Upminster Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and safe at this welcoming and nurturing school. They are polite and friendly to adults and to each other.

Staff know pupils well and are caring towards them. Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. As a result, pupils grow in confidence.

Many take on leadership responsibilities, including as play leaders, school librarians and members of the school council.

Pupils behave well in lessons, move around the school sensibly, and play nicely during breaktimes. Occasionally, some pupils, while being quiet and sensible in a lesson, become disengaged from their learning.

Staff soon refocus them. Instances of bullying are rare, and... adults deal with them quickly and effectively. Pupils know the school's values, including respect, kindness and effort.

They demonstrate these values as they learn and play together. These character qualities will help them to flourish in school and in life.

The school is mainly successful in its ambition for every pupil to achieve highly.

Pupils have many additional opportunities to develop their talents and interests. There are many clubs for them to join after school, including a notably wide range of sporting and cultural activities. A well-considered range of educational visits throughout the year enriches pupils' learning.

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

The school has been on a journey to improve in recent years. Leaders have worked to develop a new curriculum, bringing in expertise beyond the school where necessary. The new curriculum demonstrates the school's ambition for all pupils.

It sets out important learning in a careful sequence. For example, in mathematics, children in Reception learn about sharing things out fairly, using real objects. This prepares them well for learning about division when they are older.

Older pupils use a wider range of physical resources to help them see underlying mathematical structures. This helps them to spot patterns, for example when they subtract 10 from 2-digit numbers.

In the early years, the school has prioritised children's physical development and their language and communication.

Children can choose to take part in a wide range of activities to develop their physical skills. Staff teach children skills such as using scissors to cut wrapping paper or threading little beads onto sticks of spaghetti. However, children who do not choose these activities miss out on this important learning.

Some children are asked to write words, without having the physical skills yet to hold a pencil correctly and comfortably. As a result, they can pick up unhelpful habits which may be difficult to unlearn. Many older pupils in the school struggle with correct pencil and pen grips which slows down their writing speed.

Staff listen carefully to children and have extended conversations with them. They teach children new vocabulary through stories and while taking part in activities.This effective work on building children's vocabulary prepares them well for their later reading comprehension.

Pupils love to read, and they relish story time at the end of every day. The school has recently adopted a new scheme to teach phonics. Staff have been thoroughly trained and deliver the scheme well.

Parents and carers attend workshops and access online resources so that they know how to support their children's reading at home. Many parents also come in to read with children in the Reception Year. The school is developing its library to improve the range of high-quality books that pupils can take home and enjoy.

Teachers quickly identify any pupils who are falling behind in the reading programme and give them extra support. However, on occasion, some of these pupils are given books that are too difficult for them to practise their reading. The books do not closely match the sounds they know.

On these occasions, instead of practising what they know and getting better at reading, pupils begin to struggle.

The school has clear procedures to identify pupils with additional needs. Staff skilfully adapt their teaching to ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) can overcome any barriers to learning the curriculum.

Some pupils with more complex SEND receive extra support outside the classroom to develop their attention and communication. This additional support is carefully planned so that it helps pupils to learn when they are back in the classroom. For example, pupils use the communication skills they have learned to take part in discussions in class, with support.

Staff benefit from professional development which helps them to improve teaching for pupils. Leaders carefully check that these improvements do not create unnecessary additional work for staff. Staff appreciate this consideration for their well-being.

Leaders have rigorous systems which ensure that pupils attend school regularly and on time. The school has clear expectations for how pupils should behave in class and during playtimes. Pupils understand what they are expected to do and behave well.

The school has thought carefully about pupils' personal development. Pupils can take part in more than 30 after-school and lunchtime clubs. For example, they can join clubs to learn how to draw cartoons, play a range of sports, and speak Spanish or French.

The school organises a wide range of educational visits to help pupils learn the curriculum and broaden their experiences. For example, pupils' learning about mapping London and the river Thames is deepened by a trip on the London Eye.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum does not put sufficient emphasis on building up pupils' fine motor skills. This means that some pupils develop poor pencil grips which slow down their writing. The school should ensure that, from the Reception Year onwards, pupils develop their fine motor skills so they can learn to hold pencils and pens comfortably and correctly and write with increasing fluency.

• In a few instances, some pupils do not have sufficient practice in reading and re-reading books that closely match the sounds that they know. As a result, gaps in their knowledge are not addressed as quickly and effectively as they could be. The school should ensure that every pupil consistently has the teaching that they need to become a confident and fluent reader.

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