Alderman Pounder Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Alderman Pounder Infant and Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 10 November 2015, 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 December 2010. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

You and your team have created a very caring environment where pupils are well looked after and are engaged in their learning. Pupils enjoy school, particularly when visiting 'Bob the Bus' (a library) to read. This ha...s promoted reading for both boys and girls.

Pupils are motivated to have their work displayed on 'work of the week' boards or for their work to go into the 'golden book'. Teachers are skilful in using pupils' experiences to promote learning. In Reception, the teacher was able to explain to the children about the importance of Remembrance Day, why people buy poppies, and then link this to the present day, using contributions from children who have parents in the armed services.

Teachers and teaching assistants build excellent relationships with children as soon as they start Nursery. Routines are established quickly and children follow instructions promptly. Behaviour in lessons and around school is good.

Warm relationships between adults and pupils throughout the school enable pupils to thrive in their learning and achieve well. You and your senior leadership team are effective in your roles to improve standards. You set high expectations for pupils' progress and check closely how well pupils are achieving.

This enables you to provide timely support for those pupils at risk of underachieving. The very large majority of parents who responded to Parent View, Ofsted's online questionnaire, are extremely supportive of the school's leadership. At the previous inspection, inspectors identified that the progress of the most-able pupils in writing needed to be accelerated.

In addition, inspectors asked you to ensure that the quality of all teaching was good. You have had great success in improving writing outcomes for the most able. In 2015, the proportion of pupils attaining the higher level 3, at the end of Year 2, was significantly above the national average.

The quality of teaching has improved since the last inspection as a result of specific training needs for staff being identified and action taken. Teaching is good, and some is consistently better than good. You are focusing, quite rightly, on improving pupils' attendance.

Attendance has been below the national average; however, the most recent information in the current academic year shows an improvement in attendance from previous years. This will still need to continue to be a focus to ensure all pupils have the opportunity to achieve as well as they should. In addition, you have prioritised the need to increase the number of children who pass the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1.

Currently, the school is achieving just below the national average. I have asked you to focus on closing the gap in achievement between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils in school by the end of Year 2. I have also asked you to improve the progress of the most-able pupils in mathematics.

Safeguarding is effective. School staff are highly vigilant in ensuring all pupils are well cared for. You lead on safeguarding very effectively.

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding procedures are robust and fit for purpose. Record-keeping is very detailed and thorough. The school works well with a range of outside agencies and you are tenacious in ensuring concerns are followed up and acted upon.

The vice-chair of governors audits the school's safeguarding practices and members of the governing body carry out health and safety checks of the school. You have worked closely with families and outside agencies to try and reduce the numbers of pupils who are persistently absent from school. As a result, pupils who had previously high absence rates are currently attending well.

Pupils behave well in lessons and in the playground, in spite of the Key Stage 1 playground being a relatively small space. Inspection findings ? Leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of the strengths of the school and areas which need further improvement. The governing body is actively involved in evaluating the impact of actions detailed in the school improvement plan.

Governors ensure the performance management process of teachers is robust and only reward good performance. ? Governors come into school regularly and they have recently focused their visits on monitoring mathematics in response to this being identified as an area needing improvement. After their visits, reports are written and suggested actions are followed up.

In addition, governors organised and led, very successfully, a maths day in school where pupils measured ingredients and baked cakes for parents to buy at the end of the school day. Staff training has also focused on improving the number of pupils achieving age-related expectations in mathematics. As a result, the number of pupils who attained age-related expectations in mathematics by the end of Key Stage 1 in 2015 was significantly above the national average and a big improvement from the previous year's result.

However, the number of pupils who attained above age-related expectations in mathematics was below the national average. This is because the most-able pupils are not being given enough opportunities to challenge and extend their mathematical reasoning skills in order to accelerate their progress. ? You lead the school very effectively.

You are supported well by both the deputy headteacher and Early Years Foundation Stage leader to drive up standards. Accelerating pupil progress is at the heart of school improvement. Pupils are regularly assessed to check what they can do and where there are gaps.

As a result, intervention strategies are put in place to help pupils improve. The impact of these strategies is checked to ensure pupils are making good progress. ? The leader for early years is an extremely knowledgeable and effective leader.

As a result of her drive and ambition for success, the school has increased the proportions of pupils attaining a good level of development at the end of Reception to be broadly in line with the national average. For the past two years, disadvantaged pupils have attained higher than other pupils at the school. ? The leader for early years is also the school's special educational needs coordinator.

She combines the two roles efficiently and, as a result of the early identification of additional needs for pupils, support is put in place quickly to allow pupils to make accelerated progress. There are well-established links with many outside agencies to ensure the needs of pupils are met, which enables them to achieve well. ? Teachers have good links with parents in the early years.

Before children start school, home visits are made to help school staff get to know each child and their interests. As a result, pupils settle very quickly into school. Pupils understand and follow the routines in Nursery very well and behaviour is excellent.

The 'question of the week' allows parents to discuss a topic question with their children before the topic is addressed in school. This enables children to be more confident when discussing the question in school and keeps parents informed about the curriculum (what children learn about and do) in school. ? The deputy headteacher has led the initiative of establishing 'Bob the Bus' on the school premises to encourage pupils to read.

Pupils told me how they relish the opportunity to read on the bus, enjoying the fairy tales, Transformer books and non-fiction books on animals. Pupils in the Nursery were seen engrossed in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. During a group reading session observed in Year 2, the teacher asked pupils challenging questions about the text skilfully, in order to clarify their understanding of the meaning of the story.

Pupils' attainment in reading at the school is significantly above the national average by the end of Year 2. ? Although pupils' outcomes in the Year 1 phonics (the sounds that letters make) check have improved each year, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard is just below the national average. The gap between the outcomes of disadvantaged pupils and others in school is closing; however, you have correctly identified that this is an area that needs to improve further.

• Pupils enjoy writing and their attainment is significantly above the national average by the end of Year 2. Pupils are given many opportunities to discuss stories and write in many different genres. Pupils in Reception are given opportunities to retell and act out stories such as the Enormous Turnip and Little Red Hen as well as writing captions to pictures to develop their writing skills.

In Year 1, pupils have written instructions using connectives about how to build a Lego tower, and, in Year 2, pupils have written a diary entry about the Great Fire of London in the style of John Evelyn. Pupils are enthused to write and achieve well. ? Leaders have thought very carefully how they can improve the provision in school for those pupils who speak English as an additional language.

In the early years, this group of pupils are taught eight key words each week, which are then shared with parents. As a result, these words become familiar and can then support pupils' learning in the following week. The school's website has a translation tool.

This was created to engage all parents in response to a parent questionnaire. As a result, pupils who speak English as an additional language settle quickly and make good progress. ? The school tracks carefully the progress of pupils whose parents are in the armed services.

The school's caring nature enables pupils to settle quickly. Pupils enjoy attending the Pod Squad which tailors additional support to meet pupils' needs. In one class, they are counting down the number of sleeps before a pupil's father is due home.

As a result of the specific provision, school data shows that the progress made by this group is very good and they achieve well. ? Disadvantaged pupils are making better progress and are now achieving close to the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. However, although the gap between disadvantaged pupils and others within the school is closing in mathematics, it is not closing quickly enough in reading and writing.

The allocation of pupil premium spending needs to be more precise, with measureable targets set, so that leaders and governors can assess if the actions taken to accelerate progress of disadvantaged pupils have been successful. ? You are focusing, quite rightly, on improving attendance in the school. In the past, the attendance has been below the national average with a number of pupils being persistently absent.

You have taken actions to reduce persistent absence, working with external agencies, and this has been successful in every case. In the current academic year, attendance is good. The school needs to continue to be highly vigilant regarding attendance and encourage all pupils to attend school every day to ensure they achieve as well as they should.

Next steps for the school Leaders and governors should ensure that: ? attendance for all groups of learners continues to improve to be above the national average, and that the importance of good attendance is promoted to all parents and children ? the pupil premium action plan has clear, measurable targets by which governors can check if the actions taken have been successful enough in improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils ? the progress of the most-able pupils in mathematics is improved, by developing their mathematical reasoning skills. I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body and the Director of Children's Services for Nottinghamshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Martin Finch Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you, your early years leader and six members of the governing body, including the Chair and vice-chair. We visited all classrooms and looked at pupils' work. I observed morning breaktime and spoke to a group of pupils.

We reviewed safeguarding procedures, information about the performance management of teachers, the school improvement plan, school tracking data, behaviour logs and attendance information. I spoke to parents in the playground, analysed the views of parents from Parent View and the views of 20 staff who completed the online staff questionnaire. I also analysed the views of 18 pupils who completed the online pupil questionnaire.