Spire Nursery and Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is a good school where pupils make good progress. Most children enter the community nursery (the Bees) with attainment which is well below that typical for their age. Their personal, social and emotional development, and communication, language and literacy skills are often particularly weak.

An excellent focus on these key areas enables the children to improve to below average expectations on transfer to the Reception classes. While about a third of children transfer to Reception in other schools, those staying at the Spire make excellent progress overall and the effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation Stage is outstanding. Attainment is broadly average by the start of Year 1; pupils' progre...ss is consolidated effectively during Key Stage 1, and their learning skills developed well.

By the end of Year 2, attainment is average overall. In 2011, the majority of pupils in Year 2 were girls. They attained securely average outcomes by the end of Key Stage 1.

The school has focused well on developing the curriculum for its minority of boys, and in 2011 their attainment was above average. The majority of pupils attending the school are known to be eligible for free school meals; such pupils achieved well compared with similar groups nationally. The school is particularly successful in enabling the progress and achievement of its pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

There is a great deal of expertise within the school, starting in the resourced Nursery unit (the Bears), which is led and managed highly efficiently. This results in notable teamwork. The excellent care and support provided for all children and pupils is a key strength of the school.

Consequently, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities make excellent progress, from low starting points, to attain standards above those of similar groups nationally by the end of Year 2. While there was a slight dip in performance following the last inspection, standards remained average by Year 2 but have been improving steadily over the past two years. The school is led and managed well at all levels, is establishing a good track record of improving standards, and its capacity for further improvement is good.

All the areas for further development already form part of the school's thinking, good self-evaluation and improvement planning. The school has worked especially hard on curriculum development. This is in order to make learning interesting and relevant to all groups of pupils.

This work has been reviewed, revised and is evolving to ensure additional links and extra opportunities for pupils to apply the essential skills learnt in one subject across a range of others. This good approach is close to completion but not implemented fully. Much of the work on the monitoring of lessons and learning has been carried out by senior leaders.

Middle and subject leaders are starting to be more involved in this monitoring, but some are still developing the necessary skills and expertise. The school has developed good tracking systems to ensure the progress of pupils is monitored effectively and that any additional support is targeted well to underpin learning. However, while overall there is good practice, for a few teachers the use of day to day assessment during lessons, is not yet fully effective.

This includes the use of questioning to check pupils' understanding, and the planning of the methods by which pupils learning during each lesson will be assessed. There is excellence in the ways the school enables its pupils to appreciate and understand the importance of healthy lifestyles. The school's grounds, extensive gardens and field have been developed splendidly to enable pupils to become comfortable with an outdoor approach.

They understand well the value of feeling safe in various environments. Under the excellent leadership of the school gardener, pupils grow their own fruit and vegetables and learn at first hand the importance of these to their health and diet. Pupils' appreciation and care of their environment and the allotments contributes significantly to their spiritual as well as physical well-being.

Typical comments in the garden visitors' book include, 'An inspirational environment. Outdoor learning at its best. A wonderful legacy for future learners.'



Information about the school

This is a smaller than average-sized school. Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of girls attending the school is above average.

Most children transferring from the Nursery to Reception continue at the school until the end of Year 2. The percentages of pupils from minority ethnic groups, and of those who speak English as an additional language, are below average. The proportion identified with special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.

The percentage with a statement of special educational needs is well above average. The range of pupils' special educational needs includes behavioural, speech and language and specific learning difficulties. There is a specially resourced provision for children with special educational needs, managed by the school, and known as the Bears Nursery.

This facility is for children from across the local authority area with profound and multiple learning difficulties and autistic spectrum disorder. Almost all transfer to other specialist schools at the start of the Reception Year. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well above average.

The governing body runs a breakfast and after-school club for the children and pupils attending the school. The school currently holds an Anti-Bullying award from the local authority, the Health Promoting School award, an Active Mark and the Basic Skills Quality Mark. It holds a number of national awards for the quality and use of its school garden.

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