Lantern Lane Primary and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Lantern Lane Primary and Nursery School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love to come to Lantern Lane each day and would not hesitate to recommend it to other children.Teachers want all pupils to succeed, and they make education there exciting.

Pupils find out how East Leake has changed over time. They go on visits to places like White Post Farm. The whole school go watch the pantomime together.

From the Nursery Year onwards, skilled staff teach them quickly how to read. Pupils learn to love stories and poems. They are engaged and they want to learn.

There is an unmistakable sense of enthusiasm and aspiration. Pupils lea...ve well prepared for secondary school.Pupils are strong supporters of the school's C.

A.R.E.

values. They are helped to build their confidence, so that they can achieve as much as possible. They work hard in class and complete their work neatly.

Behaviour is very positive, because pupils are respectful.Pupils say that they feel safe at the school, and that staff are very caring. Pupils feel listened to.

Any bullying is highly unusual. When it happens, pupils say that staff deal with it quickly, so that everyone is friends again. They describe their school as 'a united community'.

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

The quality of education remains good at Lantern Lane. Staff are united, skilled and highly motivated. Senior leaders make clear to them that everyone who works at the school must want the best for every pupil.

Staff do. They give pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), for example, support to learn the same curriculum. The inspector saw compelling evidence of these pupils conducting scientific investigations alongside others.

He also saw work showing that their writing was improving and how, for instance, they had learned about the water cycle.Subjects are enriched to make them come alive for pupils. In history, those in Year 3 grind grain to make flour and build axes to learn about the Stone Age.

The school's oldest pupils speak eloquently about how 'the infrastructure the Romans left after their invasion went into disrepair, so much of life went back to the old ways'.Staff's high expectations begin in the Nursery Year, where children learn to count and are taught phrases, such as 'two-digit number'. They are also taught to listen for the different sounds words make.

This is so that they will be fully ready for phonics learning in Reception. Learning to read without delay is a priority. Lessons are fun.

Pupils in the early years listen to Robot Rick and move their robot arms enthusiastically to spell words, such as 'mug' and 'sack'. Staff give any children who need it support immediately, so that all will keep up. No pupil is allowed to flounder.

This means that pupils can become accurate, confident readers. Leaders are keen to improve phonics further and are in the early stages of using a new scheme. They know they will need to check its impact over the coming months.

Leaders have adjusted the curriculum to make sure that pupils have been able to catch up following the three national lockdowns. Pupils are now proficient and fluent again in mathematics. Those in Year 4 can, for example, quickly double 36 mentally and know their eight times table.

Pupils' writing skills have also improved. They write sentences such as 'Heracles, oblivious of what lay beneath him, prowled through the moss-infested pond.'

Staff receive well focused and helpful training to develop their subject knowledge.

Teachers ask pupils questions, and look closely at their work, so they are clear about what pupils know in different subjects. Each lesson begins with a 'flashback' to remind pupils of the things they have been taught before. Once they have checked pupils know them, teachers introduce new knowledge.

Pupils say the reminders are very useful. Across subjects, pupils achieve consistently well.The impact of senior leaders' work is not limited to the academic curriculum.

Pupils' moral development, and the building of character, is a strength of the school. Pupils learn about the importance of respect, and of standing up for what is right. They know they must behave well in class and around the school.

They do not disrupt learning. They are proud to and see their name on the 'C.A.

R.E.' walls for behaving in ways that uphold the school's values.

They celebrate their friends' achievements in the Golden Book Awards and greatly enjoy after-school clubs, such as football, Christmas Crafts and Magic Maths.Staff believe strongly that senior leaders manage the school well and do all they can to minimise their workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff have been thoroughly trained in safeguarding and know their pupils well. Staff are attuned to the many signs that mean a pupil could be being harmed. They understand their first duty is to do all they can to protect any who may be at risk.

They do not make assumptions. Instead, there is a 'it could happen here' culture. They know they must report concerns, however slight, immediately.

Leaders keep detailed records and act accordingly to support pupils, including by the involvement of external agencies.

There are appropriate systems in place to deal with safer recruitment and the management of any allegations against members of staff.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• While initial monitoring suggests the new phonics scheme is producing the impact leaders intend, it has not yet been embedded.

Leaders cannot be sure whether it will raise achievement in reading further. Leaders should ensure that all aspects of its planning and delivery are monitored rigorously over the longer term, making any adjustments needed, so that all pupils become fluent readers as rapidly as possible.

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

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

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

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