Rosedale Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs Janis James Scawsby Rosedale Primary School Emley Drive Scawsby Doncaster South Yorkshire DN5 8RL

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School

Following my visit with Beverley Riddle, Ofsted Inspector, to your school on 23–24 February 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions that have been taken since the school’s previous monitoring inspection.

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School

The inspection was the second monitoring inspection since the school became subject to special measures following the inspection that took place in May 2015. The full list of the areas for improvement that were identified during that inspection is set out in the annex to this letter. The monitoring inspection report is attached.

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School

Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time:

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School

Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.

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School

The school’s improvement plan is fit for purpose.

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School

The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers before the next monitoring inspection. I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body, the Regional Schools Commissioner and the Director of Children’s Services for Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took

 Take urgent steps to ensure all teaching and learning is at least good or better and standards in reading, writing and mathematics rise rapidly in every class for all groups of pupils, by ensuring:

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took

– all staff have high expectations of what pupils can achieve, including of their handwriting and presentation of work – all groups of pupils learn more quickly and no learning time is lost – assessment information is accurate and used to ensure pupils’ work is not too easy or too hard for them – pupils’ work is regularly marked, that marking consistently provides useful guidance to pupils on how to improve their work and that this advice is acted upon – teachers make activities more interesting so pupils do not become bored and distracted – senior leaders act quickly to eradicate any inadequate teaching.

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took

 As a matter of urgency accelerate the pace of school improvement and increase the effectiveness of leaders, managers and the governing body, by:

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took

– formalising the planned link with a partnership school and ensuring the partnership helps to quickly develop leaders’ skills and improve the quality and consistency of teaching – ensuring improvement plans are very sharply tailored to the areas of most urgent need and regular checks are made to ensure that actions taken lead to rapid improvement – regularly checking the work in pupils’ books in every class to ensure assessments are accurate and that pupils’ work quickly improves – providing teachers and learning support assistants with clear and detailed feedback on how well they are helping pupils learn and checking regularly to ensure that their feedback is acted upon – implementing with greater urgency the recommendations in the recent review of the use of pupil premium funding, in order to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make faster progress – swiftly improving procedures to monitor the attendance of

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took

disadvantaged pupils so they attend school more regularly – ensuring the governing body has the information it needs to carry out its role and that it canvasses the views of pupils, staff and parents and acts on any areas of concern .  Improve the curriculum by ensuring:

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The areas for improvement identified during the inspection which took

– pupils have more opportunities to deepen and extend their reading comprehension skills – all aspects of the mathematics curriculum are covered in sufficient depth in every class and pupils systematically build on these skills as they move from class to class – pupils are allowed to write about themes that really interest and inspire them to produce their very best written work – the range of subjects covered is extended so that there is full coverage of the National Curriculum in every class.

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Evidence

During this inspection, meetings were held with the executive headteacher, middle leaders, governors and a representative of the local authority. Inspectors visited classrooms and met with class teachers. They also spoke with parents, pupils and teaching assistants, and looked at pupils’ work.

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Context

Since the last monitoring inspection, the school has restructured the senior leadership team. The deputy headteacher has left the school and a new assistant headteacher has been appointed and will start at the school after the Easter break. There have been four teaching assistants appointed, who took up post in January 2016.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

School leaders have continued to have success in improving classroom practice due to the effective support and training for teachers. Monitoring systems put in place to check the quality of practice in classrooms and pupils’ books are more robust. Inspection evidence supports the view on the quality of teaching established in a recent review of teaching and learning carried out alongside the local authority. While much of the teaching is effective and improving, there are still some aspects of underperformance. Where underperformance has been identified, plans have been put in place to address it. The timelines on these plans sometimes lack sufficient rigour to ensure the rapid improvements required. School leaders, including governors, recognise that this needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

In most lessons, pupils engage well with their learning and work set is appropriate for their age. In some lessons, teachers provide stimulating and challenging work that fully engages and enthuses pupils to develop a real thirst for learning. However, in some lessons, teachers do not always recognise when pupils are ready to move on quickly and too much time is spent covering old ground. For example, the opportunities to deepen pupils’ mathematical understanding and help them truly master a key concept are regularly missed. As a result, the level of challenge, especially for the most-able pupils, is insufficient to ensure they make speedy progress.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching assistants are making an increasingly effective contribution to pupils’ learning. This is because they are well supported in developing their skills through a programme of training and induction. Their roles have been clarified and they understand what is expected of them. As a result, they are better able to contribute to supporting, delivering and evaluating learning in lessons. The system for tracking pupils’ attainment is effective in helping teachers to assess what pupils can and cannot do. Work is continuing alongside the federated school to ensure that the assessments teachers make are accurate. This helps them plan more effective learning opportunities for pupils and to organise and monitor interventions when needed. Progress information helps school leaders, including middle leaders, to increasingly hold teachers to account, and informs the support and challenge provided to teachers to enable them to improve further.

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Outcomes for pupils

Evidence seen by inspectors confirms the school’s view that pupils are now making faster progress in their lessons and this can also be seen in much of their work. For example, pupils now have opportunities to write at length and take pride in the presentation of important pieces of work. The quality of their handwriting and presentation has improved. These improvements are not seen in all of their work, which can at times be slipshod. Pupils are encouraged to lay out their mathematics work in a more systematic way, which pupils say helps them to be accurate and identify mistakes more easily.

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Outcomes for pupils

School leaders acknowledge that, currently, insufficient information is available to analyse in detail which pupils and groups of pupils are making expected or better than expected progress. Consequently, it is problematic to compare the rates of progress for those who need to catch up swiftly. School leaders have this in hand and understand the need to address it as a matter of priority in order to help them better analyse the impact their actions are having on improving teaching. This aspect will be a key focus of the next monitoring inspection.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Pupils are polite and considerate. They work and play well together and respect each other’s differences and points of view. Pupils want to do well in lessons and try hard with their work even when it is not particularly challenging. The behaviour of pupils in lessons continues to improve. This is because lessons are more interesting and the curriculum better reflects pupils’ interest and passions. As a result, pupils say they enjoy their learning and are proud of their achievements across a range of subjects.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The executive headteacher has continued to raise expectations about what can be achieved by pupils. School leaders at all levels have worked hard to ensure that the new curriculum covers all subjects and is more relevant to the lives of the pupils in Scawsby. The curriculum is now supported by a regular diet of termly educational visits and homework provision that is engaging and challenging pupils and parents. As a result, pupils say they enjoy their learning and take pride in their work across a range of subjects. Opportunities to write in different genres and to apply mathematical skills and understanding across a range of subjects are not yet fully planned across the new curriculum.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

School leaders at every level know the school’s strengths and weaknesses well. Middle leaders in the school are now fully involved in monitoring and evaluating their areas of responsibility. Their roles and responsibilities are clear and they play a fully active role in the leadership team. As a result, the information about strengths and areas for improvement within classroom practice is fully understood by senior leaders. Where improvement is required in classroom practice, well-targeted support is provided.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The school’s action plan is now fit for purpose. It addresses the areas that need improvement and the targets to indicate intended outcomes in the short and longer term are now more detailed. This enables governors to better understand what the school is doing and how well the school is improving over time. Governors do not keep pace with emerging performance information related to the new curriculum.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Governors have stepped up their understanding of the day-to-day business of the school. They are fully engaged with the teaching and learning review and have worked with pupils to better understand their views of the school. Governors have a better understanding of the impact that actions to improve the school are having. A review of how additional funding for disadvantaged pupils has been carried out and an action plan are now in place.

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External support

The executive headteacher uses the skills and expertise of her other school to draw on best practice to move the school forward. Well-targeted support includes joint training and planning sessions, checking the accuracy of assessments and visits to watch best practice in action. This has established and raised clear expectations about what can be achieved and how it can be done.

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External support

The local authority has provided effective support, including regular monitoring visits and support for detailed reviews of teaching and learning. Closer working on tracking pupils’ progress and supporting governors to evaluate this information is not yet embedded.

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