Montgomery Infant School and Nursery, Colchester

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school embraces its diverse community.

This includes pupils with families who serve in the armed forces and those who speak English as an additional language. Many pupils join the school midway through the year. They are warmly welcomed through the 'buddy system' and settle quickly at school.

Pupils exemplify the school's expectations within 'The Monty Way'. This encourages them to behave well, respect everyone and achieve highly. Pupils work hard and persevere in more difficult tasks.

Pupils achieve well across the curriculum. In particular, children in early years thrive. Staff are very ambitious for children and ensure they are fully prepared for Year ...1.

Pupils enjoy coming to this school and love learning 'everything'. Pupils respond well to praise provided through the weekly 'Monty Achievers' assembly. This motivates them and supports them to make a positive contribution to their own learning.

The school provides the chance for pupils to enhance their learning through trips and visitors to the school. There are increasing opportunities for pupils to develop their talents and interests. This includes access to a range of clubs, for example a military club that offers additional support for pupils whose parents are on deployment.

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

Since the previous inspection, there have been significant leadership changes in the school. The curriculum has undergone a period of refinement and is now ambitious for all. The curriculum reflects the school's motto of 'We achieve together'.

The focus on pupils achieving well is woven throughout.

Where the curriculum is most established, pupils achieve well. In early years, the curriculum is very well thought out and reflects the vision of children being able to read well so they can access the rest of the curriculum well.

Staff carefully consider children's starting points and the needs of the many children who speak English as an additional language. This enables children to make rapid progress. As a result, children are extremely well prepared for the next stage of their education.

The teaching of reading is a notable strength. This begins in Nursery, where children are completely immersed in stories, poems and rhymes that create a language-rich and vibrant environment. In Reception, skilled teachers deliver lessons which help children remember sounds and apply them to their day-to-day reading.

Teachers rapidly identify those children who need extra help to keep up and provide effective support. The school ensures that the books children read match the sounds they know. As pupils progress through the school, they learn to understand more complex vocabulary through well-chosen texts.

Consequently, pupils become fluent and confident readers. This in turn helps them successfully access all areas of the curriculum.

Where the curriculum is more recently in place, the changes are already impacting positively on pupils' learning.

This is because the school has precisely identified the skills and knowledge pupils need to build each year. While this is the case, there remain a few curriculum areas where the process for checking how well the curriculum is being delivered is not as fully developed. This means that leaders have not got as secure an oversight of how well pupils are remembering and building on their learning.

The school has revised the approach to teaching handwriting. At present, this approach is not being consistently delivered. This can sometimes hinder the progress some pupils make.

There are also variations in the expectations of the quality of pupils' writing for different purposes throughout the curriculum. In these instances, the quality of pupils' work is variable and does not truly reflect how well they are learning and remembering aspects of the curriculum.

Pupils with special educational and/or disabilities (SEND) are very well supported.

Their needs are quickly identified, and appropriate support is put in place. Teachers provide skilful adaptations to ensure that all pupils can access the same learning as their peers. Pupils with the most complex needs receive a bespoke programme with high levels of support.

The effectiveness of this support means that pupils with SEND achieve well from their starting points.

The school celebrates the diversity of its community in a range of ways. For example, the school hosts the annual summer festival.

Families dress in clothes from their culture and learn about the different cultures within the school. Pupils also learn about different faiths and cultures through books chosen for their diversity. Pupils build a strong understanding of tolerance and respect.

Pupils learn about the key values of being a citizen in modern Britain through voting for their school councillors. They also take responsibility for their own learning and actions by following 'The Monty Way'.

Staff enjoy working at the school.

They feel very well supported by leaders in managing their workload and well-being.

Governors closely check improvements within the school and hold leaders to account effectively. They have absolute confidence in the new leaders to fulfil their high expectations.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• There are inconsistencies in teachers' expectations of pupils' written work and the application of the agreed handwriting programme. In a few subjects, pupils do not routinely apply the writing skills they know within their written work.

This means that pupils' writing does not always reflect how well they are learning, or the ambition of the curriculum. The school should ensure that teachers' expectations of pupils' written work are consistently high in all subject areas and the agreed system to teach handwriting is followed by all. ? In a few subject areas, the checks that the school makes to ensure the successful delivery of the curriculum are at an earlier stage than in other subjects.

This means that the school does not have as clear an understanding of the impact of the curriculum on pupils' progress in all curriculum areas. Therefore, it is unclear if pupils are making the progress they should. The school should make sure that leaders have a secure oversight of the implementation, and impact, of the curriculum and that they have the systems established to check that pupils remember what they have been taught.

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