Elmtree Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher's commitment, hard work and vision have been effective in stabilising and securing improvement to a school that had been in decline. As a result of good teaching, pupils are now making good progress.

Teachers plan tasks that interest pupils and help them to learn well. From starting points that are below those typical for their age, pupils make good progress. The proportion of pupils who meet the expected standard at the end of key stage 1 is similar to the national average.

Pupils' behaviour is good. Pupils are polite and respectful and have positive attitudes to learning. Relationships are positive, and the school is a h...appy and purposeful environment for learning.

Pupils are very well cared for and there is a strong culture of safeguarding. Leaders ensure that safeguarding procedures are robust. Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school.

The excellent partnership with parents is a strength of the school. Although attendance remains below the national average, this is improving. Leaders are, rightly, giving this aspect of their work even greater attention.

Children in the early years get off to a good start. Well-planned, interesting activities harness children's natural curiosity. In 2017, the proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check was below the national average.

Current pupils are making good progress in phonics. Disadvantaged pupils are making good progress. The gap between these pupils' achievement and that of other pupils is beginning to close, although currently these pupils do not attain as well as others.

Due to relatively recent changes in leadership, senior leaders hold too many individual responsibilities. As a result, some aspects of the school's work, such as evaluation and plans for improvement, have received less attention than they should. These areas currently lack rigour.

Teachers sometimes do not move learning on quickly enough for middle-attaining pupils, or pose questions which sufficiently challenge all pupils. Until recently the school's assessment system did not provide accurate information to enable teachers and leaders to have a clear enough understanding of pupils' progress. This has now improved.

Information about this school

Elmtree is a larger than average-sized infant school. There are two classes in each year group. The early years consists of two Reception classes and a Nursery class.

Most children in the Nursery attend either mornings or afternoons, although some children attend full time. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average. The school has an additional resourced provision for up to eight pupils who have speech, language and communication difficulties.

The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average. Approximately half of the pupils are of White British heritage. The remaining pupils are from diverse ethnic backgrounds, with the largest proportion being of Pakistani heritage.

The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above the national average. The headteacher was appointed to the school as the deputy headteacher in September 2015. When the previous headteacher left the school in February 2016 she became acting headteacher for half of the week and an interim executive headteacher from Chestnut Lane School was appointed to the school for the other half of the week.

This school-to-school support arrangement was in place until September 2017, when the acting headteacher was appointed to the full-time substantive post. Since the previous inspection there have been some changes of staff and changes to the governing body, including a new chair of governors. The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

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