Setting

Mrs Sharon Hardy Headteacher All Saints Church of England Primary School Maud Street Rochdale Lancashire OL12 0EL

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 23 February 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in November 2010.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your governing body provide strong leadership and have steered the school successfully through a period of change. You are well supported by a dedicated and committed staff team who work well together to achieve the school’s aims. Staff told me that they feel valued and are ‘proud to be working in this very happy school’.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England Primary School

Your school has a welcoming feel to visitors. You and your staff team foster well the Christian values that lie at the heart of this Church of England School. Your school has a real family atmosphere. The environment is inviting, with high-quality displays and examples of pupils’ work in classrooms and around the school. It is evident that your school is delivering a broad and balanced curriculum to all pupils.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England Primary School

Relationships at all levels within the school are respectful and overall behaviour is exemplary. Pupils learn in a safe and supportive environment. Most teachers strive to make lessons active and fun, reflecting the school’s motto of ‘learning with love and laughter’.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England Primary School

Pupils told me that they enjoy coming to school and ‘love to learn’. They have a high regard for all staff and find you very approachable. Pupils were keen to tell me, ‘she knows us really well and always has a smile on her face’. They enjoy the responsibility you give them as members of school councils and appreciate the wide range of exciting trips and after-school clubs. Ofsted

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted Parents were also very vocal in their support for your school and their respect for the staff within it. They are quite rightly proud of the good progress that their children are making. Parents greatly appreciate the workshops provided by your school to develop their parenting and first-aid skills.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England Primary School

Leaders have successfully tackled most of the areas for improvement that were raised at the last inspection. Pupils now write creatively across the curriculum and solve number problems well. Through the use of effective questioning, pupils are being given opportunities to explore ideas for themselves.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England Primary School

There is a shared culture among your staff of keeping pupils safe. Staff receive regular training and those with responsibility for safeguarding and recruitment hold up-to-date qualifications. You and your staff have a clear understanding of your responsibility to protect pupils from extremism and radicalisation. All staff have completed ‘Prevent’ duty training and have read the relevant parts of the government’s publication Keeping Children Safe in Education. All safeguarding documentation, records and procedures are fit for purpose and successfully implemented.

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Short inspection of All Saints Church of England Primary School

You provide many opportunities to help pupils to understand how to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils told me that representatives from ChildLine had recently visited the school to give them guidance on how to keep themselves safe when on the internet. Pupils also have a good awareness of the different forms of bullying. They told me that bullying at your school is rare, but if it does occur adults very quickly sort it out.

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Inspection findings

 It is very clear from my discussions with you that you are ambitious for the school and determined that each pupil should achieve their full potential. You have a very clear understanding of what the school does well and what it needs to improve further. These priorities are set out in the school development plan and linked to teachers’ and teaching assistants’ targets.  You keep a watchful eye on the quality of teaching. Through formal observations, book scrutinies and informal visits to the classroom you have a good understanding of each teacher’s strengths and areas for improvement. Both teachers and teaching assistants access good-quality training to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. However, there are no strategic opportunities for staff to observe best practice within the school or at other schools within the locality.  In early years, from their different starting points, children make good

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Inspection findings

progress. Baseline assessments have gone through a moderation process. However, for children who have English as an additional language these initial assessments are not carried out in the child’s home language. You and I both agree that this is necessary to ensure an accurate comparison with other children.  Pupils continue to make good progress as they move though Key Stage 1. However, from our observations of learning in the classroom, looking at samples of pupils’ work and listening to them read, it is clear that the most- able pupils are not consistently challenged both in early years and Key Stage 1. This is most apparent in reading and mathematics.  During their time at Key Stage 2, pupils make rapid progress and achieve very well in reading, writing and mathematics.  Pupils use their phonics (letters and the sounds they make) skills well to sound out unfamiliar words. In the Reception class, I observed children

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Inspection findings

confidently sounding out words such as ‘ship’ and ‘plop’. Published data show that the number of pupils reaching the expected standard in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 in 2015 was well above the national average.  Middle leaders responsible for literacy, numeracy and science are well established in their roles. They have a detailed knowledge of their subjects and the progress that pupils make. However, the role of middle leaders responsible for foundation subjects is less well developed. They do not have opportunities to observe how well their subjects are being taught or to use the data provided by class teachers to monitor and track the progress of groups of pupils as they move through the school.  The school’s approach to raising attendance levels provides a good example of your drive for continuous improvement. There is a strong focus on rewarding those who attend school on a regular basis. Swift action is taken to

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Inspection findings

support those who attend less frequently. As a result of these measures, attendance is beginning to show signs of gradual improvement.  You give careful consideration to ensuring that the pupil premium money (additional government funding) is well spent to break down barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils. Funds are allocated to develop aspects of learning and to provide emotional support for those who need it. As a result, disadvantaged pupils often perform better than their peers in school and others nationally.  You have the full support of the governing body, who take their responsibilities seriously. They are aware of the current priorities of the school and the progress that different groups of pupils are making. They take advantage of regular training opportunities to ensure that they have the necessary skills to offer you support and challenge in equal measure.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 the most-able pupils in early years and Key Stage 1 are consistently challenged, particularly in reading and mathematics  children in early years who have English as an additional language have initial assessments which are carried out in their home language  opportunities are put in place to allow staff to observe best practice within the school and at other schools in the locality  foundation subject leaders monitor the quality of teaching in their subjects and use the data provided by class teachers to monitor the progress of groups of pupils as they move through the school.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection I held meetings with the headteacher, members of the governing body and had a telephone call with a representative from the local authority. I also had informal discussions with a group of parents, staff and pupils from Key Stages 1 and 2 to seek their views of the school. I went on a tour of the school, accompanied by the headteacher, and visited classrooms to see the learning that was taking place. I looked at examples of pupils’ work, listened to pupils read and observed their behaviour during lessons and as they moved around the school. I reviewed a range of documentation, including the single central record, the school’s self-evaluation, the school’s development plan and records relating to the monitoring of teaching and learning. I also took account of the responses to Parent View, the online Ofsted questionnaire completed by parents, and the school’s own questionnaire to parents.

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