St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, Ramsbottom

St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School, Ramsbottom Nuttall Lane, Ramsbottom, Bury, Lancashire BLO 9JD

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 The headteacher leads the school very effectively and has been instrumental in ensuring rapid improvement since the previous inspection.  Leaders at all levels provide strong support. They are very clear about the direction the school must take to improve further.  Teaching is now good. Teachers provide well- planned, engaging lessons that support pupils to make good progress and achieve well.  Strong relationships are the bedrock of the school. Parents and pupils are highly appreciative of the school’s work and the support they receive.  Governance is strong. Governors are well informed and this allows them to challenge and support the school in equal measure.  Pupils behave well. They are polite, well mannered and approach their work with positive attitudes.  The procedures for keeping pupils safe in school are effective. Pupils say they feel well looked after and cared for by staff.  An improving curriculum is motivating pupils to

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This is a good school

work hard and make faster progress. It offers a wide range of opportunities across all subjects. The provision for music in the school is a particular strength.  Pupils’ spiritual, social, moral and cultural development is good. Pupils enjoy many experiences and visits to interesting places that enhance their understanding of the wider world.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers’ understanding of the new national curriculum and the school’s assessment procedures are not fully embedded. Judgements about how well some pupils achieve are not accurate enough.  Teaching and assessment in the early years is not consistently good. Provision does not enable children to develop positive learning behaviours such as resilience and curiosity. Not enough children make better than expected progress and make a smooth transition to Year 1.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

ensuring that teachers have a good understanding of the new national curriculum and assessment procedures so that judgements about pupils’ achievement are consistently accurate.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the early years provision by ensuring that:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

children are able to develop positive behaviours for learning, including curiosity and resilience teaching leads to more children making better than expected progress in all areas of learning assessment procedures are understood and used effectively so that all children make a smooth transition to Year 1.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 Following the previous inspection, the headteacher has worked effectively to galvanise the staff and evaluate what needs to be done to make the necessary improvements. Ably supported by a new deputy headteacher and a changed governing body, he has driven changes that have raised pupils’ achievement and improved teaching. Consequently, pupils are now achieving well and standards are rising sharply.  Leaders at all levels regularly check the quality of teaching and the standards pupils are achieving. The newly formed ‘subject trios’ work together to ensure the quality of provision and identify actions for further improvement. For example, those responsible for science identified the need to ensure a range of investigative work takes place in lessons and they monitor this closely.  There is a strong sense of teamwork in the school. Leaders and governors are working together to sustain improvements and are very clear about the direction the school must take to improve further.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

Staff say they feel valued and are appreciative of the opportunities they receive for professional development. These opportunities, along with robust performance management systems, have resulted in improved teaching and good progress for all pupils.  The curriculum is motivating pupils to work hard and make faster progress. Pupils receive a range of opportunities that they say make learning exciting. For example, some pupils in key stage 1 visited the beach as part of a geography topic and older pupils engaged in outdoor and adventurous activities on a residential visit.  The provision for pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is strong. The school has links with schools in France and the United States that allow pupils to understand other cultures. In addition, cultural development through music is particularly strong. Many children learn how to play a range of musical instruments and the school choir sings successfully at many public events and venues including

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

the ‘Jolly June Jamboree’. Pupils regularly raise money for charities and have responsibilities such as being eco representatives.  The school’s work to promote British values is effective. For example, Year 6 pupils visited the Houses of Parliament and met their Member of Parliament to develop their understanding of democracy and the rule of law.  Pupil premium funding is used wisely to support pupils in class and enrich their education, for example by enabling them to learn an instrument or access after-school clubs. As a result, disadvantaged pupils are making better progress. The gap in attainment between them and others in school is narrowing and in some year groups has closed.  Sports funding is used well. Pupils are given the opportunity to be taught by specialist coaches and have access to a range of sports including judo, dance, gymnastics and netball.  The provision for pupils who have special educational needs or disabilities is good. A very effective special

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

needs coordinator is tenacious in ensuring that these pupils receive effective provision and as a result they make good progress and achieve well.  The school has been supported well by the local authority. The school now receives ‘light touch’ support because of the rapid improvements it has made. Leaders feel the school’s work with the Bury Learning Collaborative has been particularly beneficial in helping to move the school forward after the last inspection.  The school’s system for tracking the progress pupils make is effective in identifying pupils who may be falling behind. However, teachers’ assessments are not consistently accurate and they do not fully understand the requirements of the national curriculum for all year groups.  Provision for children in the early years is not as good as for those in the rest of the school. However, senior leaders have identified the need for improvement and have plans in place to ensure this area of

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

the school improves rapidly.  The governance of the school The governing body has changed noticeably since the last inspection. The new chair of governors is highly effective in ensuring that the governing body is both supportive and challenging in order to ensure leaders and managers are held stringently to account for the school’s performance. Governors have a good understanding of the school’s position and performance data. They receive information about the school from a range of sources and are able to ask pertinent and timely questions of leaders to ensure improvements continue to be rapid. Additional funding the school receives for disadvantaged pupils is monitored closely by governors to guarantee it is used effectively to improve achievement. Similarly, the funding received to enrich sports provision in school is equally well monitored.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. A range of policies ensure that pupils are kept safe. A

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

relatively new system to monitor any concerns about vulnerable children is effective. Staff take part in an assortment of training to ensure that they are able to protect pupils from harm. The school has appropriate risk assessments in place to make sure the site and building are safe; pupils are well supervised. There are robust procedures in place to check that everyone working in or visiting school has appropriate checks. The school works well with a range of external agencies to ensure pupils are safe. Parents say that their children are safe in school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 The quality of teaching has improved considerably since the previous inspection. As a result of effective professional development and training, teachers are now able to deliver well-planned, engaging lessons that allow pupils to make good progress.  Classrooms are attractive learning environments where pupils’ work is celebrated. Pupils are keen to learn and are enthusiastic about their lessons.  Teachers skilfully question and guide pupils to deepen their understanding and clear up any misconceptions.  Teaching assistants are used well to support pupils. They gently support and encourage pupils and as a result pupils are confident about their learning.  Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve in lessons. For example, in Year 3, pupils are encouraged to write persuasively using techniques such as hyperbole and exaggeration, while in Year 5 pupils use onomatopoeia (words that imitate the sounds they make).

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 The teaching of reading is effective. Phonics (letters and the sounds that they make) is taught well in Year 1 and Year 2 and this gives pupils a good foundation for reading. Older pupils are given opportunities to develop reading for understanding. In Year 6 pupils are questioned about their interpretation of the language in the book and why the author has chosen to use certain words. Pupils are beginning to develop a love of reading and the headteacher’s ambition to be ‘a reading school’ is well on track.  The teaching of writing is good and pupils are given opportunities to write at length and across the curriculum. However, on occasions the presentation of pupils’ work is not as good as it could be.  Mathematics is taught effectively. In particular, the school’s work to improve basic calculation skills has been effective. In Year 4 pupils were very excited to use their knowledge of the 12 times table to win a

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

class game.  Teachers generally have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. However, currently not all have a deep understanding of the new national curriculum and how to assess pupils’ knowledge and understanding against the standards expected for their age. Therefore their judgements about how well pupils are doing are sometimes over-generous and lack accuracy.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. One parent described the school as somewhere where her children ‘feel safe, listened to and loved’. This sentiment is echoed by a number of parents and exemplifies the family feel that St Andrew’s has.  Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe in school and outside. For example, they use their ‘forest classroom’ to develop their skills by building dens and campfires. They also understand how to keep themselves safe online. Some older pupils describe lessons they have received about cyber bullying and know what to do if this occurs.  Pupils understand the need for a healthy lifestyle. They take part in a range of after-school activities that encourage a healthy lifestyle; the school cooking club is particularly popular.  Pupils attend school regularly. There has been an improvement in the attendance of the very small

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Personal development and welfare

minority of pupils who were persistently absent.  Pupils have a good understanding of prejudiced-based bullying and are keen to point out that this does not occur in their school. However, pupils have limited opportunities to discuss and learn about how diverse Britain is and how some people live very different lives from their own.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils at St Andrew’s are delightful, described in a previous report as the ‘jewel in the school’s crown’. Inspectors agree they are polite, well mannered and are proud of their school.  Pupils get along extremely well together. A highly effective buddying system between pupils in Year 6 and children in the Reception class means that relationships are strong and pupils look after each other.  Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. On the very rare occasion that pupils do misbehave it is dealt with swiftly and effectively and does not affect pupils’ learning.  The school rules are described by the headteacher as non-negotiable. Expectations about the way pupils should behave are very high. Pupils and parents agree that behaviour in school is good.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Pupils have made accelerated progress in mathematics, reading and writing. This reflects the improvements to provision and leaders’ drive to raise pupils’ achievement. Progress measures used by the school and inspectors’ analysis of pupils’ work indicate that pupils are now making good progress, with an increasing number on track to achieve well in 2016.  There has been significant improvement in pupils’ reading skills over the last year because phonics is taught increasingly well in key stage 1. Pupils’ results in the phonics screening check are broadly average and a higher proportion of pupils are on track to achieve the expected standard over the next year.  Pupils achieve well in key stage 1 as a result of improvements to provision. Attainment at the end of Year 2 in 2015 was high. A notable success was the higher than average performance of the most able pupils in mathematics.  Attainment at the end of key stage 2 was slightly above the national average in 2015. Improving teaching

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Outcomes for pupils are good

means that pupils currently in key stage 2 are now making better progress and attainment is rising.  Current school data and the work in pupils’ books indicate a much improved picture than that seen at the last inspection. This means a higher proportion of pupils are on track to reach the expected standard for their age in each year group.  By the end of Year 6 disadvantaged pupils do as well as their classmates in terms of achieving the expected standard. However, in 2015 the progress these pupils made in reading was below the national average. The school has worked diligently to ensure timely and effective interventions for these pupils and consequently the gap with others in school has been narrowed this year.  The most able pupils attain well. The proportion achieving higher levels was above the national average in 2015. The work the most able pupils are producing in their books currently is of a high standard.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

However, occasionally teachers presume some pupils are performing a little better than they are, because they are not yet totally familiar with the revised curriculum expectations.  Pupils who have special educational needs or disabilities achieve well. This is because they are well supported and the interventions they receive have a significant impact on their progress.

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Early years provision requires improvement

 Children enter the school with knowledge and skills that are expected for their age and some enter with skills that are above this level. They can communicate well and often have good personal development when they start school.  Although the proportion of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception is higher than the national average the progress children make during their time in the early years is not good enough. This is because children are given insufficient opportunities to develop characteristics of learning such as curiosity and resilience. Too often teachers give children tasks that do not allow them enough opportunity to think and investigate for themselves.  Teaching is well planned and there is a range of activities for children to enjoy. However, there are insufficient opportunities for children to engage in sustained play that allows them to demonstrate some

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Early years provision requires improvement

of the key characteristics of learning.  Assessments take place regularly and in an organised way, but sometimes teachers are over-generous in their opinions of what pupils can achieve and expectations could be higher. This means that children are not always fully prepared for Year 1 and the transition is not as smooth as it could be.  Children are given opportunities to learn both indoors and out. The indoor environment has been transformed since the previous inspection and is now a well-organised space. However, the outdoor environment is less well maintained and equipment is often untidy and grubby, making it less attractive and inviting for children to use.  Teacher-led learning is effective. For example, children were engaged in a phonics lesson where the teacher skilfully questioned and supported the children to read, write and identify the sounds in words.  There are warm relationships within the early years. Children are well behaved and work together

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Early years provision requires improvement

happily. For example, one group of boys were busy making a submarine together, while another group acted out a story.  Relationships with parents are very good. Parents are appreciative of the work staff do. They particularly enjoy the stay and play sessions, which allow them to see what their children have been learning.  Procedures to keep children safe are good. Policies and procedures are communicated effectively and adhered to by all.

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School details

Unique reference number 105326 Local authority Bury Inspection number 10012098 This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 243 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Robert Ruston Headteacher Damian Marsh Telephone number 01706 822 649 Website www.standrewsramsbottom.co.uk Email address standrewsramsbottom@bury.gov.uk Date of previous inspection 5 March 2014

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Information about this school

 This is an average sized primary school, which has grown over the last two years.  The school has a before- and after-school club.  The majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs or disabilities is lower than the national average; however, an above-average proportion has an education, health and care plan.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for support from the pupil premium funding is lower than the national average.  There has been a change to the leadership since the previous inspection, as a new deputy headteacher has been appointed.  The school has undergone a number of refurbishments.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  The school benefits from working in a local cluster of schools.

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Information about this school

 The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about governors or pupil premium on its website.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed teaching in lessons, including one observation carried out jointly with the headteacher.  The inspectors listened to pupils reading. They looked at examples of pupils’ work and observed pupils at lunchtime and breaktimes.  The inspectors held meetings with pupils, staff, members of the governing body and representatives from the local authority. They spoke to parents as they brought their children to school.  The inspectors took account of 18 questionnaires returned by staff. There were 58 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View).  The inspectors looked at a range of documents, including data on pupils’ current progress across the school, the school’s view of its own effectiveness, and how the school checks on the quality of teaching and learning.  The inspectors checked the arrangements for safeguarding pupils and looked at records relating to behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

Emma Jackson, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Pamela Potter Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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Inspection team

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 and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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