Rushey Green Primary School

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

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Ms Yana Morris Headteacher Rushey Green Primary School Culverley Road Catford London SE6 2LA

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 16 November 2016 with Joy Barter, Ofsted Inspector, 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 September 2011.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. This has been despite a period of instability and significant staff turnover. The new appointments to the senior leadership team have helped in sustaining the improvement in pupils’ outcomes. Leaders at all levels, including governors, have successfully addressed the weaknesses from the previous inspection. This includes the inconsistencies in progress between mathematics and English. The 2016 results showed a continuing trend of increasing numbers of children achieving good levels of development which are above national averages. The key stage 1 and end of Year 6 assessments show that pupils achieved higher than the national averages in attainment in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

You have managed the challenge of recruiting staff well. The current staff are supportive of your vision of high expectations for all pupils. You have built good capacity in the teaching team and consequently maintained good outcomes for pupils. Teachers use the new tracking system effectively to plan challenging lessons. Pupil progress meetings ensure that all staff know how to support pupils to make better progress in English and mathematics. The skilled group of middle leaders support teachers well. Subject leaders have been instrumental in planning the strong cross-curricular links in pupils’ learning. This results in an interesting and relevant curriculum that meets the needs of the pupils well.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

The proportion of pupils making the expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics has improved. The 2016 assessments showed that the pupils achieved results in all three subjects that were higher than national averages. The differences between the progress made by disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, and other pupils nationally are diminishing. The school recognised that more work was needed to further improve the progress of the most able pupils across key stage 1. The curriculum has been adapted to create more challenge. Work in books shows that the most able pupils are now making faster progress.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

The school has worked hard to promote a love of reading. The pupils in the upper school regularly use the local library and enjoy reading challenging books. They are confident and expressive readers. Pupils use good strategies for managing unknown vocabulary. They choose favourite books to re-read and have a good understanding of a wide range of texts. The teaching of phonics is effective. The number of pupils achieving the national standard in the phonic screening check is improving and in 2016 was again above the national average. The school rightly identified that Black Caribbean pupils’ progress was below the national figure for reading. The school’s leaders swiftly put plans in to address this. The impact is already evident and these pupils are currently making better progress.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

Since the previous inspection, there have been some changes in the membership of the governing body. The governors’ wide range of skills enables them to work consistently with the school’s leadership team. They have a good understanding of the school’s performance. Information about pupils’ progress is used effectively to hold the senior leaders to account. Governors’ monitoring of pupil premium spending and the school leaders’ careful analysis and focus of support have resulted in disadvantaged pupils making good progress.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

Well-managed behaviour is consistent across the school. Pupils show respect when working together in class. Teachers plan activities that consolidate the pupils’ ability to collaborate with each other successfully. This results in high levels of cooperation in lessons. During breaktimes, pupils play sensibly with a range of equipment in a well-maintained playground. There is good supervision by adults and younger children are well supported by the older pupils.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

Parents can see that school leaders have made changes that have had a positive impact on their children’s learning. Parents with children in the early years say that school provides good support for the transition to the setting. The school holds regular coffee mornings for staff to be available for parents. Information for parents is sent via text and weekly newsletters. The website is a useful resource for finding out about the work of the school. Newly elected parent governors are working to improve further ways to gather parent views.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

Support for harder-to-reach families is a real strength of the school. The lead staff member works tirelessly to address any barriers to learning so that the pupils make good progress from their various starting points. For example, you use pupil premium funding for art therapy sessions for particular pupils who have been successful in improving their attendance at school. The school’s resource provision for deaf pupils is highly effective and the pupils are fully included in their mainstream classes. The leaders ensure that all pupils have an awareness of the obstacles that these pupils face. This inclusive ethos is strong across the school.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

The school’s safeguarding systems are thorough and well managed. The school ensures that required checks are made for staff and volunteers to make certain they are suitable to work with children. The school leaders and governors have reviewed the policy for keeping children safe to ensure that it reflects the most recent statutory guidance. Training is up to date for issues such as female genital mutilation and child sexual exploitation. In addition, staff are aware of the warning signs which might suggest a child is at risk of radicalisation. The school’s internal safeguarding system ensures that shared information is used effectively and supports pupils. The risk assessments for trips are updated regularly. Pupil safety is central to the school’s work.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

The school’s analysis of attendance is detailed and staff are vigilant in monitoring pupils’ absence. Home visits are made when no contact has been made with the school. The procedures for tracking children who may go missing from education are robust. Effective use of pupil premium funding for staffing a school ‘walking bus’ has improved overall attendance, which is now just below the national average. The school recognises that there is still some work to do to reach this year’s target of exceeding the national average for attendance.

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Short inspection of Rushey Green Primary School

Pupils say that they feel safe in school because of good security in the building. Pupils talk confidently about e-safety. They have a good understanding about what bullying is and of the different types of bullying that may affect them at school. Pupils say that staff deal with concerns quickly when they occur. The school council successfully enables pupils to have their voice heard and to have an impact on the work of the school. For example, the pupils’ views were sought throughout the new school building project. This has resulted in a stimulating and welcoming school environment that celebrates pupils’ work.

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Inspection findings

 You and the governors responded very well to the challenges of the new school building and successfully maintained the good standards of pupil outcomes. You have increased the size of your leadership team to build capacity for further school improvement. There are strong accountability and performance management systems, which are effective and ensure good progress for pupils, in particular the disadvantaged, including the most able of this group.  Teaching is consistently good and improving across the school. Well-supported teachers, new to their career, are developing their practice very well. You and your leaders regularly monitor the teachers’ work and provide effective guidance. The additional adults in class are a valuable resource that provides good support for pupils’ learning. This results in continuing improvements in pupils’ progress across the school.  Leaders accurately identified that more work was needed to improve the

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Inspection findings

progress of boys. You and school leaders put plans in place to address the historical differences. The impact has been positive and boys are now more engaged in their learning.  Assessment is detailed and accurate. Leaders ensure that the teachers target all ability groups in their lessons. Pupils have deepened their learning in reading and mathematics because of the challenges that teachers provide. The school is successfully tackling the priority of improving the quality of writing. The current work in books shows that pupils produce higher-quality writing across the curriculum. For example, the work on Shakespeare developed pupils’ understanding of how to make their writing more descriptive.  Children make good progress from their starting points in the early years. Teaching in the setting is consistently good because of their strong subject knowledge and the use of resources. Regular evaluation of the children’s

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Inspection findings

development enables staff to use interventions effectively. This has resulted in improvements in the proportion of children achieving higher than the national average for a good level of development.  The school’s work in supporting pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is proficient. Parents are involved in the regular assessments of their child’s targets. Early identification of need and effective support ensures that pupils make good progress from their starting points.  The school promotes equality admirably. The pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is well developed. The pupils show care and consideration to each other. Relationships are strong between adults and pupils. This results in good levels of collaboration in lessons and in the playground.  Feedback for pupils is regular and they understand what they need to do to improve. Teachers give good advice to pupils on specific ways to make their work

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Inspection findings

even better. Where this is more effective, the pupils make better progress. Leaders agreed that there are still some inconsistencies in the teachers’ use of the school’s feedback policy.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 the recently revised school system for providing feedback to pupils is applied consistently across the school to improve their progress.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Lewisham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors agreed to prioritise the following areas with the school at the start of the inspection:

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Information about the inspection

 the effectiveness of safeguarding in the school  the action taken by leaders to support children looked after and pupils who may be at risk as a result of low attendance  leaders’ use of pupil premium spending to diminish differences between the most able disadvantaged pupils and others with the same starting points  the school’s actions to engage boys in their learning in order to improve their outcomes  how the school is promoting reading to improve pupils’ progress.

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Information about the inspection

The inspectors carried out the following activities to explore these areas during the inspection. They:

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Information about the inspection

 met with you, the deputy headteachers, your assistant headteachers and your middle leaders  held meetings with members of the governing body  spoke to a representative from the local authority on the telephone  heard a group pupils read  held discussions with a group of pupils  scrutinised a number of school documents, including safeguarding records, policies and procedures, the single central record, assessment information, external notes of school visits and governors’ minutes  visited lessons with your deputy headteacher and assistant headteachers across the school  had discussions with parents formally and informally before the school day  considered the 18 parent responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey and the 16 responses to the inspection staff survey.

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