improving provision in their phase or subject. Governors are proud to be part of the school. They share your determination that pupils will have an enjoyable and positive experience.

Governors make regular visits to school to gain a thorough understanding of the quality of provision. For example, they are able to find out what is happening in each subject area through their links with leaders. Governors take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously and ensure that they have appropriate training to fulfil their role.

The chair of governors carries out checks on the school's single register of staff. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders and governors ensure that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

They place a high priority on keeping pupils safe. All staff have appropriate child protection training and you provide updates when necessary. This ensures that staff are up to date with their knowledge and understanding of how to keep children safe.

As a result, staff know what to do if they have any concerns. Child protection records are well organised and stored securely. Pupils told me that they feel safe and well cared for.

They said everyone is friendly at the school and they agreed that there would be someone to talk to if they had any worries. Pupils told me that they learn about road safety, internet safety and the risks linked to strangers. Pupils said that most pupils behave very well because : everyone knows the rules.

Inspection findings ? My first line of enquiry was about children's progress in the Reception Year. Children enter the Reception class with skills and abilities that are broadly typical for their age. Teachers ensure that children learn through a wide variety of activities and experiences that are closely matched to their interests.

In addition, teachers ensure that children develop their reading, writing and mathematical knowledge and skills. As a result, the proportion of children who attain a good level of development has been above the national level for the last three years. Leaders ensure that adults carry out ongoing assessments of children so that teachers have an accurate understanding of what each child can do.

School achievement information shows that most pupils make good progress in all areas of learning. However, it also shows that some of the most able children do not make the progress required to reach the highest standards of which they are capable. ? My next line of enquiry was about the quality of teaching in key stage 1.

We agreed a specific focus on writing. Teachers have good subject knowledge and they use this to plan lessons that reflect the typical standards of each year group. Teachers have high expectations of the vocabulary that pupils will use in their writing and the links made with learning in other subjects support this well.

For example, pupils in Year 1 were drawing on their knowledge of the rainforest to produce imaginative descriptions of what it would be like to be there. Pupils' books show that they have regular opportunities to write at length. Occasionally, teachers do not have high enough expectations of the amount or quality of work that pupils can produce.

In addition, some writing tasks are too straightforward and do not build sufficiently on what pupils can already do. This limits the progress that some pupils make. ? My final line of enquiry was about the school's curriculum.

You ensure that pupils experience a broad and balanced curriculum that develops knowledge and understanding through a variety of interesting topics. For example, pupils in Year 2 learn about what happened to the Titanic and they have compared the ship to modern-day liners. Leaders give careful consideration to the skills they want pupils to have in order for them to be well prepared for key stage 2.

For example, leaders ensure that teachers plan to develop pupils' subject-specific skills, including map-reading in geography and how to plan an experiment in science. Teachers provide interesting and engaging learning experiences that allow pupils to become resilient learners who work well independently and also collaboratively. There are opportunities for pupils to practise and refine their reading, writing and mathematical skills in a variety of subjects across the curriculum.

• Pupils develop an age-appropriate understanding of British values. For example, they learn about major world religions, and take part in celebrations of important occasions. Since September, these have included Diwali, harvest festival and Remembrance Day.

In addition, teachers ensure that pupils learn about the world around them by promoting daily discussions about events in the news. Pupils, who are elected by their classmates, are proud of their role on the school council. They explained that the council members have the important responsibility of setting the school rules each year.

Leaders ensure that opportunities to become more aware of British values are woven into all aspects of the curriculum. As a result, pupils get off to a good start in their preparation for life in modern Britain. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? teachers in the Reception Year provide activities that challenge the most able children sufficiently in all areas of learning ? teachers raise their expectations of what key stage 1 pupils can achieve in their writing.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Warwickshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Jo Evans Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection I met with you, other leaders, parents and governors.

Together we visited classrooms and looked at pupils' work. I also met with a group of eight pupils. I reviewed the school's website and documents including: the single central record; child protection records; the school improvement plans; information about the monitoring of the quality of teaching; and information about assessment and pupils' progress.

I took account of the 74 responses to Parent View, Ofsted's online questionnaire, including comments made using the free-text service. I considered 30 responses to Ofsted's questionnaire for staff. There were 40 responses to the pupil questionnaire.

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