Croft Infant School

Overview

Croft Infant School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at its previous inspection. It is described as a welcoming environment where pupils are happy, safe, and enjoy learning within a calm and orderly setting. The school fosters a nurturing ethos that parents value, with pupils feeling confident to discuss any worries with adults.

Strengths

• The early years provide a caring environment that nurtures independence and promotes curiosity through well-designed activities.
• Reading is prioritised effectively, with an effective phonics programme helping pupils develop into confident and fluent readers.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are fully included and benefit from tailored support and knowledgeable staff.
• High-quality pastoral support helps build pupils’ confidence and self-esteem through roles such as ‘tiny teachers’ and ‘happiness heroes’.
• Teachers possess strong subject knowledge and explain new content clearly, using strategies to help pupils remember important information.

Areas to improve

• In some subjects with new curricula, teachers do not always choose suitable pedagogical approaches, leaving pupils unclear about the purpose of activities.
• Teachers do not always resolve pupils’ misconceptions or knowledge gaps in a timely way, allowing errors to persist.
• Governors’ checks of leaders’ work sometimes lack rigour and consistency, meaning they do not hold leaders to account as effectively as they should.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.