Riversdale Primary School

Riversdale Primary School

Address: 302a Merton Road, Wandsworth, London, SW18 5JP Unique reference number (URN): 101018

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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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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

The school’s leaders track attendance closely and know in detail the barriers to attending regularly that some pupils face. Working in partnership with parents and carers, they act quickly to help remove these barriers. As a result, attendance is improving, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders know that this work must continue if attendance is to improve further.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders have created a calm and purposeful culture in which pupils of all ages treat one another with respect. Pupils typically behave well. They are friendly and have positive attitudes to school and to their learning. Bullying is rare and is not tolerated. This is because pupils are taught to think about the effect their words and actions have on others. Pupils’ learning in class typically proceeds purposefully and without interruption. Staff deal with any rare occurrences of low-level disruption quickly. On the rare occasions when any pupils find it harder to follow the school’s established rules and routines, staff support them to do so.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The school’s programme of personal development makes a positive difference to pupils. The personal, social, health and economic education programme teaches pupils to understand how to stay safe, both online and offline. Pupils learn about fundamental British values and complex ideas such as equality and diversity. As one pupil put it, speaking for their peers, 'Everyone should be treated with respect, whoever they are.' Pupils respect the diversity of their school community and enjoy learning about their peers’ beliefs and cultural heritages. Generally, pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported to take part in this learning.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders provide a range of enrichment opportunities that broaden pupils' experiences and interests. Clubs include gymnastics, choir and art, and pupils visit museums, literary festivals and theatres. A careers day, held every 2 years, raises pupils’ aspirations through talks from visitors working in health care and veterinary services. Leaders use additional funding to make sure that disadvantaged pupils take part in the wider personal development programme. Leaders track who attends clubs. However, the proportion of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND who attend a club is low. The school has not ensured that pupils who would gain most from enrichment opportunities take part fully in what the school has to offer.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Typically, pupils benefit from effective care for their welfare. For some, this includes mentoring or the chance to start the school day a little earlier so they can settle more readily to their work. Pupils also take on leadership roles, such as on the student council and in the playground at breaktime, which promotes their sense of responsibility.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Across the school, pupils develop the knowledge and confidence they need for life beyond the classroom.

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Achievement Needs attention

Typically, pupils do not achieve well. Over time, outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics in end of Year 6 national assessment tests, and in the Year 1 phonics screening check, have been below national averages. This is largely due to inconsistent teaching and shortcomings in the support given to pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and disadvantaged pupils. However, there are some areas of the school’s work that are more effective. For example, pupils achieve well in the Year 4 multiplication tables check.

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Achievement Needs attention

Disadvantaged pupils at the school achieve less well than other disadvantaged pupils nationally. Pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they should when the targets they are set lack precision. Where teaching does not build on what pupils already know, gaps in knowledge accumulate as pupils move up through the years. Often, pupils move on to the next stage of their education without the secure foundations they need to be well prepared for what comes next.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Since the last inspection, leaders have improved the curriculum. They have designed a broad and balanced curriculum that sets out clearly the knowledge pupils should know and remember in each subject.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Typically, this curriculum is not taught well. The quality of teaching is uneven across year groups and phases. This is because leaders have not ensured that all staff have the expertise needed, and because, until recently, leaders did not scrutinise the quality of teaching closely. Sometimes, teaching does not check carefully that pupils have understood what has been taught. Where this happens, gaps in understanding and misconceptions go unnoticed and teaching moves on to new content before prior learning is secure. Adaptations for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils are made in some lessons, but not in others, and where they are made they are often not well matched to pupils’ needs. This is particularly the case in the specially resourced provision. There, teaching is not routinely ambitious, and leaders have not made sure that staff are clear about what these pupils need to learn next.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

As a result, across the school, pupils typically do not achieve as well as they should.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

The school’s leaders have an accurate view of the quality of teaching. They have begun to take action to improve it, but this work is at an early stage and it is too soon to see its impact.

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Early years Needs attention

The school’s leaders have taken steps to improve the quality of the early years. For example, they have trained staff to improve the activities the children are given and the quality of staff’s interactions with children. As a result, staff are guiding children to practise important knowledge. Leaders have also trained staff to teach phonics more consistently. However, there has not been enough time for these improvements to have a sustained impact on children's early reading. The quality of staff’s interactions with children is uneven. This means children do not routinely develop their communication and language as well as they could.

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Early years Needs attention

Staff establish clear routines and create a calm, warm and predictable environment, which helps children to settle quickly. Generally, children feel safe, form positive friendships and are cared for well. Children are taught how to play well together and to take turns. They learn to be independent. Typically, children manage their own needs well. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported to join in and learn with their peers.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Generally, pupils do not receive the tailored support they need. Leaders identify pupils’ needs accurately and promptly, including the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), disadvantaged pupils and those known to children’s social care. Leaders work with parents, carers and external agencies to plan support. However, this support is typically more successful in meeting pupils’ personal welfare needs than their learning needs, including the knowledge pupils need to build on in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Inclusion Needs attention

For the most part, plans for pupils with SEND are not set out with enough detail for staff to act on. Staff are often unclear about how to support the needs of pupils with SEND in lessons. Leaders have not ensured that staff are well trained to adapt learning. As a result, the work pupils are given often takes too little account of what they already know and can do. When this is the case, it makes learning harder for them and hinders their achievement. In the specially resourced provision, staff are not routinely clear about what the most vulnerable pupils need to learn next or how best to help them learn.

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Inclusion Needs attention

The school’s leaders use alternative provision appropriately and have introduced a strategic approach to the use of additional funding. Through the use of funding, the attendance rates and personal development of disadvantaged pupils are beginning to improve, although its full impact is not yet clear.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

In the past, the governing body did not hold leaders routinely to account for the school's performance, particularly for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The governing body did not challenge leaders robustly or act to address shortcomings with urgency.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

In recent times, leaders have worked hard to give the governing body a more reliably accurate and informed account of how well the school is doing. This is enabling the governing body to hold leaders to account more effectively than in the past. Members of the governing body challenge leaders about the impact of additional funding for disadvantaged pupils. In other areas of the school's work, and particularly in provision for pupils with SEND, leaders need to act more quickly to secure improvements, and the impact of their work is not yet evident.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Day-to-day management of the school is concentrated among too few people. Leaders and the governing body are developing leadership more widely, so that more staff take responsibility for different aspects of the school’s work. However, this work is at an early stage.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders have taken meaningful action to address the shortcomings in the school’s provision, but progress is uneven. Where leaders have acted decisively, their work is making a positive difference. For example, leaders have improved pupils’ attendance. In other areas, it is too soon to see the impact of leaders' work.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders are also supporting staff through training to improve their teaching, including how they adapt learning to meet pupils' needs. Leaders and the governing body are mindful of the workload and wellbeing of staff as they make these necessary changes.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The governing body fulfils its statutory duties. Working relationships across the school and with the wider community are positive, and parents and carers typically speak warmly about the school.

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

Pupils are happy at this school. They have warm, working relationships with staff and one another. The school day begins with a friendly welcome from leaders and staff. This sets the tone for the day and helps pupils to settle quickly to learning. Pupils move around the school confidently, and they are polite and courteous with each other.

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

Pupils typically attend school regularly. Pupils who face the greatest barriers to regular school attendance receive targeted support from leaders.

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

Generally, pupils rise to teachers' high expectations of their behaviour. Bullying is rare. Pupils feel safe and say that they are happy at school. They know they can talk to a member of staff if something is worrying them.

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

Pupils enjoy a range of clubs, outings and visits that broaden their knowledge and understanding of the world. Leaders make sure that no pupil misses out because of their circumstances. Pupils are encouraged to take on meaningful leadership roles, and they speak with pride about the responsibilities they hold.

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

On the whole, pupils enjoy their learning. However, they do not achieve as well as they should. This is because teaching is uneven across the school. Sometimes, children do not build secure knowledge of early reading, writing and number in the early years. Where there are gaps in children's understanding of these basics, they are not routinely well addressed as pupils move up through the years. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well cared for, but help and support with learning is variable. As a result, gaps in pupils' knowledge and skills hinder their readiness for the next stage of their education.

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Next steps

Leaders should make sure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are given precise targets that are closely matched to their needs, to support pupils' learning from their starting points. Leaders should build staff expertise so that the curriculum is taught consistently well in every year group and phase. Leaders should make sure that staff are trained to adapt their teaching to meet pupils' needs, including pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils. Leaders should make sure that in the early years, children build secure foundations across all areas of learning, so that children are ready for Year 1. The governing body should sharpen its oversight so that it consistently holds leaders to account for every aspect of the school’s work.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Susan Burke.

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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 staff members, including those with responsibility for safeguarding and for special educational needs, a local authority representative, a leader at the alternative provision used by the school, and members of the governing body. Inspectors also spoke to pupils, parents and carers.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school makes use of one alternative provision.

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About this inspection

The school includes a specially resourced provision for pupils with speech, language and communication needs, including autism.

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About this inspection

There have been recent changes to the leadership of the school.

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Team inspectors:

Dave Collins, Ofsted Inspector Emily Leonard, His Majesty's Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This was the data available at the time of the full inspection, taken from different sources . More recent data may have been published since the full inspection took place.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The inspector(s) used this data during the full inspection on 23 June 2026

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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 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 6 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 needs support 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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What does this mean?

The type of Special Educational Needs provision provided at the school (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 (final) 62% 62% 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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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 (final) 69% 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 (final) 69% 74% 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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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 (final) 62% 63% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 61% 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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national average

2022/23 (final) 67% 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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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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national average

2024/25 (3 term) 5.3% 5.2% Close to average

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Persistent absence

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

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national average

2024/25 (3 term) 11.9% 13.0% Close to average

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national average

2023/24 (3 term) 17.3% 14.6% Close to average

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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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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