Rednal Hill Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Rednal Hill Infant School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Rednal Hill Infant School is a happy and welcoming place where staff care deeply for its pupils. Pupils recognise this and feel safe in school as a result.

Everyone is included and valued, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils say, 'Everyone is kind here – all of the teachers and all of the children.' Pupils and staff embody the school's values of respect, resilience, responsibility, fairness, trust and honesty.

Leaders and staff want pupils to do well. In some subjects, this desire is realised. Where it is realised, pupils perform ver...y highly.

They rise to leaders' expectations that they should always behave well. They are sensible in class and listen attentively most of the time. They behave very sensibly at playtimes.

They take advantage of the varied activities on offer cooperatively.

Pupils benefit from a wide range of opportunities that enrich the curriculum. These promote pupils' confidence and sense of responsibility.

Pupils can take on leadership roles, such as school councillors and litter pickers. School councillors enjoy being able to make decisions. For example, planting trees in the school ground so that each of their classes, all named after trees, has a tree on site.

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

Children get off to an excellent start in the early years. The environment is calm but exciting. It promotes pupils' independence and deepens their understanding through expertly chosen tasks and activities.

The outdoor space is equally as impressive. It enables the children to investigate and explore in different ways, including using real tools and materials.

Leaders prioritise reading.

Children start to learn to read as soon as they start school. Highly effective, structured phonics lessons are taught skilfully across all different groups.Pupils practise what they have learned in phonics with books that match their ability.

This results in most pupils being able to read age-appropriate texts confidently and accurately by the end of key stage 1. If pupils do fall behind, extra support is provided so they are able to catch up. The school environment is awash with very high-quality reading books.

Leaders have intentionally chosen books to reflect the diverse world the pupils live in. They also help them to make sense of a variety of different feelings and emotions. Great care has been taken in how these are displayed.

No space is wasted to promote a love of books and reading.

Leaders have recently adopted a new approach to teaching mathematics. They realise the importance of pupils being able to recall important facts quickly.

This is at the early stage of having impact. Other curriculum subjects are taught through 'enquiry'. Pupils experience many different curriculum subjects in one session.

As a result of this, pupils do not always get the chance to broaden and deepen their understanding in some curriculum subjects. Small steps of learning have not been clearly identified. Consequently, they cannot always build their knowledge based on what they have learned before.

Effective assessment systems are not in place for all subjects. This means that teachers do not always accurately assess how well pupils understand the learning. As a result of this, work is sometimes too difficult or too easy for some pupils.

Pupils do, however, demonstrate impressive skills in writing. They can write accurately, using ambitious and interesting vocabulary.

Leaders accurately identify pupils with SEND and put the right support in place.

The nurture and care provided for these pupils is impressive. Leaders have prioritised helping these pupils to feel calm and safe so they are in a position to learn. They do this very well.

Parents said, 'Children are well cared for and nurtured and their well-being is important.' Leaders acknowledge that some pupils with SEND need their learning broken down into even smaller steps to ensure all pupils make recognisable progress. This all helps pupils with SEND to achieve well.

Leaders place great emphasis on developing pupils' character. Pupils understand that it is wrong to treat anybody differently because of how they look or what the believe. They learn about a variety of religions and this learning is supported by visits to a mosque, a gurdwara and a local church.

Pupils learn to care for others and the environment. Exciting after-school clubs, such as sign language and chess, broaden the offer for pupils outside of what they learn in the classroom.

Governors know the school well.

They visit regularly so they can see it in action. Senior leaders are highly respected by parents and staff. Staff appreciate the efforts leaders take to support them.

They describe the school as 'like a family'. Leaders understand what they need to do next to make the school an even better learning environment. Everyone who is part of the Rednal Hill family is very proud to be so.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding. All staff are confident in knowing what to do if they have concerns about a pupil.

Leaders ensure that there are accurate records of any concerns raised by staff. They discuss these concerns in a timely fashion and take action swiftly when needed. In some cases, this may include working with external agencies to support and help families.

Leaders make sure that pupils get the information they need to keep themselves safe in an age-appropriate way. This includes being aware of how certain emotions will have a physical effect on their bodies.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some curriculum subjects, leaders have not precisely identified the key knowledge and skills that pupils need to know and remember.

This means that it is unclear how pupils can build on what they know and make connections in their learning. Leaders should identify the specific knowledge and skills pupils need to know, and ensure it is organised in a logical order, so it enables them to do this. ? Leaders have not fully developed clear assessment systems in some subjects.

This means that leaders and teachers do not always check what pupils have learned and use this information to identify gaps in knowledge. Leaders should develop and embed effective ways for teachers to use assessment in the wider curriculum to help teachers plan appropriate subsequent learning.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2018.

Also at this postcode