Holmfirth Junior Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Holmfirth Junior Infant and Nursery School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Holmfirth Junior Infant and Nursery is a caring school that is very well regarded by the community.

Staff have high expectations of all pupils. Pupils say that they are proud of their school and that they enjoy attending. They told the inspector that they feel safe and trust the adults to look after them.

Pupils understand what bullying is and the different forms it can take. They confirm that bullying rarely happens.

The support leaders provide for pupils' personal development is a strength of the school.

Leaders ensure that pupils have a clea...r awareness and appreciation of diversity. A carefully structured curriculum for personal, social and health education develops pupils' understanding of healthy relationships. As a result, pupils are clear how to manage risks and keep themselves safe.

Pupils conduct themselves sensibly around school. There is a calm and purposeful atmosphere in classrooms. Typically, pupils behave well in lessons.

Most listen carefully and work hard. They have positive attitudes to learning. Parents praise the school's efforts to develop pupils as individuals, as well as responsible and active citizens.

One parent, whose opinions represented the views of many, said 'the school is a magical place where the decisions that are made centre the child at the heart'.

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

Leaders have thought carefully about the subject knowledge they want pupils to know and the order in which pupils will learn it. This ensures that new knowledge builds on what pupils already know.

However, this is not the case for all pupils. For pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), the curriculum does not identify the crucial knowledge they need to learn. Most pupils remember what they have been taught.

In science, for example, pupils could clearly explain what they knew about man-made and natural light sources. They then used this knowledge when learning about the refraction of light, and day and night.

Teaching pupils to read is a high priority.

Teachers ensure pupils read books which match the sounds they are learning. This helps pupils to quickly become fluent readers. The youngest pupils get off to a good start in their reading.

They quickly learn letter sounds and use this knowledge to help them read. Pupils enjoy listening to teachers read stories as part of their daily story time. Leaders have carefully chosen books which link to the topics pupils are learning.

This gives pupils' extra information about the subjects they are learning. The library provides a wide choice of books for pupils to borrow and read. Older pupils read widely, including works from classic authors such as William Shakespeare and Jane Austin.

Pupils who need support to catch up are quickly identified. All adults have received the training they need to teach phonics well.

In mathematics, pupils know that their multiplication facts help them to understand fractions.

Mathematics teaching in the early years focuses on developing children's counting skills. Inspectors saw children easily identify a number of objects without having to count them, as they recognised the pattern they made. Teachers use subject vocabulary with precision.

This helps pupils to know and understand mathematical terms and use these in their work. Teachers usually check that pupils have learned important knowledge before they teach something new. However, the presentation of some pupils' work is not good enough.

This leads to mistakes or misunderstandings which are sometimes missed by teachers.

Children in the early years enjoy learning together in welcoming and attractive spaces indoors and outdoors. These areas prioritise language, reading and number.

Children quickly become curious and independent learners enjoying the learning that staff plan for them. Staff talk to the children and ask probing questions. This contributes to developing children's knowledge, understanding and skills well.

Adults make the children think hard about their learning. While playing, children develop their social skills as well as their ability to talk, read, write and count. This makes learning fun for all.

The school has an effective personal development programme. Leaders ensure that pupils have access to a wide range of activities and enrichment opportunities. Opportunities such as forest schools, chess and drama are well attended.

Pupils make an active contribution to their school. They act as road safety officers, librarians and school councillors. Pupils are proud to plan and run clubs for the benefit of others.

Pupils have a good understanding of the importance of fundamental British values and are well prepared for life in modern Britain. They show respectful and tolerant attitudes, and know how to keep themselves healthy and safe. Pupils like that the school has no uniform.

It allows them to be unique and themselves. As one pupil told the inspector, 'We just like being treated like individuals, staff know us for who we are'.

Governors know the school well.

They use their combined knowledge and skills effectively to provide robust challenge and support to leaders. They make appropriate checks on the quality of education and safeguarding. This has helped the school continue to improve.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding is a key priority for all staff. Leaders have ensured that staff have had all the necessary training that they need to keep pupils safe.

Staff are vigilant to risks that affect their pupils.

Staff quickly identify pupils who may be at risk and take appropriate action when required. Leaders follow up safeguarding issues appropriately.

They work very well with external agencies and families to support pupils who need help.

Pupils are taught to keep safe in a range of situations, including when playing outside and when using the internet or social media. The school holds events to inform pupils of these risks and how to manage them.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• At times, pupils with SEND have not secured the knowledge and skills they need before moving on to new learning. Leaders should identify the essential knowledge and skills they want all pupils with SEND to learn and be secure with before moving on. This will enable teachers to check that pupils with SEND remember the essential subject content in order to be ready for future learning.

• The quality of pupils' work is too variable. Leaders' expectations of pupils recorded work are not consistently applied. This leads to pupils making unnecessary mistakes.

These mistakes leads to misconceptions that are not always addressed as teachers are unable to read accurately the recorded work. Leaders need to make sure that in all lessons, all pupils, at all times, take the care and attention needed to produce the quality work leaders expect.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2012.

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