East Preston Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

The school provides a good education for its pupils. It has many outstanding features, including the highly effective Early Years Foundation Stage, where children receive an excellent start to their education.

One parent summed up the feelings of others when writing, 'I have watched my children go from strength to strength. I trust this school implicitly. They have a caring and nurturing ethos which shows in the children's learning.'

Parents and carers therefore recognise the high quality care, support and guidance that the school provides. Using a wide range of strategies the school successfully lowers barriers to learning for pupils who find difficulties in coping with school life. The sch...ool's self-evaluation in the area of pupils' personal development and behaviour is accurate.

All pupils spoken to feel safe and the impact of the national award can be seen in their outstanding knowledge of healthy living. High numbers participate in the very good variety of sports clubs and in the annual 'Walk/Scoot to School' event. The well-above-average attendance rate reflects their enjoyment.

Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent. Pupils reflect in assemblies on various moral issues such as whether lying is acceptable under any circumstances. They adapt very well to different social contexts.

Teaching is good. Relationships are very strong and the pupils consequently want to do well and engage with their learning. This contributes to the well-above-average attainment levels for pupils at the end of Year 2 in 2010.

Writing was above average. The gap between boys and girls is closing as a result of school actions, such as the introduction of new books and more strategies that encourage boys to write. Given their starting points, the level of attainment constitutes good progress for pupils, including those few from ethnic minority groups or for whom English is an additional language.

The highly focused leadership and management of the headteacher, ably supported by her experienced deputy, results in a real focus on improvement. Observations show that the number of outstanding lessons is rising. One parent commented, 'The school has moved on in many ways.'

Pupils benefit from an excellent range of partnerships. Senior managers follow an embedded monitoring cycle and their evaluation is rigorous and accurate. In the foundation subjects, leaders are not yet using a full range of strategies to identify a deeper, strategic overview of attainment and progress, for example, of different pupil groups.

Development plans show relevant issues for improvement. However, they are insufficiently clear about how the subject area supports the priorities in the whole-school development plan, or use sufficiently refined objectives against which leaders can measure the success of the changes they introduce. Governors' monitoring, including visits and coordinator reports, helps them to contribute well to development planning.

The current governing body lack sufficient training in interpreting attainment and progress data so that they can more deeply challenge the school. Effective leadership of English is illustrated when monitoring revealed inconsistencies in letter formation. Subsequent in-service training and staff guidance have resulted in improvements in writing.

Reading is improving as a result of other school actions. Given all these factors, the school has a good capacity to sustain improvement.

Information about the school

The very large majority of pupils in this infant school come from a White British background.

The next largest ethnic minority group are pupils from a Mixed White and Asian background. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is well below average, as is the number with a statement of special educational needs. The main groups have social, emotional and/or behavioural or moderate learning difficulties.

A very small number speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well below average. The Early Years Foundation Stage provision is provided in two Reception classes.

The school holds the national Healthy School and Basic Skills awards. There is an independent pre- and after-school club on the school site. It is subject to a separate inspection.

Also at this postcode