Feltham Hill Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in this nurturing and supportive school. They benefit from positive and respectful relationships with adults and other pupils. This starts in the early years, where children learn to play well together.

These strong foundations, together with clear and consistent expectations, mean that pupils' behaviour is exemplary.

The school develops pupils' knowledge and confidence through a rich curriculum and thoughtfully planned wider experiences. Pupils excel in all aspects of their learning.

This is because the school has very high academic ambitions for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils are r...ightly very proud of the work that they produce in different subjects. They are exceptionally well prepared for the next stage of their education.

The school promotes responsibility and independence in pupils. For example, the school council has chosen the lunch menu to ensure it is healthy. The play leaders engage with their peers or younger pupils, involving them in games and activities.

Leaders place great importance on boosting confidence and communication through developing pupils' fluency in expressing themselves. Pupils articulately share their views and consideration of others' perspectives.

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

The school has designed a highly rigorous and ambitious curriculum.

In each subject, important knowledge is explicitly identified and sequenced so that pupils return to and deepen their understanding. This careful curriculum thinking means that children develop secure foundations in the early years. Staff encourage children to be inquisitive learners and ask questions.

Opportunities to revisit and practise previous learning is carefully designed through the 'busy learning' provision throughout the school. This helps pupils deepen their understanding. For example, in science, Reception children learn about seasonal changes focusing on their local environment and observe seeds growing into plants.

By Year 2, this understanding is developed further, and pupils can confidently identify different features of plants and understand the process of germination, along with what plants need to grow.

Leaders have made sure that the curriculum is well sequenced. For example, in geography, they have thought carefully about the knowledge and skills pupils will build over time.

In Reception, children can recall and identify features in their local environment, providing a strong foundation for their future learning in geography. By the time they reach Year 2, pupils broaden their knowledge and can identify the differences between human and physical features of two contrasting locations.

Staff's expectations of all pupils, including those with SEND, are consistently high.

Leaders ensure that any additional needs are identified early and appropriate support is swiftly put in place. The school works well with external agencies and specialists to establish the most suitable support based on individual pupils' needs. Pupils with SEND attending the specialist provision, as well as those in the mainstream classrooms, have access to the full curriculum or an adapted curriculum that is tailored to their needs.

A strong reading culture is evident across the school. All staff are trained and supported to be experts in the teaching of reading. Pupils practise reading with books that are consistently well matched to the sounds that they know.

This helps to ensure that they develop as confident and fluent readers. Pupils falling behind are identified swiftly and supported in catching up. Pupils with SEND attending the specialist provision benefit from daily tailored phonics teaching.

The school selects ambitious texts to ensure that pupils are exposed to a broad and rich range of literature.

Pupils' behaviour around the school and attitudes to their learning are exemplary, including in early years. This is because expectations are clear and are consistently applied by staff.

Leaders ensure that pupils' attendance is high. When it drops for some pupils, leaders go the extra mile, working closely with families to make sure their attendance improves rapidly.

The school weaves their personal development offer through all aspects of the curriculum.

There is a wide range of enrichment activities, such as visits from the police to a local artist. The 'busy learning' curriculum provides pupils with opportunities to develop lifelong skills, such as resilience, through both indoor and outdoor provisions. Pupils enjoy daily assemblies, where they share school values, for example learning about different religions or celebrating birthdays.

They are taught about different family units and know what makes a positive friendship.

Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school. Staff express great pride in working here.

They say their workload is manageable and appreciate the way leaders look out for their well-being. A knowledgeable governing body provides appropriate levels of challenge and support.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.