Cavendish Close Infant School, Derby

What it's like to be a pupil at Cavendish Close Infant School

Cavendish Close Infant School is a place where pupils feel safe, welcome and part of a caring community. They are greeted warmly each day by familiar adults who know them well. Clear, established routines help most pupils attend well and settle quickly. This enables them to feel calm, confident and ready to learn. Parents and carers appreciate how the school supports both them and their children. This ensures that families receive the right help to better promote each child's development and wellbeing. Pupils appreciate how adults listen to them and help them manage strong emotions. They report that staff consider their ‘feelings and wishes' and notice when they may be worried or anxious. Positive relationships help pupils feel secure, particularly those with additional needs. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are included successfully, and supported to access learning alongside their peers. The school is calm and orderly since routines are predictable and well organised. Staff treat pupils with care and respect. They respond quickly to help pupils regulate their behaviour and emotions. Pupils behave well and show consideration towards one another. From the earliest years, they understand the importance of kindness, reflected in the school's expectation of, 'kind hands, kind feet, kind words – happy, calm and ready to learn'. Pupils report that any unkind behaviour is dealt with quickly, and this helps them feel reassured. Pupils engage positively with others and take pride in their work. Children in the early years demonstrate curiosity and enjoyment, laying the foundations for sustained engagement in learning. Pupils' outcomes in nationally reported subjects are in line with expectations. However, some of their knowledge of other curriculum areas is not firmly secure. Some variations in how well the curriculum is taught means that pupils cannot always recall important knowledge over time.

What Ofsted says the school should do next

• Leaders should ensure that information provided to governors is timely, precise and well evaluated so that governors' support and challenge is well informed and makes a positive difference to the school's development priorities and leaders' actions to bring about improvements.
• Leaders should ensure that the curriculum is implemented consistently well, supported by appropriate assessment and well-matched tasks, so that teaching enables pupils to secure and remember key knowledge across all subjects.

Cavendish Close Infant School excels at making children feel safe, welcome and ready to learn. Staff build strong relationships with families and provide excellent support for vulnerable pupils and those with additional needs. The school has particularly strong early years provision that helps children catch up with communication and language skills.

Safeguarding standards are met - the school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding where concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed, helping pupils feel safe.

Visits, special events, variety of clubs, school council

Bus Stops