St Andrew's Church of England Primary School and Nursery

Inspection of a good school: St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School and Nursery Union Road, Rochdale, Lancashire OL12 9QA

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Inspection dates: 13 and 14 January 2022

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Outcome

St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School and Nursery continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at this school approach their learning in a positive way. They know what their teachers expect from them, and they work hard to live up to those expectations. Most pupils build up their knowledge well and remember what they have learned.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils who spoke with inspectors said that they trust staff to look after them. Pupils said that they know who to talk to if they have any worries. They are confident that staff will give them help if they need it.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in class. They enjoy playtimes and said that pupils get on well with each other. Pupils said that some pupils misbehave at times, but teachers deal with any problems effectively. Pupils said that teachers quickly sort out any bullying if it happens.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy a rich range of activities beyond the subjects that they learn in class. These include pursuits as varied as martial arts, board games and growing vegetables. Pupils also have opportunities to visit places of interest, such as the ‘Gaia’ environmental exhibition. Pupils said that they understand the importance of the school’s Christian values, such as kindness and respect.

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

Working with teachers, leaders have designed an ambitious and broad curriculum. Leaders have organised the knowledge that they expect pupils to acquire in a logical order. The curriculum meets all pupils’ needs. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) can access the curriculum well. This is because leaders adapt the teaching of the curriculum effectively for this group of pupils. Teachers use effective strategies, such as repeating what pupils have learned, to ensure that pupils securely remember what they learn across most of the curriculum. 13 and 14 January 2022

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Leaders make reading a priority for pupils. There is a clearly organised curriculum in place. Leaders have trained staff effectively in how to teach phonics. In key stage 2, there is a structured approach to teaching pupils how to develop their reading knowledge. This enables pupils to become confident in important aspects of reading, such as retrieving information from a text. By Year 6, pupils can read fluently and with a strong understanding.

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Children have opportunities to develop their communication skills and experience letter sounds when they are in the Nursery Year. They start to learn phonics formally soon after they join the Reception class. Teachers have helpful ways to enable children to catch up if they fall behind in their learning. Most children securely remember the sounds that they learn.

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In key stage 1, the majority of pupils develop a strong knowledge of phonics. They can use what they know to help them to read confidently. However, a few pupils who have difficulty with reading sometimes cannot use the sounds that they have learned to help them to read fluently. This is because teachers have not ensured that these pupils remember the phonics that they need securely enough.

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In other areas of the curriculum, leaders organise the content well to enable pupils to make use of earlier learning to help them when they come across new knowledge. In mathematics, for example, children in the early years start out learning about different ways of representing numbers, such as with objects. Later, they learn how to add different pairs of numbers to make different totals up to 10. Leaders ensure that they keep teachers’ subject knowledge strong with appropriate training and support. Teachers explain learning clearly and help pupils if they misunderstand anything. Staff mostly make sure that pupils, including those with SEND, remember what they have learned in the long term. However, in languages, for example, pupils do not remember some aspects, such as important vocabulary, as firmly as they should.

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Leaders have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. There are effective systems in place for dealing with misbehaviour. Pupils clearly understand these systems and respond to them positively. There are very few disruptions in class, which means that pupils lose very little learning time.

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There is a skilfully planned programme of activities beyond the school’s curriculum subjects, to which all pupils have access. These include puppet-making, learning sign language and birdwatching. Pupils have opportunities to raise money for various charities. They can also take on a position of responsibility, such as a school councillor.

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Leaders identify the needs of pupils with SEND effectively. They provide a variety of helpful support strategies, including programmes of extra learning. Leaders have a well- organised system for checking that the strategies they use are building up these pupils’ knowledge well.

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Trustees and members of the local governing board contribute effectively to the work of the school. They have a clear vision for the school in the context of its Christian character. 13 and 14 January 2022

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Teachers said that leaders are approachable and supportive. Leaders are mindful of the well-being and workload of staff.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There are strong systems in place to enable staff to report any concerns that they may have about pupils’ welfare. Leaders respond promptly and ensure that pupils receive the right support. Staff are knowledgeable about a wide range of potential safeguarding issues. They receive regular training to enable them to remain alert.

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Safeguarding

Pupils said that they feel safe in school and could describe ways that staff help pupils to stay safe. For example, pupils know not to reveal personal information when using the internet. Pupils said that they are confident to report any concerns that they may have to a member of staff.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some areas of the curriculum, pupils cannot remember securely enough what they have learned. This means that they do not build their learning as strongly as they could. Leaders should ensure that the methods that teachers use for embedding knowledge in pupils’ long-term memory are used across the whole curriculum.

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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 or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School, Dearnley, to be good in April 2014.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection. 13 and 14 January 2022

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The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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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. 13 and 14 January 2022

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School and Nursery converted to become an academy school in September 2017. When its predecessor school, St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School, Dearnley, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  The school runs a daily breakfast club and an after-school club.  The school does not use alternative provision.  This is a Church of England voluntary controlled school. It was last inspected under section 48 in February 2019.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and has taken that into account in his evaluation.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders and other members of staff. He spoke with members of the board of trustees, the local governing board 13 and 14 January 2022

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and a representative of the diocese. He also spoke with an external school improvement adviser.  The inspector reviewed the school’s website and a range of school documents. These included the school’s self-evaluation document, its improvement plan, curriculum documents for a variety of subjects and records about behaviour, safeguarding and bullying.  The inspector spoke to a group of pupils about their experiences in school.  The inspector evaluated the responses to Ofsted Parent View. He also analysed responses to the staff survey and the pupil survey.  The inspector conducted deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and languages. He spoke with curriculum leaders, visited lessons, looked at a range of pupils’ work and met with teachers and pupils. He heard pupils reading to familiar adults and talked to pupils about their reading. The inspector also looked at curriculum documents and pupils’ work in some other subjects and discussed these with leaders.

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Inspection team

Mark Quinn, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 13 and 14 January 2022

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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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