Richmond Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Richmond Primary School Towers Drive, Hinckley, Leicestershire LE10 0ZD

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Outcome

Richmond Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Emma Clark. This school is part of Success 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, Mandi Collins, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Melvyn Booley.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The ‘LEARN’ values run consistently through Richmond Primary School. These make clear that everyone is expected to learn, enjoy, achieve, be respectful and to nurture others. Pupils achieve well and do their utmost to live up to these high expectations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy in school. They behave well. They are attentive in lessons and orderly around the school. Breaktimes are happy and sociable occasions. Pupils remind each other of the need to be ‘ready, respectful and safe’. Typically, they live up to these expectations. Pupils are motivated by the reward points on offer. They look forward to exchanging these for prizes in the school’s shop.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are respectful towards others. They value difference. They say that, in their school, ‘there are no outsiders’. They know and show respect for the fundamental British values. Well-being ambassadors, peer mediators and the use of the buddy benches on the playground, help to ensure that all pupils feel happy and have someone to play with.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take on a wide array of leadership roles. They are proud to do so. They value their ‘leadership passports’ that record the positive contribution that they make. The pupil ‘leadership leaders’ encourage and support everyone to play their part. 3 and 4 December 2024

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

The school has put in place a well-designed curriculum. Across all subjects, content is organised in a logical manner. It builds cumulatively on what has gone before. It prepares pupils well for what they will learn next. Lessons are lively and engaging. Through the ‘know more and remember more’ activities at the start of each lesson, pupils are helped to recap and remember what they have learned before. In the majority of subjects, this works well. However, in a small number of subjects, the curriculum does not make clear the most important content that pupils are expected to know and remember. This means that teachers do not know which parts of the curriculum to prioritise. As a result, in these subjects, pupils’ recall of what they have learned is inconsistent.

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

Children get off to a flying start in the early years. They benefit from an effective curriculum. It sets out the milestones that they are expected to achieve as they progress through the Reception Year. In the early years, children eagerly engage with the activities on offer. These help them to learn the curriculum, explore and have fun. Children are happy and looked after well.

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

Early reading is taught well. The school’s phonics programme makes clear the sounds that children should know at each stage of their education. The school checks closely on how well children keep up. Any who begin to fall behind promptly get the help needed to keep up. Beyond phonics, pupils go on to develop a love of reading. They read often and widely. They are motivated by the ‘reading rocket points’ that they can earn for reading regularly. They enjoy exploring new texts in the school’s ‘Little Dragons Book Shop’.

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

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. The school identifies these pupils’ needs well. In lessons, staff provide the right balance of challenge and support. As a result, pupils learn the same curriculum as their peers and are helped to become more independent. Pupils who attend the school’s nurture group and ‘a place to be’ are provided with well-tailored support to understand and manage their feelings and emotions. In most cases, the school checks closely on how well the support for pupils with SEND is working. However, in a small number of cases, the school has not put in place suitable measures to check on the impact that its work has over time. As a result, the school does not have a fully rounded view of the impact of some initiatives.

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

Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. They benefit from a well-planned programme for personal, social and health education (PSHE). They learn about a wide range of people and cultures from around the world. Pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of the protected characteristics. They know what these mean in law.

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

At all levels, the school is well led and managed. The school, the trust and the local governing body work in harmony to bring around sustained improvement. They have an accurate view of what is working well and where further improvements can be made. The school has a track record of addressing areas for improvement successfully. This is reflected in the improved outcomes of national assessments over the last two years. 3 and 4 December 2024

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The school has a talented and happy team of staff. Leaders take good account of staff workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a small number of subjects, the curriculum does not make clear the most important content that pupils are expected to know and remember over time. As a result, pupils’ recall in these subjects is inconsistent. The school should ensure that the curriculum, across all subjects, consistently makes clear the most important content that pupils are expected to know and to commit to their long-term memory.  The school has not evaluated how well some interventions for pupils with SEND are working. This means that it does not have an incisive understanding of their impact. The school needs to strengthen this aspect of its work so that it is clear about the difference additional support is making to pupils’ achievement.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in November 2019. 3 and 4 December 2024

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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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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 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). 3 and 4 December 2024

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 26 and 27 November 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of Success Academy Trust.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher were appointed after the school’s previous inspection.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school. 3 and 4 December 2024

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 The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteacher, curriculum leaders, the special educational needs coordinator and groups of staff and pupils.  The inspector focused inspection activity on the following groups of subjects: English and mathematics; and science, history and modern foreign languages. For each group of subjects, the inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke with pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also looked at curriculum documentation for religious education and PSHE.  The inspector met with representatives of the local governing body. He met with the chief executive officer of the trust, the trust’s school improvement partner, and representatives from the board of trustees, including the chair.  The inspector took account of the responses to the Ofsted Parent View survey. He considered the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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 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 reviewed school documents, including those relating to governance, behaviour and attendance. He scrutinised leaders’ plans for improvement and their assessment of the school’s effectiveness.  The inspector spoke informally to pupils at breaktimes and on the playground.

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Inspection team

Vic Wilkinson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 3 and 4 December 2024

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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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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