Stocksbridge Nursery Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Stocksbridge Nursery Infant School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Every morning the well-respected headteacher and staff provide a warm welcome to pupils and parents.

Parents recognise this and say the friendly ethos of the school makes Stocksbridge Nursery Infant School a special place. One parent commented, 'The head is truly marvellous; kind, thoughtful and knows by name and cares about every single child within her care.' This view was shared by many parents.

Pupils enjoy coming to school and say learning is fun. Pupils behave well. There is very little bullying or unkind behaviour.

The staff take great care of pupils and... teach them how to stay safe, including online. Pupils say they wouldn't change anything about school.

Pupils show respect for differences, such as gender, families and ethnicity.

One pupil said, 'It's good to believe in different things and have different views; otherwise everyone will be same.' However, pupils do not yet have the knowledge to talk about different religions and cultural beliefs.

Teachers are developing a curriculum that interests pupils and makes them think.

Pupils do their best in lessons and take pride in their work. Reading and mathematics are taught very well. Teachers read well-chosen stories to pupils every day.

Pupils are keen readers and enjoy the wide variety of books available to them.

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

Pupils achieve well in reading and mathematics. Reception pupils make a quick start to learning their sounds.

They learn the sounds regularly and have lots of opportunities to practise. This focus continues with a very structured reading programme in Years 1 and 2. Pupils become confident and fluent readers.

Help is available for those pupils who find reading difficult. There are individual and group sessions to enable pupils to practise their reading. Pupils enjoy the extra help that builds stamina and confidence.

This is impacting on pupils as they say they 'love reading'.Pupils are keen readers outside of school. Many pupils spoke positively about their passion for the local library, which they visit on school trips.

This is helping pupils to develop a lifelong love of reading.

Leaders have worked hard to improve plans in mathematics. Plans build towards ambitious end points.

Staff receive regular training and use this effectively. All staff are skilled at supporting pupils using mathematical equipment to help them learn. Pupils are very confident, and they listed a wide range of resources they would try before asking for help from a teacher.

In subjects other than English and mathematics, planning is relatively new. Leaders have worked hard to plan and sequence learning in a way that helps pupils to learn and remember more. Assessment strategies are used well to assess what the children remember.

The pupils enjoy talking about their learning. However, discussions with some pupils showed that they could not always remember important content that they had been taught. Teachers show a clear understanding of how the sequence of learning needs to be adapted to suit their specific classes.

However, because the sequence has been planned and resourced by the subject leader, it means that the class teachers are not as involved in sequencing lessons as they could be.

Pupils have positive attitudes to learning in history. A bespoke timeline runs through the school, with events relating to the local community, for example how Stocksbridge's population has grown and the history of the local steel works.

The early years is a hive of activity. Children are confident in talking to adults about their learning. One child in Nursery gave the inspector an impromptu tour of the Nursery, showing the 'home corner', the playground and the children learning outside for 'Welly Wednesday'.

Children were all busy and focused on their learning. In the early years, children receive good care. The indoor and outdoor areas provide a varied range of opportunities to develop children's social and physical skills.

There is a strong focus on developing early language and physical development. They are well prepared for learning in Year 1.Leaders have high ambitions for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Teachers make sure that these pupils get the help they need. They are well supported in class and get additional sessions to give them the extra practice they need. These pupils attend several targeted extra-curricular clubs, such as board games club and book club.

This boosts their confidence and resilience, and supports them to manage their own behaviour successfully. Leaders check that the support that pupils get is making a difference. The curriculum is adapted well to support all pupils.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The single central record is compliant. Leaders have a very good understanding of safeguarding across the school.

They have clear systems and procedures that are in place for all staff to follow if they have a concern about a pupil. Staff know these procedures.The safeguarding leads are tenacious and follow up safeguarding issues with the local authority.

The school ensures that all external agencies are held to account for their role in keeping pupils safe.

Governors are knowledgeable about their duties in ensuring that leaders keep pupils safe. They check that leaders and staff have good knowledge about safeguarding matters.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders are now at a point to incorporate teachers' ideas into planning and resourcing lessons. Teachers should support leaders to evaluate each unit of work and adjust them to make them even more effective in order to help pupils remember their learning. .

Pupils do not yet know enough about cultures and religions different to their own. Leaders have put plans into place to address this, but they must continue to develop this work to ensure that pupils have opportunities to develop the knowledge they need to prepare them for life in modern Britain.

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 Stocksbridge Nursery Infant School to be good on 3 March 2011.