Rainbow Forge Primary Academy

Inspection of Rainbow Forge Primary Academy Beighton Road, Hackenthorpe, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S12 4LQ

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Jane Loader. This school is part of L.E.A.D Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Diana Owen, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Andy Buck. 5 and 6 December 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this caring school. They greet visitors with a warm welcome. Pupils are polite and courteous to one another and to adults. Pupils show consideration for others. For example, pupils habitually hold doors open for others. The school ensures that pupils know how to be respectful.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff enable pupils to take on positions of responsibilities that are affectionately known as ‘jobs’. Pupils enjoy taking on roles such as eco monitors and road safety helpers. They represent their peers in pupil parliament and carry out roles as anti- bullying ambassadors. The school rewards pupils with rainbow money. Pupils use this to gain rewards such as access to the ‘winter fest’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that they have a trusted adult in school to turn to if they have concerns. If bullying happens then pupils know that this will be dealt with by the school. This helps them to feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations of pupils. Pupils enjoy their learning and the curriculum enables them to learn in depth. Pupils behave well in lessons and at social times. Pupils know the school rules and respond well to them. As a result, pupils enjoy their lessons.

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better?

The school’s curriculum helps pupils to build knowledge well over time. Staff make regular checks to identify pupils’ misconceptions and make sure that these are addressed quickly. For example, in history pupils revisit past learning to make sure they have learned important content. Pupils can recall what they have previously learned. This practice is not consistent across all foundation subjects. On occasions, teaching and assessment do not fully meet the needs of pupils in mixed-age classes.

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better?

The school ensures that reading is prioritised in the curriculum. Leaders provide staff with highly effective training on the chosen phonics programme. This helps pupils to experience a consistent approach to the teaching of reading. As a result, pupils gain the knowledge they need to be fluent readers. Pupils who are in the early stages of reading access appropriate support. They catch up quickly with their peers. Pupils enjoy reading and talk positively about their class reading books. They enjoy being read to by an adult every day.

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better?

The school carefully considers the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders provide staff with guidance on how to overcome some of the barriers that pupils with SEND may face. This enables pupils with SEND to keep up with their peers. For example, the school uses sentence maker boards to help some pupils with SEND to communicate more effectively. 5 and 6 December 2023

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Attendance is a priority in the school. There are effective systems in place to help pupils attend well. The school works closely with families to support better attendance. Attendance at the school is good and improving.

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The school has carefully planned the personal, social and health education curriculum. Pupils are very knowledgeable about the protected characteristics. They are aware of different faiths. Pupils are clear that nobody should be discriminated against because of differences such as gender, race and faith. The school offers a variety of extra-curricular clubs. These include cooking, bench ball and zen club. The attendance at these is high. The pupil parliament group is proud of its role in improving the school. The new physical education equipment has been provided through the work of the pupils in this team.

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Children in the early years benefit from a curriculum that prepares them for their next stage of learning. The stimulating environment means that children are happy to learn. Children enjoy ‘wild Wednesdays’, where they experience their learning outside. Leaders carefully check children’s progression through the curriculum. Staff ensure that children spend appropriate amounts of time on different learning activities so that they build a wide range of knowledge, skills and learning attributes. As a result, children are ready to progress to key stage 1.

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School leaders, the trust and the governing body are united in giving pupils the best experience in school. They have high expectations for pupils’ achievement. The outcomes achieved by key stage 2 pupils in 2023 do not reflect the good quality of education that pupils now experience. Pupils in this year group were adversely affected by the pandemic.

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Leaders work closely with families. Parents value the opportunity to visit school and attend workshops to help them to support learning at home. A phonics workshop helps school and families work together to support pupils with their reading development.

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Staff feel valued by leaders. They know that their workload is considered. Staff are proud to work at the school and value its family-like ethos.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some areas of the curriculum, teaching and assessment are less well adapted to the needs of pupils in mixed-age classes than they are in others. This means that some pupils, particularly older pupils, do not get the opportunities they need to revisit and apply knowledge and skills as well as they could. The school should 5 and 6 December 2023

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further refine how teaching and assessment are used to improve learning for all pupils in mixed-age classes.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 5 and 6 December 2023

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 7 and 8 January 2020, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the L.E.A.D Academy Trust.  The school has provision for two-year-olds.  The school has an internal provision (The Keller Base) to support pupils with SEND.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 5 and 6 December 2023

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, history, mathematics and music. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also discussed the curriculum structure in art and design.  Inspectors visited a key stage 2 art lesson.  Inspectors looked at a sample of writing work from key stage 1 and key stage 2.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and other senior leaders over the course of the inspection.  The lead inspector met with the members of the governing body, including the

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chair.  The lead inspector met with members of the trust board.  A range of school documents were reviewed, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans.  Inspectors considered the views of parents through the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents, Ofsted Parent View. Inspectors considered the views of pupils through their responses to Ofsted’s online survey for pupils and through meetings held with pupils.  Inspectors considered the views of staff through meetings and through their responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff.

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Inspection team

Andrew Gibbins, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Kyrstie Stubbs Ofsted Inspector 5 and 6 December 2023

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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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