Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School

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

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Mrs Morwenna Dunstan Headteacher Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School Brooklands Road Rockwell Green Wellington Somerset TA21 9DJ

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Short inspection of Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 16 May 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 February 2013.

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Short inspection of Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Following your appointment in September 2014, you have effectively built the trust and confidence of the school community. Standards have risen because you and your team are ambitious for the pupils and you know their needs well. You have focused on the right priorities at the right times to improve the school, including improving pupils’ attitudes, attendance and achievement. You have ensured that strong systems are in place for checking the quality of teaching and learning. These are effective in holding others to account for the high expectations that you demand for the pupils.

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Short inspection of Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School

You work effectively with governors and other school leaders who are dedicated, keen and knowledgeable. There is a culture of mutual support and willingness from leaders which, together with high expectations and rigour in holding others to account, serves the pupils well. However, during the inspection, it was agreed that governors could be even more effective by ensuring that they focus with greater precision and detail on different pupil groups.

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Short inspection of Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School

Since your appointment, you continue to improve the environment and curriculum so that pupils enjoy a breadth to their learning, for example through various sporting and outdoor activities. As a result, pupils enjoy coming to school. One pupil, whose view was typical, said ‘(the school) is an amazing place to be!’ Last year, the governors also extended the age range of the early years provision to include the Nursery and two-year-old provision. This is having a positive impact in giving the children a good start in preparation for the Reception Year.

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Short inspection of Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School

You have responded effectively to the challenges set through the previous inspection and although teaching, learning and assessment are not yet outstanding, you have tackled weaknesses to establish a strong team of teachers. Teachers ensure that pupils of all abilities are challenged consistently through work that meets their needs. This is skilfully managed as teachers work on the understanding that all pupils have an entitlement to reach national standards. However, there are still some inconsistencies in the quality of work across the curriculum, most notably in writing, where pupils are not always producing the same high-quality work in other subjects. In addition, pupils’ handwriting skills are not always fully developed and can be weak. This means that pupils sometimes lack the strength and fluency to write at length and depth and to the highest standards they are capable of.

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Short inspection of Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School

You and other staff and leaders ensure that pupils are safe. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are robust. Records, checks and various vetting requirements are detailed and of a high quality. Governors also play an active role in raising the awareness of safeguarding. For example, they have checked the school’s single central record and maintain a thorough list of training needs for child protection. As a result, processes are effective in keeping children safe. However, above and beyond this, there is a strong awareness and culture for safeguarding. All staff are vigilant and aware. They know what to do to raise issues and report any concerns. These lead to direct challenge and intervention from senior leaders, who follow procedures to keep children safe at all times. School staff are also proactive in checking pupils’ attendance to ensure children do not go missing from education.

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Short inspection of Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School

Pupils feel safe and trust staff. They know how to stay safe in a range of situations; for example, when learning or playing online or evacuating the school as part of the school’s fire drills. Pupils are not worried about bullying. They know precisely what bullying is and say it is altogether rare in the school. However, if bullying does happen, pupils are unanimous in their view that staff deal quickly and effectively to resolve it. The school has well-trained staff, including two emotional literacy support advisers, to provide high-quality care and guidance to pupils.

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Short inspection of Rockwell Green Church of England Primary School

You and your team also raise pupils’ esteem and look after their emotional well- being. Pupils are treated well and, in turn, do this for others. As one pupil told me, ‘Everyone treats everyone the exact same – as how they like to be treated!’

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Inspection findings

 My first key line of enquiry focused on the school’s effectiveness in improving outcomes for all pupils and different groups, including disadvantaged pupils and those who need to catch up. The school has robust tracking systems in place which it uses to hold teachers to account through professional meetings. School leaders and teachers know the pupils very well and use assessment information effectively to provide high-quality learning activities which ensure pupils make strong progress. Furthermore, teachers and teaching assistants deliver a range of interventions to support pupils. These are frequently evaluated and those that do not have enough impact are stopped. During the inspection, I also worked with a few children in the Reception Year where effective and well-tailored support in literacy and communication skills is strongly supporting children to catch up.  My second key line of enquiry focused on the outcomes of disadvantaged pupils

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Inspection findings

and boys in phonics. Overall standards in phonics in the Year 1 screening check and at the end of key stage 1 are rising. These compare well to the national average. This is because the teaching of phonics is strong. Teachers know the pupils well and direct resources and time effectively, especially for those who need additional support.  During the inspection, I reviewed the progress of those pupils who did not meet the Year 1 standard in 2016 and confirmed that the school is providing appropriately targeted and focused support for these pupils. For example, they were fully joining in with their peers to access age-appropriate words and content, albeit with the effective support of a teaching assistant.  My third key line of enquiry focused on the effectiveness of leaders and their capacity to maintain the strong improvements seen over time, in particular from the 2016 results. You have taken effective steps and measures to continue

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Inspection findings

building a knowledgeable and well-motivated team. Your middle leaders are effective in how they lead their subjects; for example in mathematics the focus on pupils’ talk, explanation and reasoning is strengthening pupils’ mathematical skills, knowledge and understanding. Your recently appointed deputy is already central to plans to improve curriculum delivery to raise standards in subjects other than English and mathematics.  Finally, although there have been many changes to the governing body, including a relatively new chair and vice-chair of governors, there is a core team of governors who know the school well, understand its priorities and hold leaders to account to secure improvement. Collectively, you are continuing to be successful in building a team that is capable of meeting the remaining challenges towards being an outstanding school.

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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

 teachers have the same high expectations of pupils across the curriculum, especially in writing.  handwriting is improved so that pupils can write more fluently to achieve even higher standards.  governors have even greater precision in checking the impact of their own work on pupils’ outcomes. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Bath and Wells, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Somerset. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I met with you to agree the timetable and inspection activities for the day. I also worked extensively with you across the whole day. I met with the deputy headteacher, special educational needs coordinator and the mathematics and English subject leaders. I scrutinised safeguarding records, including staff recruitment and vetting procedures, and recent audits, and I reviewed evidence for reporting children missing education. Together, we visited lessons in the early years foundation stage, and key stages 1 and 2 to evaluate the effectiveness of provision. This involved looking at a range of books and talking with different pupils in line with our agreed key lines of enquiry. I also met with representatives of the governing body and reviewed school documents, including the school’s self- evaluation summary and samples of governors’ visits. I also spoke with the school council and heard Year 2 and Year 6 pupils read. Furthermore, I took full account of

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Information about the inspection

the 35 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the 15 responses made by pupils, as well as the further 35 free texts received for the inspection.

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