Diss Infant Academy and Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at this school.

Social times are a favourite part of the day for them, owing to their and their peers' typically kind behaviour. Lunchtimes are a hive of activity, be it pupils eating varied, healthy foods, or playing imaginative games. Pupils also benefit from friendly staff facilitating some sports and games for them to play.

It ensures pupils remain active.

Pupils enjoy the opportunities to showcase their singing prowess. For example, all pupils get to perform at the annual 'Dissitude' event.

This includes the pupils from this school performing alongside the pupils from the nearby junior school. It helps pupils build relationships... and prepare them for moving on to the 'big' school.

Pupils keenly demonstrate what they know in mathematics.

However, pupils' understanding would be better in other subjects if staff taught concepts more clearly.

Learning how to stay safe benefits pupils. They enjoy the assemblies and lessons that teach them about recognising and reporting worries.

They know adults in school sort out their concerns quickly.

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

Leaders, including governors, have systems to evaluate the school and identify issues. However, not all leaders are rigorous enough in how they then challenge themselves and others to resolve issues at pace.

This occasionally leads to shortfalls that hinder pupils' achievement.

Aspects of the early reading programmes work well. For instance, how staff read aloud captivates pupils, instilling a love of reading.

However, leaders are overgenerous in their evaluation of phonics. They take too long to uncover and rectify issues that hold pupils back. For example, leaders were slow to consider children's starting points in the Nursery Year.

They only recently put in place more rigorous planning. Though staff receive regular phonics training, they do not consistently teach in the way leaders expect. For example, staff do not insist that all pupils join in with reading or saying a sound.

This makes it difficult for staff to assess what pupils know to inform teaching. Consequently, too many pupils struggle to keep up with the pace of the phonics programme.

Leaders ensure the curriculum specifies what pupils learn from the early years onward.

Leaders trained staff in shared approaches to teaching, but these are not being used consistently. When teachers do not demonstrate how to complete activities in the way leaders would want, pupils resort to guessing, which leads to them making mistakes. Subsequently, pupils find it hard to recall knowledge leaders want them to know.

This is not the case in mathematics. Pupils are more proficient in this subject.

Though they experience the same issues in how staff teach and assess, pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive well-thought-out extra support.

Teachers oversee this, consulting with leaders and pupils' parents. Dedicated support staff provide support in line with the 'pupil passport'. For example, staff's effective use of picture-based systems allows pupils with communication and language difficulties to follow instructions and convey their own needs.

Leaders understand that instilling good behaviour starts in the early years. This includes introducing routines as well as building children's language about concepts and feelings. Astute staff act out scenarios to teach children abstract concepts such as respect.

It means that as pupils move through the school, they generally play kindly and behave politely towards others.

A good deal of pupils attend school regularly. However, persistent absenteeism for pupils with SEND and pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds is too high.

Leaders want to be supportive, putting in place kind measures to address barriers to school attendance. However, these measures are not rectifying the problem. Too much time then passes before leaders challenge parents about their child's attendance, making poor habits difficult to break.

In the main, the personal development programme works well. There is a varied personal, social and health education curriculum. It introduces pupils to topics that help them to learn about themselves and their place in the world.

Additionally, there is suitable well-being support for pupils. Trained school staff and external experts lead this, helping to build vulnerable pupils' self-esteem. Leaders want pupils to be responsible, making it one of their school rules.

However, there are few opportunities for pupils to take on responsibilities. Other than the well-considered opportunities to develop pupils' musicality, the extra-curricular offer is somewhat limited. Leaders have plans to address this, but these changes are yet to take effect.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have the required training to oversee safeguarding. This includes managing the checks completed on staff and volunteers ahead of them being in school.

Staff receive regular missives that keep key training points fresh in their minds. Consequently, staff swiftly report concerns about pupils. Staff know when they can act and when concerns need the work of leaders.

Leaders liaise well with external agencies, ensuring support is provided for vulnerable families.

Pupils learn a lot about keeping safe. For example, they understand when touch is and is not appropriate.

They also know they must share their worries with trusted adults, including school staff.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• School evaluation processes lack efficiency. As a result, responses to, for example, attendance concerns, take too long to resolve.

Leaders should strengthen evaluation processes so that the checks and challenge recognise and resolve issues swiftly. ? Leaders' shared approaches to teaching and assessment are not being used consistently. In phonics, this results in some pupils not being expected to join in with reading activities, meaning staff cannot tailor their teaching to ensure pupils securely learn the sounds letters represent.

In the wider curriculum, this results in pupils not always understanding new subject matter where teaching instruction is unclear. Leaders should provide further training for staff so that all pupils join in when expected and understand what they are being taught. ? Leaders have not taken sufficient action to remedy attendance concerns relating to disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.

As a result, too many disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND miss school regularly. This leads to gaps in pupils' knowledge, thus hindering their academic progress. Leaders should strengthen their systems for identifying, managing and resolving attendance concerns to ensure all groups of pupils attend school regularly.