Newport Infant School and Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and well cared for at Newport Infant School and Nursery.

From the very beginning, children feel that they belong to one big family. Each pupil makes a peg doll of themselves. The school community displays their peg dolls together.

This shows how important each pupil is within this family.

The school is ambitious for what pupils can achieve. Most pupils achieve well in most subjects, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils have high expectations of themselves. They enjoy learning and want to know how they can improve their work.

At playtime, pupils engage in a range of activities..../>
Adults interact and play with pupils. Routines are clear and well understood by pupils and children in early years. These clear routines support a positive learning environment in which pupils and children behave very well most of the time.

Pupils know and routinely exhibit the school's rules of 'be ready, be kind, be safe'.

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. Some older pupils are part of 'Super Sue's Safety Crew'.

As part of this leadership role, they lead assemblies and teach younger pupils about how to stay safe. They talk, for example, about wearing bright colours when walking in the dark.

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

There have been several recent changes to the leadership of the school, including to the governance arrangements.

The newly formed leadership team is caring. Leaders are ambitious for what they want pupils to achieve. They have created an inclusive and welcoming environment.

The school works closely with the local junior school. This close working relationship supports pupils to transition well into key stage 2.

In most subjects, the curriculum is well planned.

For example, in history, the curriculum sets out the key knowledge and vocabulary that pupils are expected to know and remember. The local town of Newport is central to pupils' learning journey. As a result, pupils develop a strong understanding of their local area.

Older pupils talk about how the past shapes the present. In most subjects, the curriculum is designed so that knowledge builds in a logical order from early years to Year 2. However, in other subjects, such as mathematics, this is not the case.

The small steps of knowledge have not been clearly and precisely identified in key stage 1. This means that individual class teachers make decisions about what to teach and when for their own classes. Consequently, learning does not always build in a logical order from year to year, and this slows pupils' learning.

Reading and books are celebrated and prioritised across school. Adults share stories and poems daily with all pupils. There is a wide range of diverse books, including from a variety of cultures.

All of this helps to create a culture in which pupils enjoy reading. Children benefit by learning phonics right from the beginning of early years.The school has systems in place to identify pupils who are falling behind.

Support is quickly put in place to help them. The youngest children in Nursery are taught nursery rhymes and follow oral patterns in stories. In English, pupils' work is well presented.

There is a strong focus on handwriting, spelling, grammar and sentence structure. Pupils achieve well in this area as a result. However, in key stage 1, the school has not clearly set out the precise subject knowledge that it wants pupils to learn in English.

For example, pupils are not always aware of the features of different types of writing. This means that gaps emerge in their English subject knowledge.

Effective systems are in place to identify the needs of pupils with SEND accurately.

These are regularly reviewed. Pupils are well supported. The school has recently established a new provision to further support pupils with complex needs.

Pupils are taught to communicate using signing and visual aids. The school is developing ways to ensure that these communication systems are consistently applied throughout the day.

Pupils' wider development is prioritised.

The school has established a list of '30 things to achieve at Newport Infant School'. This includes visiting the local canal, feeding ducks and tasting food from another culture. During the 'wonderful world of work' week, parents and carers share information about their professions with pupils.

This helps to broaden pupils' experiences. There is a range of extra-curricular clubs on offer, such the music, sports and teddy-bear clubs. The school knows that more needs to be done to widen pupils' opportunities to access to these clubs.

Governors provide appropriate support and strategic challenge. However, systems for checking, analysing and evaluating work across the school are not sharp enough. This means that leaders do not always know precisely what is working well and what needs further improvement.

Parents and staff are supportive of the new leadership team.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In mathematics, the school has not set out the key knowledge that it wants pupils to learn over time in key stage 1.

Teachers are not always clear about what to teach and when. This means that pupils' knowledge does not build in a logical order over time. The school should ensure that it consistently identifies and sequences the key knowledge it wants all pupils to learn in mathematics.

• In English, the school has not ensured that pupils are clear about the precise subject knowledge they are learning in key stage 1. This means that gaps emerge in pupils' English subject knowledge, specifically in writing. The school should ensure that the subject-specific knowledge in English is clearly set out in lessons.

• The systems for checking, analysing and evaluating work across school are not sharp enough. This means that leaders do not always accurately know how different aspects of the school are working. The school should ensure that it has an effective system in place for accurately evaluating the impact of its work.