Sprowston Infant School

Overview

Sprowston Infant School has “taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.” Pupils are described as “happy” and “enjoy being here,” benefiting from a “well-thought-out balance of learning activities” and “high expectations” for achievement. The school is “highly inclusive,” with strong support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, and maintains “positive links with the local community.”

Strengths

• Pupils develop “very strong writing skills” through daily practice and “almost immediate feedback” from adults.
• Reading instruction is “precise,” enabling pupils to “master the skills of decoding quickly,” with timely support for those needing extra help.
• The curriculum is clear, with staff making links in learning and building up pupils’ vocabulary from Nursery to the end of the school.
• Behaviour is “excellent,” with classrooms described as “calm and purposeful places” where pupils are “kind and respectful.”
• The SEN base provides a “highly structured day” with sensory activities, ensuring pupils with additional needs are “well supported” and integrated with mainstream peers.

Areas to improve

• In “a few subjects,” activities sometimes focus too much on “learning facts” rather than allowing pupils to “develop and apply their knowledge securely.”
• The school needs to ensure staff have the expertise to design activities that help pupils understand “how the important knowledge fits together” across all subjects.

Safeguarding

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