Prospect Hill Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a caring school at the heart of the community.

Parents and carers value the quality of education the school provides. Parents enjoy the opportunity to attend school 'showcase events' and to share in their children's learning and achievements.

The school nurtures positive relationships with its families. As one parent, typical of the views of many, commented, 'We are kept up to date and the school always has time to listen to you.'

The school is ambitious for all pupils.

Pupils enjoy learning and achieve well. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), who are supported well. Children in the early years al...so make a positive start to their learning at school.

Pupils are nurtured to show kindness towards each other. The positive ethos and high expectations the school has ensures that behavioural guidance is understood and lived. Pupils play happily together at social times.

Pupils enjoy being leaders in school, including, for example, as school councillors or reading ambassadors. School councillors value sharing their views about school life with leaders. Reading ambassadors are proud to share book recommendations in assembly.

They motivate their friends well to choose new books to read. Pupils flourish in these roles.

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

The early years curriculum is planned effectively to provide interesting learning opportunities for children.

It includes purposeful activities that develop children's curiosity for knowledge. For example, children investigate how to transport water using pipes. They seek out how to propel cars over long distances by joining ramps together.

Children learn effectively about number as they explore addition with counters. Staff guide conversations well to support children's' language development and vocabulary. Children are well prepared for their next stage of education.

The curriculum is coherently linked from the early years to key stage 1. It builds important knowledge and learning over time. It is planned so that pupils revisit prior knowledge to learn and remember well.

The school uses effective weekly 'flashback Friday' sessions to review key knowledge that pupils must know and remember. Staff use a range of questions and quizzes to check pupils' understanding. Pupils use key vocabulary prompts in classrooms to help them remember new words.

For example, they recall their knowledge of food chains in science well. They use accurate vocabulary such as 'producers' and 'consumers'. The school is currently developing how it evaluates the impact that the curriculum has in ensuring that pupils know and remember more over time.

Reading is a central part of the curriculum and is delivered well. The school's chosen phonics curriculum helps pupils to recognise and remember new sounds over time. Skilled staff use consistent routines to teach phonics.

Pupils with SEND benefit from an adapted approach with smaller steps to learn to read. Effective support is provided for pupils who are new to learning English. Pupils enjoy phonics and reading.

Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning. Most pupils concentrate well and listen carefully to the new information that is being taught. Those who need encouragement to concentrate respond well to reminders from staff.

Pupils are proud of their work.

The school successfully ensures that most pupils attend daily. However, despite the approaches that the school uses to encourage strong attendance, some pupils are still absent from school too often.

Pupils are supported well with their social and emotional well-being. The school prioritises the care it gives to pupils to manage their emotions effectively and to talk about their feelings. Pupils have confidence in the support that they receive from trusted adults.

Wider opportunities enrich and deepen what pupils learn. Pupils enjoy visits to interesting places. For example, a visit to a gallery supported learning in art and a visit to a museum enriched their history learning.

Pupils recall both visits fondly. Pupils are excited to meet authors and read their books. Pupils enjoy time with their friends at clubs after school including, for example, when attending yoga and 'chit-chat chill'.

Leaders know the school well. They review effectively much of the school's improvement work. However, some approaches to evaluating improvements are less well developed.

The staff are a strong team with a common purpose. They value effective training to improve teaching and subject leadership. They appreciate the open dialogue that includes views about workload.

Governors consider staff well-being. Governors understand and fulfil their legal responsibilities.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• While many pupils attend school regularly, there are too many that do not. These who are absent too often do not benefit fully from the school's good educational provision. The school should ensure that those pupils who require it receive the necessary support to help improve their attendance, thus enabling them to benefit from learning every day.

• The school has not fully refined its approach to monitoring and evaluating improvement priorities. The school is not always as clear as it could be about the positive impact that some of its improvement strategies have had. The school should ensure that its approach to evaluating the actions taken to bring about improvement provides the necessary information that enables the school to identify successes and to inform the next steps.

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