Rolls Crescent Primary School

Rolls Crescent Primary School

Address: Rolls Crescent, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5FT Unique reference number (URN): 144913

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The school provides a coherent, extensive personal development programme that is carefully tailored to pupils' needs and the school's urban context. Personal, social, health and relationships education is well structured and delivered with expertise. Pastoral systems are highly effective. Leaders and staff know pupils and families well. They identify vulnerability early and provide support as needed.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils know how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy and how to stay safe online. Leaders make sure pupils are well informed about risks to their personal safety within their community. For instance, they learn how to stay safe when using local trams and buses. Pupils attend targeted workshops on the dangers of knife crime and the harmful effects of vaping. They can describe healthy relationships and consent in an age-appropriate way. Leaders make sure that disadvantaged pupils and those who face other challenges access the full personal development offer.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils learn about a range of faiths and cultures. The school celebrates a range of religions, such as Easter, Eid and Diwali. Visits to places of worship, including a gurdwara and a mosque, help deepen pupils’ understanding of commonalities and differences between people's backgrounds and experiences. Pupils show keen respect for the values and beliefs of others.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders foster pupils' character, confidence and resilience through a rich programme of wider opportunities. Pupils attend an array of clubs, such as dodgeball, steel pans and ‘debate mate’. They visit castles, farms and science centres. They regularly represent their school in local sports competitions. These experiences help to nurture pupils’ talents and develop their social skills.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils broaden their experiences through community projects such as choir performances at the park, collaboration projects with a nearby art centre and delivering food parcels with the local food bank. These activities help them to appreciate being positive members of a community. Overall, pupils are extremely well prepared for life in modern Britain, demonstrating responsibility, respect and growing independence.

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Achievement Expected standard

Published data shows that at the end of Year 6, the proportion of pupils who meet the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics is in line with national expectations. Many pupils join and leave the school at different times. Pupils progress well from their varied starting points. Newly arrived pupils, including those who speak English as an additional language, achieve outcomes in national tests that are typically lower than average, for example in phonics. This is because these pupils have not had enough time to benefit from the school’s curriculum. Pupils can explain their learning well. For example, from their science learning, they could talk about the digestive system and the need for a balanced diet containing carbohydrates and proteins. Pupils demonstrate a genuine love of reading and know a wide range of authors. Pupils present work in their books that shows their progress over time. Adaptations

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Achievement Expected standard

to tasks help ensure that pupils who experience barriers to their learning can nonetheless complete the same work as their peers.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders have high expectations for pupils' attendance. They are relentless in their commitment to increase attendance rates so that they are line with national averages. The school’s attendance team works with external partners to analyse pupils' absence closely. This helps the team to identify patterns and trends in pupils' absences. Leaders build positive relationships with families to understand any barriers that may be having a negative impact on attendance. This careful analysis enables leaders to support families to improve their children’s attendance. Staff communicate effectively with pupils about the importance of attending well. As a result, attendance for pupils who are disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is in line with national expectations. Overall attendance is improving over time.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders and staff have implemented a new policy for behaviour, communication and relationships. This has strengthened behaviour across the school. Pupils are polite and welcoming. From the early years onwards, pupils demonstrate care and empathy towards each other. They are quick to offer comfort to one another if they are upset. Pupils behave well and follow the routines that staff expect of them. They are focused and attentive in lessons and move around the school calmly. Staff are adept at supporting pupils who struggle to make positive choices about how to behave. Bullying is rare, and pupils rightly trust adults to deal with any incidents swiftly.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders monitor the quality of the curriculum using evidence from assessments, work scrutiny, pupil voice and staff feedback. This accurate oversight helps them make sound decisions on which areas to improve. Curriculums are ambitious and well planned, with clear endpoints so that pupils build their knowledge year on year. Curriculum leaders across all subjects take the school’s context into account. For example, they have adapted the history curriculum to incorporate teaching about the Windrush generation, and the art curriculum to include studies of the artist L S Lowry. This helps to make the curriculum relevant and interesting for pupils.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders ensure that staff have the subject knowledge and expertise they need to deliver the curriculum as intended. Leaders ensure that essential learning in reading, writing and mathematics is threaded through the curriculums in other subjects. Staff explain content clearly and encourage pupils to work collaboratively. Where pupils need adaptations or adjustments to aid their learning, these are provided and delivered skilfully by staff.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff typically address gaps in pupils’ knowledge effectively. They usually make sure that pupils understand and remember what they have learned previously in different topics. Very occasionally, in some subjects, staff design learning that does not take sufficient account of what pupils already know and can do. This includes in the teaching of handwriting. When this happens, some pupils do not learn as well as they should.

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Early years Expected standard

Leaders have developed an ambitious early years curriculum which is clearly organised to ensure that children make progress. From the start of the Nursery Year, a focus on communication, language and vocabulary underpins the curriculum and shapes staff's daily practice with children.

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Early years Expected standard

Staff engage children in high ‑ quality interactions that develop their conversational skills. Learning activities are closely matched to children’s stages of development. Indoor and outdoor areas encourage imaginative and purposeful play and open questions prompt children to think more deeply. Children engage enthusiastically in activities and show growing independence. Reading is a priority. In the Nursery Year, children enjoy listening to rhymes and stories. This helps them to be ready to learn phonics in the Reception class when the time comes.

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Early years Expected standard

On the whole, children make secure progress from typically low starting points. Most are ready for Year 1 by the time they leave the early years. Children who join the school part way through the Reception Year have less time to benefit from the school's early years provision. This sometimes means that they are less well prepared for Year 1. Nonetheless, they make suitable progress from their starting points.

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Early years Expected standard

Staff identify any additional needs quickly. They adapt provision so that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities can access the curriculum and progress well. Positive partnerships with parents and carers are forged from the outset. Parents say they always feel welcome in school and they appreciate the helpful guidance on ways to support learning at home.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The school is inclusive and ambitious for all pupils. Leaders swiftly identify any barriers to achievement or wellbeing that pupils may have. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive timely and helpful support. Pupils who are disadvantaged, and those who are vulnerable in other ways, are well supported to engage positively in all aspects of school life.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders work effectively with relevant external professionals to ensure that pupils requiring specialist support receive this without delay. Pupils with complex needs receive an individualised curriculum. Leaders ensure that staff have the necessary expertise to understand and meet pupils' needs well. Leaders have put in place systems for overseeing the progress that pupils with SEND make. However, on a few occasions, these systems do not provide leaders with the clear information that they need. When this happens, it makes it more difficult for leaders to plan pupils' next steps.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders tailor learning and support for disadvantaged pupils effectively. They ensure that pupils' individual circumstances are thoroughly understood so that additional funding, such as the pupil premium, is used appropriately. These pupils benefit from a range of support and experiences.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders commission alternative provision appropriately. Leaders maintain full accountability for pupils’ attendance, progress and wellbeing while they learn elsewhere. They work closely with alternative providers to support pupils' successful reintegration into mainstream education.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

School and trust leaders monitor closely all aspects of the school's performance. This provides them with an accurate view of the school’s strengths and areas to develop. They make informed decisions rooted in pupils’ best interests. This includes disadvantaged pupils, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those known to children’s social care.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Governors are proud of the school’s uniquely diverse community and its inclusive ethos. In particular, they are proud of the strong relationships that staff build with families. Governors maintain an accurate understanding of the school through their regular focused visits. These link to their designated areas of responsibility and to the school's improvement priorities. This enables governors to hold leaders to account while being mindful of leaders' workload and wellbeing. Trust leaders listen carefully to what headteachers need and attend governor meetings to maintain clarity of communication. Trust leaders ensure that there is two-way communication at all levels, so that all members of the school community contribute to the school’s priorities.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders provide staff with training that helps them to meet pupils’ needs. For example, staff who work with pupils with complex SEND develop their knowledge and skills through outreach support provided by a local special school. Staff also have meaningful opportunities to progress through structured career pathways. Teachers new to the profession benefit from helpful coaching. They build useful networks with other early career colleagues. Staff feel valued. They report that leaders take their wellbeing seriously, avoid unnecessary burdens and ensure that their views are heard and acted upon.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils at this proudly diverse, inner-city school are happy. They have warm relationships with each other and with staff, who make sure they feel safe and cared for. The school brings together pupils and families from a wide range of religions, backgrounds and cultures.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils benefit from the school's close attention to their individual needs. Pupils rise to meet leaders' high expectations of them. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to their learning, engage wholeheartedly in their work. They achieve well and are adequately prepared for their next steps. Where pupils who speak English as an additional language have recently joined the school, their outcomes are typically lower than their peers. They have had less time to benefit from the school's curriculum. The school’s motto, ‘Preparing today’s children for tomorrow’s world’, matters deeply to the pupils who attend here. Pupils are encouraged to be aspirational. With oracy at the heart of the school’s approach, pupils speak confidently, listen well and express ideas clearly. They can explain British values and apply them to school life. Older pupils reflect maturely on

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

issues such as equality and crime. Pupils develop the ability to think critically. The debating club has won several competitions as a result.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils behave well in class and at social times. Bullying is extremely rare. Should it happen, pupils know that staff will address it effectively. Pupils' attendance is improving. They don’t want to miss their learning and other school activities. Pupils and their families receive effective support to overcome barriers to learning or wellbeing. Parents and carers are highly positive about the school and say staff are always welcoming and helpful.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils are offered a range of leadership roles. For instance, they act as attendance ambassadors, school councillors and rights-respecting leaders. These meaningful roles give pupils a sense of responsibility and develop their confidence to contribute positively to their community.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that all staff design highly effective learning that consistently takes account of pupils' prior learning needs and starting points, including in the teaching of handwriting. Leaders should further strengthen their oversight of the progress that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities make, so that they have clear and concise evidence that they need in order to inform the best approaches for pupils' next steps.

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About this inspection

This school is part of the Changing Lives in Collaboration Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Jo Ashcroft, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Ashley Harrison.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, other senior leaders and staff. They also met with members of the governing board, including the chair of governors, and with members of the trust, including the chair of trustees.

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Team inspectors:

John Tomlinson, Ofsted Inspector Kelly Butler, Ofsted Inspector Jackie Stillings, Ofsted Inspector Valmai Roberts, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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What does this mean?

The school currently uses one registered alternative provision.

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What does this mean?

Co-headteachers: Helen Turner and Jeff Reynolds The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 64% 62% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 59% 61% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 56% 60% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 74% 75% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 75% 74% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 74% 73% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 68% 72% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 71% 72% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 65% 71% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 70% 74% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 73% 73% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 72% 73% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 54% 47% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 54% 46% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 49% 44% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 71% 63% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 72% 60% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 54% 59% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 59% 58% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 63% 61% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 64% 59% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 64% 59% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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