Rosedale Church of England C Infant School

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

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Mrs Cathy Draper Executive Headteacher Rosedale Church of England Infant School Stroud Avenue Short Heath Willenhall West Midlands WV12 4EG

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

Following my visit to the school on 28 March 2017, 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 April 2013.

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Under your strong leadership and that of the head of school, there is an ambitious vision, team spirit and a relentless drive for continual improvement. There is a strong culture of professional learning among staff, both within the school and to support colleagues across the Short Heath Federation. Staff are proud to work at Rosedale. This was summed up by members of staff who said, ‘There is a wonderful positive atmosphere at Rosedale and we feel lucky to be working here.’ Staff and governors model the values that are at the heart of the school – together, they make a difference.

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

The vast majority of parents hold the school in high regard. They appreciate the strong ‘family orientated’ atmosphere that you and your team have created. This is fundamental to the core values that underpin the work of the school through its strong Christian ethos and values. Comments from parents included: ‘The school’s values teach my son to be kind and caring, and staff reward children for positive choices.’

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

You, the head of school and other leaders have ensured that the curriculum is varied and balanced. Teachers use a range of thought-provoking themes as a framework to deliver what you describe as your irresistible curriculum content that captures pupils’ interests and stimulates their enquiring minds. One parent summed up the impact of your curriculum when they said, ‘My child comes home every day excited to share what they have been learning.’ Staff enrich the curriculum through trips and additional activities to provide a real-life context for pupils’ learning. Following the last inspection, you, the head of school and other leaders have taken effective action to ensure high-quality phonics provision. You have developed a systematic approach to the teaching of phonics that is highly engaging and reflects the particular needs of the school’s pupils. Pupils show high levels of enthusiasm and concentration during phonics sessions. Pupils use their well-developed phonics

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

skills to help them decode unfamiliar words with a high degree of accuracy and to support their spelling of more adventurous words in their writing.

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

Leaders have made good progress towards ensuring that pupils are able to transfer their skills in literacy and mathematics to other subjects. However, leaders have rightly identified that there is more to be done to ensure that pupils always work to the same high standards across all of their subjects. There are some very promising recent examples of better skills found in pupils’ work, such as the high-quality writing in their books published about the French explorer and conservationist Jacques Cousteau.

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

Through your ‘deep reviews’ of teaching and learning, leaders have determined that fluency in mathematics is a strength. However, reasoning and logic problem solving in mathematics need further development to enable pupils to increase their depth of knowledge and understanding.

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

Leaders have prioritised better rates of progress for disadvantaged pupils in your current development plan. Your evaluations of actions to address this concern show that rates of progress are improving, but you recognise that further work is required to embed these improvements.

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

Processes to safeguard pupils are robust and effective. For example, leaders make certain that adults who work at the school are appropriately vetted to ensure that they are suitable to work with pupils. Leaders have clear expectations of the role that staff play in safeguarding pupils’ safety and welfare. Regular and effective training supports these expectations. Staff are clear about the actions that they should take if they identify any areas of concern and there is a culture of high vigilance. Leaders responsible for safeguarding provide timely and appropriate additional support for pupils who require it. They keep meticulous records of the actions they take.

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Short inspection of Rosedale Church of England Infant School

Pupils are taught well how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations and can talk confidently about this. Pupils are clear about whom they can talk to at school if they are worried or have concerns about their welfare or that of their friends. Pupils state that they feel safe at school. Staff and the vast majority of parents agree that pupils are safe as a result of effective systems and the school’s culture of safeguarding.

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Inspection findings

 Pupils overwhelmingly stated that they enjoy reading because of the culture of reading throughout the school. The majority of pupils use their well-developed phonics knowledge to support them in their reading and writing. Pupils who need additional help receive tailored support to enable them to catch up and keep up. As a result, increasing numbers of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, are making good or better progress. However, you recognise that there is still more work to be done to help disadvantaged pupils improve their reading.  As a result of staffing turbulence, results in writing at the end of Year 2 last academic year were disappointing. You and your leaders responded quickly to rectify the deficiencies so that pupils this academic year are working more closely in line with age-related expectations. This is because staff have a sound subject knowledge and a clear understanding of what they can expect.

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Inspection findings

Classrooms are rich in language with displays promoting and celebrating pupils’ high-quality writing.  The school’s own monitoring supported by inspection evidence is showing that an increasing number of pupils across the school are making good or better progress. This includes more pupils who are working at a greater depth in their writing. This improvement results from the consistent approach to the teaching of writing including the opportunities for pupils to write outside literacy lessons. Recent assessment information has identified that target groups of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and least-able pupils, are making better progress. However, leaders recognise that there is still more work to be done to increase the rate of progress in writing for disadvantaged pupils.  In mathematics, there is a high focus on developing fluency in number, and most pupils demonstrate a secure understanding of mathematical concepts

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Inspection findings

when applying their knowledge in different contexts. However, leaders agree that further work is needed to develop pupils’ use of reasoning and logic through problem solving. This will enable pupils to deepen and extend their mathematical knowledge.  In mathematics, leaders track pupils’ progress effectively, and arrange additional support for those who are at risk of falling behind. These interventions are improving pupils’ progress, including the progress of those groups of pupils whose achievement has been weaker in the past.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 pupils continue to apply literacy and mathematical skills across the wider curriculum to the same high standard as they do in literacy and numeracy lessons  pupils continue to develop reasoning and problem solving in mathematics  teachers increase the rate of progress made by disadvantaged pupils across the school.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you, the head of school and middle leaders for literacy and mathematics. I also met with a group of governors from the federation governing body. I met with a representative from the local authority. You and the head of school joined me on visits to classes. We looked at examples of pupils’ work. I talked to pupils about their work during visits to their classes and informally around school at different times of the school day. I reviewed a range of documentation, including the school’s own self-evaluation of its performance, the school development plan and documents related to keeping pupils safe. We discussed the most recent information about pupils’ achievement. I took account of 12 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and nine free text comments. I considered the 44 responses from members of staff to the online inspection questionnaire. I spoke with parents at the end of the school day. I also

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Information about the inspection

looked at information on the school’s website.

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