Rosedale Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Raise pupils’ attainment in reading by developing their skills so that they understand new words and phrases and the deeper meaning of what they have read.
• Ensure that teachers consistently provide pupils with sufficient challenge, especially in mathematics.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher is determined to ensure that all pupils have the same opportunities to achieve well. The school’s self-evaluation is accurate and leaders have clear plans for the next steps in school development.
• The leadership and management of teaching are good. Leaders’ monitoring of teaching is thorough and teachers and teaching assistants (‘teaching partners’) have good access to a wide range of training sessions to support them in their work.
• The additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used effectively to identify next steps and to ensure that help is at hand when needed in class.
• The special funding for disadvantaged pupils has been used well so that their progress is comparable with that of other pupils. The school makes sure that they can take part in the range of learning opportunities available, including educational visits.
• The funding for physical education and sport has been used well to provide resources and staff training by a specialist teacher. Close links with the secondary school have improved teaching in various sports, including athletics. The school offers a wide range of sports clubs.
• The broad and interesting curriculum, including extra-curricular activities, is planned thoroughly across the trust. The curriculum underpins pupils’ good progress as well as promoting their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• The curriculum includes good opportunities for pupils to learn about British values and prepares them well for life in modern Britain. For example, pupils were keen to share their knowledge of various cultures in ‘heritage’ classes. Pupils also show their care and respect for others by raising funds for their chosen charities.
• Parents are positive about the work of the school. Typical comments included, ‘Everything is really good,’ and, ‘My children have come on well since they started school’.
• Work remains to be done to ensure that teachers consistently provide pupils with sufficient challenge, especially in mathematics. Leaders are aware that the information about the curriculum currently on the website is limited and does not do the school justice.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective. Governors are knowledgeable about the school and have a good oversight of the quality of teaching and learning. They discuss strengths of provision and next steps based on their own observations of lessons, work sampling and school data, as well as information provided by the school.
• Governors ensure that specific funding is used wisely for groups of pupils, such as those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils.
• Governors have a good understanding of the performance management of staff and the link to staff training. They ensure that the process is rigorous.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Members of staff across the school are vigilant and pupils know what to do if they have any concerns.
• Members of staff are trained in keeping the pupils safe and are checked for their suitability for working in school. Leaders work closely with parents and external agencies to keep pupils safe. Parents are happy that their children are looked after well at school.
• The curriculum supports pupils well in learning about dangers in life and how to minimise risks. For example, pupils in Year 6 were learning about the importance of not looking directly at the sun as part of their science work on the solar system.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching, learning and assessment are good because teachers carefully plan what they want the pupils to learn and explain it clearly. They have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and the presentation of their work. The teaching of the core skills of literacy and numeracy is thorough and effective.
• Teachers and teaching partners manage behaviour well by building respectful relationships with their pupils and by the judicious use of praise. Pupils who are not engaging in their learning are successfully encouraged to ‘make the right choice’.
• Teachers use a range of resources effectively to engage pupils’ interest and to support learning. For example, in Year 6, pupils were very attentive when watching a dramatic video of a solar eclipse, and amazing pictures of mythical creatures helped Year 3 pupils with their creative writing.
• Teachers follow the school’s marking policy and pupils say that this helps them to improve their work. They are happy that teachers ‘help you when you don’t know something’.
• The most effective teaching helped pupils to deepen their understanding. For example, in mathematics in Year 5, pupils were encouraged to explain the methods they had used in their calculations.
• Occasionally, pupils do not make the progress they should. This happens in mathematics when they spend too long practising work they have already mastered. In mathematics and in reading, opportunities were missed to challenge pupils to achieve greater depth in their learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils enjoy coming to school and are confident because they understand what is expected of them in their learning and behaviour.
• Pupils feel safe at school and know how to stay safe. For example, pupils in Year 4 were clear about e-safety and knew to ‘zip it, flag it and block it’ if they were concerned about the content of information from the internet.
• Pupils have a good understanding of the various forms of bullying and what action they can take to protect themselves from it. They report that bullying is rare and is dealt with to their satisfaction.
• The school promotes pupils’ good physical and emotional well-being. It does this through its calm atmosphere, its breakfast- and after-school clubs and the opportunities for pupils to take part in physical activities, for example.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils work together well and say that ‘learning is fun’. Typical of the comments made by pupils were, ‘I would recommend the school to anyone,’ and, ‘Teachers are fair and you get to do fun projects’.
• Pupils and their parents are positive about behaviour at the school and the way that concerns are handled. As one parent commented, ‘If there are any concerns, the teachers are straight onto it’.
• Pupils like to take on responsibilities. For example, they are especially proud of their designs for the school recycling bins.
• Rates of attendance are broadly average. A small number of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities attend poorly. Their attendance is monitored closely by staff, and leaders are taking appropriate action to help them attend more regularly.
• Pupils behave well in class and around the school. They take pride in their work and complete tasks with care. Occasionally, pupils’ attention wanders when they have spent too long on a task and are ready to move on to a greater challenge.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils are making good progress from their starting points in all subjects. In key stage 2, they are doing especially well in writing. There is a good focus on improving grammar, punctuation and spelling and they present their writing with care.
• Attainment in key stage 1 is rising and pupils are now doing well in phonics by the end of Year 1. Attainment at the end of Year 2 is close to or above that of other pupils nationally. Year 2 pupils are keen readers and read widely and accurately. They use their knowledge of phonics to help them with unfamiliar words and read with expression. As one pupil said, ‘I split up words if I can’t read them’. Pupils are being prepared well for the next stage of their education.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are given good support in lessons and teachers and teaching partners provide well-targeted additional help and advice to enable them to complete their work.
• Disadvantaged pupils make similar progress to their peers and support is provided as needed to enable them to realise their potential and to succeed.
• The few pupils who are at the early stages of learning to speak English are supported well by members of staff and other pupils so that they can learn quickly.
• The most able pupils make good progress over time. However, some opportunities are missed, as for other pupils, to introduce more challenging work when pupils are ready for it, especially in mathematics.
• Pupils’ attainment in reading lags behind that in their writing. As pupils move on to more challenging texts, they have difficulty in fully understanding the meaning of what they have read. This is because they do not routinely ask themselves questions about new words and phrases or more complex text. Leaders have correctly identified this as an area that requires further support.

Early years provision Good

• Children in the Nursery and Reception classes, including disadvantaged children, make good progress from their starting points. They are well prepared for the next stage of their education in Year 1. They gain confidence and learn especially well in social and language development.
• Safeguarding has a high priority and members of staff are vigilant in checking that children are kept safe. As a result, children feel safe and know how to stay safe.
• Teachers and teaching assistants provide a wealth of activities to support children’s progress across all areas of learning. For example, children in Nursery were encouraged to describe their appearance in a mirror in preparation for a portrait- painting task.
• Children behave well and respond well to the adults. They follow clearly established routines and cooperate with each other. For example, in one Reception class, children helped each other in sounding out letters when writing a shopping list for making tomato ketchup, working together excitedly.
• There are good partnerships with parents. Parents are involved in their children’s learning and can add their own comments to the school’s records of their child’s progress. Teachers make sure that this information is used well to help them plan subsequent learning.
• Activities are accompanied by questioning to direct children’s learning, but these insufficiently support their development if they choose to stay on the same task for a long time.
• Leaders have a clear understanding of the next steps needed to improve teaching and learning. These include a continuing focus on the use of funding for disadvantaged children and the development of the outdoor area.

Inspection report: Rosedale Primary School, 12–13 September 2017

Page 7 of 11

School details

Unique reference number 141561 Local authority Hillingdon Inspection number 10036278 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 420 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Gill Bennett Headteacher Niela Bamber Telephone number 02085737103 Website www.therosedalehewensacademytrust.co.uk Email address rosedalehewens@gmail.com Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Rosedale Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school. The school opened in 2011 with just Reception Year children. Pupil numbers have risen as new year groups have been added. This is the first year that the school has had a Year 6.
• There is a Nursery and two Reception Year classes in the early years provision.
• Pupils come to the school from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, with most being of Asian, White British or Asian British heritage. The proportion of pupils speaking English as an additional language is high, but only a few are at the early stages of learning to speak English.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is broadly average and the proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is also average.
• The school runs a breakfast- and after-school club for pupils at the school.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• The school works closely with the other schools in the Rosedale Hewens Academy Trust.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed teaching and learning in 22 lessons, most jointly with the headteacher or other senior members of staff from the trust.
• Discussions were held with leaders, other members of staff and members of the governing body.
• Inspectors held informal discussions with several parents and scrutinised 41 responses to the Ofsted Parent View questionnaire. They also reviewed five responses to the staff questionnaire.
• Pupils in Years 2 and 6 were heard reading and samples of pupils’ work were scrutinised.
• A range of information supplied by the school was checked, including the school’s own information about how well pupils are doing, planning documents and checks on the quality of teaching. The inspectors also looked at the school development plan and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding procedures.

Inspection team

Alison Cartlidge, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Helen Rai Ofsted Inspector Meena Walia Ofsted Inspector