Rodborough Community Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 27–28 February 2012 Inspection number 379100 Rodborough Community Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 115565 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 379100 Inspection dates 27–28 February 2012 Lead inspector Hugh Protherough

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 209 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Elaine Blatchford Headteacher Maggie Halsey Date of previous school inspection 6–7 June 2007 School address Rodborough Hill Stroud Gloucestershire GL5 3RT Telephone number 01453 763159 Fax number 01453 767702 Email address admin@rodborough.gloucs.sch.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspectors observed teaching in every class, with a particular focus on reading, writing, and mathematics and how well pupils apply these skills in other subjects of the National Curriculum. Seven teachers were observed teaching, as well as the work of teaching assistants. Eighteen lessons were visited totalling seven hours and 15 minutes. The inspectors met with parents and carers, members of the governing body’s ‘strategy group’, and members of staff. They spoke with pupils about their work and listened to some read. The inspectors took account of the responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and looked at the school’s self-evaluation, improvement plan, curriculum framework, safeguarding arrangements, and records of behaviour and racist incidents. Sixty per cent of parents and carers returned questionnaires, which is well above the national

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Introduction

average. Inspectors analysed these questionnaires as well as others completed by pupils.

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Information about the school

The school is of average size. The great majority of pupils are White British. Other groups represented include Other White background, White and Asian, and Other Mixed background. No pupils are at the early stages of learning English. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is slightly above average. The proportion with a statement of educational needs is below average. They include physically disabled and hearing impaired pupils and those with specific learning, speech and language and emotional and behavioural difficulties. The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress. The school provides a breakfast club for pupils prior to the start of the school day. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate

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Information about the school

Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 This is a good school where pupils achieve well. Effective leadership has sustained the many strengths identified in the previous inspection report. Pupils in Years 4 to 6 continue to make rapid progress as a result of teaching that is consistently good and sometimes outstanding. This is not an outstanding school because, although progress in Years 1 to 3 is good, teaching is less consistent, especially in mathematics.  By the age of eleven, pupils of all backgrounds and abilities continue to attain standards in English and mathematics that are significantly better than the national average. Teachers’ assessments show that Year 2 attainment is slightly above average and that the pupils’ progress is accelerating, but is not yet as rapid as in Years 4 to 6. Imaginative topics enable pupils to achieve well in other subjects of the National Curriculum.  The core of teaching is good. Reception Year children benefit from well-

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Key findings

organised and imaginative provision. Teaching in Years 1 and 2 has improved since the previous inspection and is securing good pupil progress. While achievement in mathematics has improved, there is scope to accelerate further the pace of learning by improving teachers’ subject knowledge and questioning skills. Frequently, lessons in Years 4 to 6 proceed at a rapid pace as a result of teachers’ high expectations and incisive assessment.  Arrangements for safeguarding are outstanding. Without exception, pupils say they feel safe and well cared for. As a result of the school’s consistent expectations and close working with families, their behaviour is exemplary.  Staff and the governing body communicate an ambitious vision for the school successfully and strive for continuous improvement. While senior leaders hold staff to account successfully for the performance of the pupils they teach, there remains some variation in teaching quality across the school. The rich

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Key findings

curriculum contributes significantly to pupils’ excellent spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Consolidate improved progress in mathematics by increasing the amount of teaching that is good and outstanding, especially in Years 1 to 3, by:  raising teachers’ confidence by improving their subject knowledge  identifying more precisely the levels of pupils’ understanding through the use of sharply focused questions  refining the use of effective teaching strategies so that the pace of learning is maintained at a high level throughout the lesson.

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Achievement of pupils

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage arrive with levels of skills and abilities slightly lower than those expected of four-year-olds nationally, especially in their personal, social and emotional development and communication, language and literacy. As a result of effective transition arrangements and close working with families, the current class has settled into the routines of school and children are making good gains in their learning. Most are on course to achieve average levels by the end of this year and several will exceed this. Children work enthusiastically in indoor and outdoor classrooms. They are inquisitive about the world and enjoy practical activities, such as using natural materials to make nests for birds or acting out their stories in the castle in the role-play corner. Disabled children and those with special educational needs are identified swiftly and provision is modified successfully

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Achievement of pupils

to ensure they are helped to catch up. Most children are responding well to short periods of more-formal instruction and are learning to listen and talk thoughtfully with adults and each other. Children enjoy books and listening to stories. Most have made a good start to learning the sounds of letters and are beginning to apply this to simple texts.

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Achievement of pupils

Inspection evidence strongly supports the parents’ and carers’ unanimous views that their children are doing well at school. Pupils of all backgrounds and abilities demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and work productively throughout the school. Progress between Years 4 and 6 is outstanding. By Year 6, most show independence and resilience when tackling challenging work, such as mathematics investigations into the costs of mobile phone networks. They collaborate effectively and draw intelligently upon previous learning to arrive at well-considered hypotheses. Pupils employ their well-developed literacy and numeracy skills successfully across the curriculum. Their work in art is outstanding and reveals an excellent depth of response in a range of media. Pupils’ past attainment at Years 1 and 2 has been broadly average, but is starting to rise. The inspectors’ analysis of school data and pupils’ work shows current progress is good. There has been

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Achievement of pupils

successful action to improve achievement in mathematics, but there remains scope to improve the degree of challenge for higher-attaining pupils so that more achieve Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Achievement of pupils

By the end of Year 2 the standard of pupils’ reading is above average. A good majority is reading with increasing expression and fluency. Those pupils at the earlier stages of learning, frequently, make effective use of their knowledge of the sounds of letters (phonics) to help them work out unfamiliar words, as well as making sensible contextual guesses. Attitudes to reading in Key Stage 2 are extremely positive. The school’s framework for promoting a breadth of reading activity underpins pupils’ excellent progress and high standards very successfully. Pupils read fluently and talk intelligently about a range of authors and poets.

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Achievement of pupils

The school’s exemplary approaches to identifying any pupil with additional needs and the closely monitored use of ‘catch-up’ activities accelerates the progress of those who are struggling to read, write, or count. Pupils enjoy working with an adult in these smaller groups and benefit hugely from activities that are tailored to their needs precisely.

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Quality of teaching

Inspection evidence strongly supports the views of parents and carers that teaching is good. Teachers’ high expectations are reflected in lesson planning that is detailed and incisive, catering thoughtfully for the range of abilities in each class. Most lessons have brisk, well-focused openings, where music, film, role play or the skilled use of new technologies frequently captures pupils’ interest. The curriculum is broad and balanced and has a positive impact on pupils’ learning. Good provision for art, music, French, and information and communication technology supports the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development effectively.

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Quality of teaching

The school has rightly focused upon improving achievement in mathematics and the positive impact of an emphasis on problem solving and talking about mathematical processes is evident in all classes. For instance, Year 6 demonstrated high levels of thinking and hypothesising when analysing the amount of sugar in different food products. Year 4 showed resilience when tackling the measurement of angles. In these outstanding lessons, the teachers’ excellent subject knowledge meant their questions were matched to pupils’ abilities well and probed their understanding. They were swift to spot when pupils struggled or needed greater challenge. As a result pupils made excellent progress. While the majority of lessons elsewhere are good, a few are satisfactory, for example in Years 1 to 3. On these occasions, teachers are not always so confident in their mathematical knowledge and so their questions are less precise and the pace of learning not so rapid.

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Quality of teaching

Throughout the school, teaching assistants play a key role and are deployed effectively to support groups and individuals, such as disabled pupils and those with special educational needs . Many are involved in phonics teaching. While much of this work is of good quality, inspectors noted occasional inconsistencies in the modelling of letter sounds that may hamper pupils’ progress. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Quality of teaching

Teachers’ thorough approaches to assessment ensure that pupils benefit from good- quality feedback. This informs the regular meetings to discuss pupils’ progress, where those falling behind are identified swiftly and targeted for additional support that helps them to catch up.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The staff team work extremely effectively with pupils in establishing consistent expectations for considerate behaviour and mutual respect. Adults are successful role models and enjoy positive rapport with the classes they teach. As a result, pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. Pupils have excellent attitudes to learning and show high levels of engagement, courtesy and cooperation, both in class and around the school. Those with complex needs, such as emotional, behavioural or specific learning difficulties, are supported successfully and contribute positively to the school community.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Parents and carers express overwhelmingly positive views about behaviour and safety at the school. No concerns were expressed by either pupils or parents and carers about any forms of bullying. School records show only very occasional instances occur. Two parents wrote to say that, if bullying does happen, the school deals with this very well.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Conversations with pupils and their questionnaire responses show that they feel very safe at school. They understand potentially unsafe situations and have a strong awareness of how to keep each other safe. As a result of recent actions to encourage families not to take holidays in term time, attendance has risen further to 97.3% and is well above the national average.

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Leadership and management

The school’s strong capacity for sustained improvement is reflected in accurate self- evaluation, improved provision and progress in Key Stage 1, and the continuing high levels of achievement at Year 6. Staff see themselves as leaders and managers and hold a strong sense of accountability in their areas of responsibility. Those responsible for English, mathematics, and the Early Years Foundation Stage are experienced and effective teachers. They maintain a keen oversight of pupils’ attainment and progress and accurately evaluate the quality of teaching and its impact on pupils’ achievements. Leaders take speedy action when their analysis alerts them to potential weaknesses. For instance, following a slight dip in performance in mathematics, there has been successful professional development, which has led to a greater focus on building pupils’ investigative skills work and improved achievement. However, not all teachers are yet sufficiently confident in

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Leadership and management

their subject knowledge to ensure teaching is good or outstanding often enough.

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Leadership and management

The school takes effective action to promote equality of opportunity and tackle discrimination. An unrelenting focus on tracking pupils’ achievement means that disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are identified swiftly. The Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Leadership and management

headteacher, who leads this work, has highly effective oversight of the provision for each individual and its impact on accelerating progress and meeting needs, which leads to most pupils performing better than their peers nationally.

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Leadership and management

The governing body brings a wide range of experience and expertise. It is fully involved in the life of the school and offers excellent support and constructive challenge. Recent concern about families taking holidays in term time was addressed speedily and has led to higher levels of attendance.

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Leadership and management

The school continues to adopt excellent approaches to all aspects of risk assessment and the safeguarding of pupils. The headteacher and staff work productively with other agencies, such as health and education welfare, to support the specific needs of individual pupils and their families.

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Leadership and management

The school’s thematic curriculum approach has a positive impact on learning, which allows pupils to apply the skills of literacy, numeracy, and information and communication technology in a range of contexts and to make valuable links in their learning. This breadth of opportunity provided inside and outside the classroom ensures good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance: the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour: how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety: how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons, and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Rodborough Community Primary School, Stroud GL5 3RT

Thank you very much for your friendly welcome during the recent inspection of your school. It was a pleasure to meet you all and to see your school community getting on so well together. You told us you feel safe and we agree that the staff take excellent care of you. We think that the way you behave, respect each other, and talk intelligently about the things that are important to you is outstanding. Your attendance and punctuality are excellent.

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Inspection of Rodborough Community Primary School, Stroud GL5 3RT

You and your parents and carers all told us how pleased you are to be at Rodborough. The inspectors agree that your school is a good one. You work hard in lessons and do your best. Children in Reception Year make a good start to school and, by the time you reach Year 6, the standard of your work is outstanding, especially in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because teachers make learning fun in lots of different ways, using film clips and music, or setting challenges that make you think hard. The work you produce in subjects such as art is also excellent.

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Inspection of Rodborough Community Primary School, Stroud GL5 3RT

The inspection team know from their conversations with the staff and governing body that they are always looking for ways to make your school even better. We think that Rodborough could become an outstanding school and, in order for that to happen, we have asked the teachers to make sure that even more of your lessons are outstanding, especially in mathematics in Years 1 to 3. You can help by continuing to work hard and listening carefully to the teachers’ questions.

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Inspection of Rodborough Community Primary School, Stroud GL5 3RT

Hugh Protherough Lead inspector (on behalf of the inspection team) procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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