St Anne's Infant School

Overview

Pupils describe the school as “exciting, fun and friendly,” with a “strong sense of pride” and calm, orderly behaviour. Leaders have driven significant improvement since the previous inspection, ensuring staff feel “valued and well supported” and maintaining high expectations for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Strengths

• There is a “strong focus on developing their communication and language skills” from the Nursery, with a “love of reading” and effective phonics support.
• The mathematics curriculum is “well thought out,” helping pupils develop automaticity and tackle complex concepts, with work adapted well for SEND pupils.
• Pupils demonstrate good personal development, understanding equality, keeping a “healthy body and mind,” and taking on responsibilities like being a “special helper.”
• Staff receive “effective and ongoing training,” and adults have “high expectations of all pupils.”

Areas to improve

• In some wider curriculum subjects, the curriculum is “not well designed or sequenced,” meaning key knowledge is not clearly identified.
• This leads to “gaps in their knowledge,” as seen in design and technology where pupils cannot explain key concepts or evaluate their work.
• Leaders need to identify the specific knowledge pupils must learn and the order in which it is taught to ensure long-term retention.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with a “strong culture of safeguarding” where staff know it is “everyone’s responsibility” and recruitment checks are thorough.