Booker Avenue Infant School

Overview

Pupils at Booker Avenue Infant School are described as “kind and courteous,” enjoying their learning in a safe and happy environment. The school has recently refined its curriculum to ensure it is “broad, balanced” and logically structured, resulting in many pupils, including some with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieving well. While the quality of education, behaviour, personal development, leadership, and early years provision are all judged as Good, the report notes that curriculum implementation and support for some SEND pupils require further refinement.

Strengths

• Pupils demonstrate “high levels of respect” and positive relationships with staff, behaving well and rarely disrupting learning.
• The school promotes a strong love of reading, delivering its phonics programme well so that most pupils become “confident, fluent readers.”
• Music is “central to school life,” supporting mental health and literacy, while pupils benefit from rich opportunities to sing and perform.
• Children settle well into Reception, engaging keenly with learning and quickly picking up classroom routines and expectations.
• Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe, including online, and learn about diverse cultures and fundamental British values.

Areas to improve

• The school must refine curriculum thinking and learning activities, particularly for pupils with complex SEND, to ensure they securely learn intended knowledge.
• Staff need better knowledge and expertise to consistently adapt learning and support for pupils with additional needs.
• The school and governors must improve oversight of curriculum delivery to promptly address issues impacting pupil achievement.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”