Rushbrook Primary Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management, by:
  • ensuring that teaching across the school, and particularly in key stage 2, is more consistently effective
  • embedding the improvements in the way that staff manage pupils’ behaviour, so that pupils are able to regulate their own actions, and behaviour is consistently good or better
  • rapidly improving rates of attendance for those pupils who are persistently absent from school.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and so accelerate pupils’ rates of progress, by:
  • ensuring that learning activities accurately match the needs of pupils, and that teachers have sufficiently high expectations of what the most able pupils are able to achieve
  • ensuring that teachers use assessment information effectively to identify the precise gaps in pupils’ learning and provide the help they need to catch up quickly
  • providing opportunities for pupils to apply their skills and knowledge across a broad range of curriculum subjects
  • ensuring that teachers have the skills and knowledge that they need, particularly in mathematics, so that teaching is consistently effective.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• The head of school has brought about much-needed stability following a period of significant change. The school serves a culturally rich and very diverse community, in an area of high socio-economic challenge. Together with her extremely able assistant headteachers, she has established a positive and nurturing culture where pupils feel safe, and flourish both socially and emotionally.
• Expectations of pupils’ academic achievements have not always been aspirational enough. In 2016, and again in 2017, pupils’ progress overall at the end of key stage 2 was weak, especially in writing and mathematics. However, the extremely high number of pupils who leave and join the school throughout the academic year do have an effect on the published data.
• Leaders have accurately identified the next steps for improvement. Detailed analysis of the progress that pupils make ensures that pupils who are struggling with their learning are now being identified. Changes to the leadership structure within the school ensure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. Middle leaders have received the training that they need. As a result, they have raised their aspirations and now have a better understanding of where pupils need to be at each stage of their education.
• Middle leaders analyse progress data and monitor pupils’ learning within their areas of responsibility. They check that their judgements are accurate with other colleagues within the multi-academy trust (MAT) and are beginning to set out the next steps for improvement. Their work is beginning to bring about improvements in the quality of teaching and learning. For example, recent training for staff has had a positive effect on the way reading and writing is taught across the school. Teachers new to teaching said that they feel they are supported very well.
• Leaders have focused on improving outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics, but do ensure that pupils are able to access a broad-based curriculum that covers a range of topics. However, pupils do not always have the opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge across the range of other curriculum subjects.
• Leaders promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well in preparation for life in modern Britain. They provide a wide range of experiences to enhance the curriculum that they provide. For example, older pupils have worked with other schools to perform a Shakespearean play at a theatre in Manchester. Leaders encourage pupils to take on responsibilities, for example as ‘web warriors’ to teach online safety to younger pupils. As members of committees, pupils organise fund-raising events for people less fortunate than themselves.
• Leaders ensure that the additional funding for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is used effectively. Leaders have ensured that staff have the skills to meet the needs of these pupils well. They look at information about pupils’ progress and carry out observations of pupils’ learning to identify their needs. Leaders work with a number of other professionals and local specialist schools to enhance the help that they provide for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. As a result, this group of pupils is making at least expected and sometimes better progress from their starting points.
• Leaders accurately identify the barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils. They support their social and emotional development effectively. This is having a positive impact and is beginning to improve the progress that disadvantaged pupils make in some classes.
• Leaders have ensured that the additional funding for physical education (PE) and sport is used effectively. Leaders ensure that teachers are developing their skills by learning from good practice. Specialist teachers deliver a range of sporting activities through a number of after-school and lunchtime clubs. As a result, pupils have the opportunity to refine their skills and sportsmanship, which contribute to their success in local competitions.
• Leaders work closely with families. Most parents and carers praise the care and help they receive from leaders and staff. They appreciate the opportunities and extra activities that their children experience. They feel that their children are safe and well cared for at school.

Governance of the school

• Governors understand the challenges facing the local community and the priorities for the future of the school. They provide support and challenge and they themselves are held to account by the trustees.
• There are clear roles and responsibilities within the structure of the trust. The chair of the governing body works with trustees to ensure that governors are appointed who have a range of relevant skills and expertise, which they use to promote school improvement.
• Until recently, the trust was not holding leaders to account with sufficient rigour. Improved lines of accountability have resulted in the trust having a much more accurate understanding of the quality of provision within the school. They are ensuring that leaders are swiftly bringing about much-needed improvements.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders place a high priority on safeguarding. Procedures and protocols are fit for purpose and understood by staff. Leaders ensure that staff and governors receive training that is updated regularly. The safety and welfare of all pupils is at the heart of everything that they do.
• Positive relationships between pupils and staff promote a culture in school where pupils feel safe, valued and listened to. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including online.
• The school supports pupils and their families effectively. This also includes involving other professionals from a range of local agencies to support the most vulnerable families. Parents appreciate the help that they receive, and the care given to their children.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teachers actively promote positive relationships within the classroom, and this contributes to the positive attitudes for learning that are displayed by the majority of pupils. However, inconsistencies in the quality of teaching across the school are slowing down the rate at which pupils are making progress. This is particularly noticeable in key stage 2.
• Teachers in some classes do not have consistently high enough expectations of pupils’ capabilities. As a result, learning activities too often do not accurately match pupils’ needs, particularly for the most able and middle-attaining pupils. Too few of the most able pupils in school are working at the higher standards in either English or mathematics.
• Teachers are comfortable with the recently revised assessment system. However, in some year groups teachers do not use the assessment information that they gather with sufficient accuracy to identify precisely gaps in pupils’ learning. As a result, they do not give pupils the help that they need to plug those gaps and so catch up at a faster rate.
• Some class teachers do not have the subject knowledge they need to plan activities that meet the needs of pupils and provide appropriate challenge, particularly in mathematics in key stage 2. This hinders the progress that pupils make.
• Phonics and reading are being taught to increasingly good effect. As a consequence, pupils are beginning to improve their reading comprehension skills and are expanding their vocabulary. Most pupils are becoming confident and competent readers. Pupils who find reading more difficult are given the help that they need to catch up quickly, particularly in key stage 1.
• Teachers have received training to help them to improve the way in which they teach writing. Consequently, teachers plan activities that provide pupils with increased opportunities to write at length and apply their skills and knowledge appropriately. As a result, the progress that pupils are making in writing is speeding up in some classes. This is particularly evident in Year 6, where pupils are now making strong progress.
• Although the teaching of writing is improving, more could still be done. Teachers do not consistently provide pupils with sufficient opportunities to use and apply their English and mathematical skills and knowledge across a range of other subjects. This limits the amount of chances that pupils have to develop and practise their skills in these important areas.
• Most teachers use questions skilfully to develop pupils’ spoken language skills. As a result, pupils are beginning to expand on their ideas and refine their explanations. This is starting to have a positive impact on the progress that they are making in their writing and mathematics.
• Teaching assistants play an important part in pupils’ learning. Many provide good levels of support for individuals and groups of pupils, particularly those who have SEN and/or disabilities, those newly learning English as an additional language and those who otherwise struggle to manage their behaviour. The significant number of pupils who join the school during the school year are also provided with additional support to help them to settle into the school, both academically and socially.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Positive relationships within the school promote a culture where pupils feel safe, valued and cared for. They know that there is always someone who will listen to them.
• The welfare of pupils is given a high priority. For example, the breakfast club run by support staff ensures that pupils have a healthy breakfast and a calm and focused start to their school day. This is especially helpful for pupils who may be vulnerable.
• The positive relationships fostered in school contribute to the positive attitudes to learning seen in some classrooms. This supports the improving rates of progress that pupils are now beginning to make. Pupils who spoke to the inspectors said, ‘Everyone is given a chance to be their best.’
• Leaders use every opportunity to raise aspirations. For example, past pupils visit school and talk about the roles and responsibilities they have in their present careers. Pupils have shared their own aspirations for the future to be doctors, midwives, artists and to run their own business.
• Pupils enjoy the many clubs that they can be part of during lunchtime and after school, including cookery and music. The school also provides good support for parents, many of whom come into school for lessons in mathematics and spoken English.
• Pupils are extremely proud of the rich diversity within their school and of the community in which they live.
• The newly introduced behaviour policy promotes the need for everyone to ‘be safe, be respectful, be responsible’. Pupils are confident that bullying, and aggressive behaviour towards others, are dealt with effectively by adults.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Skilled staff ensure that pupils who struggle with their social and emotional development receive the appropriate help that they need. As a result, the number of pupils who are excluded from school for fixed periods of time is beginning to reduce. However, it remains above the national average.
• The majority of pupils are polite, well-mannered and show respect for others. For the vast majority of the time, pupils try hard and cooperate well together in class. However, where teaching is less engaging or fails to provide sufficient challenge, some pupils do not make the right choices about how they should behave. This hinders the progress that some pupils make.
• Attendance remains below the national average. Staff work diligently with families and have put systems in place to reward good attendance. As a result, they are beginning to see an improvement in attendance for some pupils who are often absent from school.

Outcomes for pupils

Requires improvement

• Extremely high rates of pupil mobility have a marked effect on the school’s published data. For example, only half of the pupils currently in Year 6 at the school were in the school at the end of key stage 1. Published data, and the school’s own analysis, indicates that those pupils who are at the school for a sustained period of time typically reach higher levels of attainment than those who join later in key stage 2.
• Outcomes in 2017 showed a decline in the progress that pupils made at the end of key stage 2 in writing and mathematics from the previous year. However, the proportion of pupils who reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined in 2017 more than doubled from the previous year.
• Work in pupils’ books, supported by the school’s progress tracking information, shows that the progress made by current key stage 2 pupils is accelerating. This is particularly the case in Years 5 and 6. For example, pupils in Year 6 are writing with increasing maturity and choosing to use more complex vocabulary. In mathematics, current Year 5 pupils are becoming increasingly confident in using their mathematical knowledge in problem-solving activities.
• An increasing proportion of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1. There has been an improving picture in pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 1 since the last inspection. However, attainment remains below national averages. Only a very small proportion of pupils are working at the higher standard as they enter key stage 2.
• Published data and the school’s own assessment information show that this picture continues across the school, and that too few pupils are working at the higher standard.
• In 2017, the attainment of the large proportion of pupils for whom English is an additional language was typically at least in line with, and at times higher than, the attainment of other pupils in the school.
• The proportion of pupils who reached the expected standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1 has remained just below the national average for the past two years. However, the school’s assessment information shows that a higher proportion of pupils who have attended early years at the school reach the expected standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1, confirming that children get off to a good start in early years, including in terms of developing their phonic knowledge.
• The school’s assessment information and work seen in pupils’ books show that a higher proportion of pupils in key stage 1, including disadvantaged pupils, are on track to have the skills and knowledge typical for their age by the end of the academic year.
• Work in pupils’ books is neatly presented and pupils take pride in their work. However, there is not enough evidence of pupils being given the opportunity to apply their English and mathematics skills in other areas of the curriculum. This has the effect of slowing pupils’ progress as chances are being missed for them to practise and develop their reading, writing and mathematics.

Early years provision Good

• Leaders have a good understanding of how young children learn. They have developed a curriculum that meets the needs of children at Rushbrook Primary Academy very effectively.
• Children enter school with skills and knowledge well below those typical for their age. Leaders ensure that staff have the skills and expertise they need to help children catch up quickly. Children who attend the school’s Nursery make accelerated progress from their starting points. As a result, an increasing proportion are ready for Reception and go on to achieve the good level of development ready for Year 1.
• Leaders have established effective links with local Nursery providers. A range of activities and well-established routines help children to settle quickly into school. Parents who spoke to inspectors were very positive about the care and guidance their children receive from staff. They are extremely positive about how happy their children are coming to school every day.
• Leaders have accurately identified the key barriers to children’s learning. The development of speech and language skills is a key priority. Staff work with specialist teachers, and other professionals, to help children to catch up quickly.
• Teachers use detailed assessment evidence to accurately identify the precise gaps and next steps in children’s learning. Staff work with children one to one or in small groups to give them the help that they need to catch up quickly. They use questions effectively to encourage pupils to refine their ideas and expand their explanations.
• Learning activities ignite children’s curiosity and imagination. Children enjoy learning outside. For example, children in the Nursery were eager to share with the inspector the selection of mini-beasts they were investigating through careful observations with a magnifying glass.
• High-quality resources and a calm and orderly environment contribute to children’s positive attitudes to learning. Activities meet pupils’ needs well and enable them to make good progress. Positive relationships are modelled by adults and fostered well within early years. As a result, children demonstrate high levels of cooperation. They play well together, help each other and share resources. Children are happy and engaged in their learning.
• Phonics is taught effectively from Nursery. Books are carefully selected to match children’s skills and meet their interests. Workshops to help parents to understand how reading is taught are very well attended. Parents know how to help their children with their reading at home.
• Leaders are very vigilant. Risk assessments are carried out daily, especially in the outdoor activity areas, to make sure that the learning environment is safe. Staff have had good access to a range of appropriate training opportunities, including safeguarding training, and all statutory welfare requirements are met.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 138784 Manchester 10042497 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy converter 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 720 Appropriate authority The board of trustees Chair Head of School Telephone number Website Email address Mr Steven Zdolyny Miss Hew Ting Yuen 0161 223 5955 www.rpa.bfet.uk admin@rpa.bfet.uk Date of previous inspection 21–22 May 2014

Information about this school

• The school is much larger than the average-sized primary school, with over 720 pupils aged between 3 and 11.
• The majority of pupils come from minority ethnic backgrounds, with one quarter of pupils coming from White British backgrounds. The largest groups are from Roma, Pakistani and African backgrounds.
• Over two thirds of all pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding is high and includes nearly half of all pupils.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is average, as is the proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan.
• There is a very high level of mobility, with many pupils joining and leaving the school other than at the usual times.
• The school is a member of the Bright Futures Educational Trust, which is an MAT. The school’s governing body is responsible for curriculum and standards. All other aspects of governance are overseen by the MAT board of trustees.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in all classes, carrying out some joint observations with senior leaders. Inspectors also looked at pupils’ work with senior leaders.
• Inspectors met with a group of pupils. They also talked with other pupils informally around the school and at breaktimes. Discussions were held with staff, including senior and middle leaders. A meeting was held with three members of the governing body. The lead inspector met with the head of school, executive headteacher and the chief executive officer of the trust.
• Inspectors took account of the 148 responses and eight written text responses to Ofsted’s online Parent View survey. Inspectors also spoke with parents at the start of the school day and took account of eight letters written to the inspectors and delivered to school.
• Inspectors took account of the 39 responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents. These included the school’s self-evaluation and development plan, information about the school’s performance, a range of assessment information and a selection of policies, including those relating to safeguarding.

Inspection team

Amanda Stringer, lead inspector Pamela Potter John Shutt Sandie La Porta

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector