Newnham Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Newnham Infant and Nursery School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love coming to school.

They are happy and safe here. Staff expect the very best from all pupils. They get to know pupils and their individual needs well.

Pupils and staff build positive and respectful working relationships.

Pupils demonstrate positive attitudes in lessons and towards each other. They behave sensibly both inside and outside the classroom.

Pupils are proud members of the school community. They understand and follow the school motto 'to be the best that we can be'. The school's work to promote pupils' personal development and welfar...e is impressive.

Through the curriculum, assemblies and a range of additional activities, pupils are taught how to be strong, positive role models and citizens.

Pupils enjoy their visits to the theatre and museums. They attend a number of clubs such as tennis, sewing and football.

Pupils are particularly proud of the money they have raised in recent years for local charities. In early years, children benefit from the wealth of learning opportunities in their setting, both inside and outside the classroom. They learn to work collaboratively with their peers but also to develop independence.

This sets them up well for when they enter Year 1.

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

Leaders have thought carefully about what pupils should learn and when. They have designed a curriculum that goes beyond the national curriculum in many subjects.

Expectations of pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are high. The well-planned provision in early years ensures that children get the foundations for learning that they need. Governors know the school well.

They support and challenge school leaders appropriately.

Teachers regularly check pupils' understanding. This helps them to decide what and how to teach next.

Staff routinely check for misconceptions. In many subjects, teaching clearly builds on pupils' prior learning. For example, in mathematics, pupils practise their mental mathematical facts and then move on to apply this to current learning.

It is clear how the early mathematics that children are taught in the Nursery is built on each year. This is less the case in some subjects where recent changes to curricular thinking are not fully embedded. This means that pupils sometimes struggle to remember what they have been taught as a result.

Leaders have made sure that reading is a priority. All staff receive regular training in phonics and deliver the reading programme consistently and with confidence. Pupils who have fallen behind in their phonics catch up quickly.

Pupils at the early stage of reading read suitable books to practise their phonics and routinely use their phonic strategies to decode unknown words. Staff promote a love of reading. For example, staff read daily with pupils and encourage pupils to read a range of texts.

Staff identify pupils' needs accurately. They work with external agencies effectively to best support pupils with SEND. Staff are expertly guided in adapting learning for pupils to access the full curriculum.

Some pupils with complex needs access their learning through an individualised curriculum.

Pupils behave well in class and around the school. They are highly motivated and demonstrate positive attitudes to their education.

When moving around the school, and in the playground, pupils consistently show self-discipline. Pupils know that they are listened to by adults. Bullying and all forms of discrimination are not tolerated.

Attendance is an ongoing focus for the school. Leaders work closely with families to improve pupils' attendance. As a result, pupils who are persistently absent have improved their attendance considerably due to the school's work.

Staff are unanimously proud and happy here. They speak highly of senior leaders who they said look out for their well-being and help make workload manageable.

The school provides pupils with a range of enrichment opportunities which the pupils enjoy and remember.

For instance, they recently enjoyed a visit from an author. The school encourages pupils to uphold the school's values. For example, pupils receive rewards for showing kindness to others and working together as a team.

Pupils take on roles of responsibility such as through the school council, where pupils exercise their right to vote by electing class representatives. Parents and carers are supportive of the school. They particularly value the work done to develop their children's personal well-being and appreciate how well staff communicate with them.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some foundation subjects, recent changes to the curriculum are not fully embedded. Where this is the case, staff do not routinely ensure that new learning builds on prior learning.

As a result, sometimes pupils' knowledge is not secure. The school should ensure that changes to the curriculum are embedded, and that pupils' knowledge builds securely in all subjects.

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 July 2015.

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