Pashley Down Infant School

Overview

Pashley Down Infant School continues to be a good school, where pupils are described as "very happy" and deeply inspired by the curriculum. The report highlights a unique educational environment characterised by "thoughtful extra-curricular activities," such as caring for the school farm and allotment, which foster confidence and positive attitudes towards learning.

Strengths

• Pupils demonstrate exceptional understanding of school values, including "respect, kindness and resilience," contributing to a calm playground and strong sense of safety.
• The curriculum is "designed and sequenced with clear steps of knowledge," allowing pupils to build skills effectively, particularly in mathematics where they "represent their thinking confidently."
• Staff have "secure subject knowledge" and implement a "thoughtfully designed approach to phonics," ensuring early readers are successful.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have their needs "identified quickly" and receive tailored support, including collaboration with external agencies.
• Governors and leaders work effectively to ensure "consistent high achievement for disadvantaged pupils," with parents praising the school for having "the individual child at the centre of everything."

Areas to improve

• The school must continue developing its assessment system in foundation subjects to ensure strategies for checking retained knowledge are "consistently and effectively utilised in all lessons."
• Leaders should use assessment information to "address errors and misconceptions" so that all pupils build on prior knowledge and achieve exceptionally well.
• The school is developing its approach to ensure reading books taken home "match those sounds precisely" for pupils at the earliest stages of reading.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.