Queen’s Drive Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Queen's Drive Infant School is a caring community. A parent told the inspectors that 'My daughter loves the school and is very happy there.'

The school is a harmonious and calm environment.

Pupils are kind to each other and work well together. Lunchtimes are well organised, and there is much for the pupils to do. The provision for early years has clearly established routines, and children are polite.

Children cooperate well with each other.

Pupils like learning and concentrate in class. They love the challenge of topics such as 'hard maths' and multiplication tables.

Pupils respond well to staff. This helps to prepare pupils, by Year 2, for... the next stages of their education. However, in the early years, children do not learn as well as they should.

This is because leaders and teachers are not certain what they want children to learn or how they will learn it.

Pupils are safe in school. They behave well at playtimes and lunchtimes.

They are confident to go to staff if any incidents of bullying occur. Pupils know that teachers will deal with any problems quickly.

Pupils enjoy the range of activities that they can join in with.

This includes singing and music clubs, as well as sports, gym, science and art activities. Pupils also appreciate the many trips that the school organises to different places.

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

Leaders have created a well-considered curriculum for the older pupils.

Subject leaders take care when thinking about what pupils need to know and how to revisit it over time. In science, for example, children look at different types of materials in early years and learn about their properties in Year 1. This building of knowledge allows Year 2 pupils to make a good choice of material for a particular product.

This approach to planning the curriculum helps pupils to learn and remember more over time.

The curriculum is not as well considered in the early years. Many activities are available for the children in each classroom but, too often, they do not have an explicit purpose.

This is because teachers are not clear about what they want children to learn. This has the further consequence of teachers not being able to check accurately for, and to plan effectively to address, gaps in children's knowledge. This stops children from developing their knowledge in a systematic way.

Teachers check older pupils' understanding. They make good use of quizzes, assessment and questioning in class to assess what pupils have learned. This enables staff to build pupils' knowledge over time and to address any misunderstandings.

In addition, it allows staff to give extra help to pupils who are struggling so that they can keep up with their peers.

The school prioritises the teaching of early reading. The reading curriculum is well planned and taught.

Children in early years and older pupils develop confidence as readers in their daily sessions. Pupils in key stage 1 could explain to inspectors in an age-appropriate way how their knowledge of reading has been built over time. Books used for practise match the sounds or words they know.

Rigorous assessments allow teachers to check all pupils' reading abilities. This enables the school to give any pupils who have fallen behind the support they need to become fluent readers.

Leaders have a clear ambition for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

This ambition is a strength of the school. There are clear processes for identifying needs. Staff work well with external agencies to put in place suitable support.

The school adapts the curriculum to ensure pupils' needs are met. This includes providing individualised physiotherapy and sensory circuit sessions.

Pupils' personal development is well promoted.

It is part of school life, through the assembly programme and in personal, social and health education lessons. The curriculum allows pupils to develop British values, such as respect for diversity. The school offers many opportunities for them to help others.

These range from food bank collections during Ramadan to singing to older people. Pupils like to go on visits, including to places of worship, such as local churches and mosques. Pupils learn how to keep safe, including through internet safety days and a safety week in the autumn term.

Leaders have high expectations of pupils' behaviour. Pupils behave well, and there is a calm, orderly atmosphere in the school. Pupils are comfortable listening to others' ideas and sharing their own views.

Effective systems for monitoring attendance mean that it is starting to improve after the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Governors visit to check the quality of provision. They identify areas for improvement accurately.

However, they do not always follow up to check that leaders have acted upon the weaknesses they highlight.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

While pupils are safe, leaders have not always followed statutory guidance when recruiting new staff.

Consequently, some important information was not retained after completing the required checks. Leaders did not act when governors highlighted this issue previously, and governors did not check to see if leaders had acted on their findings. The school rectified this shortfall by the end of the inspection.

Leaders have a clear system for recording safeguarding concerns. They respond swiftly to keep pupils safe, working closely with external agencies when they have concerns.

Pupils feel safe in school.

They can explain what they should do to keep themselves safe, including online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders, and other relevant staff, do not have a clear understanding of the statutory guidance around the information a school must retain when employing new staff. As a result, they were unaware of the weaknesses in the retention of staff recruitment, selection and vetting information.

Leaders should ensure that they, and other staff who need to, complete further training. This should ensure that they are clear about the statutory requirements and have appropriate systems in place to make sure they are always met. ? Governors' monitoring and follow-up checks are not secure.

Consequently, some of the weaknesses they highlight are not acted on quickly. Governors should ensure that their monitoring systems are effective in holding leaders to account for any improvement actions needed. They must check systematically to see that required actions are swiftly implemented and that actions are leading to the necessary improvements.

• The curriculum in early years does not have a clear focus on the detail of the specific content children will need to learn through the activities planned. This means that children are not undertaking activities that develop their knowledge well enough. Leaders need to ensure that there is a clear purpose to all activities to allow the children to systematically develop disciplinary and substantive knowledge.