Strand-on-the-Green Infant and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school where every pupil is nurtured and inspired to achieve well.

Pupils are happy and safe. They take part in a wide range of opportunities that leaders have specially chosen to develop their characters. Everyone is included.

Pupils live and breathe the school values, particularly through their sense of fairness and perseverance.

Pupils typically behave well. Older pupils have an accurate understanding of what bullying is and is not.

They know what they would do if it happened. Bullying rarely occurs. However, pupils trust adults to deal with bullying promptly.

Children in the early years demonstrate high levels of motivation and... concentration. They are taught about how to be kind and how to work purposefully with each other.

Leaders make sure that pupils have many opportunities to celebrate and appreciate difference.

The flagpole situated in the playground provides regular and meaningful opportunities to learn about different countries and their special days. For example, every pupil can raise a flag that is important to them.

Parents and carers are effusive in their praise about the school and its leaders.

One comment, which captured the view of many, noted that: 'The school is a fantastic oasis of learning, and a safe and caring place for my child to attend.'

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

Leaders have designed a typically well-planned and sequenced curriculum. It sets out how pupils' skills and knowledge in each subject should progress from the early years onwards.

In most subjects, leaders have thought carefully about the small units of knowledge that pupils need to learn before they can tackle more complex ideas. For example, in art and design, pupils develop their fine and gross motor skills in the Nursery Year by learning to manipulate dough. This supports them to model other materials such as plasticine and clay later on in the curriculum.

Pupils know, for instance, that heat from their hands can help them to mould clay successfully and remove any cracks.

However, in a few subjects, essential knowledge is, at times, not as clearly defined. For example, in history, although pupils can remember stories about significant figures, they are sometimes not secure in their knowledge of when events took place chronologically.

Pupils' reading development is promoted as soon as they start school. Leaders prioritise early reading and phonics and train staff to teach these well. All staff make sure that pupils practise reading with books matched to the sounds that they know.

As a result, most pupils learn to read quickly and fluently. Leaders make sure that pupils who have fallen behind with their reading receive additional phonics lessons so that they catch up swiftly.The curriculum in early years ensures that children are prepared very well for their next steps.

For example, leaders make sure that pupils are secure in their knowledge of number from the beginning of the early years. In the Nursery Year, children develop their knowledge in recognising and using numbers 1 to 5. In the Reception Year, children's prior knowledge is built upon carefully.

For instance, they are encouraged to use their knowledge of number in real-life activities such as counting pennies to purchase their fruit and milk.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) across the school are well supported. This includes those pupils in the resource provision.

Staff adapt activities well, enabling pupils with SEND to access the same curriculum as their peers. This means pupils' transition between the resource provision and mainstream classrooms is well managed.

In lessons, pupils are typically attentive and focused.

In the early years, children's engagement in their learning is highly positive. They show sustained focus in self-initiated activities as well as those directed by adults. In a small number of key stage 1 classrooms, pupils sometimes find it hard to stay well focused on their learning.

The provision for pupils' wider development is exceptional. Pupils learn in an age-appropriate way about healthy relationships and the importance of being kind to one another. They are taught about stereotyping and that boys and girls can enjoy the same things.

Pupils learn about how to identify safe and unsafe situations. They also begin to learn about democracy and the voting process when they elect their school council.

Leaders provide an extensive range of activities and wider opportunities.

They are committed to ensuring that all pupils, but particularly the most disadvantaged, take up something from the extra-curricular offer. Most pupils attend at least one activity. Leaders also make deliberate choices about the experiences on offer through the wider curriculum.

Examples include visiting a nature reserve to watch birds and seeing a show at the theatre. Leaders are ambitious and prioritise these experiences as an entitlement for all pupils.

Staff feel supported with their workload and well-being.

They appreciate the initiatives that leaders have introduced to lessen workload demands. Governors know the school and its priorities well through regular visits. They perform their statutory duties effectively.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders train staff so that they understand their responsibilities to keep pupils safe. This means that all staff know the signs a pupil may display if they are at risk of harm.

Leaders liaise appropriately with external agencies to secure help for pupils when needed.

Pupils learn about how to stay safe. For example, they are taught how to keep safe when using the internet.

They are also taught the importance of telling an adult if they are worried about anything.

Governors carry out their statutory duties effectively. They provide supervision for the designated safeguarding lead and oversee safer recruitment practices.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In Years 1 and 2, the essential knowledge that pupils need to learn is not as clearly defined in a couple of subjects. This means that teaching does not always focus sharply on the most important knowledge pupils need to know and remember. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum for all subjects is consistently well designed so that pupils are supported to develop a deep understanding of the subject content taught.

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