Balfour Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy to come to this friendly and inclusive school.

Their teachers welcome them every morning. The day begins calmly with activities such as yoga. Pupils look forward to social times when there are a wide range of games to play with their friends.

Pupils love to challenge themselves on the trim trail, construct models from toy bricks or read quietly in the outdoor library.

The school has high expectations and pupils achieve well. They are ready for the next stage in their education.

There are many opportunities for pupils to develop their own talents and interests, such as learning to ride a bike and dance workshops. As one parent, sharin...g the views of many, commented: 'The school is warm and welcoming. Children are challenged and supported in their learning as well as encouraged to become confident in themselves'.

The school sets high standards for behaviour. Adults uphold these standards through being strong role models for the school's values. Relationships between adults and pupils are mutually respectful.

Pupils concentrate well in lessons and strive proudly to be their best selves. Pupils feel safe, knowing they can always talk to an adult if they need help.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school has developed a broad and logically sequenced curriculum.

The curriculum has recently been reviewed, so that it is more ambitious. Pupils' language skills are developed through learning the key technical vocabulary in each curriculum area. Pupils learn the meaning of new words and practise using them during discussions in lessons.

The school is vigilant in identifying pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Adults are ambitious for pupils with SEND and make sure they are supported so they can learn the same curriculum as their peers.

Reading is a key area of focus for the school.

Pupils achieve well and become fluent readers, familiar with a range of book types and authors. Pupils enjoy listening to stories, rhymes and singing songs. This helps them to hear and recognise letter sounds which they pick up quickly when they start school in Reception.

Older pupils practise reading every day and enjoy class story times where their teachers read interesting and challenging books to them. During phonics lessons, adults show pupils how to sound out words and write them accurately, to encourage pupils to become confident, independent learners. Adults notice when pupils make mistakes and give them the help they need straight away.

Adults spot any pupils who are struggling with early reading and adapt their teaching or use additional resources.

Teachers explain the curriculum in ways pupils can understand. For example, pupils learn what life was like for children in Victorian times by dressing as Victorian children and making replicas of Victorian toys.

Pupils enjoy the range of learning experiences on offer. In Reception, adults have a detailed understanding of what children must learn. Adults introduce new ideas clearly.

Children practise their learning through well designed activities independently, or when needed, with adult support. Any children who struggle with transition into school are helped to learn new routines and they settle in quickly.

In more well-established areas of the curriculum, the school has identified precisely what pupils must understand and remember.

In these areas, pupils can recall and discuss their learning in detail. They relate new learning to what they already know. For example, in mathematics, pupils are fluent in recognising numbers and can explain different ways of partitioning 10.

They build on this understanding securely when learning multiplication tables or adding and subtracting numbers.

The school is further refining some areas of the curriculum so that teachers know exactly what must be taught and when. In these areas, pupils do not always fully understand what they have learned.

For example, pupils remember different weather conditions, but struggle to make links across their learning with other subjects.

Pupils develop leadership skills through their roles as school councillors and playground friends. Older pupils learn about responsible citizenship as they support younger pupils by reading with them.

Pupils learn that a small action can have a huge impact on the world. For example, they hold fund raising events to support pupils at a school in Gambia. Pupils learn how to look after their physical and emotional health.

They recognise different emotions and understand how breathing can make them feel calm. Pupils know that their teachers will help them if they feel worried or sad.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some curriculum areas, the school has not fully identified the most important knowledge and skills that pupils must understand and remember. As a result, assessment is not used effectively to embed knowledge, check understanding or inform teaching. The school should continue its work to further refine the curriculum so that pupils achieve equally well across the whole curriculum.