Rose Green Infant School

Rose Green Infant School Hawkins Close, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO21 3LW

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils achieve well because they make good progress from their starting points to reach standards in English and mathematics which are consistently above national averages by the time they leave the school.  Teaching is consistently good. There are examples, in both the school’s key stages, of outstanding practice, especially teachers’ use of questioning to check and develop pupils’ understanding.  Pupils feel safe in school and report very few concerns about bullying.  Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school, and cooperate well with each other and with their teachers.  The headteacher has ensured that all the staff share her drive for improvement. Teachers are keen to improve their practice and to develop new ideas.  Senior leaders carefully monitor the quality of teaching and quickly identify and address any relative weaknesses.  The school has improved the accuracy of its

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

assessment of pupils’ attainment and progress. Leaders make sure that any pupils who may be at risk of falling behind are given the extra support they need.  Governors know how well all groups of pupils are performing and what leaders have done to improve the teaching. Governors’ careful oversight of the school’s finances has enabled the school to develop its premises, particularly the outside area, for the benefit of the pupils.  Parents are highly supportive of the school. They are very confident that their children are well taught and make good progress.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Pupils do not always make as much progress as they could in lessons because teachers do not plan enough opportunities for them to practise and use what they have learned.  This also results, occasionally, in pupils becoming less engaged in lesson activities.  Teachers do not always make sure that older pupils respond to the comments they are given about their written work.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 15 lessons, four of them together with school leaders, for varying amounts of time. They observed 13 teachers and all the classes in the school at least once. They made shorter visits to a number of other lessons and activities, looked at pupils’ written work and listened to pupils read. Inspectors also attended two assemblies, as well as a concert presented by children from two of the school’s Reception classes, and visited one of the school’s after-school clubs.  Inspectors held discussions with groups of pupils, the Chair, Vice-Chair and two other members of the Governing Body, members of staff and a representative of the local authority. They also held informal discussions with a number of parents.  The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents, including the school’s information on pupils’ attainment and progress, and data on attendance. They examined

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Information about this inspection

safeguarding procedures and records of the school’s own lesson observations, as well as the school’s self-evaluation, performance management and planning documents.  In planning and carrying out the inspection, inspectors took account of 39 responses to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, which were submitted before or during the inspection. They also considered the results of the school’s most recent survey of parents’ views, as well as 36 questionnaires completed by members of the teaching and support staff.

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Inspection team

Robin Gaff, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Vicky Turner Additional Inspector Philip Mann Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a slightly larger than average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well below the national average.  About one in 10 pupils is eligible for the pupil premium, which is additional funding provided for children in local authority care, children with a parent in the armed services and those known to be eligible for free school meals. This proportion is well below the national average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs who are supported through school action is well above the national average. About one in six pupils is supported through school action. The proportion of pupils, about one in 50, who are supported at school action plus or have a statement of special educational needs is well below the national average.  There have been a number of changes of staff since the school’s last inspection, including

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Information about this school

changes of teachers holding posts of responsibility. The current headteacher took up her post in September 2010.  The school has also extended its premises to accommodate an additional Reception class, and has substantially re-developed its outdoor area.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Enable all pupils to make rapid and sustained progress throughout the school by ensuring that teachers always:  give pupils sufficient opportunities to practise and use the new skills they have learned  make sure that older pupils respond frequently enough to teachers’ comments by correcting or extending their work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join the school with levels of knowledge and skills which are often below those normally found in children of their age, especially their communication and language skills. By the end of Key Stage 1, they reach standards in English and mathematics which have been consistently above national averages in recent years. Their performance indicates that all groups of pupils, including the small number of those who speak English as an additional language, make good and sometimes outstanding progress from their starting points.  Parents confirm that children settle in quickly when they join the school, and all the parents who responded to the online survey agreed that the school looks after their children well.  Children make good progress in the Reception classes because teachers, working closely with parents as well as with teaching assistants, quickly find out what interests individual children.

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The achievement of pupils is good

They give them a wide range of stimulating activities, both indoors and outside, which keep children fully engaged and inspire them to learn.  For example, children were thoroughly engrossed as they toasted marshmallows in the outdoor area, learning what happens when such objects are exposed to heat and, thanks to the teacher’s skilful questioning and development of their vocabulary, how to describe the process. They also learned to use the equipment safely, and developed their social skills through taking turns and sharing. When they came back indoors, they thoroughly enjoyed making drawings in chalk of the food they had eaten, and re-enacting how they had prepared it.  Children gain a secure grasp of how to form letters, as well as the sounds they represent, because teachers model the sounds very clearly and give children plenty of opportunities to learn to recognise them and to write them.  Pupils learn to read increasingly fluently and accurately as they move up the school. Those who

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The achievement of pupils is good

find reading more difficult apply the phonics skills (linking sounds and letters) they have been taught to good effect as they decipher more complex words. Pupils also confirm how much they enjoy reading at school and at home.  Pupils learn to write accurately, using punctuation appropriately and developing a good knowledge and understanding of how to use an increasingly wide range of words and expressions. Pupils gain a good understanding of mathematical principles and processes, including multiplication and division, and can apply them well in solving problems.  When pupils make slower progress in lessons than they could, this is usually because teachers do not give them enough opportunities to take the initiative in choosing activities and in the ways in which they can approach them.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs achieve well because the school accurately identifies their particular needs. Teachers and teaching assistants adapt tasks well so

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The achievement of pupils is good

that these pupils can make as much progress as their classmates.  The school has made good use of the additional pupil premium funding by employing extra staff to support eligible pupils. By the end of Key Stage 1, these pupils reach levels of attainment in both English and mathematics which are close to those of other children in the school and are above those of this group of pupils nationally. The good progress these pupils make demonstrates the school’s success in closing any gaps between their attainment and that of other pupils, and how well the school promotes equality of opportunity.  The range of skills pupils develop, including team working and problem solving, together with their enthusiasm for learning, indicate their good preparation for the next stage of their education.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Almost all the parents who responded to the online survey agreed that their children are well taught and make good progress.  Teachers have high expectations of pupils in terms of both work and of behaviour. They include a good range of activities in lessons which enables pupils to make at least good progress.  All groups of pupils, including more-able pupils, are given tasks which stretch them appropriately. For example, in mathematics lessons, pupils respond very well to the different ‘challenges’ which teachers set them, and are keen to attempt to solve increasingly difficult problems.  Teachers explain tasks clearly and organise activities well, especially in the Reception classes, where children benefit from a good variety of activities chosen by adults and those which the children choose themselves.  Teachers often include imaginative tasks which relate very well to pupils’ interests. For example,

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The quality of teaching is good

Year 2 pupils made excellent progress in learning to use descriptive language in their writing as the teacher encouraged them to make ‘Wanted’ posters featuring characters from traditional stories, such as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.  Teachers and teaching assistants show a very good understanding of the individual needs of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs. This helps them to enable these pupils to take a full part in classroom activities.  Teachers use a variety of questioning techniques extremely well to assess and to extend pupils’ learning. They monitor pupils’ progress carefully during lessons, and adapt activities when they perceive that pupils’ learning has been faster or slower than they had anticipated. Very occasionally, pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to use and consolidate what they now know, understand and can do, and this restricts their progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils know their targets and what they need to do to improve their work because teachers give them good-quality oral and written feedback about how well they are doing. In Key Stage 1, however, teachers do not always make sure that pupils can extend their learning by, for example, giving pupils time to correct their own written work or make it more detailed.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils say they feel very safe in school and that they have few concerns about bullying. They know what bullying is, though, and what to do if they think it might be happening.  Pupils know how to keep themselves safe when playing on the outdoor equipment or when using the internet. In the Reception classes, they learn how to use, for example, scissors without harming themselves or other children.  The vast majority of pupils are well behaved in lessons and around the school, and are polite and respectful towards adults and each other. Their positive attitudes to learning, and their willingness to listen to one another, as well as to their teachers and other adults in lessons, make an important contribution to their good progress.  When, occasionally, pupils are less engaged in or less well focused on their learning, this is usually because teachers have taken too long before giving them the opportunity to learn for

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

themselves and from each other.  The school has taken increasingly effective steps to ensure that pupils attend school very regularly, with the result that attendance has risen and is now above the national average.  A very large majority of those parents who spoke to the inspectors or completed the Parent View survey and the school’s own questionnaire agreed that the school makes sure its pupils are well behaved, and few expressed any concerns about bullying.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff confirm how they are all united in supporting the headteacher’s drive to ensure that pupils receive the best teaching and care that the school can offer.  Working closely with the deputy headteacher and with other senior leaders, the headteacher checks the quality of teaching by regularly observing lessons and examining pupils’ work. Leaders have successfully addressed relative weaknesses in teaching, including aspects of phonics, making good use in particular of the results of the Year 1 phonics check.  Leaders have an accurate view of the school’s performance and are very much aware of what still needs to be done to raise the quality of teaching, and thereby pupils’ achievement, to outstanding.  Leaders have refined the systems they use to ensure that they know how well individual pupils are doing and to identify who may be in danger of underachieving. This enables leaders to provide such pupils with extra help, including small-group and one-to-one teaching, if they need

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The leadership and management are good

it.  Leaders manage staff’s performance well, including those who are new to teaching or to their positions of responsibility. They give them challenging but realistic targets, which are closely linked to any pay increases, and support staff well towards achieving them. Teachers are keen to improve their own practice by acting on the feedback they receive following lesson observations and attending relevant courses. They benefit from the close cooperative links which the school has established with others in the vicinity, which enable staff to develop and share ideas together with colleagues in other schools.  The local authority provides effective, light touch support for the school, for example by providing training courses for new governors.  The curriculum gives pupils good opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of areas including science, history, art and music, and is enriched by special events such as trips,

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The leadership and management are good

visits and themed activities. The school has made imaginative use of the new sport premium funding by enabling pupils to benefit from the expertise of specialist coaches and from taking part in an increased range of sports, such as fencing. This has already resulted in greater participation in sporting activities and a heightened appreciation by pupils of the contribution physical exercise makes to a healthy lifestyle.  The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively. This is evident from their tuneful and enthusiastic singing in assemblies and concerts, and the way in which pupils from different backgrounds and with different abilities relate very well to one another, creating a happy and harmonious atmosphere in the school.  Since its last inspection, the school has considerably improved its facilities for outdoor learning. It has created a ‘sensory garden’ featuring a wide variety of plants, shrubs and trees, as well as

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The leadership and management are good

a number of intriguing objects, which enables pupils to learn, for example, by observing changes in the natural world through the seasons.  Parents are highly supportive of the school, and almost all who responded to the Parent View survey say they would recommend it to others. Parents are particularly pleased with the quality of information they receive about their children’s progress, and with the ways in which the school responds to any concerns they may have.  The governance of the school:  Governors know the school well, including its strengths and areas for further development. This is because, as well as receiving regular reports from the headteacher, they often visit the school, meet school leaders and observe lessons together with them. This enables them to provide leaders with effective support, and to ask them suitably challenging questions. Governors know from the school’s achievement data how well pupils are doing, including in

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The leadership and management are good

comparison with those in other schools nationally, and what leaders have done to improve the quality of teaching. They understand how leaders manage the staff’s performance and the links they have established between pay progression and the achievement of individual and school targets for improvement. They also know how the extra pupil premium and sport funding has been used to improve pupils’ achievement and to enhance their well-being. Governors ensure that the school meets all current requirements for safeguarding children. They take very good care of the school’s finances, which has enabled it to improve the facilities it provides for its pupils.  These factors, together with leaders’ strong and successful commitment to bringing about improvement, indicate that the school has the capacity to improve still further.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 125928 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 429529

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Infant School category Community Age range of pupils 4–7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 293 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ann Gwenlan Headteacher Julie Holloway Date of previous school inspection 5 February 2009 Telephone number 01243 262318 Fax number 01243 262318 Email address office@rosegreen-inf.w-sussex.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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 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

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School details

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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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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