Sheffield infant school given thumbs up by Ofsted with 'good' report

Inspectors said that Royd Nursery and Infant School, in Deepcar, “continues to be a good school” in a report published on January 24.

It states that pupils are “safe and happy”, get along well and are well behaved while bullying is rare.

Headteacher Louise Jones said she is “extremely proud” of all the people associated with the schools' achievements.

She said: “Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) highlighted that we are an ‘inclusive school which nurtures all pupils’. This comment continually comes up whenever we have people visit our school.

“We put pupils at the heart of everything that we do and are huge believers that if our pupils are happy then they will always excel with the high quality of learning that they receive at Royd.”

The report said leaders and staff are keen to work in partnership with parents and carers to ensure every pupil gets what they need to always succeed.

Pupils also have a “rich range of first-hand experiences” and speak with enthusiasm about how they learn from visits and visitors.

Deputy headteacher Sean Sly said: “As a school, we are big believers that we need to cater to children’s different learning styles.

“For example, we have things such as active maths where children won’t just sit down to complete calculations, they'll go on shape hunts or do time trials to do this instead.”

Provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is “strong” and inspectors noted how a small group of students with complex needs benefit from work in the specially designed Rainbow Room.

Leaders also believe “reading is the key to success for all pupils” and the phonics programme is “well sequenced and consistently taught” allowing most pupils to gain skills needed to become fluent readers.

But, although support is in place to ensure pupils who fall behind can catch up, this has not always been effective.

To improve the school must ensure pupils who do fall behind in phonics get effective support to help them catch up quickly, and that a greater proportion of pupils reach the required standard in phonics in Year 1.