Redby Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve provision in the early years so that:
  • children, particularly the most able, learn as well as they should when they are working independently
  • learning journals identify the next steps that children need to make in their learning in order that parents are better able to support their child at home.
• Secure faster rates of progress so that increasing proportions of pupils, particularly the most able and the most able disadvantaged pupils, make the best possible progress in a range of subjects by ensuring that:
  • assessment for subjects beyond English and mathematics is improved so that it accurately captures information about pupils’ progress and better informs future planning
  • pupils are given consistent opportunities to think deeply about what they are learning and they complete tasks that stretch and challenge them.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher embodies the strong ethos of the school successfully. She is relentless in her determination to secure the very highest levels of achievement for all pupils and to ensure that pupils’ well-being is at the heart of all decision-making. She has been successful in her endeavours. All staff share the same high expectations, and collectively they form a highly motivated team who strive for excellence.
• The headteacher and the deputy headteacher are a strong senior leadership team. Together, they have steered the school through a difficult past to make it securely good. They have established systems within the school to ensure that they have an accurate picture of the school’s strengths and weaknesses and to enhance the capacity for continued improvement.
• Middle leaders provide highly effective leadership to their teams and share the same ambition and determination as senior leaders. The regular checks they make on the quality of teaching and on pupils’ assessment information account for the strong year-on-year improvements that are evident in pupils’ outcomes and in the progress they make over time.
• Teachers value the high-quality training they receive and are reflective of the insightful advice and support given to them to be better practitioners. As a result, the quality of teaching is securely good, with some that is better.
• Leaders use the government’s additional physical education (PE) and sport premium funding to promote engagement in sport well. Pupils access a wide range of sporting clubs and competitions and their participation in sports has increased. Pupils shared with inspectors their enthusiasm for sport and demonstrated a good understanding of the importance of exercise in helping them to keep fit and healthy. By using part of the funding to employ specialist sports coaches, leaders have ensured that teachers are becoming more confident in delivering PE lessons. Consequently, pupils’ skills and enthusiasm for physical exercise have improved.
• Leaders know pupils’ barriers to learning well. They plan the expenditure of the pupil premium funding carefully and monitor closely its impact on disadvantaged pupils’ learning and progress. This ensures that the grant is spent wisely. However, website documentation, although detailed, does not fully reflect the school’s effective practice in diminishing differences between the progress of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally.
• Leaders promote the fundamental values that lie at the heart of modern Britain well. These feature strongly in assemblies and activities planned within the wider curriculum. This work underpins the very positive attitudes of pupils.
• Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. Those spoken to by inspectors were effusive in their praise of the headteacher, who they feel goes beyond that which would be expected in order to support pupils and their families.
• Subject leaders are relatively new to their role and are learning from experienced middle leaders to develop their skills. They are now having a greater say in the development of curriculum plans, although their impact is not yet fully realised in pupils’ outcomes beyond English and mathematics.
• The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is recently appointed. She wasted no time in ensuring that the additional money provided for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is spent effectively. Her first priority was to tackle the higher rates of absence. As a result, these pupils’ rates of attendance have improved well. In turn, this has led to improvements in pupils’ progress, and pupils who have special education needs and/or disabilities across the school are now making at least the progress expected from their varying starting points. The SENCo has a good, clear and detailed action plan to support her work moving forward and to secure a more strategic awareness of the impact of whole-school provision.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced. Leaders ensure that pupils receive access to a rich out-of-hours programme. Pupils experience a wide range of visits out of school and visitors to school to enhance their learning. Such experiences have a positive impact on developing the pupils’ confidence and social skills and in preparation for their future lives.
• The school’s assessment system enables leaders to see clearly how well pupils are achieving, particularly in English and mathematics. It has been used to great effect in identifying pupils from all year groups who are at risk of falling behind in their learning. However, it is not used as robustly for subjects beyond English and mathematics, where pupils’ outcomes are more variable.

Governance of the school

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders have ensured that all documentation and systems for safeguarding pupils meet statutory requirements. Appropriate checks are completed to ensure that all staff are vetted before working with children. Regular training ensures that all staff recognise the responsibility they have in keeping pupils safe.
• Leaders have recently introduced a more robust system for recording concerns. This system records more accurately the chronology of concerns and the actions taken by leaders.
• The curriculum is used increasingly effectively to ensure that pupils develop a growing understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Reading is promoted well across the school. Pupils’ reading skills have improved year on year and are now above the national average by the end of key stage 2. Pupils know the school’s system for selecting reading books at the correct level and enjoy the choices they make. This is supporting older pupils’ growing maturity and enthusiasm as readers. They make good choices based upon preference and they are challenged successfully to strive to read more.
• The teaching of phonics is effective because it is well structured and planned. This means that the very youngest pupils are confident to read. They become increasingly fluent as they move through the school.
• Pupils are becoming increasingly successful writers. Teachers provide thoughtful stimuli to engage pupils in the writing process. They give pupils clear guidance on how to structure their writing and on how to extend their ideas. As a result, pupils across the school are enthusiastic writers.
• Science teaching is improving. As a result of leaders’ actions, increasing proportions of pupils are reaching age-related expectations. There are occasions when teachers move pupils on in their learning too quickly before ensuring that pupils’ basic scientific knowledge, skills and understanding are embedded thoroughly. This means that, although pupils’ outcomes overall are improving, key scientific skills are not deepened and the proportions of pupils reaching the higher levels of achievement in this subject are not as strong as in English and mathematics.
• Mathematics is taught consistently well across the school. Consequently, a strong and growing proportion of pupils reach the higher levels of achievement in both key stage 1 and key stage 2. Pupils have planned opportunities to practise their mathematics skills first and then learn how to apply them to solve increasingly challenging problems. Inspectors observed older pupils demonstrating great resilience in grappling with complex problems relating to holiday timetables. However, on occasion, pupils do not benefit from accessing more demanding work when they are ready to.
• Teachers mark work regularly according to the school’s marking policy. Teachers’ comments are helping pupils to improve their work successfully.
• Handwriting is taught effectively, and by the time pupils reach Year 6, almost all pupils are able to join their letters. As a result, the presentation of pupils’ work is frequently exemplary.
• Homework is used to support learning in school well. Most parents feel that the amount is sufficient. Holiday projects ensure that parents are fully involved in supporting their child’s learning in school.
• Although the quality of teaching over time has improved considerably, leaders acknowledge that there remains some variability. This is particularly the case in subjects beyond reading, writing and mathematics, where assessment procedures are not fully developed to accurately inform teachers’ planning. As a result, some teachers do not consistently plan activities that reflect an age-appropriate progression of skills that demand more of pupils and ensure that they think hard about their learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils at Redby Academy thrive. This is because leaders place pupils’ personal and emotional well-being at the heart of the school’s ethos. They recognise that happy pupils learn well and achieve. The school’s culture is one that provides a stimulating and supportive learning environment where all pupils are treasured and valued for the contributions they make.
• Considerable training in pupils’ emotional and mental health means that staff are perceptive of pupils’ needs and offer timely support. This underpins the pupils’ highly positive attitudes to school. Pupils told inspectors, ‘You never have a bad day at Redby!’
• Pupils are actively involved in their local community and recognise the important role they play. They spoke affectionately about the coffee mornings they organise for the elderly members of the community and are proud of the extensive charitable work they undertake. Pupils are encouraged to bring their small change into school each week and then put much thought into choosing the charities they support. One pupil stated, ‘It’s remarkable the amount of money we raise and the good causes we support.’
• The raft of out-of-school experiences provided supports pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding successfully.
• A well-developed personal, social and emotional curriculum, alongside a detailed programme of assemblies, ensures that pupils display positive attitudes to others. They have an increasingly strong awareness of world issues. Leaders tackle such issues with sensitivity and use the support of other agencies to help them in their work. As a result, pupils are developing mature attitudes towards wider community issues. For example, leaders, with the support of the local police, tackled the recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London with great care and sensitivity. This enabled the youngest pupils to have a heightened awareness of how to keep themselves safe, without being alarmed.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in the school. They have a sound understanding of how to keep themselves safe on the internet and know that there is always a trusted adult in whom they can confide should they have a concern.
• Staff working in the school’s nurture provision are highly skilled in providing the right level of support to the most vulnerable pupils. This means that all pupils are able to thrive in school and achieve well.

Behaviour

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Since the last inspection, outcomes have improved year on year. In 2016, outcomes for Year 6 pupils were above the national averages and in the top 3% of schools nationally. Indications from current teacher assessments are that these good outcomes have been sustained and pupils are well prepared for the next stage in their education.
• The progress of disadvantaged pupils from their starting points into school is good. Leaders have tackled the variability seen in these pupils’ achievements historically and used additional funding to support improving attendance. Across the school, almost all disadvantaged pupils are now on track to make the progress the school expects of them. Any previously seen gaps in outcomes have been diminished.
• Leaders use assessment information well to identify those pupils who are falling behind in their learning. No time is wasted in providing additional support to remedy this. As a result, almost all pupils currently in the school are on track to achieve well from their varied starting points into school.
• Pupils’ achievements in the national phonics screening checks have improved year on year and are now securely above the national average. Leaders have successfully removed the gaps in attainment that existed between disadvantaged pupils and others.
• Few pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Previous high rates of absence were starting to impact negatively on these pupils’ outcomes. Leaders have taken action to tackle this. As a result, pupils are attending school more regularly and their outcomes are improving well. All pupils are now on track to make the progress the school expects, with increasing proportions exceeding this.
• Despite these successes, faster rates of progress remain inconsistent for other groups of pupils. This impedes the proportions, particularly of the most able pupils and the most able disadvantaged pupils, reaching the highest possible standards of achievement.
• There is greater variability in pupils’ outcomes in subjects beyond English and mathematics. Leaders acknowledge that their approaches to assessment are not as robust for these subjects and are taking action to address these weaknesses.

Early years provision Good

• Outcomes for children are good. The vast majority of children enter the school, either in the Nursery Year or the Reception Year, with skills and abilities typical for their age. Leaders rapidly identify those children who require additional support. Actions taken ensure that by the time children leave Reception, almost all have made at least typical progress with many reaching age-related expectations.
• In 2016, the proportion of children who left the Reception Year having reached a good level of development was slightly above that seen nationally. Outcomes in 2017 have strengthened even further and are well above the 2016 national averages. This represents four years of continued improvement and demonstrates children’s increasingly strong readiness for key stage 1.
• The quality of teaching in the early years is good. From the outset, all staff establish warm, caring relationships with the children and encourage them to be sociable and kind to one another. As a result, children behave well and are happy and confident in their setting.
• The leader for the early years is effective and manages the provision well. Regular assessments of children’s progress and attainment are used to plan further activities and to address any underachievement that may be emerging. Teachers’ judgements are regularly checked against those made by other early years provisions locally. This ensures that assessment information is accurate.
• The school’s procedures to keep children safe and promote their welfare and safety are rigorous and all statutory requirements are met.
• The early years setting is attractive and well resourced. A good range of tasks are provided indoors and outdoors to promote learning. Children have opportunities to work independently and with an adult. However, some of the free-choice activities available are insufficiently challenging or have insufficient adult intervention in order to extend children’s play and deepen their thinking. This means that children lose concentration and their attention wanes. As a result, few children, particularly the most able, make the fastest possible progress to exceed the good level of development they are capable of.
• Teachers work well with parents to gather information about their children. This information is then recorded formally in a learning journal. While the journals provide a memory of children’s time in the early years, teachers’ comments do not routinely identify the next steps in a child’s development. This limits the support parents can provide at home.

School details

Unique reference number 137463 Local authority Sunderland Inspection number 10031957 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Academy Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 397 Appropriate authority Academy trust Chair Paul Gowans Headteacher Melanie Wight Telephone number 0191 553 5475 Website www.redbyacademy.co.uk Email address enquiries@redbyacademy.co.uk Date of previous inspection 23–24 June 2015

Information about this 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 is part of the Monkwearmouth Learning Trust.
• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is lower than average. No pupils require a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged and known to be eligible for the pupil premium grant is below the national average.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage and speak English as their first language.
• In 2016, the school met the government’s floor standards that set out the minimum expectations for primary schools.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in each class. Most observations were carried out jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
• A wide range of pupils’ books, school assessment information, leaders’ evaluation of teaching and learning, and school documents were looked at during the inspection.
• Meetings were held with eight members of the governing body, senior and middle leaders and subject leaders.
• Pupils were spoken to informally in class and during playtime and lunchtime. A number of pupils were heard to read.
• The school’s website, documents, minutes of governing body meetings and safeguarding documents were scrutinised.
• Responses from 71 parents who completed the inspection questionnaire, Parent View, were taken into account, alongside free-text written responses. Results from 11 pupils’ and 10 staff questionnaires were also considered.

Inspection team

Diane Buckle, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Deborah Ashcroft Ofsted Inspector Darren Stewart Her Majesty’s Inspector