Ramridge Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Ramridge Primary School Turners Road North, Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 9AH

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Outcome

Ramridge Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils access a curriculum that is focused on helping all pupils to achieve their best. Each pupil is seen as an individual. Pupils say that their lessons encourage them to have their own ideas. They have the chance to shape their own opinions, are encouraged to discuss them, and their voices are heard.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a school environment that is stimulating and well ordered. This gives all pupils the opportunity to focus on their learning and thrive. Playtimes are a hive of structured activity that help pupils to enjoy social time together. The strong values ethos is tangible across the school. Pupils of all ages model high standards of behaviour and show respect and kindness to all.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils describe the adults in school as kind and supportive. They say bullying is rare in their school. They readily share examples of how staff immediately help them if they are worried. Pupils consistently say that their school is welcoming and friendly and that they feel safe. Parents and carers strongly agree with this. The parent community values the praise and recognition that support pupils to grow in self-esteem.

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

Leaders have established a clear vision for high expectations. They have set out clearly the important knowledge pupils should learn from the moment they start at the school. In many subjects, established expectations are ambitious. The new curriculum in the early years has been more recently established. In a small number of foundation subjects the links between learning in early years and Year 1 are not as clear as they need to be to ensure pupils make the best use of the knowledge they have learned. Leaders have started work to improve these learning connections.

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

Staff share expertise with each other well. This results in them having the strong knowledge needed to design and deliver lessons effectively. Staff are focused on supporting pupils to develop personal qualities, such as cooperation and patience. This 20 and 21 April 2022

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leads to a school community where pupils show consistently good conduct and high levels of respect.

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There are established routines in the early years. These support the youngest children to develop independence and high levels of engagement. Children are empowered to explore their recent learning through high-quality play opportunities.

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An embedded scheme for teaching phonics is used throughout the school. This helps all pupils to build a strong foundation of reading knowledge. All staff have had effective training to be reading experts. This is supporting all pupils to succeed. There is effective tailored support for individuals who are at risk of falling behind, or who need to catch up. Pupils embrace the chance to practise their reading. They read books that have words that they recognise and can apply what they know to be able to read. This is successfully building their confidence and accuracy with reading.

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Pupils facing additional barriers to learning are well supported. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders work skilfully with staff. They help them to develop specific individual plans to support pupils who benefit from this support. Where pupils’ needs are most complex, plans for learning are tailored more precisely. This makes sure that pupils’ wider needs are considered alongside their curriculum learning and pupils with SEND can access the same ambitious curriculum as others.

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Pupils understand the assessment routines used in lessons very well. They know that practising the new knowledge they are learning helps them become more fluent. They respond to teachers’ advice to improve their work. They are excited about fixing what could be better. Pupils show impressive maturity and resilience when discussing setbacks.

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The opportunities that pupils have to explore current issues are preparing them well for the future. For example, when discussing artworks in lessons pupils shared thoughts sensitively, without fear. This included tackling issues of immigration and tolerance of others. Pupils also enjoy the chance to take on responsibilities, such as those of house captains and digital leaders.

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Leaders have united staff with an agenda for continuing improvement. They focus adults’ energy and time on the tasks that make the biggest difference to pupils. Governors receive detailed and accurate information from school leaders. This helps them to identify and support the right priorities for improvement. They draw on a range of skills and aspire to further develop their own expertise, for the benefit of all pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have made sure that safeguarding has a high profile. All adults play a role to keep pupils safe. Effective and regular training supports staff to fulfil this responsibility. Routines to share concerns are well understood by staff and pupils. Leaders are tenacious in seeking the right support from outside agencies, if needed. 20 and 21 April 2022

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Additional investment has been made in skilled staff within school. This ensures that there is specialised support available to pupils and their families. This is positively impacting pupils’ well-being and safety.

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Throughout the curriculum, pupils gain age-appropriate, relevant knowledge to help them develop healthily. This includes keeping themselves safe online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few aspects of the curriculum, the links between important knowledge gained in the early years and subsequent learning in Year 1 are not as explicitly clear as they should be. Leaders should continue with the work they have started to ensure teachers have a detailed understanding of the knowledge children gain in preparation for learning at key stage 1, so this can be fully capitalised upon as their learning continues from early years to Year 1.

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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 second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in June 2013.

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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.

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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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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted . 20 and 21 April 2022

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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. 20 and 21 April 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10212454 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 Matt Hulbert and Mick Marsh (Co-Chairs)

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School details

Date of previous inspection 7 March 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There is a before- and after-school childcare provision on the school site, called orchard care, which is managed by the governing body.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision.

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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 their evaluation of the school.  The lead inspector held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher, inclusion manager and the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator. A meeting was also held with the school improvement adviser from the local authority.  The lead inspector met with eight members of the governing body, including the co-chairs of the governing body.  A deep dive was carried out in three subjects: early reading, mathematics, and art and design. For each deep dive, the lead inspector met with subject leaders, looked at 20 and 21 April 2022

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curriculum documentation, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  A meeting was held with the inclusion manager, who is the school’s designated safeguarding leader, and other staff to discuss safeguarding.  The lead inspector scrutinised a range of documentation during the inspection, including curriculum plans, school development plans, remote learning monitoring, and safeguarding and behaviour records.  The lead inspector considered 33 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and 33 free-text comments, and also considered the 33 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.  The lead inspector spoke with parents at the start of the school day.  Groups of pupils were spoken to about their experiences of school life and their learning in lessons to understand what it is like to be a pupil in their school. The lead

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inspector also observed the behaviour of pupils across the school site.

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Inspection team

Kristian Hewitt, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 20 and 21 April 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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