Bottesford Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive in this highly supportive and nurturing school. They live up to the very high expectations the school has for them. They achieve extremely well and are fully prepared for the next stage of their education.

Relationships throughout the school are very warm and respectful. Staff care for and cherish every pupil. Consequently, pupils are happy and safe.

Pupils behave exceptionally well. They respond positively to well-established routines and incredibly high expectations. They move around school calmly and sensibly.

They open doors for others respectfully. Pupils welcome visitors with cheerful greetings. When talking about their school, they do so ...with profound pride and enthusiasm.

Playtimes are a time of joyful play and purposeful activity. The school ensures that there are plentiful and varied games, apparatus and quiet spaces for pupils to follow their own interests when at play.

The school provides pupils with rich opportunities to undertake leadership roles such as school councillors, eco-warriors and sports leaders.

Through these roles, pupils develop a deep sense of responsibility and very strong character. They take these responsibilities very seriously, learning the importance of making a positive contribution to their community diligently.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Pupils benefit hugely from the school's broad and highly ambitious curriculum.

Children get off to the best possible start in Reception and their high-quality education continues throughout their time at school. Pupils achieve exceptionally well, including those who are disadvantaged or with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school has a deeply held belief that, wherever possible, learning should be active and meaningful.

This is realised consistently. For example, at the end of physical education lessons, pupils review their learning in depth by walking and talking to a partner. In science, pupils are taught to think like scientists.

They know why a wolf needs a thick, furry coat and what an omnivore eats.

The school celebrates and promotes a love of reading brilliantly. Pupils speak about their favourite books and authors with real enthusiasm.

As a result of the school's highly effective phonics programme, pupils learn the sounds that letters make quickly and become fluent readers. Children in Reception rise to a range of reading challenges, such as phonics-based treasure hunts. They explore the environment excitedly, hunting down familiar words.

The school instils a similar enthusiasm about mathematics in pupils. Pupils use their knowledge to solve problems skilfully. In mathematics lessons, they apply their previous knowledge well when undertaking new challenges.

Children in Reception show perseverance when sorting true and false number facts.

Teachers check precisely that pupils are remembering what they are taught. They use these checks to address when pupils have gaps in their knowledge or require additional support expertly.

The school identifies quickly when pupils have SEND. These pupils benefit enormously from well-considered adaptations to the curriculum.

The school plans multiple, meaningful and memorable experiences for pupils.

For example, inspiring visitors, such as a para-triathlete, support pupils to believe in everyone's potential for success. Visits to mosques and churches broaden pupils' understanding of different faiths and cultures in modern Britain. The school ensures pupils make rich links between their lives and contrasting cultures through the established twinning of the school with another in Ethiopia.

Children in Reception flourish. They play and learn in an environment that is considered to support their learning expertly. They show exceptionally positive attitudes.

Staff engage with children by sharing memorable songs and rhymes. There is a strong focus on children developing language and the meaning of a range of words. Relationships are exceptionally strong.

Children love being challenged. They develop independence quickly and also learn to cooperate well with one another.

The school's behaviour policy is well understood and consistently applied.

On the very rare occasions where pupils' behaviour is not meeting the school's high expectations, these pupils make a visit to the 'thinking tree'. At these times, pupils are supported to reflect on the consequences of their behaviour deeply, invariably seeking to put things right.

The school benefits from significant strengths in leadership and governance.

Governors share the vision and passion of all staff to provide pupils with the best possible education. The school invests in staff professional development tirelessly, which staff appreciate and benefit from considerably. When leaders need to make decisions, they do this with staff workload and well-being in mind.

The school promotes strong partnerships with parents deliberately. As a result, both the school and parents contribute to pupils' successes significantly.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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