Roydon Primary Academy

Inspection of a good school: Roydon Primary Academy Epping Road, Roydon, Harlow, Essex CM19 5HN

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Outcome

Roydon Primary Academy continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The head of school of this school is Mrs Anna Myatt. This school is part of Burnt Mill 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 (CEO), Helena Mills CBE, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Paul Drayton.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Roydon Primary Academy is a welcoming and inclusive school. Pupils are happy, and they achieve well. The school has high expectations for all. Pupils have regular opportunities to recall and apply prior learning, this is helping them to remember important knowledge over time.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s ‘E.A.R.T.H’ (empathy, achievement, resilience, teamwork and healthy living) values support pupils to strive to do their best. Pupils learn about empathy and how they can live a good life at home and at school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well in lessons and during playtime. They maintain high levels of focus and collaborate effectively with their peers. Pupils consistently follow the school rules. This helps them to feel safe. Pupils across the school enjoy playing together at lunchtimes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils make a difference to their school community with leadership roles such as play leaders and school council. In Year 6, pupils develop these skills further through additional roles such as: the junior leadership team, house captains, and curriculum and reading leaders. Pupils enjoy taking part in a range of visits, experiences and musical sessions through the Roydon Pledge. This helps them to develop their musical talents, such as learning the glockenspiel or the ukulele.

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

The school has designed an ambitious curriculum that starts from the early years. The curriculum details the knowledge, skills and vocabulary that pupils need to know to achieve highly. 8 and 9 May 2024

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Teachers are skilled in planning lessons that support pupils to remember key content over time. They set work that helps pupils to retain important ideas. Pupils take pride in their work. They have opportunities to complete independent work. However, in some areas, the work given to pupils is not demanding enough and they often lose focus. This is because staff training has not been precise enough to help staff plan and deliver lessons that are appropriately ambitious. Staff do not always give pupils enough opportunties to practise what they know.

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The school has made learning to read a priority. The phonics scheme used is delivered consistently well. It supports pupils to read from the start of early years. Close checking means pupils who fall behind are quickly identified and given the support they need to quickly catch up. A love of reading permeates across the whole school. Pupils love the new outdoor library and the range of books they have to read, and they read often.

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The school promotes inclusion. This means that pupils are supported to access the whole curriculum. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are helped through appropriate adaptations made in planning and teaching. They learn well alongside their peers. Pupils receive support from staff when they need it. As a result, almost all pupils move successfully on in their learning. The school supports the social, emotional and mental well-being of all pupils through regular activities, such as ‘my happy mind’.

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Pupils’ behaviour is generally good in and out of lessons. However, in a minority of lessons, some pupils become distracted and lose focus on their learning. Staff are not always quick enough at helping them reengage and ensuring that the work given to pupils is appropriately matched to their needs. The school is doing everything it can to improve attendance. Robust systems are in place to ensure pupils secure good attendance.

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Children in the early years engage well with each other and in their play. They enjoy learning alongside the adults and their peers. Children’s language and vocabulary are developed well. This is supported through their interactions with adults and each other during a combination of play and structured sessions such as phonics.

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Pupils’ personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is woven into the curriculum. Pupils know about differences and discrimination. The curriculum provides a wide range of books and experiences. These ensure pupils understand about our diverse world. This is complemented by assemblies that promote the school values and fundamental British Values.

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The trust, governors and leaders know the school well. They have taken effective action to ensure that outcomes for pupils improve. Leaders deliver high-quality staff training which ensures that all staff have the necessary skills and knowledge to fulfil their roles well.

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Staff are extremely happy. They feel they are listened to and supported. Staff value how school leaders have taken actions to reduce their workload and improve their well-being. 8 and 9 May 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, teachers do not consistently give pupils work that meets the ambition of the curriculum. The work they are given is often too easy for them, which causes them to lose focus on their learning. Pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to complete more-challenging work that deepens their understanding. This means that some pupils are not achieving as well as they should. The school needs to ensure that teachers plan and deliver lessons that allow pupils to access appropriately demanding tasks in lessons. This will ensure they secure the knowledge they need to achieve highly and remain focused in lessons.  In some subjects, teachers do not plan sufficient opportunities to check pupils’ understanding or to allow them to practise their skills. Where this happens, pupils can lose focus and are not fully engaged in the learning. Leaders need to ensure that teachers use appropriate strategies to ensure pupils maintain high levels of

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

engagement so they do not fall behind in their learning.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2015.

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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. 8 and 9 May 2024

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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

Dates of previous inspection 5 February 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Roydon Primary Academy is part of the Burnt Mill Academy Trust.  The school does not currently use any alternative providers.

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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 received since the COVID-19 pandemic. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector spoke with school leaders, including: the CEO, the trust director for the primary phase, the trust director for pupil welfare, the trust education welfare officer, the head of school and the deputy headteacher.  The inspector met with trustees and governors and reviewed documentation relating to governance and school improvement. 8 and 9 May 2024

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 The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive the inspector spoke with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: 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.  The inspector considered the 45 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including 44 free-text comments. The inspector also considered the 13 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey. There were no responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Nina Kemp, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 8 and 9 May 2024

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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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