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Phoenix Infant and Nursery School continues to be a good school.
What is it like to attend this school?
Pupils flourish at this small school with its friendly and caring ethos. They respond readily to the high expectations that leaders and staff set.
Parents and carers speak highly of the school and the education their children receive.
Behaviour is good. Pupils pay attention in lessons.
They move around the school calmly and sensibly. They play happily in the well-equipped outdoor areas. Staff run a lunchtime games club to enhance pupils' social skills.
This is helping pupils to regain positive relationships after the time spent out of school due to the ...COVID-19 pandemic.
Pupils, parents and staff agree that pupils feel safe at school. Staff respond quickly to any concerns about bullying, although these rarely occur.
Staff have made sure that pupils understand how to stay healthy. Pupils are keen to talk about the importance of eating healthy food. They know that exercise is good for them.
Some said: 'It's good to make your heart beat fast and pump your blood around your body.'
Pupils enjoy their lessons. They spoke enthusiastically about a range of subjects, especially physical education and mathematics.
Parents praise the remote learning provided during times when the school was not fully open.
What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?
Since the last inspection, leaders have rewritten the curriculum. They have ensured that the curriculum sets out exactly what pupils should know, and be able to do, in all subjects.
Leaders and staff have discussed the key knowledge and vocabulary pupils should learn in each subject. They have set out this content in a logical order so that pupils' knowledge and skills build progressively during their time at school. Curriculum leaders have a secure overview of their subject areas.
They monitor pupils' progress and give advice and support to staff, to ensure that there is a consistent approach across all year groups.
The mathematics curriculum, and its leadership, is strong. This has resulted in pupils knowing and remembering more over time.
In lessons, pupils showed confidence when tackling new concepts or revisiting prior learning. For example, pupils in Year 2 used coins to make amounts of money up to £1.00.
They worked in pairs, cooperating well to complete the tasks. Children in the early years were engrossed in an activity to practise numbers one to five. They responded enthusiastically to the teacher's challenging questions.
Leaders and staff recognise the importance of reading. They promote a love of books through class reading areas, story times and the attractive school library. Pupils in all classes receive daily phonics sessions.
Leaders have recently introduced a new, more consistent phonics programme. After a period of training, staff have begun to teach the new programme from January 2022. There are early signs that this is going well.
Pupils respond positively in the class sessions. They read from books that match their phonics knowledge. However, it is too soon to measure the impact on reading standards.
Some pupils are still significantly behind where they should be for their age. This is partly due to the pandemic. Staff provide extra phonics sessions for pupils who need to catch up quickly.
Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive strong support to access the full curriculum. Leaders and staff are ambitious for all pupils to achieve well, whatever their circumstances.
Leaders and staff promote pupils' broader development well.
They provide a variety of activities to celebrate a range of faiths and cultures. Staff have been creative in adapting their normal practice in the light of the COVID-19 restrictions. For example, they have brought visitors, and even farm animals, into school instead of arranging educational trips.
Pupils' cultural heritage is celebrated through the regular 'around the world at Phoenix' events.
Staff spoke very positively about the support they receive for their workload and well-being. Governors discuss staff and leaders' well-being at every meeting.
They take their duties seriously and have continued to meet and oversee the work of the school throughout the pandemic.
In discussion with the headteacher, the inspector agreed that early reading and phonics may usefully serve as a focus for the next inspection.
Safeguarding
The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
Leaders and staff place a high priority on keeping pupils safe. Staff receive rigorous, regular training and updates. Leaders encourage staff to make a note of any concern, however small.
They also spoke about having a 'strong culture' of encouraging pupils to talk to a trusted adult if they have any worries. Leaders and the school's support worker liaise regularly with parents. They know the pupils and their families very well.
This means that they can step in as required to offer support at times of pressure.
Staff provide age-appropriate teaching about online safety and the understanding of consent.
What does the school need to do to improve?
(Information for the school and appropriate authority)
• Until recently, the school's approach to the teaching of phonics did not best support pupils who struggle with reading.
Some pupils in Years 1 and 2 are not yet fluent readers. A new systematic, synthetic phonics programme is being implemented from January 2022. Early signs indicate that this is going well.
Staff deliver a consistent, confident approach and pupils read from books that are matched to their phonics knowledge. Leaders should ensure that the revised approach to reading enables pupils to develop quickly as fluent, confident readers.
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 or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.
This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2011.
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