Hazel Wood School Ofsted 2011

Hazel Wood Infant School
Inspection report
Unique Reference Number 1162+3
Local Authority Hampshire
Inspection number 3638+9
Inspection dates 15-16 June 2011
Reporting inspector Laurie Lewin
This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.
Type of school !nfant
School category Community
Age range of pupils +-/
Gender of pupils Nixed
Number of pupils on the school roll 23/
Appropriate authority The governing body
Chair Paul Wright
Headteacher Cathy Davies
Date of previous school inspection 15 October 200/
School address Hazel Farm Road
Totton
Southampton SO+0 8WU
Telephone number 02380666/6/
Fax number 02380860199
Email address adminoffice@hazelwood-inf.hants.sch.uk
Age group +-/
Inspection dates 15-16 June 2011
Inspection number 3638+9
.
Inspection report: Hazel Wood !nfant School, 15-16 June 2011 2 of 15
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects to
achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all
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establishments. !t assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children,
safeguarding and child protection.
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Crown copyright 2011
Introduction
This inspection was carried out by three additional inspectors. They observed 18 lessons
and nine teachers were seen. The inspectors met with pupils, staff, parents and carers
and members of the governing body. The inspectors observed the school's work, and
looked at school documentation including teachers' planning, assessment information
and safeguarding policies; they also scrutinised samples of pupils' work. The inspectors
analysed 1+/ questionnaires from parents and carers, 100 questionnaires from pupils
and 2/ questionnaires from staff.
The inspection team reviewed many aspects of the school's work. !t looked in detail at a
number of key areas.
s How well more-able pupils progress in writing and mathematics.
s The impact that subject leaders have on helping the school to improve the
attainment and progress of pupils.
s The extent to which the school has developed opportunities for pupils to contribute
to the local and wider community.
s The extent to which the pupils have awareness about how people from other ethnic
backgrounds live their lives.
Information about the school
This is an average-sized school. !t serves the local area, but with about 50 of pupils
coming from outside of the immediate catchment area. The overall proportion of pupils
with special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average as is the proportion
of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals. Nearly all of the pupils are of White
British heritage, with a very small number coming from other ethnic backgrounds. The
school has eight classes and has also established a nurture group class to support pupils
with social and emotional difficulties. The school is accredited with the Healthy Schools
Award, the Active Nark and the Eco Schools Green Flag Award.
Inspection judgements
Overall effectiveness: how good is the school? 1
The school's capacity for sustained improvement 1
Main findings
This is an outstanding school. All of the parents and carers are happy with their
children's experiences here. Typical of their comments received were: '! cannot speak
highly enough about the school . communication is fantastic . it's a school where every
child really does matter.' !nspectors agreed with these comments.
Pupils enjoy school and their attendance is above average. Children get off to an
excellent start in the Early Years Foundation Stage, where outstanding teaching enables
them to make rapid progress. Throughout the rest of the school, outstanding teaching
results in pupils achieving high levels of attainment by the end of Year 2. Staff have
excellent relationships with pupils and use these very well to help all groups of pupils,
including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to become confident
and enthusiastic learners. Lessons are interesting and incorporate a wide range of
practical activities to boost pupils' learning. There is a very lively and positive working
atmosphere throughout the school. Pupils are very healthy and fit. As part of the drive
to sustain the Healthy School and Active Nark status, pupils are involved in a wide range
of extra sports activities, and health promoting activities such as gardening. Pupils make
a very strong contribution to the immediate and wider community. For example, as part
of the work in sustaining the Eco Green Flag School status, pupils act as 'eco-warriors' in
helping to improve the school and local environment. They are very proud of the
attractive and well-laid-out garden, pond and conservation areas, which, along with
parents and carers, they have helped develop. The school's excellent curriculum is
matched very well to pupils' interests and needs and ensures pupils experience a
genuine sense of awe and wonder as they discover and explore new activities and ideas.
The school has a very good range of links with other schools and organisations to help
boost pupils' learning. However, pupils have a limited understanding about the lives of
people from cultural backgrounds different from their own.
The excellent provision for care, guidance and support ensures that all pupils feel
completely safe. They have no hesitation about seeking help should they need it. Pupils
like their school very much. Those spoken to all agreed with one who said 'Everyone's
friendly .it's always easy to talk to the adults .our teachers and teaching assistants are
lovely.' Staff are very good at encouraging good behaviour. As a result, pupils' behaviour
is good, and sometimes exemplary, and they show an excellent level of moral and social
awareness. The very strong support provided for pupils with social and emotional
difficulties, including the excellent support for those attending the nurture group,
ensures the individuals concerned progress very well and become confident learners.
The headteacher, very well supported by her senior leadership team, does an
outstanding job of leading the school. All staff feel highly valued and are fully involved in
Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate
Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms
all aspects of the school's development. New and innovative ideas are constantly
pursued to sustain improvement programmes. Excellent communication with parents
and carers ensures they are fully involved in supporting their children's learning.
Through robust monitoring, the governing body has a very clear overview of the
effectiveness of all school provision. !t does an outstanding job of supporting the
headteacher and staff as well as holding them to account to ensure that all new
initiatives work successfully. The school's accurate self-evaluation and success in
maintaining and pursuing outstanding performance, along with the energetic and
proactive approach of the staff and the governing body, mean there is excellent capacity
to keep improving.
What does the school need to do to improve further?
s By July 2012, improve pupils' awareness and understanding about how people from
different cultural backgrounds lead their lives by giving pupils a wider range of
opportunities to link with people from cultural backgrounds different from their own.
Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils 1
When they start school, children mainly attain levels that match those expected for their
age. However, their attainment in communication, language and numeracy and personal
and social development on entry is often significantly lower than in other areas. They
make outstanding progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage and attain above
average levels by the time they start Year 1. This rapid progress continues across the
school. All groups of pupils, including those who are more-able or gifted and talented, as
well as those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, achieve very well and,
by the end of Year 2, they develop excellent basic skills to help them progress in the
future. Pupils learn to write very well, often using a wide range of vocabulary in an
imaginative way. For example, Year 2 pupils wrote enthusiastically to capture their
thoughts about conditions on the Titanic, using good descriptive words such as 'frantic'
and 'distressing'. Pupils learn to present their work neatly, with fluent and attractive
joined-up writing. They gain a very good command of using letter sounds in reading and
happily work with new and challenging texts, confident in their skills to 'sound out'
words where needed. Pupils gain confident calculation skills in mathematics. For
instance, Year 1 pupils used number lines very effectively to work out addition and
subtraction problems up to 20, with some of the more-able pupils confidently tackling
problems up to 50. Nuch of the work pupils do is supported by the very good skills they
develop to articulate their thinking. For example, in a personal, social and health
education lesson for pupils in Years 1 and 2, pupils confidently expressed their opinions
about who should have been allowed to evacuate the Titanic first.
Pupils gain an outstanding knowledge about what constitutes a healthy lifestyle and
apply this knowledge very well in their everyday lives such as in the very healthy eating
choices they make at lunch and snack times. Pupils are very friendly, and behave and
support each other well. They carry out a wide range of jobs they are given such as
1
The grades for attainment and attendance are: 1 is high; 2 is above average; 3 is broadly average; and
+ is low.
being playground buddies in a sensible and responsible way. They have an excellent
understanding about how to stay safe, and play a full part in designing the guidelines for
safe and sensible ways of working and playing. Through the work they do, pupils gain a
very clear awareness of the need to respect the rights of other at all times.
70ese are /0e grases /or pup//s ou/comes
Pupils' achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning
Taking into account:
Pupils' attainment
1
The quality of pupils' learning and their progress
The quality of learning for pupils with special educational needs and/or
disabilities and their progress
1
1
1
1
The extent to which pupils feel safe 1
Pupils' behaviour 2
The extent to which pupils adopt healthy lifestyles 1
The extent to which pupils contribute to the school and wider community 1
The extent to which pupils develop workplace and other skills that will
contribute to their future economic well-being
Pupils' attendance
1
2
The extent of pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1
How effective is the provision?
Teachers use an excellent range of strategies to accelerate pupils' learning. For
example, in a Year 2 English lesson, the teacher made extremely good use of interactive
whiteboard prompts, class and group discussions, and role-play to fully engage all
pupils. Teachers make excellent use of all assessment information to inform their
planning. They have a really precise understanding of the progress of all individuals, are
alert to any who may be slipping behind and are quick to provide extra support where
needed.
Staff work very closely with teaching assistants, who provide first-class teaching support
in all classes. Teachers make excellent use of the school's open-plan design to maximise
the potential for pupils to move classes occasionally and work with pupils of a similar
ability level. !n this way, they very effectively accelerate the learning of more-able and
gifted and talented pupils. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities
receive excellent support so that they cope with all tasks and make outstanding
progress. Through precise target-setting, teachers set high expectations for pupils of all
ability levels and are successful in getting individuals to achieve these. Staff are very
innovative. For example, the opportunities for pupils to brainstorm ideas about newly
introduced topics mean that they have ownership of, and enthusiasm for, the work right
from the outset. Pupils enjoy the excellent variety of activities in lessons, the inclusion of
lots of practical work and the frequent opportunities for them to work outdoors. For
example, mathematics lessons seen for Year 2 involved excellent opportunities for pupils
to carry out mental and oral calculation work through physical education games in the
playground at the start of the lessons.
The curriculum planning provides work that has a wide appeal for the pupils. The
involvement of pupils in 'learning walks' at this and other local schools is another of the
school's innovative strategies that helps pupils gain a very clear insight into what
constitutes excellent learning and also shows the very proactive way in which the school
works with other partner organisations. The school's curriculum provision is substantially
enriched through the good range of trips and visitors, the wide range of extra-curricular
activities and the extremely good use of outdoor facilities.
Staff have an excellent understanding of pupils' pastoral needs and cater for these fully
and sensitively. All staff, including the administration team, kitchen staff and school
caretaker contribute strongly to ensuring the well-being of the pupils. This strong
teamwork, set alongside the excellent communication between all parties, ensures the
very best possible support and guidance for all pupils. Where needed, full use is made of
external agencies to support pupils' needs. The school has done a very good job of
improving pupils' attendance.
70ese are /0e grases /or /0e qua///y o/ prov/s/on
The quality of teaching
The use of assessment to support learning
1
1
The extent to which the curriculum meets pupils' needs, including, where
relevant, through partnerships
1
The effectiveness of care, guidance and support 1
How effective are leadership and management?
A strength of this school is the way in which the headteacher fully enables all staff to
become very effective leaders. As a result, they all have a voice in evaluating the
school's performance and in creating very clear plans to sustain high quality provision in
the future. This and the strong teamwork across the school are the driving forces that
help sustain the high quality teaching and the year-on-year strengthening of pupils'
attainment and progress. Staff and members of the governing body work closely
together. An excellent example of this cooperative working approach is the creation of
the nurture classroom, which has been a resounding success in terms of supporting the
needs of pupils with social or emotional difficulties. The school has established very
robust procedures to monitor the quality of provision and pupils' attainment and
progress. The senior leadership team make excellent use of all information gained to
help staff constantly improve the quality of their work and to check that all groups of
pupils meet their potential and that no discrimination occurs. Subject leaders carry out
their roles very well and ensure that excellent practice is constantly shared between
staff.
All staff work hard to maintain the excellent relationships with parents and carers. For
example, the presence of staff on the playground at the start of the day and the very
friendly approach of the administration staff are typical examples of the school 'going
the extra mile' to facilitate a strong partnership with parents and carers. The views of
parents and carers are regularly surveyed and acted on where appropriate. They are
very well informed about their children's progress.
The governing body is exceptionally well organised and fully involved in all
self-evaluation and strategic planning. Nembers of the governing body regularly survey
and, where appropriate, act on the views of parents and carers. The governing body
ensures that the outstanding provision for safeguarding is underpinned by very clear risk
assessment, top quality site security and training provision for staff and governors in
safeguarding that goes far beyond the basic level required. The school has excellent
links with other schools and partner organisations and uses these well to boost pupils'
learning. The school has good quality plans to promote community cohesion and
carefully evaluates the impact of its work in this area. Through its work, the school has
established some very good community links. However, links with other schools or
establishments further afield which would widen pupils' awareness about how people
from other ethnic communities live their lives are not sufficiently developed.
70ese are /0e grases /or /easers0/p ans managemen/
The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and
driving improvement
The leadership and management of teaching and learning
1
1
The effectiveness of the governing body in challenging and supporting the
school so that weaknesses are tackled decisively and statutory responsibilities
met
1
The effectiveness of the school's engagement with parents and carers 1
The effectiveness of partnerships in promoting learning and well-being 1
The effectiveness with which the school promotes equality of opportunity and
tackles discrimination
1
The effectiveness of safeguarding procedures 1
Inspection report: Hazel Wood !nfant School, 15-16 June 2011 S of 15
The effectiveness with which the school promotes community cohesion 2
The effectiveness with which the school deploys resources to achieve
value for money
1
Early Years Foundation Stage
Extremely well organised induction processes and very good links with pre-school
organisations ensure that children make a strong start when they begin school.
The Reception classrooms are lively and attractive areas and the excellent curriculum
provision ensures that children are provided with a rich range of interesting resources
and activities laid out to engage their interest and inspire an enthusiastic approach to
learning. The classrooms have excellent access to a spacious and well laid out outdoor
area where the children work and play happily and safely. Staff provide excellent care,
guidance and support for all individuals. As a result, children are happy and confident
learners who fully enjoy all activities. For example, children very much enjoyed exploring
all of the outdoor facilities as part of their work to identify the school's 'main features'.
Other children enjoyed 'exciting times' riding tricycles around the playground track and
splashing the wheels through the puddles, creating bubbles, following treasure maps
and making and testing small boats. Excellent opportunities are provided for pupils to
explore and investigate independently, as was seen with a group of children who
explored different ways of completing electrical circuits to light up bulbs. The
outstanding teaching enables children to make rapid progress in all areas of learning.
They do very well in their reading, gaining a good command of letter sounds to help
them read simple sentences. They acquire good skills in mathematics, with a confident
ability to carry out simple addition and subtraction calculations. They acquire good
speaking and listening skills and confidently talk about what they are doing. Staff have
high expectations for children's behaviour. As a result, behaviour is excellent and
children usually show full concentration on all tasks. Teachers use assessment
information very well to inform their planning so that tasks match children's needs
precisely. The Early Years Foundation Stage is extremely well led and managed.
Self-evaluation is accurate and clear action plans are established to keep provision
improving at a very good pace. Staff work together as a very strong and efficient team
so that the day-to-day operation of the Early Years Foundation Stage runs very
smoothly.
70ese are /0e grases /or /0e Ear/y Years Founsa//on 5/age
Overall effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation Stage
Outcomes for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage
The quality of provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage
The effectiveness of leadership and management of the Early Years
Foundation Stage
1
1
1
1
Views of parents and carers
There was a high return of questionnaires. Almost all parents and carers who completed
questionnaires indicated that they are happy overall with their children's experience at
school. The level of negative responses was very low.
Responses from parents and carers to Ofsted's questionnaire
Ofsted invited all the registered parents and carers of pupils registered at Hazel Wood !nfant School to
complete a questionnaire about their views of the school.
!n the questionnaire, parents and carers were asked to record how strongly they agreed with 13
statements about the school.
The inspection team received 1+/ completed questionnaires by the end of the on-site inspection. !n total,
there are 23/ pupils registered at the school.
Statements
Strongly
Agree
Agree Disagree
Strongly
disagree
. Total % Total % Total % Total %
Ny child enjoys school 116 /9 30 20 1 1 0 0
The school keeps my child
safe
135 92 12 8 0 0 0 0
The school informs me
about my child's progress
91 62 5+ 3/ 1 1 0 0
Ny child is making enough
progress at this school
100 68 +6 31 0 0 0 0
The teaching is good at this
school
122 83 23 16 0 0 0 0
The school helps me to
support my child's learning
116 /9 30 20 0 0 0 0
The school helps my child to
have a healthy lifestyle
12+ 8+ 23 16 0 0 0 0
The school makes sure that
my child is well prepared for
the future (for example
changing year group,
changing school, and for
children who are finishing
school, entering further or
higher education, or
entering employment)
108 /3 36 2+ 1 1 0 0
The school meets my child's
particular needs
112 /6 32 22 1 1 0 0
The school deals effectively
with unacceptable behaviour
80 5+ 58 39 3 2 1 1
The school takes account of
my suggestions and
concerns
99 6/ ++ 30 0 0 0 0
The school is led and
managed effectively
12/ 86 19 13 0 0 0 0
Overall, ! am happy with my
child's experience at this
school
128 8/ 19 13 0 0 0 0
The table above summarises the responses that parents and carers made to each statement. The
percentages indicate the proportion of parents and carers giving that response out of the total number of
completed questionnaires. Where one or more parents and carers chose not to answer a particular
question, the percentages will not add up to 100.
Glossary
What inspection judgements mean
Grade Judgement Description
Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding
school provides exceptionally well for its pupils' needs.
Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school
that is good is serving its pupils well.
Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory
school is providing adequately for its pupils.
Grade + !nadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An
inadequate school needs to make significant
improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils.
Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it
improves.
Overall effectiveness of schools
. Overall effectiveness judgement (percentage of
schools}
Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate
Nursery schools +6 +8 6 0
Primary schools 6 +/ +0 /
Secondary schools 12 39 38 11
Sixth forms 13 +2 +1 3
Special schools 28 +9 19 +
Pupil referral units 1+ +5 31 10
All schools 10 +6 3/ /
New school inspection arrangements were introduced on 1 September 2009. This means that inspectors
now make some additional judgements that were not made previously.
The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 December 2010 and are consistent
with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see
www.ofsted.gov.uk).
The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as
weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools.
Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.
Sixth form figures reflect the judgements made for the overall effectiveness of the sixth form in secondary
schools, special schools and pupil referral units.
Common terminology used by inspectors
Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in
their learning, development or training.
.
Attainment: the standard of the pupils' work shown by
test and examination results and in
lessons.
.
Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to
continue improving. !nspectors base this
judgement on what the school has
accomplished so far and on the quality of
its systems to maintain improvement.
.
Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with
responsibilities, not just the headteacher,
to identifying priorities, directing and
motivating staff and running the school.
.
Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge,
develop their understanding, learn and
practise skills and are developing their
competence as learners.
.
Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school's
overall effectiveness based on the findings
from their inspection of the school. The
following judgements, in particular,
influence what the overall effectiveness
judgement will be.
.
. s The school's capacity for sustained
improvement.
s Outcomes for individuals and groups
of pupils.
s The quality of teaching.
s The extent to which the curriculum
meets pupil's needs, including where
relevant, through partnerships.
s The effectiveness of care, guidance
and support.
.
Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in
lessons and over longer periods of time. !t
is often measured by comparing the
pupils' attainment at the end of a key
stage with their attainment when they
started.
This letter is provided for the school, parents and
carers to share with their children. It describes
Ofsted's main findings from the inspection of their
school.
.
1/ June 2011
Dear Pupils
!nspection of Hazel Wood !nfant School, Southampton SO+0 8WU
Thank you for making us feel so welcome at your school. We have judged that yours is
an outstanding school. Through talking to you and through the questionnaires you
completed, we know that there are many things that you like about your school.
Here are some of the excellent things that we found in your school:
s You make an excellent start to school in the Early Years Foundation Stage.
s We can see that you enjoy school a lot, and the very well-planned curriculum
makes sure you get lots of interesting activities to take part in.
s You are very fit and healthy and know a lot about how to stay this way.
s Outstanding teaching helps you to do very well and your teachers work hard to
make sure your lessons are always interesting and fun.
s Your behaviour is good and often excellent, and you have very good attitudes
towards learning.
s You all have an excellent understanding about how to stay safe. The adults in the
school do an outstanding job of taking care of you.
s The headteacher, staff and governing body have done a top quality job to improve
your school and they work very hard to make sure it keeps improving.
This is what we have asked the school to do now:
s Provide more opportunities for you to learn about how people from other cultural
backgrounds lead their lives.
All of you can play an important part in helping the school to improve by continuing to
work hard in all lessons.
Yours sincerely
Laurie Lewin
Lead inspector
.
Any complaints about the inspection or the report should be made following the
procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available
from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of
the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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