Cassiobury Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love attending this happy and kind school.

They enjoy learning because the school provides many broad and interesting educational opportunities. Pupils and adults show respect and kindness to one another. Pupils feel safe.

Pupils particularly enjoy playtimes. The school has a wide variety of activities that cater to pupils' interests. These help the pupils to develop physically and socially and to keep fit and healthy.

Pupils enjoy choosing what and with whom they play.

Pupils live up to staff's high expectations. They have a well-developed and age-appropriate sense of what is right and wrong.

Pupils understand and follow the school r...ules. They can explain how this helps them to know what they should and should not do.

Pupils learn a broad and balanced curriculum.

This helps pupils develop into well-rounded individuals. Pupils learn discrete subjects and topics and the school provides various themed weeks and days. These help pupils to learn the appropriate subject knowledge.

Pupils achieve well.

Pupils enjoy having extra roles and responsibilities, such as being monitors in the hall or being a member of the eco group. These roles help them to develop into responsible citizens.

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

The school has well-structured and carefully sequenced curriculum plans. Language development and revisiting important knowledge have a high priority. This enables pupils to learn a breadth of knowledge and deepen this knowledge every year.

The school carries out checks to make sure that pupils learn the intended curriculum. When gaps in pupils' knowledge are identified, leaders change the planned curriculum to help pupils to catch up. Pupils are well prepared for junior school.

Leaders have designed teaching approaches to help pupils remember important subject knowledge. Where these approaches are used well, pupils achieve highly. Where they are not used consistently, or staff subject knowledge is less secure, the pace of learning slows, and some pupils come off task or do not carry out the tasks as leaders intended.

This can hinder those pupils' progress in some subjects.

Pupils love to read. They can discuss all the books they have read and why they like them.

Pupils learn to be ready for reading in the nursery by recognising sounds and reading rhymes and songs. Pupils learn phonics as soon as they start in Reception. When they are ready, pupils read books that match their phonic knowledge.

This gives them the practice they need to become fluent and confident readers. Pupils who need extra help with reading receive this for as long as needed.

Teaching in the early years enables children to achieve highly.

The curriculum is adapted to help children learn a broad and rich set of knowledge and skills. Communication and language have a high priority. Staff work together to make sure that children's communication skills are strong, for instance, when they learn about their local area.

Children can talk about this with clarity and understanding, using appropriate and well-developed language. In the well-designed environment, children are highly engaged and share and give and take well. Children are well prepared for Year 1 and achieve highly.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly. The school works with parents and carers to build a clear picture of pupils' strengths. The school uses this knowledge to devise bespoke learning plans so that pupils with SEND can learn the same curriculum as their peers successfully.

Pupils behave well around the school. They respect all the adults in the school and each other. They are very keen to learn and relish their learning opportunities.

Pupils show a deep understanding of diversity and their community. They learn about different religions and types of families. They know that difference should be celebrated and that it makes no difference to whom they make friends with.

Pupils can participate in a wide variety of clubs and extra-curricular activities that promote pupils' personal development particularly well. The school celebrates different heritages. This helps the community to feel involved with the school.

Leaders engage well with parents. Parents have high praise for the staff for being available, friendly and knowing their children well. Governors support the leadership team and carry out all their statutory duties.

Leaders monitor pupils' attendance and make sure that parents know how good attendance means that pupils can achieve their very best.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Where teachers do not consistently use the school's chosen pedagogical approaches or have less secure subject knowledge, information is not presented as clearly and precisely to pupils.

Pupils are then unclear about what they need to do when working independently. This means they are less engaged and do not achieve as well as they could. The school must ensure that staff have secure knowledge of all the subjects they teach and that the school's chosen pedagogical approaches are used consistently and effectively.

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