Rokeby Primary School

Rokeby Primary School Anderson Avenue, Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 5PE

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

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Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Groups of pupils, especially boys and the disadvantaged, are currently making variable rates of progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because the quality of teaching and learning remains inconsistent across year groups.  A few teaching assistants do not always help pupils to make consistently rapid enough progress in their learning.  Learning tasks are not always matched closely enough to pupils’ learning needs. Consequently, groups of pupils are not always sufficiently challenged to help them achieve better outcomes.  Too few children are well enough prepared to begin their education in Year 1 after completing their learning in the early years.   The poor behaviour of a few children in Nursery is not always managed well enough.  Too few pupils, particularly boys, have a genuine love of reading. This is contributing to the slower amount of progress that a minority of pupils are making in their learning. 

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils’ current attendance is slightly below average, despite recent efforts to improve it.  Plans for improvement lack precision to enable leaders to check on progress towards targets.  Those responsible for governing the school have failed to improve it swiftly enough since the previous inspection.  New senior leaders have had too little time to embed the changes they are making. So far, they have not brought about enough improvement in teaching or pupils’ achievement. 

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The new leadership team is beginning to speed up improvement.  Parents are very supportive of the recent changes to school leadership, saying these are positive and are resulting in an improving school.  The number of disadvantaged pupils regularly absent from school is reducing because of the effective work of the family support worker.   A secure culture of safeguarding permeates school life. When incidents do arise, they are dealt with speedily and rigorously.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Swiftly improve teaching to accelerate the progress that groups of pupils are making in their learning in reading, writing and mathematics, by: – more carefully matching learning tasks to pupils’ individual needs to provide greater challenge for all groups of pupils – focusing more precisely on how well boys and disadvantaged pupils are progressing in order to improve their learning rapidly – more effectively deploying teaching assistants to maximise learning – strengthening the impact of teaching on those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities – providing more opportunities for pupils to securely develop their skills in other subjects across the wider curriculum.  Improve pupils’ attendance to at least average, by: – further reducing the number of pupils, especially the disadvantaged, who are regularly absent from school – working even more closely with parents to ensure that all pupils attend school

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

regularly – strengthening the impact that the family support worker is having on pupils’ attendance.  Increasing the impact that leaders and managers, including governors, have on pupils’ learning, by: – further building the capacity of members of the new leadership team to drive improvement – more effectively using stronger teachers to support those who are less strong – making plans for further improvement more precise so leaders can more accurately measure success – strengthening the role of governors so they can ask even more challenging questions to hold school leaders to account for pupils’ underperformance.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Those responsible for strategic leadership of the school have acted too slowly since the previous inspection to tackle weaknesses in leadership and management. Changes to leadership in January 2017 have so far had too little time to bring about substantial improvements in teaching and pupils’ achievement.  Plans for further school improvement are insufficiently clear in identifying specific actions to be taken to arrive at measurable milestones. This is not helping senior leaders and governors to understand how fast the school is improving.  The curriculum currently provides too few opportunities for pupils to develop their skills in other subjects such as history and geography. Although the curriculum requires further development, it is now more stimulating for pupils than it was previously. The development of literacy skills abound in other subjects at the expense of opportunities to develop a love of the humanities, arts and sciences. Visitors to school and visits to

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

places, such as the recent trip to the Houses of Parliament to learn about democracy, enrich curriculum provision well. This visit is just one example of how well the school prepares pupils for living in modern Britain.  Additional funding is now being used more carefully by school leaders. An external review of the pupil premium has taken place recently. School leaders have acted robustly on the recommendations. The pupil premium strategy on the school website demonstrates that additional funding is now being more precisely targeted at supporting disadvantaged pupils appropriately in their learning. Impact of this can now be seen in several year groups.  Governors and school leaders have recently reviewed the use of additional funding for sport in school. As a result, changes are being made so that it is used more effectively. Changes are being made to the leadership of special educational needs to increase the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

impact that funding has on the progress of those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, which currently remains variable.  Those responsible for leading English and mathematics are developing well in their roles. Effective support that senior and middle leaders are receiving from the national leader of education is enabling them to become stronger as leaders. Their leadership capacity is building well. Leaders are now planning effectively for improvement and holding others to account for underperformance. Coaching of weaker teachers by those who are stronger has started, but this is at an early stage of bringing about significant improvement.  New school leaders acted decisively to secure high-quality teaching in one class when they identified concerns over the quality of teaching. They are currently highly focused on improving teaching in several other classes.  The performance of staff is well managed. Effective development opportunities are

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

provided to support staff in improving their teaching skills. Senior and middle leaders are very clear about the strengths in school and the remaining weaknesses which they are planning to tackle swiftly.  The before- and after-school clubs are run effectively. Pupils attending get a good start to the day and enjoy socialising with their friends before beginning lessons in the morning.  There are many strengths in pupils’ social and moral education although spiritual and cultural education requires further development.

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Governance of the school

 The new chair of the governing body is clear and decisive. She has robust plans for improving the impact that governors are having on pupils’ learning. The governing body is currently being restructured to increase the impact they have on pupils’ achievement. Governors are now displaying a zero-tolerance approach to failure or underperformance of pupils.  Robust plans are well underway to support the school on the journey to converting to academy status later this year. Governors see this as an important route in ensuring that the school gets the support needed to secure improved teaching, learning and achievement for pupils.  Governors are now more rigorously checking on the impact of additional funding in school. They are becoming more strategic in their approach. Governors are beginning to hold school leaders more to account for underperformance by asking increasingly challenging questions.

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Governance of the school

 The highly experienced chair of the governing body is working closely with senior leaders in providing effective support and guidance, where appropriate, as they evolve into their roles.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. When incidents arise, those with senior responsibility for safeguarding act swiftly and robustly. They follow their agreed guidelines to the letter, thus ensuring children are kept safe.  Checks carried out before staff are permitted to work in the school are rigorous and diligently recorded on an efficient system used by the school. Procedures for checking that visitors to school have the appropriate clearance to be in school are tight. The school entrance is secure.  The culture of safeguarding which permeates school life is robust. Staff, rightly, take their safeguarding duties and responsibilities very seriously.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 Inconsistencies remain in the quality of teaching of reading, writing and mathematics. They are resulting in groups of pupils making varying rates of progress in their learning.  In a few year groups, learning tasks are not well enough matched to pupils’ learning needs. Sometimes, most-able pupils find the tasks too easy and conversely lower- ability pupils cannot complete learning tasks because they are not equipped with the necessary skills. In a mathematics lesson, disadvantaged pupils were unable to complete a challenging learning task because they lacked the multiplication skills to arrive at the correct answer.  A few pupils do not always know, or understand, what they need to do next to improve their work because feedback from teachers is not always clear enough.   In discussion with a group of pupils, it became apparent that the school is not doing enough to encourage and foster a love of reading among some of the boys. This is

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

hindering the amount of progress they are making in reading.  In many lessons, teaching assistants support learning effectively. They ask challenging questions and help pupils to find solutions when they are stuck. This is not consistently the case across the school.  Many teachers have high expectations of their pupils. This can be seen in pupils’ books where teachers are not prepared to accept sloppy or untidy work. In classes where expectations are higher, groups of pupils are making more consistent progress in their learning.  Many teachers have good subject knowledge. They use their knowledge skilfully in lessons. Teachers ask probing questions which help them understand how well their teaching is moving pupils’ learning forward.  A new assessment system, introduced recently, since a monitoring visit by one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors, is now being used well by most staff to check on how well pupils

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

are learning so they can identify and address any underperformance.  Teaching of phonics is effective. Learning in lessons progresses at a fast pace. Teachers and support staff are skilled at helping younger pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding of complex vocabulary effectively.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.  Children in the early years are given insufficient opportunities to become confident, independent and reflective learners. This is restricting the proportion who are successfully prepared to join Year 1. In many other year groups pupils are given these opportunities in abundance.  Much is done, successfully, to provide for pupils’ emotional well-being. Parents recognise and are very grateful for this. They are very pleased with how well school staff work diligently to help all pupils become well-balanced individuals who enjoy learning.  Nurture provision is effective. Pupils respond well to the specialised support they receive.  Pupils have a good understanding of what constitutes bullying. They report very few instances of bullying. School logs of incidents support this view.  Pupils are taught effectively about how to keep themselves safe, particularly when

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Personal development and welfare

using the internet.  Pupils take on many additional responsibilities in school with gusto. During the inspection, the proud pupil librarians showed off their reading hub, which they opened in February 2017. They explained their role in its day-to-day management. The librarians select different authors for a monthly focus to promote a love of reading in school. The author for this month is Jacqueline Wilson. Last month it was David Walliams.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.  Some low-level disruption occurs in a few lessons, which slows the rate of progress pupils make in their learning.  There are variations in how well children behave in the early years. Expectations for behaviour are less consistent in Nursery than in Reception.  Attendance is slightly below average despite the best efforts of the family support worker to bring about an increase. When required, parents are invited to meet with the family support worker to discuss how school could work with them to ensure that their children’s attendance improved.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are regularly absent from school is reducing. It is lower now than it was at this point in the last academic year. This is because of the successful work carried out by the family support worker with families and a range of outside agencies.  Around school, most pupils are well behaved. They display good manners. Pupils are

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

 The latest school performance information, based on accurate assessment, and evidence in pupils’ books show that groups of pupils are continuing to make variable rates of progress in a range of subjects from their individual starting points because of inconsistencies in the quality of teaching. This was also reflected in pupils’ achievement in 2016.  The spending of the pupil premium is improving progress and attainment for disadvantaged pupils, although it is not yet having a consistent enough impact on their achievement. This picture is similar for those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities as well as the most able.  In 2016, pupils in Year 6 attained standards which were below average in reading, writing and mathematics. They made less progress from their individual starting points in reading than in mathematics or writing. There were variations in achievement for groups of pupils such as boys compared to girls and the disadvantaged in reading,

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Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

writing and mathematics compared to other pupils.  Year 2 pupils’ attainment in 2016 was about average in reading, writing and mathematics. Again, there were variations in progress for groups of pupils from their individual starting points.  The proportion of pupils reaching the required standard in the phonics screening check was about average in 2016. The latest information in school shows that it will be at a similar level this year.  The proportion of pupils reaching a good level of development at the end of Reception was above average in 2016 and has increased year on year since 2014.  The latest school performance information shows that standards are set to rise at the end of Year 6 this year. Scrutiny of pupils’ work by inspectors confirms this view is accurate.

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Early years provision Requires improvement

 From starting school with knowledge and skills broadly typical for their age, most children progress well in their learning and development. However, the latest school performance information shows that nearly a third of children are unlikely to be well enough prepared to begin their learning in Year 1 this year.  Most children make strong progress in their learning from their starting points. However, teaching and learning is slightly too highly structured. Children are given too few opportunities to direct their own learning to become more self-assured and confident learners. This is restricting their development as independent learners.  In Nursery, the behaviour of a few pupils is not managed as effectively as it is in Reception.  The early years leader is aware of the improvements required in Nursery which will strengthen children’s learning and development in the early years.  In 2016, more disadvantaged children than other children reached a good level of

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Early years provision Requires improvement

development because of the effective spending of additional funding.  The classroom and outdoor area are vibrant and language-rich places where children are encouraged to attempt to spell and write words which they may find difficult. One child was observed attempting to spell the word ‘poisonous’ in a short piece of text she was writing.  Parents report that they feel well supported when their children join school. There are many visits to school and home which make the transition process seamless.  The provision is effectively led by a practitioner who is passionate about giving children the best possible start to their education. There is a shared sense of this vision among the staff team who work in the early years.

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 March–30 April 2015

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller than average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is above the national average.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is below average.  The school met the government’s floor standards in 2016, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.  The school met the Department for Education’s definition of a coasting school based on key stage 2 academic performance results in 2014 and 2016 but not in 2015.  Early years provision is part time in the Nursery and full time in the Reception class.  The school runs a before- and after-school club which are managed by the governing

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Information about this school

body.  The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.  The acting headteacher and acting deputy headteacher stepped into their respective roles in January 2017.  A new, and highly experienced, chair of the governing body from another school accepted the role of leading the governing body in April 2017.  The school is being provided with support by a national leader of education, brokered through the local authority.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed learning in lessons and parts of lessons. Some of these lessons were observed jointly with the headteacher or deputy headteacher.  Meetings were held with senior and middle leaders, school staff and the chair of the governing body and three other governors. The lead inspector also spoke with a representative of the local authority and a national leader of education who is supporting the school.  Inspectors spoke informally to pupils in lessons, during breaks and lunchtimes. They also spoke with parents at the start and end of the school day.  Inspectors scrutinised the pupils’ work during lessons and work produced over time in a wide range of their books. They also listened to a small number of pupils from Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6 reading.  Inspectors closely observed the work of the school and looked at the latest school performance information, showing the progress pupils currently in school are making.

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Information about this inspection

 Other documentation scrutinised included plans for school improvement, safeguarding information, behaviour logs, attendance records and minutes of governing body meetings.  Inspectors took account of 35 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View). Inspectors considered 26 free-text responses from parents, 116 responses to the pupil questionnaire and the 19 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Declan McCauley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Gill Turner 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

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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 .

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Inspection team

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, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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