Redlands Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Accelerate further the progress of a small minority of pupils so that their progress is as rapid and sustained as that of others in school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The inspirational headteacher leads the school with a passionate determination. His vision, that every pupil is inspired to become a life-long learner, permeates the school. Staff and parents are unanimous in their praise for his dedication. As one parent said, the headteacher has made sure that Redlands ‘is an inspirational place from the moment you walk through the door’. Another parent summed up the views of many: ‘It’s a fantastic school with amazing staff. My son is so happy at this school and so are we, as parents.’
• Leaders and governors have an accurate and thorough knowledge of the school’s strengths and areas for further development. Their attention to detail contributes strongly to the continued improvement of the school, so that it is now outstanding.
• The headteacher, ably assisted by his skilled assistant headteacher, has improved the quality of teaching so that it is now outstanding. Together, they have created a culture where staff are highly enthusiastic and motivated to do the very best for pupils. Staff collaborate very well together, reviewing their work constantly so that it is the best it can be. Leaders’ accurate checks on the quality of teaching enable them to provide prompt and effective further training and support where needed. This works very well; outstanding teaching is leading to outstanding outcomes for pupils.
• Teachers value highly the help that subject leaders provide to ensure they have strong subject knowledge across the whole curriculum. Subject leaders evaluate pupils’ achievement across subjects, ensuring adjustments are made to teaching if pupils need extra support to achieve.
• Leaders and staff are committed to improving pupils’ life chances. They have created a nurturing environment which enables pupils to thrive, especially disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities. The use of additional funding for these pupils is well thought through. Extra help and support is carefully targeted to meet pupils’ different needs. Leaders regularly review the impact of the funding, adapting spending to focus sharply on what works best for each pupil. Their current focus on accelerating further the progress of a few pupils is well judged.
• The inspiring curriculum is a strength of the school. It stimulates pupils’ interests and motivates them to learn very well. Core skills of reading, writing and mathematics are particularly well taught, both as separate subjects but also embedded throughout other subjects. The very extensive range of trips and visits provides further enrichment, as do the vast array of clubs that pupils attend. Music lessons in particular are especially popular with pupils and valued by parents.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted highly effectively, and ensures that pupils learn to be thoughtful and reflective. For example, pupils in Years 5 and 6 showed great maturity when discussing the meaning of life, listening sensibly to each other’s views and recognising everyone’s right to hold differing opinions. British values are a key part of the curriculum. Pupils develop a strong sense of right and wrong, for example they are proud of their school council and the school’s work to promote the importance of trading fairly with international communities.
• Leaders make excellent use of the additional funding for sports. Pupils’ participation rates have risen, contributing strongly to their understanding of healthy lifestyles. They take part in a wide range of sporting activities and competitions, including archery, gymnastics and cricket.
• Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school. Numerous comments made as part of Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, praised leaders and staff for their approachability and commitment to making sure that pupils enjoy learning and achieve highly. All parents responding to the survey said they would recommend the school to others.

Governance of the school

• Governance contributes strongly to the outstanding leadership of the school. Governors are highly committed, with a range of experience and expertise which equips them very well for their roles. The challenging questions they ask ensure that they are acutely aware of the school’s strengths and areas which require further refinement. This enables them to hold leaders strongly to account for their work, and has ensured that improvements are sustained. Governors keep a close eye on the school’s finances, making sure that key funding is used very well to maximise the progress of disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a very strong culture of safeguarding in this school. Leaders and governors make sure that all adults are very well trained and vigilant in ensuring pupils’ welfare and safety. Adults are alert to any changes in behaviour which may indicate a pupil needs extra support. Records show that any concerns are raised promptly and that leaders utilise outside agencies swiftly and effectively where necessary.
• Leaders and governors make sure that recruitment procedures are robust and that appropriate checks on adults working in the school are carried out diligently.
• E-safety is threaded through the curriculum. Adults have made sure that pupils are aware of how to stay safe on the internet. Pupils can explain clearly the difference between a ‘real’ friend and someone who might say they are a friend online. They know not to give out personal information and to report anything that makes them feel uncomfortable. Parents are grateful for the advice the school provides in helping them know how to keep their children safe when online at home.
• Pupils feel very safe in school. They know who to talk to if they have any concerns and are confident that they will be listened to, taken seriously and helped. One hundred per cent of parents who responded to the Ofsted survey agreed that their children are safe and happy at this school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching is outstanding because teachers use their excellent subject knowledge and creativity to plan and teach lessons which help pupils learn very well. Teachers and teaching assistants have an accurate understanding of each pupil’s learning needs, which they use skilfully to ensure that pupils make excellent progress. They are quick to adapt tasks and activities as needed to provide additional support or challenge to pupils. As one parent wrote: ‘Teachers’ high expectations increase my son’s passion for learning and inspire him to do his best.’
• Pupils at Redlands are eager to learn. They work very hard and productively across a broad range of subjects, and are proud of their achievements. Key literacy and mathematical skills are developed through the whole curriculum very well. For example, in history pupils used their knowledge of statistics to plot a line of best-fit of criminals’ shoe sizes in the hope of catching Al Capone. In science, pupils investigated what makes materials waterproof, and how these materials might be useful. They wrote up their findings to a high quality.
• Reading is exceptionally well taught. For example, in Reception children playing with balloons were also developing their knowledge of phonics by practising the different sounds represented by letters stuck to the balloons. In Years 3 and 4, teachers asked lively and skilful questions as they introduced pupils to the term ‘inference’. Pupils discussed their ideas with each other in a collaborative, friendly manner as they tried to work out what they could infer from the statement ‘she skipped down the road’. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 demonstrated their excellent understanding of the same term as they applied their inference skills very well to texts by Charles Dickens and Roald Dahl.
• Mathematics is taught very effectively throughout the school. Teachers and teaching assistants deftly help pupils understand new mathematics skills, providing timely support and reshaping explanations and tasks to make sure that pupils’ understanding of new skills is embedded. Pupils in all years are able to use mathematical apparatus to aid their understanding of concepts. Homework is used to develop pupils’ fluency in calculation. Pupils’ work shows that they apply their knowledge to solve mathematical problems very well. Consequently, pupils make very strong progress and many reach the greater-depth and high-standard levels of achievement.
• Teachers make sure that pupils’ writing skills are very well developed. Pupils appreciate the lively stimulus teachers provide to help them write creatively. For example, an image of Roald Dahl’s ‘giant peach’ hovering over New York encouraged pupils to come up with a wide range of descriptive vocabulary to use as they wrote about the scene. Teachers’ excellent knowledge of what pupils need to do to write well is evident in pupils’ books. Most-able pupils especially write at length, using complex punctuation and interesting vocabulary choices, so that increasing proportions achieve the high standard in writing at the end of key stage 2. Pupils commit to editing and improving their work so that it reflects their best efforts, although one or two pupils did need reminding to remember to spell words accurately.
• Teachers and teaching assistants work very well together to ensure that disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities make strong progress. They skilfully assess what pupils can and cannot yet do to plan activities which build on their understanding and give pupils confidence to attempt harder work. Leaders and teachers closely monitor these pupils’ progress, altering extra support swiftly if it becomes clear a different approach is needed. This is an ongoing process as leaders work to ensure that every single pupil makes rapid and sustained progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils are confident, motivated and highly enthusiastic about school. During the inspection they proudly talked to adults about their learning and experiences in school. Adults provide frequent opportunities as part of the curriculum for pupils to work collaboratively, helping them to develop strong social skills. For example, pupils outdoors delighted in using the school’s trebuchet (a siege weapon from the middle-ages) as they worked together to find out the optimum angle of trajectory to attack a castle.
• Pupils are very supportive of each other. For example, pupils look out for anyone who might be unhappy or on their own during breaktimes to check they are okay. In one lesson, a pupil gave his friend a secret thumbs up when he got a difficult question right. Pupils said that because they get on very well together, bullying is exceptionally rare and any minor fallings-out are resolved quickly.
• Adults know pupils very well and are alert to their different welfare needs. They sensitively provide additional support for anyone who needs extra help, for example in maintaining good mental health. Consequently, pupils feel very safe in school, and know that any adult will help them should they have any worries.
• Adults work effectively with outside agencies to make sure that vulnerable pupils currently on roll are kept safe and well. Their work to ensure that these children do not become ‘children missing from education’ is commendable.
• Parents are happy that their children are well cared for in school. As one said: ‘Staff are always available to talk to parents and take any issues seriously.’ Another parent commented: ‘My children have made significant progress, both in their academic and personal development.’

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils are very courteous and considerate to everyone around them. Pupils move around the school in a sensible and calm manner. Behaviour throughout the school is exemplary, and sanctions very rarely need to be used. Rewards and praise for good work and behaviour take precedence, and pupils greatly value receiving them.
• The very few pupils who need additional help to manage their behaviour are supported highly effectively. Exclusion is used as a last resort, and successfully, to help pupils understand what is expected of them in school. On the odd occasion when a pupil needs to be reminded of their responsibility to maintain good behaviour, adults do this discreetly.
• Attendance is consistently above average and most pupils rarely miss a day of school. Procedures to monitor absence are very thorough. Leaders work closely and effectively with the few families who need support to make sure pupils attend school regularly and on time.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, make outstanding progress during their time at Redlands. Most children join the school in Reception with skills and knowledge that are in line with those typical for their age. However, some children’s skills and knowledge are much lower than this. They make substantial progress, particularly in the early years and at key stage 2. This means that by the time they leave they have caught up, achieving or exceeding the standards that are expected for their age, particularly in reading and mathematics.
• At key stage 1, pupils consistently attain standards at least in line with others nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils build on this strong start very well, making rapid progress so that the proportion who meet and exceed the expected standard for their age in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 is above that seen nationally.
• Most-able pupils make excellent progress and achieve very well across the whole curriculum. Teachers use their expert subject knowledge to make sure that activities are planned to provide sufficient challenge.
• Current disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are achieving at least as well as other pupils nationally. In reading, they are achieving well above others nationally. Because of outstanding teaching and well-judged support, many make rapid progress to catch up with their peers in school.
• Pupils’ love of reading permeates the school. Pupils read regularly at home and at school. Pupils in key stage 1 use their excellent phonics skills confidently to sound out unfamiliar words. Most-able pupils in key stage 2 read fluently and with expression. They choose books that they know will challenge them. As a result of the school’s focus on making sure that every pupil can read to the best of their ability, higher proportions of pupils than nationally achieve the standard of the phonics screening check in Year 1, and pupils’ progress by the end of key stage 2 is in the top 10% nationally.
• Pupils benefit from excellent support, including that provided by highly skilled teaching assistants. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make especially strong progress in reading. Many attain standards similar to those nationally in reading and mathematics. However, for some pupils their rates of progress are slower, especially in developing their writing skills. Leaders’ close monitoring and timely extra support is helping these pupils to start to catch up.
• Leaders are not complacent. Their careful tracking of pupils’ progress allows them to spot any individuals who are not making fast enough progress. They use their insightful knowledge of each pupil to adjust the support they provide so that these pupils’ rates of progress are increasing.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Provision in the early years is superb. Leaders plan inventive learning experiences, both inside and outside, which match what children say they want to learn about and which meet children’s needs across the whole curriculum. Because of this, children are engrossed in their learning, and are happy and exceptionally well behaved. Their excitement was clearly evident when playing outside they decided to become police investigators when a giant egg mysteriously appeared overnight. They asked each other questions and wrote down their findings on clipboards, developing their social and writing skills very well.
• Leaders make sure that children entering the early years settle very quickly. They work closely with local nurseries and with parents to identify precisely each child’s level of development when they join. They use this information skilfully to plan pupils’ learning journeys, monitoring their progress meticulously and adapting plans promptly to maximise children’s development. As a result, children make tremendous gains in the early years, especially those children who enter with skills below those typical for their age. The proportion of children who reach a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year is much greater than that found nationally.
• Leaders have identified that many children enter school needing to develop their fine motor skills in order to learn to grip a pencil and learn to write. They have provided several activities for children to practise these skills. For example, children playing with a system of pulleys and flaps were strengthening their arm muscles and learning to be precise.
• Leaders provide frequent opportunities for children to practise the English and mathematics skills they need to be ready to start Year 1. Children learn how to form letters as they make lists and write about the activities they do. During the inspection, adults encouraged children painting fireworks to come up with lots of new words to represent the sound they make. When tidying up, children counted how many items they were carrying and sorted equipment into different boxes based on colour and size.
• Children develop their social and communication skills very well through frequent opportunities to talk to each other as they play and learn. They learn the routines needed to create an orderly environment very quickly. For example, in physical education children discussed how to use the apparatus safely, before pretending to be fireworks as they jumped off blocks.
• Parents are full of praise for the early years provision. They value the regular communication they have with the staff about children’s progress and development. They are, rightly, confident that adults keep children safe and happy. As one parent said: ‘I am amazed at how quickly my son has adapted; he loves school.’

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 115892 Hampshire 10036831 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 314 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Wilfred Phillips Kevin Harcombe 01329 234012 www.redlandsprimaryhants.com adminoffice@redlands.hants.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 23–24 January

Information about this school

• The school is a larger-than-average-sized primary school.
• The large majority of pupils are White British. Smaller than average proportions speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is much lower than average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above average.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection began as a short inspection of a good school led by the lead inspector. It was converted to become a full inspection and the lead inspector was joined by a further three inspectors on the second day.
• Inspectors observed learning in all classes, in some cases with senior leaders.
• Inspectors held a range of meetings with the headteacher, assistant headteacher, other staff and governors. They also considered the 12 responses to the staff survey.
• A wide range of school documentation was scrutinised by inspectors, including safeguarding records, monitoring records, governors’ minutes, self-evaluation documents and records relating to behaviour and attendance.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of pupils’ work including during lessons and in meetings with leaders.
• Inspectors gained the views of pupils by speaking to them informally during lessons and at playtime. The lead inspector also met formally with a group of pupils. The head girl and deputy head boy took one inspector on a tour of the school. The lead inspector listened to some pupils read.
• Ninety-five responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, were considered. In addition, the lead inspector spoke to several parents at the start of the inspection.

Inspection team

Catherine Old, lead inspector Nigel Cook Paul Shaughnessy Kathryn Moles

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector