Rood End Primary School

Inspection of good school: Rood End Primary School Rood End Road, Oldbury, West Midlands B68 8SQ

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Outcome

Rood End Primary School continues to be a good school. However, inspectors have some concerns that standards may be declining, as set out below.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a vibrant place for pupils. Pupils’ interests inform teachers’ planning for learning. There are lots of exciting activities on offer during the school day and after school. For example, in music, pupils learn drumming. The after-school clubs are extensive and very popular. Pupils get to go on some worthwhile trips to places of interest, such as museums and theatres. The school works hard to broaden pupils’ appreciation of the world beyond Oldbury. Teachers encourage pupils to read daily. This helps them get into the habit of reading for pleasure.

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What is it like to attend this school?

On occasion, teachers do not expect pupils to think hard enough about what they are learning. The work can sometimes be too easy. When this happens, pupils do not achieve as well as they could.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers care for pupils and meet their personal needs well. They keep pupils safe. There is a real sense of community where everyone gets on well together. Pupils are respectful. They look after each other like one big happy family. There are very few issues with poor behaviour. Staff do not tolerate bullying, and if it occurs, teachers deal with it immediately. Pupils are proud of their school.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Over the last year, leaders have widened the school’s curriculum. This means that pupils get to do more learning in subjects like art, music and geography. Teachers focus on making activities enjoyable for pupils through planning topics. These topics are often linked to a good-quality book. But in several subjects, teachers do not think enough about the key ideas that they want pupils to learn. The sequences of learning in some subjects do not help pupils to build on what they have learned before. This means that pupils lack the essential knowledge to grasp new concepts easily. When teachers do not have a clear end point in mind, teaching does not support the most able pupils as well as it should. 18–19 September 2019

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Teachers also plan learning in some subjects, such as history, with a heavy emphasis on knowing facts. Teachers do not give pupils enough opportunities to think like a historian. They do not learn enough to develop their skills of historical enquiry. As a result, pupils do not learn how to interpret the past as well as they could. Because of these weaknesses, pupils do not achieve as well as they could in some subjects.

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Teachers do a lot to encourage a love of reading. This has helped pupils to develop a strong interest in reading for pleasure. In key stage 2, teachers know which aspects of reading individual pupils struggle with. They use this information well to support pupils to succeed. Consequently, they make good progress in their reading. The well-sequenced phonics curriculum in early years and key stage 1 is not taught as well. Some teachers have gaps in their knowledge about how to teach early reading effectively. Teachers do not spend enough time on securing pupils’ rapid recall of sounds. This prevents pupils from blending sounds easily to form words. Pupils’ reading books are not always well matched to the phonic sounds they have been taught.

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The school provides pupils with a wealth of rich learning experiences to help them develop their social skills. They gain new experiences that help them to grow confidence and become more independent. Pupils benefit from completing the ‘Rood End passport’. This enables pupils to complete various activities such as visit a place of worship or travel on a train. Pupils especially enjoy school overnight trips. There are also many after-school clubs including gymnastics, fitness and art. These clubs are well attended by pupils.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) sometimes do not get the right help they need to make good progress. This is especially the case for pupils with education, health and care (EHC) plans. Teachers’ planning does not take enough account of what these pupils need. Leaders with responsibility for SEND have already begun to address this issue.

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Lessons are typically free from any sort of disruption. This leaves pupils free to learn without interruptions. Teachers have high expectations about pupils’ behaviour and pupils respond accordingly. Pupils learn about bullying, including online bullying, and know what to do if it occurs. Pupils say that bullying is extremely rare.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders do everything possible to keep pupils safe. Staff know pupils well and quickly recognise when something is not quite right. If staff suspect that a pupil is at risk of harm, they act promptly, putting the pupil’s needs first. Teachers teach pupils how to stay safe. For example, they learn about crossing the road safely and how to protect their personal details when online. Older pupils learn that female genital mutilation is illegal. The school is at the centre of the local community and provides support to families. 18–19 September 2019

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Teachers’ plans in some foundation subjects do not take into account sufficiently well what pupils should be able to do by the end of the year. They do not help teachers to organise lessons that build pupils’ knowledge over time. Leaders need to ensure that the content in plans is carefully selected and sequenced. Teachers need to ensure that pupils can draw on previous knowledge to master new ideas.  Teachers do not receive enough guidance about how to meet the needs of pupils with SEND, especially those with an EHC plan. Support for pupils with SEND is not of a consistently high quality. Therefore, leaders need to ensure that teachers know how to provide the right sort of support for all pupils with SEND to enable them to learn well.  The teaching of phonics does not place enough emphasis on pupils practising their sounds until they become fluent. Pupils’ reading books are not always well matched to

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

the phonic sounds they have been learning. A few staff do not pronounce letter sounds correctly. Leaders must ensure that all pupils learn to master sounds efficiently, so they can blend easily and read words accurately.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged Rood End Primary School to be good.aq

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 18–19 September 2019

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 18–19 September 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10088580 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Samantha Atkinson

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School details

Date of previous inspection 30 June – 1 July 2015

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Information about this school

 The previous standard inspection was 30 June to 1 July 2015.

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Information about this inspection

 Subjects considered as part of this inspection were reading, history and science. The inspector carried out lesson visits to see these subjects being taught and looked at pupils’ work. The inspector talked to pupils about their work. They spoke to teachers who taught these subjects and held discussions with subject leaders. The inspector listened to pupils read.  The inspector met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher and subject leaders. The inspector also met with two members of the governing body, including the chair. The inspector held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector considered 34 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and 46 responses to the Ofsted pupil survey. There were insufficient responses to consider parents’ views from Ofsted Parent View.  The inspector talked to pupils to gather their views about school, behaviour, their

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Information about this inspection

safety and learning. 18–19 September 2019

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 The inspector explored safeguarding arrangements by reviewing safeguarding records, checking the safety of the school site, talking to staff and pupils about how they keep safe and checking the school’s single central record. He met with the school’s designated safeguarding lead and other staff from the safeguarding team.

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Inspection team

Tim Hill, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 18–19 September 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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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