Ashbrook Infant School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 February 2025

The ethos of Ashbrook Infant School focuses on the care and nurture of all its pupils and families. Pupils feel safe, and their relationships with staff are positive and supportive. Pupils enjoy coming to school. Most parents and carers appreciate the school's work. Pupils benefit from the wide range of activities that enrich the school's curriculum, such as learning to ride scooters and visits to the pantomime. They enjoy sharing stories in assemblies that help them to understand positive character traits. However, pupils' understanding of diversity and fundamental British values is less well developed. The school has recently introduced new behaviour systems, although pupils' conduct remains variable in lessons and around school. Pupils know that staff will take their worries and concerns seriously. However, some pupils do not report incidents. This means that the school does not always have an accurate understanding of pupils' behaviour throughout the school day. The school's curriculum is inspired by its motto, 'We care, we learn, we have fun'. Pupils enjoy their lessons but sometimes, the activities they complete do not help them to learn more about a subject. Systems to check on how well pupils recall the content of the curriculum are not rigorous enough. As a result, the school's vision and ambitions for its pupils are not realised fully.

What the school should improve

• The restructured governing body do not have full oversight of the impact of the school's actions. This limits how well they can support and challenge the school's development. Governors should establish consistent, effective and robust systems to make the necessary checks on the school's improvements.
• The school's systems to check on how well pupils learn the intended curriculum lack rigour. As a result, pupils do not learn important knowledge as well as they should. The school must make timely and accurate checks on its curriculum so that it has a clear understanding of how well pupils are prepared for their next stages in learning.
• Activities pupils complete sometimes do not help them to recall the key knowledge of a subject. This leads to gaps in pupils' understanding and does not prepare them well for future learning. The school should ensure that tasks deepen pupils' understanding of the curriculum so that they are ready for their next learning steps.
• The school's behaviour systems are not implemented consistently. Therefore, some pupils do not live up to the school's expectations of their conduct fully. The school should make sure that staff implement the behaviour systems effectively and that staff expectations of pupils' behaviour and conduct are consistently high.
• Pupils do not have an age-appropriate understanding of diversity and the values that underpin modern Britain. This hinders their preparation for life in wider society. The school should ensure that all pupils develop a secure understanding of different protected groups and of British values so that they are prepared for life beyond the school.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)