Frodingham Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and productive at this school. They are polite and kind to each other.

Pupils know that staff will sort out any problems that they may have. Pupils enjoy school and take part in clubs such as gymnastics or football.

The school has high expectations of what pupils can achieve.

Children in the early years quickly learn routines and important skills such as taking turns and counting. However, as pupils move through the school some of them fall behind in the curriculum. They then do not catch up quickly enough.

This is sometimes missed by staff.

Pupils enjoy their lunchtimes and breaktimes. There are a range of games and activit...ies for them to take part in.

Behaviour in classrooms is mostly positive and staff build warm and encouraging relationships with pupils. Any issues with friendships are quickly resolved.

The school has designed a thorough and aspirational personal development programme for pupils.

This ensures that pupils are taught important concepts about being kind and looking after each other. They learn about the fundamental British values and how to be respectful in an age-appropriate way.

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

The school has made some important changes to the curriculum since the last inspection.

Leaders have now defined the 'sticky knowledge' that runs through each year group. The school has created resources that direct teachers to come back to the sticky knowledge over time.

However, some of this content is sometimes not taught well to pupils.

Teachers sometimes introduce many new concepts at once or set tasks that rely on knowledge that pupils have not learned. Some of these activities do not help pupils to practise the knowledge and skills set out in the curriculum. This impacts on some of the more vulnerable pupils the most, such as pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

The school has developed systems to help some of these pupils feel settled and focused in class. However, teachers sometimes miss when these pupils make mistakes or have not understood something. This is particularly the case for pupils in key stage 1.

Some of these pupils then continue to make mistakes.

The school has trained staff on how to teach the early reading curriculum. Staff show pupils how to break words down and are skilful in how they model this.

Some staff do not check how well pupils are doing this. Sometimes, staff do not know whether pupils have understood. Some pupils who are struggling to keep up do not get regular opportunities to practise reading.

This hinders these pupils in becoming fluent, accurate readers by the end of Year 2.

Teachers are skilled in teaching the personal, social and health education curriculum. Pupils learn about their emotions and how to build positive relationships with each other.

They learn about how families can look different. Parents are now fully informed about what their children will be taught.

Children thrive in the early years and successfully develop their physical and social skills.

Staff are experts in boosting children's communication and language development. They introduce carefully chosen new words. Children enjoy physical activities, for example by moving crates and then hopping from one to another.

Children develop strong routines through the clear expectations that staff set out for them.

The school has mapped out a monitoring schedule that indicates what leaders should do, such as talking with pupils or looking in their books. However, this monitoring has not focused on the quality of teaching in each subject.

The school has not evaluated what teachers need to do to improve their teaching. The training that teachers receive is not helping them to improve quickly enough.

Staff feel well supported by the school.

They know that they can ask for help if needed. The school recognises that some teachers do not have the training that they need in how to deliver the curriculum well in all subjects, particularly in key stage 1.

The school builds strong relationships with parents and carers.

Staff involve parents in experiences such as sharing home learning. Pupils benefit from a wide range of experiences, such as performing on stage or going to the local library.

Governors have a clear view of the strengths and weaknesses of the school.

They support leaders and challenge them through their questioning in meetings. They know that there is still more to do and have an accurate evaluation of what is needed.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The pedagogy used by the school is often not clearly linked to the content of the curriculum and what pupils need to remember. Some strategies used by staff do not allow pupils to practise, and therefore secure, important knowledge. The school should train staff in effective pedagogical strategies that support the subject-specific aims of the curriculum.

• Monitoring in the school has not focused sufficiently on the quality of the implementation of the curriculum and its impact. Teachers' implementation of the curriculum is sometimes not helping pupils to learn content in the long term. The school should ensure that the monitoring focuses on the quality of delivery of the curriculum and supports teachers to improve where needed.

In key stage 1, teachers sometimes miss where pupils have a misconception or have not understood something. Some pupils then continue to make mistakes. The school should ensure that teachers spot where this is happening and respond to it in a timely way to avoid misconceptions being formed.

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