Rosecroft Primary School

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

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Ms Lucy Wayman Headteacher Rosecroft Primary School London Road Attleborough Norfolk NR17 1BE

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 12 September 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 November 2014.

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

Rosecroft Primary is a growing school but one that, as it grows, maintains its distinctive caring ethos. You, together with your very effective senior team, are determined to ensure that every pupil has a positive experience at school and leaves well prepared for the next stage in education. You have not allowed changes to the school, including the move into a new building, to distract you from your core purpose of providing high-quality education for pupils.

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

The previous inspection report asked leaders to ensure that there is sufficient challenge for the most able pupils. You have addressed this effectively, for example by ensuring that in mathematics pupils are provided with appropriate levels of challenge and by introducing class texts which help to extend pupils’ vocabulary.

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

Governors have a very good range of skills and expertise which they use well to support the school. They have confidence in you and your team but are unafraid to challenge you when necessary, for example to further improve attendance.

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

Teaching is good because you and senior leaders make sure that staff know what is expected of them through regular training and meetings. All staff who responded to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire said that they enjoy working at the school and that they are treated fairly and with respect. Staff work collaboratively across year groups to ensure continuity, but they amend their teaching when pupils’ needs dictate this. Teachers have high expectations of pupils and plan tasks which meet their needs.

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

Pupils are rightly proud of their school. They say that Rosecroft is a friendly place where everyone helps each other. They say that adults always help them when they need it. Right from the start, adults establish clear routines and expectations of behaviour. For example, during the inspection, children who were in school for their first day were learning about how to walk around the school, where to eat snacks and about tidying up equipment. As a result, lessons and playtimes are harmonious times and good behaviour is the norm. Those pupils who have behavioural difficulties are well managed so that they do not disturb the learning of others. Pupils show tolerance and understanding towards each other and say that this is a school where it is all right to be different. Pupils benefit from an interesting and varied curriculum which is enriched with clubs, such as drama club, tablet club and dodgeball. Pupils told me that they particularly enjoy subjects such as science,

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

Most parents are very supportive of the school. The majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, said that they would recommend the school to another parent. Comments, typical of many parents, include this from a parent, who wrote: ‘Lovely school with approachable teachers who seem to genuinely care about their students.’ Another said: ‘I believe the school is well led and has an excellent senior management team, teaching and support staff and children are supported well.’ A few parents said that they feel communication with parents could be improved, particularly about the progress that their child is making.

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

You and your team of leaders have ensured that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. A strong culture of safeguarding exists throughout the school. For example, safeguarding is a standard item on staff meeting agendas. Files for pupils of concern are mostly well maintained and demonstrate rigorous follow-up by leaders where concerns are raised. We discussed the exceptions to this, where insufficient detail was recorded, and the need to amend these. Your team of designated leads for safeguarding has not met often enough to review the information in the files and pick up on any omissions. You have now scheduled more regular review meetings for this team.

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

You ensure that staff training is kept up to date and revisited regularly. Staff know what to look for that may indicate that a child is at risk, demonstrating that training is effective. You and other leaders are aware of those safeguarding issues that particularly affect the school community and you work with outside agencies effectively to address these issues. You also make sure that the curriculum takes account of these safeguarding issues, for example teaching pupils how to avoid violence when they feel angry, and about only taking medicines that have been prescribed for them.

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Short inspection of Rosecroft Primary School

Pupils know about how to keep themselves safe, including when online. They know what they should and should not share when online because this is taught regularly in school. Pupils say that school is a safe place and that there is someone to help if they have concerns. Pupils know what bullying is and is not. They say that bullying is rare and where it does occur it is dealt with effectively. Most parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, agree that the school is a safe place. A small number of parents are concerned that some staff do not always deal with behaviour concerns swiftly enough.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection, we agreed the lines of enquiry that I would follow during the inspection. The first of these was to see if disadvantaged pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This was because in past years at the end of the Reception Year the proportion of disadvantaged pupils achieving a good level of development has been lower than for all pupils nationally. I wanted to check what has been put in place to improve this and whether disadvantaged pupils go on to achieve in line with their peers by the time they leave the school.  Leaders are very knowledgeable about individual pupils and their needs. They provide careful support and check that it is helping pupils. This support includes emotional support through, for example, counselling, as well academic support such as pre-teaching of mathematics concepts.  Most disadvantaged pupils make good progress relative to their starting points.

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Inspection findings

However, leaders have not ensured that enough early help is given to disadvantaged pupils when they start school to ensure that they quickly learn the basics of early reading and writing.  I checked how effective the curriculum is in preparing pupils for the next stage of their education. This is particularly important because the school is growing and will eventually educate pupils through to the end of Year 6.  Leaders explained to me how they try to ensure that pupils receive a broad curriculum and how they ensure that knowledge is developed over time. However, my discussion with pupils demonstrated that teaching about other faiths and cultures is not sufficiently well developed. The current curriculum is not sufficiently well tailored towards the pupils’ needs at Rosecroft, and work has begun to make the necessary changes.  Staff teams work together to develop different aspects of the curriculum, with an

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Inspection findings

arts team, a science, technology and mathematics team and a humanities team. These teams work across all key stages, which is helpful in ensuring that the developing curriculum is appropriate and progressive. Teams discuss how curriculum plans are working in practice, but do not check this by visiting classrooms. Consequently, they lack the information that they need to amend and refine their development plans.  Leaders recognise the central importance of reading in ensuring that pupils can access the wider curriculum. They ensure that reading is taught effectively. Phonics sessions are planned and delivered well. As pupils move through the school, they develop their reading skills well and show an enthusiasm for reading. However, the reading books for some older pupils, who are not reading fluently, do not match pupils’ abilities well enough to enable them to practise their reading skills.  Finally, I explored how effectively leaders are improving attendance. This was

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Inspection findings

because in 2016/17 pupil absence was higher than national averages and persistent absence was also higher than national averages. Steps you have taken to address this include meetings with individual parents, supporting pupils with transport issues and providing individual incentives for pupils who are persistently late. This has had a positive impact, and attendance rates for 2017/18 are much closer to national averages. However, the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent remains too high.

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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

 middle leaders regularly check the quality of teaching and learning and use this to modify plans for improvements to the curriculum, including providing more opportunities to develop pupils’ knowledge of other faiths and cultures  teachers check carefully that reading books provided for developing readers match their needs and provide sufficient opportunity for pupils to practise their reading skills  priority is given to supporting disadvantaged pupils in the early years so that they quickly acquire the skills that they need to be successful in school  leaders continue to address pupil absence so that the number of pupils who are persistently absent decreases further.

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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 Norfolk. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you and the leadership team, with three middle leaders and with four governors. I met with a group of pupils from Years 2, 3 and 4. I scrutinised a range of documents, including information on pupils’ progress, safeguarding, development planning and the school’s self-evaluation. I visited all classes and evaluated pupils’ work, including from the previous school year. I took account of 77 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and to the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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