Healey Junior Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations for pupils' learning and behaviour. Pupils are clear about the school's golden rules.

In the early years, staff establish important routines that support children to behave well and be ready to learn. This serves pupils well as they progress through school. Pupils concentrate well in class and get fully involved in their learning.

Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Pupils value the warm and caring way staff support them and keep them safe. Pupils are confident in reporting any worries because they know staff will listen and deal with their concerns.

Staff take bullying incidents seriously and make sure that appro...priate action is taken.

Pupils enjoy the curriculum on offer. As one pupil said, 'If you are coming here to learn, you will leave with lots of knowledge and a smile on your face.'

Pupils learn well across the range of subjects and welcome the clubs and sporting experiences that staff provide. The curriculum is responsive to local and national events. Teachers provide pupils with the necessary knowledge to understand what is happening in the world around them.

For example, a 'fair share' programme runs in school and pupils are actively encouraged to help their community through the local food bank.

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

Trustees and governors provide a clear vision for the school, centred around providing an ambitious education for pupils in this community. Stable staffing and strong leadership have resulted in marked improvements since the inspection of the predecessor school.

A focus of school improvement has been developing subject leadership. Subject leaders often work in teams and make use of support and training from colleagues in the trust. They are building their expertise and becoming increasingly effective in checking the effectiveness of the curriculum in their areas of responsibility.

Leaders have considered what they want pupils to know and be able to do in each subject. Lessons provide opportunities for pupils to make connections to previous learning so they can access more demanding content over time. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are identified quickly and are supported well.

Teachers help pupils to keep up with the pace of the curriculum by making use of appropriate resources, activities and support.

Reading is high priority. A team of leaders takes responsibility for phonics and reading.

This team coordinates a whole-school approach and makes sure staff are well trained and supported to use the phonics programme. Teaching approaches are consistent and effective. Teachers quickly spot pupils who are struggling and need more support.

Extra help from skilled staff means they rapidly catch up.Independent reading and story time are cherished parts of the school day. Older pupils talk keenly about the books they choose from the library and the ones they have enjoyed staff reading to them.

Younger pupils get lots of practice reading books which are matched to their phonic knowledge. This helps them become fluent readers who can read words accurately and speedily. However, activities involving writing do not always provide the same level of practice for pupils to use their phonic knowledge for spelling.

Leaders have implemented a new mathematics scheme. Teachers are dealing with the gaps in learning which some pupils have in mathematics. This is causing the pace of curriculum delivery to be slower than expected.

Leaders have plans in place to get pupils back on track.

Leaders make sure that children get off to a productive start to their education in the early years. Staff focus on developing children's language and communication and establishing effective routines.

This means that children listen and concentrate well. They form good attitudes to learning, which prepares them well for key stage 1. Pupils continue to behave well and exhibit positive attitudes to their learning throughout key stages 1 and 2.

Staff set high expectations for pupils and this ensures that pupils benefit fully from their education. However, some pupils are regularly absent from school, which means they do not profit in the same way as their peers who attend well.

Pupils learn about what constitutes a healthy relationship.

They talk with passion about what they have learned about tolerance, respect and diversity. However, some pupils do not show this in their actions. When pupils play football at breaktimes, there are some unkind remarks about girls' ability to take part.

Leaders ensure pupils have a broad range of opportunities to access events in the community. For example, pupils participate in the Kirklees Sports Partnership, local walks and Remembrance Day commemorations. A range of visitors enrich pupils' understanding of others in their community and beyond.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders provide regular training so that staff are confident to recognise and report any signs of concern. Leaders respond to safeguarding concerns quickly.

They work with a range of external agencies to make sure that pupils get the help and support they need.

The curriculum provides plentiful opportunities for pupils to learn how to keep themselves safe from potential risks. For example, pupils show a firm understanding of the possible dangers they need to be alert to when online.

Worry catchers and digital reporting are examples of the methods available to pupils when they need to share a concern about safety or bullying.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teachers sometimes set activities which require pupils in early years and key stage 1 to write when they do not have enough prior knowledge to spell the words accurately. Teachers should make sure activities are chosen to help pupils learn the intended knowledge.

When activities involve writing, pupils should use the spelling knowledge they have been taught in phonics so that it becomes fluent. ? Teachers are addressing the gaps in some pupils' mathematical knowledge as a result of the pandemic. Leaders should ensure that pupils quickly get back on track with the usual expectations of the school's mathematics curriculum.

• Leaders have introduced a range of procedures to improve pupils' attendance. However, too many pupils do not attend often enough and are missing out on valuable learning. Leaders should ensure that their actions are increasingly effective in improving pupils' attendance.

• Pupils learn about diversity and inclusion and understand how to treat others with respect. However, they do not always put this into practice when they interact with their peers on the playground. Leaders should make sure the behaviour policy is effective in supporting pupils to enact the values they are taught.