St Andrew’s Church of England Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Andrew's Church of England Infant School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy school.

They say it is easy to make and keep friends. Pupils behave very well. There is very little bullying or unkind behaviour.

The staff take great care of pupils and teach them how to stay safe.Pupils achieve well. Teachers set high expectations and want every pupil to succeed.

Reading is taught very well, from Reception onwards. Pupils read books every day and are keen to move up, as one group said, 'to the next reading band'. Pupils also do very well in mathematics.

Pupils make a strong contribution to their school and local... community. They are proud of their jobs, such as joining the 'eco team', 'worship team' or becoming play leaders, office helpers, librarians and more. Pupils, parents and carers, staff, governors and the local church community raised funds for the lovely 'forget me not' garden.

Pupils thoroughly enjoy what the staff call 'active learning' in the garden. They learn about the seasonal changes they can see at first-hand. In science and geography, they learn about organic gardening and grow vegetables to make soup or add to the lunchtime 'salad cart'.

All these different experiences make St Andrew's a fun place to learn.

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

Leaders and staff have warm and positive relationships with pupils and families. Parents are very happy with their children's school.

Most believe that, as many have written, 'this is a lovely, friendly school.' The inspector agrees. There is a strong sense of community.

Pupils learn to behave very well and care for others. Pupils of all abilities achieve well, including those who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The headteacher and deputy headteacher provide strong leadership.

Together with a skilled governing body, leaders and staff are ambitious for pupils to succeed and enjoy school. Staff morale is high, and they feel well support and trained to do their jobs effectively. Newly qualified teachers are given excellent support.

A year ago, leaders and staff gave careful thought to changing the way they plan each subject to help pupils learn more and remember more. The staff looked at each subject and identified the most important vocabulary pupils must learn. Governors and staff also considered ways to change the way mathematics is taught in order to raise standards.

These improvements are working well. In mathematics, pupils are now very good at working out number problems. By the time they finish Year 2, pupils have a good grasp of numbers and shapes.

Pupils make very good progress in reading because phonics is taught well. This helps pupils read unfamiliar or new words. Pupils reach high standards by the end of Year 2.

Teachers are good at using modern and traditional stories to help pupils remember more and build on what they have read before. In the Reception classes, the story of the 'Owl Babies' was enhanced by a 'flying owl demonstration'; in Year 1, the 'Three Little Pigs' story inspired a visit to the local park to make shelters; and in Year 2, using the story of 'Katie in London', pupils became 'city planners', creating a model city with building blocks. Exciting activities like these help pupils to recall what they have learned before as part of a sequence in each subject.

Pupils achieve well in writing, but could do better. Increasingly, pupils are getting opportunities to write at length independently in their 'layered learning journals'. A good start has been made and the quality of pupils' writing is improving, but more is needed to help pupils reach the same high standards in writing as they do in reading and mathematics.

Pupils told the inspector that they thoroughly enjoy their physical education (PE) lessons. These are carefully planned and challenging for pupils. Activities help pupils to improve their fitness and important physical qualities such as coordination and jumping skills.

Reception children get off to a good start. They are provided with a good range of stimulating indoor and outdoor activities. These help them to learn and socialise with other children.

There are occasions, however, when children could be learning more. For example, some children have a good range of vocabulary which would enable them to be able to write more and form letters sooner than currently expected. Most children reach a good level of development, but some fall short of this standard.

There is still potential for even more children to reach all early learning goals.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Staff are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities regarding child protection and the safety of pupils.

Leaders and staff work closely with vulnerable or disadvantaged families. Staff vetting is rigorous and includes systematic checks on visitors, volunteers, governors and supply staff. The indoor and outdoor areas are clean, safe and secure.

Risk assessments of resources and school on-site and off-site activities are carried out routinely. Safeguarding and child protection training for all staff is carried out systematically. Parents and staff, rightly, believe that pupils are safe in school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

The standards pupils reach by the end of Year 2 in writing have been typically lower than in reading and mathematics. Leaders and staff have started to address this by providing more opportunities for pupils to write independently. The school should continue to focus on this as a priority to improve the quality of pupils' writing and to raise writing standards further.

. Children in the Reception classes have the potential to do even better and learn more. National outcomes over the last few years show that the proportion of children reaching a good level of development compares favourably with that in other schools, but could be better.

Some children fall short of reaching a good level of development and should be doing better. Leaders and staff should focus on identifying children who join Reception and have the potential to reach higher standards, so they can, as a minimum, reach a good level of development.

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 a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2016.

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