Shaw Cross Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Shaw Cross Infant and Nursery School is a caring, happy and inclusive place. Pupils enjoy coming here. They behave well and say adults are kind and listen to them.

They feel safe here.

The school has taken action to improve the curriculum more recently. This has had a positive impact in most core subjects.

Pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics. In these subjects, the curriculum is clear. It supports pupils to learn effectively.

The wider curriculum is in a much earlier stage of development. Some of the foundation subjects need further consideration to ensure that the planned learning supports pupils to build their knowledge over tim...e.

The school has high expectations for behaviour.

There is a calm and purposeful atmosphere in the nursery and school building. Pupils are polite and inquisitive. When they are focused on their learning they behave well.

They understand the rules and follow them carefully. Pupils help each other to make the right choices as they play together. They love to help each other accumulate class 'treasure' as a reward for good behaviour.

This is then exchanged for a range of exciting treats, such as extra playtime in the school's woodlands.

Pupils benefit from some enrichment activities. However, these are currently limited to singing in the choir or 'Friday Fitness Club'.

Some pupils express interests in drama and the arts. They would like further experiences to help them to develop their wider interests and understanding of the world around them.

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

Following the last inspection, the school quickly identified that it needed to improve the learning offer for all pupils.

The school is ambitious to ensure that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve highly. Pupils' outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics show that the improvements made to these subjects have been successful. Pupils achieve well in these subjects and outcomes are very positive.

The school is now fully focused on improving the wider curriculum subjects, to ensure that all areas are taught as effectively.

In some foundation subjects, there is still much work to do. Leaders have broadly identified what pupils will learn from Nursery to Year 2.

However, the precise knowledge they want pupils to remember is not yet clearly defined. This means that, in some lessons, teachers are not adequately supported to plan learning that helps pupils to build on prior knowledge. In some subjects, lessons are disjointed, and some activities don't challenge or support pupils sufficiently.

Reading is a priority in the school. Pupils are encouraged to read books or listen to stories daily. Staff have benefited from training and follow the school's chosen phonics programme with confidence.

Adults skilfully support pupils to develop fluency with blending sounds to read. Pupils finding reading more difficult are quickly identified. They are helped to catch up through regular intervention lessons and extra reading opportunities.

Pupils with SEND are extremely well supported. Needs are identified quickly. Pupils quickly receive extra support, for specific areas of need, such as speech and language development.

Bespoke timetables support pupils with the most complex needs to learn in adapted spaces as well as within the mainstream classrooms. However, in some lessons, learning is not as well adapted for pupils with SEND. This lack of clarity in the school's wider curriculum impacts on how well teachers are able to adapt learning.

Despite this, the school is ambitious for pupils with SEND. They continually seek ways to help them to be successful.

Children in the early years enjoy the positive, happy environment the school has created, both inside and outside the classrooms.

Early years staff expertly use every moment to promote curiosity, engagement and learning. They encourage talk and independence. The curriculum outlines what is taught from Nursery through to Reception.

The school is now developing this further, to ensure that this learning provides strong foundations which are built on in Year 1.

The school uses regular assemblies alongside the personal, social, health and education curriculum to support pupils' personal development. Learning focuses on important aspects of pupils' development, such as understanding fundamental British values.

Pupils remember some parts of the taught curriculum. However, in some areas, they struggle to link this learning to real-life situations. Learning is not sufficiently progressive to help them to build on prior knowledge.

Pupils talk with confidence about positive friendships or why respect is important. They can attend music or sports clubs. Some take on roles of responsibility, such as being school councillors or playground leaders.

However, these opportunities are limited. Enrichment activities don't currently enable pupils to learn sufficiently about the diversity of the school and local community or about their own leadership or creative skills.

Due to current staffing difficulties and senior leaders' teaching commitments, there is insufficient monitoring of how school improvement targets are being addressed.

Governors, while aware of these challenges, have not identified ways to support staff to overcome them. This means that some staff do not receive the training they need to implement the new curriculum effectively and some struggle to maintain a manageable workload. A recent governor review has been commissioned.

This aims to support governors to fully understand their role and offer more support and challenge to the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a number of foundation subjects, the school's curriculum does not identify the important knowledge and concepts that leaders intend pupils to learn.

Teachers do not have the necessary information to plan sequences of lessons that enable pupils to know and remember more. The school must ensure that they have a carefully considered curriculum plan for every subject so that pupils are able to build on their prior learning and make strong progress to achieve ambitious endpoints that prepare them well for key stage 2. ? The school has not ensured that leaders have sufficient capacity to address the wider curriculum concerns.

Gaps in staff subject knowledge and understanding of pedagogy are not identified and addressed quickly enough. Governors have limited oversight of the curricular aims of the school and how these are implemented. The school needs to ensure that teachers and leaders have the necessary training and support to ensure that all subjects are taught and led well.

• Opportunities to develop some aspects of pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding are limited. Pupils do not have sufficient opportunity to develop their talents or interests, or to learn more about the world around them. The school needs to ensure that the personal development curriculum gives pupils creative and diverse experiences which prepare them well for life in modern Britain.