Fairfield First School is a warm, welcoming and caring place where the staff want the very best for their pupils. They know the pupils and their families well and build relationships with them that are strong and positive. Pupils are proud of their friendly school and are enthusiastic about their learning. Pupils told us that they enjoy the wide range of clubs the school has to offer. These range from dance and gardening to art and fitness clubs. Pupils like being at school and they attend regularly. Pupils’ behaviour is good. Pupils know that bullying is not just falling out with their friends. They told us that bullying incidents are rare but if they did occur, staff deal with them. Pupils are confident that adults care for them and keep them safe from harm. Parents and carers are positive about the school and know how hard the staff work to support and help nurture their children. Typical comments from parents were, ‘The work the staff do with the children and the effort they put in is amazing.’ ‘We feel so lucky that our children attend this school.’ What does the school do well and what does it need to do better? The school is well led. Governors and leaders have a good understanding of what the school needs to do to improve, and have plans in place to make these improvements. Governors are effective and knowledgeable. They provide a good balance of challenge and support for the headteacher. Children get off to a good start in the early years. Relationships between adults and pupils are strong. Well-planned and interesting activities that enthuse the children enable them to develop their early reading and mathematical skills. Clear routines help children to be independent from a young age. They are enthusiastic and show high levels of concentration and involvement in classroom activities. Staff help to foster the attitudes that children need to be successful learners. For example, during the inspection, the children quickly identified a ‘mistake’ made by the teacher when doubling a number on the board. They were not afraid to explain the mistake and what the teacher needed to do to put it right. Pupils are developing the knowledge and behaviours that prepare them well for Year 1. Leaders have made sure that most of the new curriculum planning covers the knowledge and skills that the pupils need to learn. Staff work together to share ideas and support each other well. They ensure that their planning builds on the previous skills that pupils have been taught. They make sure that they plan appropriate work to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities effectively. As a result, in some subjects, pupils achieve well. Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy their lessons because ‘Teachers make them exciting for Inspection report: Fairfield First School 25–26 February 2020 2 us to learn.’ They spoke enthusiastically about the opportunities that they have to work with a chef in food technology, for example. Some subjects are better planned than others. For example, in design and technology plans are not sequenced well enough to allow pupils to explore and test the products that they make, so pupils do not achieve as well as they could. From the start of the early years, leaders place a high priority on reading. Staff are well trained to teach phonics. Pupils who need extra help are quickly identified and supported to catch up. Pupils particularly enjoy listening to their teachers reading stories, which promotes an enjoyment of books. Pupils develop a love of reading and talk about the books and authors they enjoy. For the majority of pupils, the books they take home match their abilities. Most pupils read fluently by the end of key stage 1. The curriculum in mathematics has been reviewed and is now well organised and sequenced. Teachers ensure that pupils learn basic skills such as number bonds, doubling and multiplication facts. However, teachers do not challenge the pupils about how they can apply this knowledge to their work. Therefore, pupils are not able to talk about how they can use what they have learned when solving problems. For example, they could not explain how to use their knowledge of times tables when working with bigger numbers in a worded problem. Many of the pupils spoken to during the inspection stated they could not complete more tricky calculations as their tables only went up to twelve. Pupils enjoy the additional activities they are able to take part in at school. They particularly enjoy the debating activities, or holding responsibilities for certain jobs. They told inspectors that these activities help them to work together well as a team.