Chellaston Infant School

Overview

Chellaston Infant School is described as a "united school" with a "culture of ambition" where pupils are "happy" and relationships are "warm". The report states the school has "improved significantly" since the last inspection, with leaders ensuring an "appropriate" pace of change. All key judgement areas, including the quality of education and early years provision, are rated as Good.

Strengths

• Pupils benefit from a "well structured and ambitious" curriculum, with a strong focus on reading where staff apply a "consistent approach" to phonics.
• Provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is "highly effective", with "clear, personalised objectives" enabling them to achieve well.
• Behaviour is guided by the rules to "be kind, be ready, be safe", fostering a supportive environment where pupils "openly support one another".
• Governance is identified as a "strength", with the board’s expertise focused on improvement and "highly effective" support from the trust.

Areas to improve

• Subject leaders must develop skills to "evaluate the success of their subjects" and provide clearer guidance on improving teaching, as they do not always do so currently.
• Teachers need to establish a "consistent approach to identifying gaps in pupils’ learning" across all subjects to better adapt tasks and support needs.
• In the early years, staff should avoid being "overly supportive" to maximise opportunities for children to develop independence and deepen their understanding.

Safeguarding

The report states that "the arrangements for safeguarding are effective."