Queen’s Park Infant Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Queen's Park Infant Academy continues to be a good school.

The headteacher of this school is Tracey Edwards. The school is part of Coastal Learning Partnership multi-academy trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Paul Howieson, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Rev Louise Ellis.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and safe. High-quality pastoral support helps pupils to learn how to make friends and be a good friend. Pupils are very proud to be part of school life.

They study a broad curriculum and say that learning is 'fun'. The large sc...hool grounds are filled with exciting things to do. The wooden 'pirate ship' is a favourite for many.

There are lots of clubs, such as gymnastics, learning about crafts outside and multi-sports. The curriculum teaches pupils about different faiths and values and to be reflective about their own beliefs and emotions. It does this through, for example, whole-school mindfulness sessions and learning about Diwali and the local church.

Pupils learn about big ideas such as climate change and sustainability. The 'eco' committee brings this to life by working with local allotment groups and completing important projects, such as litter picking and surveys in the community.

Typically, pupils, including in the early years, behave well.

They understand and follow the school rules. Staff listen to and act on pupils' views carefully. They are always on hand if pupils need support or want to share a worry.

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

The school is highly inclusive. It is well led and managed. School staff use the expertise of trust staff effectively.

For example, teachers embrace learning about educational research and do all they can to ensure that the school's subject curriculums have maximum impact. Leaders identify the school's strengths and areas for development accurately. The trust and local governing board provide effective challenge and support.

The school community works very closely with parents and carers. Nearly everyone who responded to the Ofsted survey would recommend the school to others. The personal, social and health education curriculum teaches pupils the importance of right and wrong, and how to make a sensible choice.

There is a strong commitment to ensuring pupils' well-being, including their mental health. There are stringent systems in place to support pupils' good attendance. Persistent absence is rare.

When it happens, staff work together to support families and successfully bring about demonstrable improvement.

The curriculum is suitably ambitious. Pupils learn a lot.

Teaching ensures that pupils gain the essential foundational knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics they need to succeed in junior school. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive precise teaching, and this ensures that their learning needs are met well.

Notably, the wider curriculum is exciting for the young learners it serves.

For example, museum visits and the use of artefacts bring the history curriculum alive. Pupils talk knowledgeably about the impact of famous people and events in the past and how this has shaped the world today. Teaching also fosters pupils' creative side through using clay, painting, craft and experiencing practical music workshops.

The school reviews the content of the curriculum regularly to ensure continuous improvement. For example, it has ensured the consistent use of practical resources in mathematics from Reception onwards. Pupils like this consistent approach.

It helps them make connections across sequences of work and across their time at school. Most pupils, including pupils with SEND, retain mathematical knowledge very well. For example, they can recall number facts quickly and reason in mathematics proficiently for their age.

In the past, it took too long for pupils to learn to decode the sounds that letters make. Most pupils now progress through the phonics curriculum more quickly and have more practice. As a result, published outcomes are on the rise.

By the time pupils leave the school, most read fluently and understand what they read.

Staff are effective in using the results of assessments to plan whole sequences of work term by term. However, some teaching does not check what pupils know within these sequences of work day by day or within lessons.

When this happens, teaching does not address pupils' misconceptions swiftly enough. In the early years, there remain occasions when staff do not model language effectively or extend children's talk.

Staff get to know pupils who speak English as an additional language quickly.

As a result, these pupils settle quickly and make friends. However, some teaching does not use assessment proficiently to adapt the curriculum or teach pupils the new vocabulary they need. As a result, some of these pupils find it difficult to understand the context and component parts of some sequences of work in some subjects.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teaching across some lesson sequences does not prioritise the needs of pupils who speak English as an additional language sufficiently well. These pupils do not learn the essential knowledge and vocabulary they need to know.

The trust must ensure that staff develop the expertise to adapt sequences of work so that pupils who speak English as an additional language understand the context and essential component knowledge within sequences of work and make securely good progress across the curriculum. ? At times, teaching does not use well enough checks on what pupils know already. In early years, some interactions are not sufficiently precise in modelling and extending children's language.

Further up the school, pupils' misconceptions are not acted on swiftly. The trust must ensure that teaching is built firmly on what pupils need to know next and any inconsistencies in curriculum quality are addressed swiftly.

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 2013.

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