Rosedale Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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

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School

Following my visit to your school on 24 and 25 May 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 third 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 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. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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place in May 2015

 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: – 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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place in May 2015

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

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place in May 2015

disadvantaged pupils make faster progress – swiftly improving procedures to monitor the attendance of 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 .

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Evidence

During this inspection, meetings were held with the executive headteacher, senior and middle leaders, governors and a representative of the local authority. The inspector visited classrooms, met with class teachers and spoke with parents and pupils. In addition, an evaluation of recent information about the progress pupils make across the school was made and the accuracy of assessment checked in pupils’ work.

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Context

Since the last monitoring inspection, the school has a new assistant headteacher in post. One parent governor post has become vacant and is yet to be filled. Two teachers, including the head of school, are absent on the grounds of ill health.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The executive headteacher has worked successfully to ensure that teaching and learning continues to improve. With the addition of a new assistant headteacher, they have rightly kept a sharp focus on ensuring that pupils continue to thrive. For example, long-term staff absences have led to some disruption in teaching. School leaders have worked hard to address these issues and been successful in minimising the impact on pupils’ learning. As a result, in the course of the inspection, recently appointed teachers were observed applying policies and approaches consistently and pupils were confident and settled.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

The breadth and balance of the new curriculum is increasingly evident in pupils’ work. A detailed plan of where English and mathematics can be used and developed in other subjects is now in place. Consequently, pupils have many more opportunities to apply their learning. Recent training for teachers about spiritual, moral, social and cultural development has focused on further developing and deepening pupils’ understanding of modern British values. Senior leaders recognise the need to ensure that all subjects are given the same priority and match the improvements seen in English and mathematics.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Senior leaders have worked hard to ensure that the necessary information is now available to analyse pupils’ progress. They are now able to analyse in detail which pupils, and groups of pupils, are making expected or better than expected progress. School leaders now gauge the quality of teaching in individual classrooms more accurately and act accordingly. As a result, school leaders at all levels have greater confidence in the questions they need to ask to ensure that the school moves forward quickly.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Governors have worked hard and with greater focus on the outcomes for pupils. They have clear and detailed information that they now fully understand. Governors interrogate the information and raise sharper questions about the performance of the school. As a result, school senior leaders are held more directly to account and strategic decisions are made with much more precision and confidence.

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The effectiveness of leadership and management

Parents have increasing confidence that pupils are well taught and are making progress. In addition, the vast majority would recommend this school to other parents. Governors and school leaders are aware that more work is needed to enhance communications with parents and build their confidence in the school still further.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Evidence seen in the inspection closely matches that reported on in a recent local authority led review. Where staffing has been consistent, the quality of teaching and learning continues to improve. Recent additions to the teaching staff have strengthened teaching further.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

The provision in early years continues to be a strength in the school. Children’s play is purposeful and they stick with their tasks. They play independently and alongside each other confidently. Children are supported well by adults who intervene in a timely manner to ask incisive questions, redirect learning and set suitable challenges where necessary. As a result, children are clear about what is expected of them and respond well to rules and routines.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

School leaders have continued to have success in enhancing classroom practice due to tailored support and training for teachers and teaching assistants. The increasing impact of subject leaders in mathematics and English is evident in the pride with which pupils present their work. In addition, recent training and coaching has improved the challenge for the most able pupils and, as one pupil stated, ‘making me think really hard, which I really enjoy’. In most classes, pupils are now confident in applying their mathematical knowledge to help them with their reasoning and problem-solving. Opportunities to deepen pupils’ mathematical understanding and help them truly master a key concept are increasingly evident. As a result, the level of challenge, especially for the most able pupils, is beginning to help them make speedier progress.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Pupils say they enjoy mathematics and English. Most are enthusiastic about reading and books. They are not as passionate about other aspects of the wider curriculum such as history. This is evident in the quality of presentation of their work.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment

Assessment systems are now embedded. These provide clear and concise information about how well individual pupils and key groups of pupils are progressing in reading, writing and mathematics. The accuracy of assessments is secured by comparing the pupils’ work with those in other schools on a regular basis. As a result, assessments are more reliable.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare

The improvements seen in behaviour during the last inspection are still evident. Pupils speak with confidence about how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations, including online. They say bullying is very rare and, when it does occur, pupils are confident it will be dealt with effectively. A recent issue of online bullying in social media has been directly addressed by school leaders and teachers. Pupils were able to discuss this in a sensible manner. Pupils move between lessons and playtimes in an orderly fashion. They arrive to lessons punctually, ready to learn and little learning time is lost. Classrooms are calm, quiet and highly beneficial to learning. Despite this, pupils say silliness in lessons from the same few pupils can be distracting, though this is rare and improving.

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Outcomes for pupils

Evidence seen during the inspection indicates that most pupils are now making sustained progress. They are beginning to make up the ground they had previously lost. However, the picture is inconsistent. The progress in spelling, punctuation and grammar and in mathematics is stronger than that seen in reading and writing. In early years and key stage 1, the teachers increasingly identify gaps in children’s learning and plan to address them effectively. As a result, many children and pupils are making rapid progress.

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Outcomes for pupils

School leaders and governors recognise that the faster rate of progress evident in some performance information and pupils’ work is still hindered by gaps in learning from previously poor teaching. As a result, some pupils do not achieve the standards they should.

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External support

The local authority has provided effective support, including regular monitoring visits, in-depth reviews of teaching and learning and support for developing pupil performance information. Closer working on tracking pupils’ progress and supporting governors to evaluate this information is now embedded. Ongoing work with other schools to check the accuracy of assessments is now a regular feature of partnership working.

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