Howden Church of England Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Howden Church of England Infant School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly, welcoming school where pupils are nurtured and well cared for.

Parents and carers appreciate the efforts of staff. They are positive about the school. A typical view expressed through Ofsted's Parent View was: 'My child is eager to attend school every day and is happy and content.'



Leaders are ambitious for all pupils. The school's motto is 'Roots to grow, wings to fly.' Leaders and staff work hard to ensure that all pupils flourish during their time at school.

Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education..../>
Pupils are happy and confident. They enjoy coming to school.

Pupils respect each other and the adults who help them to learn. Staff foster positive relationships with pupils and their families.

Staff set high expectations for pupils' behaviour.

Pupils get on well together. They are pleasant and polite. Parents, staff and pupils agree that bullying is extremely rare.

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

Staff feel valued and well supported by leaders. Teachers agree that leaders are considerate about their workload. Governors visit the school regularly.

This helps them to understand the school's strengths and priorities for improvement.

Leaders prioritise reading. Pupils enjoy listening to teachers read stories to them.

Reading is taught well in all year groups. Leaders give parents helpful advice so that they can support their children's reading at home.

Staff receive regular training in how to teach phonics and wider reading skills.

Pupils' knowledge of sounds is assessed regularly and accurately. This helps teachers to know what phonics knowledge to teach next and how to teach it. Pupils apply their knowledge of phonics to spell words accurately in their written work.

Leaders ensure that pupils falling behind receive appropriate support. The proportion of pupils passing the Year 1 phonics screening check increased in 2019 and was similar to the national average.

In Reception Year, both adult-led and play-based activities help children to develop early reading skills.

The vast majority of children quickly learn how to blend sounds into words. Most take home books containing simple words as soon as they are ready to do so. However, a small number of children continue to take home picture books unnecessarily.

Leaders have reviewed and improved the teaching of mathematics since the previous inspection. Teachers know what content to teach and the order in which to teach it. Pupils deepen their understanding of key concepts by confidently reasoning their ideas.

Teachers ensure that pupils can recall number facts quickly and understand place value. Pupils apply this knowledge to solve calculations. For example, pupils' work in Year 2 shows they can add and subtract two 2-digit numbers accurately.

In foundation subjects, pupils learn about a range of interesting topics. Teachers plan lessons that help pupils learn new skills and knowledge. For example, in Reception Year, children learn to cut and join different materials to make puppets of story characters.

There is still work to do to refine the curriculum further in subjects such as design and technology, geography and history. Leaders have not yet finished checking that pupils' knowledge and skills build as well as they possibly can in every subject.

Pupils try their very best in lessons.

They are keen to learn and cooperate well with their peers. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported.

Leaders and all staff promote pupils' wider development well.

Pupils contribute to local events at Howden Minster Church. They enjoy opportunities to attend a range of after-school activities. These include art, dance and sewing clubs.

Pupils also have opportunities to learn to play the recorder, violin and ukulele.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong safeguarding culture in this school.

Staff receive timely training. They know whom to report to if they have a concern about a pupil. Leaders complete thorough checks on new staff and volunteers.

Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. For example, teachers remind them regularly about how to use the internet safely.

Pupils feel safe in this school.

All parents who responded to Parent View agree.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

In Reception Year, children quickly learn to blend sounds into simple words. A small number of these children miss out on opportunities to practise these skills at home.

This is because teachers do not ensure they take home books containing words made up of familiar sounds early enough. Leaders should work with teachers to make sure that children quickly improve their fluency and confidence by practising reading the sounds they have learned. .

The curriculum is not yet sufficiently planned in a coherent sequence in all subjects. Leaders should continue to refine the curriculum further so that teaching in all subjects develops pupils' knowledge and skills fully.

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 school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, 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 convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in April 2011.

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