Rushall Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Rushall Primary School Pelsall Lane, Rushall, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 1NQ

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Outcome

Rushall Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Rushall Primary School enjoy a highly inclusive, nurturing and positive environment. This enables them to thrive, whatever their background or needs. Everyone linked to the school is part of the ‘Rushall family’ and plays a role in making the school successful.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Governors, leaders and staff are highly ambitious for what pupils can achieve. The school’s motto, ‘Where every child sky rockets!’, is brought to life daily through the many opportunities on offer. These include pupils in key stage 2 learning a brass instrument and school clubs, such as cooking, coding, first aid, painting and archery.

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What is it like to attend this school?

All pupils experience a broad and rich curriculum. Staff do everything they can to make lessons fun and engaging. Since the last inspection, more pupils are making strong progress, especially in English and mathematics. Leaders are currently developing the curriculum further. This is to ensure that pupils learn the right things in the right order across all subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave very well. There are consistent, high expectations in place from Nursery to Year 6. Adults and pupils show great respect for each other. Incidents of bullying are rare. Leaders support pupils effectively to minimise the risk of repeating unwanted behaviour.

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

Children in the early years make a great start to their school life. They are well prepared for moving into Year 1. Staff work together as a strong team to help the children establish routines and settle quickly. Leaders adapt the curriculum to meet children’s interests, for example the use of online maps to celebrate children’s heritage. Children benefit from daily sessions to help them to develop their early reading, writing and number skills. Children’s progress is carefully tracked and next steps identified. Leaders enhance children’s opportunities for learning through the use of the outdoors and the forest school.

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

The importance of reading is promoted across the school. Pupils are read to every day 10–11 December 2019

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and most enjoy reading independently. Pupils talk enthusiastically about the books and authors they like. Phonics skills are taught systematically throughout the early years and Year 1. As a result, most pupils make strong progress in learning to read. Pupils read books which are well matched to their reading ability. A minority of pupils, many of whom have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), struggle to keep up with their peers. Leaders are taking action to address pupils’ specific difficulties. These are proving effective. Leaders recognise that some pupils would benefit from more opportunities to read to an adult on a one-to-one basis.

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Mathematics outcomes have improved greatly over the last three years. Pupils now develop a deep understanding of key mathematical ideas. They can then apply these to help solve mathematical problems and challenges. Teachers’ subject knowledge across a range of subjects has increased due to high-quality training and support.

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Senior and subject leaders regularly check on what pupils are learning. Leaders realised that, in some subjects, pupils do not learn and remember important information about the topics that they cover. As a result, leaders are adapting the curriculum to help pupils know and understand more. For example, they are revising the order in which some information is taught. They are also developing resources to help pupils learn the key facts about each topic.

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The school caters very well for pupils with SEND. Staff adapt lessons to meet pupils’ needs and all pupils have access to the full curriculum. Staff have high levels of expertise. They support pupils to be successful and reach their personal targets. Staff and pupils regularly celebrate achievements of all kinds. School staff and parents and carers work in partnership to help maximise pupils’ progress.

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Pupils speak with real enthusiasm about the trips that they go on and the visitors who come to school. For example, Year 3 recently visited Selly Manor as part of a history project and Year 2 enjoyed learning about old toys. Pupils’ experiences of the wider world are enhanced through weekly discussions on topical issues. The curriculum also supports pupils to have a high degree of empathy for others. This is seen through the integration of pupils with SEND, pupils of different ages working together and activities to support charities and the local community.

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Most staff are very proud to work at the school. They agree that leaders and governors take workload into account when developing new policies. For example, staff spoken to say that changes to planning and support from subject leaders are having a positive impact on reducing their workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff and governors are passionate about keeping pupils safe from harm. They have regular, relevant training, including how to reduce the risk of radicalisation and extremism. Staff are confident about what to do if they have worries about a pupil’s welfare. They deal with any concerns quickly to prevent issues from escalating. Where appropriate, 10–11 December 2019

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leaders work closely with external agencies. They are tenacious in following up concerns. Pupils learn about keeping safe through the curriculum and visitors to school. Staff lead workshops for parents to raise awareness of how to use the internet safely.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s curriculum is broad, balanced and engaging for pupils, developing their skills across a wide range of subjects. In some subjects, such as mathematics, English and computing, plans are very clear about the specific content that pupils should know and remember. However, following an audit, leaders recognised that this was not the case in all subjects. For example, teachers may not be aware of pupils’ prior learning or pupils may not have learned or remembered the knowledge that they need to support future learning. As a result, leaders have rewritten the curriculum, focusing on year- group rather than whole-school topics. They have developed a clear sequence of learning for both knowledge and skills. Leaders now need to ensure that this new curriculum is implemented effectively and that it has the planned impact of raising standards even further.

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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 the school to be good on 10–11 June 2015.

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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.

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You can search for published performance information about the school.

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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. 10–11 December 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10088566 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10–11 June 2015

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Information about this school

 In January 2018, Rushall Primary School federated with Oakwood School. They are collectively known as the North Star Federation. There is one governing body for the federation.  The school has an additional resource provision catering for 15 children with autism spectrum disorder and speech and language needs. The school also offers specialist support, advice and guidance to schools across Walsall for pupils with a range of SEND.  The school provides before- and after-school care.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, I focused on early reading, mathematics and computing. I spoke to subject leaders about their plans for these subjects and visited lessons when these subjects were taught. I talked to teachers and pupils about the lessons and looked at samples of pupils’ work. I also looked at planning for other subjects.  I held meetings with the headteacher, head of school, other leaders and members of staff. I met with nine representatives of the governing body, including the chair. I also met with a representative of the local authority. 10–11 December 2019

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 I reviewed a range of safeguarding information, including the checks that leaders make on staff prior to employment. I talked to pupils, staff, leaders and governors about safeguarding arrangements and keeping safe, including when using the internet.  I observed and spoke to pupils at breaktime and around the school, as well as in lessons.  I looked at a wide range of documentation. This included published information about pupils’ outcomes and the school’s website.  I looked at 31 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. These included 20 free-text responses.  I considered 36 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

Catherine Crooks, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 10–11 December 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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