Rawdon St Peter's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

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

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Mrs Caroline Sibson Headteacher Rawdon St Peter’s Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Town Street Rawdon Leeds West Yorkshire LS19 6PP

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Controlled Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 19 April 2018, 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 June 2014.

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Controlled Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Staff share your drive and your clear vision for continued improvement. They are fully committed to providing a good quality of education for their pupils. You value your staff. They feel well supported and appreciate the meaningful professional development you provide. They talk with enthusiasm about the research projects they are involved in. As a result, they are always looking to continually improve their practice and share teaching and learning ideas with other staff. Staff morale is high and they are proud to work at the school.

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Controlled Primary School

The parents I talked to are extremely positive about the school and the support provided for their children. Some parents told me that the school has an ‘open door policy’ where any issues or concerns are addressed quickly. All parents and carers who responded to the online Ofsted survey, Parent View, would recommend the school. One parent reflected the views of many and said: ‘The school has a wonderful environment, where all pupils are encouraged to do well both academically and personally. The school looks after the whole child.’ You provide a range of opportunities for parents to get involved in school life, for example through curriculum workshops and the ‘share group’, where parents can come into school to discuss a range of issues and topics with staff.

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Controlled Primary School

Pupils are well behaved, polite and courteous. They told me that they enjoy school and feel well cared for. They are enthusiastic to do their best. One pupil told me that ‘all lessons are inclusive and everyone gets a say’. Another pupil said: ‘Everyone helps each other; the school is a very friendly environment.’ Pupils appreciate the wide range of clubs, extra-curricular and sporting activities, including trips and visits that you provide. They say this helps them to develop their wider skills and interests. The pupils I talked to are proud of their school.

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Controlled Primary School

Your school values of ‘love and friendship, honesty, endurance, thankfulness and fairness’ are central to all that you do. Pupils know these values well and they permeate all aspects of school life. Pupils demonstrate respect and tolerance. They help and support each other. ‘Family service’ at lunchtimes encourages pupils from different year groups to have lunch with each other and discuss a topic of interest. Pupil ‘peer mediators’ are around at lunchtimes and breaktimes. Pupils can talk to ‘peer mediators’ if they have any issues or concerns. Pupils take their responsibilities seriously. They are keen to contribute to the life of the school.

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Controlled Primary School

Since the previous inspection, you, your staff and governors have worked hard to address the areas for improvement. Teaching assistants now provide good support for pupils. Regular dialogue between teaching assistants and classroom teachers ensures that pupils with individual needs are well supported. You have improved the outdoor learning environment in Reception. There is a wide range of activities which capture the interests of children. As a result, children are engaged at length in these activities. The outdoor area is a language rich environment. In every area, children have the opportunity to engage in writing. Activities enable children to develop their creative skills. The development of the ‘Hive’, an outdoor wildlife area, enables pupils to access outdoor learning more frequently and learn more about nature.

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Controlled Primary School

Pupils continue to make good progress. The proportion of pupils achieving the expected and higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics improved in 2017 and was above the national and local authority averages. The progress made by pupils in reading and mathematics by the end of Year 6 was above that of similar pupils nationally. Consequently, pupils are well prepared for secondary school. Outcomes in phonics have also improved over the past three years. The proportion of pupils who passed the Year 1 phonics screening check was above the national average in 2017. Current school data shows further improvement in phonics this year, particularly for boys.

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Controlled Primary School

Leaders, including governors, have ensured that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

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Controlled Primary School

Staff and governors are trained regularly in all aspects of safeguarding and are fully aware of the role they play in keeping pupils safe.

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Controlled Primary School

You take prompt action in referring any safeguarding concerns to appropriate agencies. This has enabled vulnerable pupils and families to receive timely and effective support. Your learning mentors provide day-to-day support for pupils in school. Pupils talk positively about the support they receive when needed. Pupils told me they feel safe. The parents who responded to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, agree that their children feel safe and happy in school. School records show that incidents of bullying are rare. Pupils told me that this is the case and any bullying that does happen is dealt with promptly.

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Controlled Primary School

Some initial issues with the recording of information on the school’s single central record were addressed during the inspection.

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Inspection findings

 Governors are committed and dedicated to the school. They share your determination to raise pupils’ achievement and ensure that pupils are safe. They have a regular programme of visits to the school. This ensures that governors have a good understanding of the school’s strengths and the areas for improvement. They are passionate about improving the school further and in working collaboratively with the school leadership team to achieve this. Governors acknowledge that they have not ensured that some of the department for education’s statutory requirements for information to be available on the school’s website are met in full. However, this was sorted by the end of the inspection.  The school improvement plan identifies the appropriate priorities for the school. Governors regularly review the plan with school leaders. However, you agreed that actions to be taken are not linked precisely to the gains in pupils’ outcomes

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Inspection findings

that you desire.  Pupils enjoy school. As a result, they attend well. Pupils’ attendance is consistently above the national average and persistent absence is well below. Parents and pupils understand the importance of good attendance.  A focus of the inspection was to find out why pupils’ progress in writing was not as strong as that in reading and mathematics. You have identified improving pupils’ outcomes, particularly for boys and low prior attaining pupils, as a whole- school priority. In Reception, staff have worked hard to provide increasing opportunities for children to develop their early writing skills, by providing lots of opportunities for them to write for a purpose and mark-make. You have focused upon improving pupils’ accuracy in spelling and grammar. As a result, pupils are now more confident to spot and correct their errors. This was evident in pupils’ books. There are increasing opportunities for pupils to write at greater length

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Inspection findings

across the curriculum in key stage 2. However, this is less well embedded at key stage 1. You have carefully considered the contexts for pupils’ writing, so that they engage and interest pupils, particularly boys. Some boys told me that they enjoy writing, particularly in their ‘big question’ work in the wider curriculum, for example the recent First World War topic. In addition, you have very recently introduced ‘track’. This is a school-developed resource that enables pupils to check their writing against given criteria. Although in its earliest stages of use, there are signs that it is beginning to support improvements in pupils’ writing, especially for pupils in upper key stage 2. While this is encouraging, you understand that there is more to do to ensure that pupils across the school receive increasing opportunities to edit and improve their work consistently.  Pupils make good progress in mathematics. In 2017, the progress pupils made

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Inspection findings

was above the national average. However, leaders have identified that further staff training is required to ensure that pupils in all year groups receive opportunities to apply their reasoning and problem solving in mathematics more consistently.  An area for improvement identified at the previous inspection was to ensure that there was sufficient challenge in work set for the most able pupils. Pupils told me that they do feel challenged at times, but that sometimes their work is too easy. When we looked in pupils’ books together, it was clear that pupils can, at times, find the work too easy, particularly in mathematics. For example, we found instances of pupils reflecting on their work and commenting: ‘I found this work easy.’ You agreed that work, particularly for the most able pupils, needs to be better matched to pupils’ needs.  During the inspection, I wanted to find out how the school supports

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Inspection findings

disadvantaged pupils. Although the pupil premium plan for this year was not on the website at the start of the inspection, this was resolved by the end of the day. I found that you have developed a clear plan to support the small number of disadvantaged pupils in the school. You have conducted individual interviews with these pupils to find out about any potential barriers to their learning. As a result, you have developed individual pupil profiles which track closely the progress and attendance of disadvantaged pupils. This is having an impact on improved progress for these pupils.

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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 challenge pupils, particularly the most able, with work that is well matched to their needs  pupils, across all year groups, receive opportunities to apply their reasoning and problem-solving skills in mathematics  pupils’ writing continues to improve and pupils receive wider opportunities to edit and improve their work in key stage 2, and to write at greater length in key stage

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Next steps for the school

 actions in the school’s improvement plan are more precisely linked to the impact they have on raising pupils’ outcomes.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I made brief visits to all year groups with yourself and the deputy headteacher, with the exception of Year 5 who were on a residential trip. I also looked at the work in pupils’ books with the special educational needs coordinator, the two English leaders and the deputy headteacher. I met with you and members of your senior leadership team. I met with four governors, including the vice-chair of the governing body. I also met with a representative from the local authority. I heard a pupil from each of Year 4 and Year 6 read.

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Information about the inspection

I took account of the 64 responses from parents to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, the 60 free-text comments and a telephone conversation with a parent. I took into account the 19 responses to the Ofsted online staff survey. I also met with a group of staff. I talked informally to pupils during lessons. I met formally with pupils in Years 4 and 6. I spoke to parents as they dropped their children off at the start of the school day.

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Information about the inspection

I examined a range of documents, including the school improvement plan, the school’s self-evaluation, assessment information, governors’ minutes, attendance and behaviour logs, and safeguarding information.

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