Ravensmead Primary School

Inspection of Ravensmead Primary School Chapel Street, Bignall End, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST7 8QD

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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 Good 8 and 9 May 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Positive relationships lie at the heart of Ravensmead Primary School. Leaders, caring staff and supportive parents and carers work together to get the best for pupils. This partnership working helps pupils to thrive. Parents are proud of the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are ambitious for the school community and have made recent, necessary improvements to achieve this. The school has created a culture defined by respect, kindness and a firm belief that all pupils can achieve their best. These values are at the heart of every decision made. The school ensures that pupils receive effective support to reach their potential.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Right from the early years, and throughout school, pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive. They behave well, both in classrooms and outside. Pupils are considerate towards each other and feel safe at school. They describe their school as ‘unique, fun, friendly and fair’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school promotes pupils’ personal development well. Pupils enjoy the wider opportunities available to them. Planned visits enrich the curriculum. For example, to support their learning about fundamental British values, some pupils visited the Houses of Parliament and were able to witness democracy in action. Many roles of responsibility enable pupils to contribute to the life of the school. Pupils value these and know that their voice matters.

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better?

Leaders, including those responsible for governance, have high aspirations for staff and pupils. The school has recently taken decisive action to review and revise its curriculum from the early years to Year 6. In all subjects, the school has thought carefully about the important knowledge that it wants pupils to learn over time so that they know and remember more.

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better?

Reading is prioritised. Staff implement the agreed phonics programme with consistency and precision. Pupils practise reading books that are closely matched to the sounds they know. This means that most pupils become fluent and confident readers. Regular assessment identifies pupils who are falling behind, and they are given frequent support to catch up quickly. Pupils enjoy reading a wide range of books. Parents and carers access workshops provided by the school to help them understand phonics and to provide them with ideas for reading at home.

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better?

In some subjects, such as reading and science, assessment is used effectively to check how well pupils are learning in lessons and over time. This information is used to adapt subsequent teaching and address pupils’ misconceptions. However, this successful approach is not yet consistent across the curriculum. In some instances, teachers do not use pupils’ assessments to close gaps in knowledge, address misconceptions and adapt teaching. This means that pupils do not deepen their knowledge and understanding as well as they could in these subjects. 8 and 9 May 2024

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are fully included in the life of the school. There are effective systems in place to identify pupils’ additional needs. The school ensures that pupils with SEND receive effective support to access the same curriculum as their peers.

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Staff’s training to strengthen teachers’ subject knowledge has helped to support the curriculum design. In reading, leaders frequently evaluate and monitor the implementation with rigour, to ensure consistency in implementation. However, in some subjects, the school does not check how well the curriculum is being delivered in sufficient depth or swiftly enough. As a result, the school has not addressed the variability in implementation, and this hinders pupils’ achievements in these subjects.

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The school has established effective systems to track attendance and to identify and provide support for pupils who are frequently absent. As a result, attendance is high. Clear systems to encourage positive behaviour are understood by all. As a result, the school is calm and orderly, and pupils demonstrate positive behaviours for learning.

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Across the school, there is a keen focus on pupils’ wider personal development. This starts in early years, where children are taught to discuss their feelings using puppets and pictures. Pupils’ cultural development is a priority. For example, all pupils get the opportunity to learn to play musical instruments. They visit galleries, theatres and places of worship, and attend residential visits. Pupils learn the importance of health and fitness through participating in a vast range of sports, including climbing, netball and swimming.

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Those responsible for governance understand the school’s strengths. They have worked closely with the school to address priorities for development. The school has been through a period of positive change. Leaders have been sensitive to how this can impact staff’s workload and well-being. Staff are extremely proud to work at the school and morale is very high.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Approaches to assessment are inconsistent. In some subjects, teachers do not check effectively how successfully pupils acquire, use and retain knowledge. This means that pupils do not deepen their knowledge and understanding as well as they could. The school should ensure that assessment is used consistently to identify clear next steps for pupils and to make adaptations to subsequent teaching to close gaps in pupils’ knowledge. 8 and 9 May 2024

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 In some subjects, the school has not evaluated the delivery and impact of the curriculum effectively. This means that some weaknesses have not been identified and acted on swiftly enough. This hinders pupils’ achievements in these subjects. The school should ensure that it checks how well the curriculum is being implemented, to ensure that any shortcomings can be swiftly addressed so that all pupils can achieve well.

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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). 8 and 9 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 23 and 24 November 2022, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not make any use of alternative provision.  The school provides breakfast and after-school care.

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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.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the school and priorities for improvement. They reviewed documents on the school’s website, as well as published information about the school’s performance and previous Ofsted inspections. 8 and 9 May 2024

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 The inspectors carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics, English, history and science. 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 in some other subjects.  The inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, the special educational needs coordinator, the early years leader and subject curriculum leaders. The inspectors observed some pupils reading to teaching assistants.  The inspectors also met with the local governing body and spoke with a representative from the local authority.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the 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

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culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff and its survey for parents and carers, Ofsted Parent View. They also spoke to some parents at the beginning and end of the day.

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Inspection team

Joanne Harrison, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Sarahjane Cuncannon Edwards Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Susan Ray Ofsted Inspector 8 and 9 May 2024

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