Redlands Primary and Nursery SchoolOfsted inspection, 14 Dec 2006

Inspection Report Redlands Primary and Nursery School

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122603 Unique Reference Number NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Local Authority 292458 Inspection number 14 December 2006 Inspection date Joyce Cox Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Crown Street School address Primary Type of school Worksop Community School category Nottinghamshire S80 1TH 3 °11 Age range of pupils 01909 473655 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01909 530928 Fax number 384 Number on roll (school) Mrs Mandy Lacey Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Chris Honey Headteacher 13 January 2003 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection date Age group 292458 14 December 2006 3 °11 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by one Additional Inspector over one day.

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Description of the school

Redlands is a large, very popular primary school situated in Worksop serving a mixed catchment area. The immediate vicinity of the school is significantly disadvantaged. An above average number of pupils are eligible for free school meals. There are an average number of pupils with learning difficulties, including statements. The majority of the pupils are White British with a very small number from minority ethnic backgrounds with a very small percentage who speak English as a second language. The school population is becoming increasingly mobile. Children start in the Nursery at three years old with knowledge and skills that are below the expected levels particularly in terms of their language and social skills. The school has achieved Healthy School Gold status and has been awarded a Sports Active Mark. The school is a Centre of Excellence for table tennis coaching and in 2005 school won the English School's Table Tennis Championships.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Redlands Primary and Nursery School, 14 December 2006

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Grade: 1

Redlands is an outstanding school which gives its pupils an excellent all-round education. In this inclusive setting, staff and pupils successfully live out their school mission statement to: 'Provide quality education within a family environment.' Parents overwhelmingly support the school and greatly appreciate all that it provides. One parent writes, 'Redlands has a very committed group of teachers backed up by excellent leadership.' The headteacher is a charismatic and inspirational leader who has the highest possible aspirations for the school and the pupils. He has skilfully built a staff team that is totally committed to raising attainment and who strive for excellence in all that they do. Standards have risen year on year since 2001 and are above average in English and exceptionally high in mathematics and science by the end of Year 6. Most pupils make outstanding progress and their achievement is excellent in relation to their below

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Grade: 1

average attainment on entry. This is due to high calibre teaching from staff who have high expectations for all pupils. Nursery children get off to a very good start as they learn through an exciting and enticing variety of practical and interesting activities. This school is correctly currently extending this high quality curriculum into the Reception class. Parents of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are extremely pleased with their children's achievement, which is again, excellent. The school's success also lies in its outstanding assessment procedures and skill in meeting the needs of pupils with different capabilities. Pupils' personal development and well-being are outstanding. They love school, behave extremely well and have very positive attitudes. Provision for pupils' moral, social and cultural development is excellent. Pupils live healthy and safe lives and many pupils

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Grade: 1

make a real contribution to school life through being school councillors. The excellent curriculum is enriched with many clubs, special weeks, visits and visitors, which enhances teaching and pupils' enjoyment. The quality of care, guidance and support is outstanding. There are excellent arrangements for guiding pupils on their academic performance and the school's procedures for safeguarding pupils are robust and meet current requirements. Leadership and management are outstanding. The headteacher has an extremely clear view of the school's strengths and wastes no time in identifying and taking action where improvements are required. For example, highly successful initiatives to raise pupils' achievement in writing resulted in considerably improved test results in 2006. This outstanding evaluation, coupled with very good improvement since the last inspection, proves that the school has an enormous capacity for continued

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What the school should do to improve further

• Make sure pupils achieve as well in English as they do in mathematics and science. 2 Inspection Report: Redlands Primary and Nursery School, 14 December 2006

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Grade: 1

Achievement is excellent because of the outstanding teaching, curriculum and care that the school provides for each pupil. Foundation Stage children make good progress and from a below average entry point many attain the expected levels for children of this age on entry to Year 1, apart from in their writing development. Pupils make excellent progress and achievement in the infant classes and standards are improving rapidly, being above average at the end of Year 2 in 2006. These standards represent especially good progress and achievement for pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities who receive high quality support. Year 6 pupils reach the very challenging targets set and attain high standards in mathematics and science and above average standards in English by the time they leave. Test results show that pupils achieve exceptionally well between Year 3 and Year 6.

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Grade: 1

Pupils' personal development, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent. They thoroughly enjoy school and respond enthusiastically because as one pupil said, 'All the staff are very kind and make us feel good when we have done something right at school.' Their behaviour is exemplary. Pupils fully understand the importance of, and try to follow, a healthy lifestyle. Virtually all pupils take part in the considerable range of sports activities on offer including disco dancing, rugby, football, cricket and table tennis. School council members were proud to describe their role in developing outdoor play activities. Pupils take a very active part in the local community by collating data for a local Forum group and by keeping the school site neat and tidy, entertaining their families and local residents with musical events and supporting many national and local charities. There has been a steady improvement

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Grade: 1

in pupils' attendance over the last three years and it is now good. The school is doing all it possibly can to improve attendance further. Children's personal development is promoted very well from the time they enter the Nursery where they happily learn to take turns in games, select their own activities and share resources.

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Grade: 1

The outstanding teaching and learning in the infant and junior classes enable pupils to achieve exceptionally well. Staff have an excellent understanding of how pupils learn and skilfully adapt their teaching to meet pupils' various capabilities and talents. Pupils are unanimous in praising their teachers and Year 6 pupils say, 'Our teachers challenge us and make us really think.' Nursery children settle quickly in bright and colourful, if somewhat cramped accommodation. They benefit considerably from good 3 Inspection Report: Redlands Primary and Nursery School, 14 December 2006 teaching which is clearly focused on developing their language skills and promoting their independence. In a very small number of lessons in the rest of the school the pace of pupils' learning slows when they are kept sitting too long listening to the teacher or not given enough practical activities to reinforce their learning. All pupils,

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Grade: 1

and particularly those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, benefit from the excellent support provided by teachers and the talented teaching assistants. Highly effective procedures for tracking pupils' progress underpin outstanding lesson planning, providing staff with the necessary information to match precisely pupils' learning to their abilities.

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Grade: 1

The outstanding curriculum has a very strong impact on the progress pupils make throughout the school. The brand new buildings give pupils access to excellent library, resources and information and communication technology (ICT) facilities. Whilst there is a very effective focus on improving reading, writing and numeracy skills, the pupils' enthusiasm for learning is increased considerably through the vast range of exciting activities on offer. From Year 3 all pupils are taught formally to speak Spanish and pupils enjoy communicating with twinned schools in Madrid and Mexico. Specialist sports training in table tennis and basketball and additional professional sports coaching provide an exceptionally wide range of physical activities every day of the week. Excellent opportunities also exist for pupils to expand their musical and artistic skills. As one pupil said, 'There is always something interesting to do here,' and this view

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Grade: 1

Pupils are provided with excellent support and guidance. There are thorough arrangements for safeguarding pupils and regular training keeps staff up-to-date with current requirements. Very detailed assessment of pupils' work provides senior leaders and all staff with a very clear indication of how well they are doing. The pupils' understanding of their own attainment helps them to strive for the next level and to meet challenging targets. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are guided and supported sensitively and effectively so they can enjoy a full and rich school life. One parent writes, 'My child's class teacher, teaching assistants, special needs leader, class mates and headteacher have been fantastic in terms of making provision for my child's special physical and educational needs.' Pupils say they feel very safe at school and know who to turn to in the event of trouble.

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Grade: 1

The outstanding and highly popular leadership provided by the headteacher and the deputy has helped to maintain the high quality of leadership seen at the time of the 4 Inspection Report: Redlands Primary and Nursery School, 14 December 2006 last inspection. The headteacher's vast experience and considerable expertise in school leadership is used to very good effect to support other local schools. All staff are provided with excellent training and support and senior leaders have succeeded in their aim to get everyone involved more in monitoring the school's performance and its improvement. The governors work effectively with the school and play an increasing role in monitoring its work. The highly accurate self-evaluation is the result of very good teamwork and regular consultation with parents, governors and pupils in identifying how the school might improve. 5 Inspection Report: Redlands Primary and Nursery School, 14 December 2006

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Grade: 1

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Redlands Primary and Nursery School, 14 December 2006

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do learners achieve? 1 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The behaviour of learners 2 The attendance of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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and interests of learners?

1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 7 Inspection Report: Redlands Primary and Nursery School, 14 December 2006

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Redlands Primary and Nursery School, 14 December 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

15 December 2006 Dear Pupils, Redlands Primary and Nursery School, Crown Street, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, S80 1TH Thank you very much for making me so welcome when I came to inspect your school recently. I enjoyed joining some of you for lunch, talking with you and seeing you at work and play. This letter is to tell you what I think is good about your school and how it could be even better. I particularly like these things: - • Your excellent behaviour and your enthusiasm for lessons and other activities. • The very good relationships you have with one another and with the staff. • The interesting and extremely wide range of activities that you all enjoy. • The skilful way in which the headteacher and all the teachers make sure you love learning and make very good progress in your work. • The very caring way you are looked after and supported by adults in the school. • The fact you are so aware of the importance of eating healthily and taking lots of exercise.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

This is the thing I have suggested those in charge do to make it even better: - • Make sure that you do as well in English as you do in mathematics and science. It was great to learn that you are doing so well at school and that your parents are so very happy too. Your headteacher, governors and teachers have excellent plans to make the school even better. You can play your part by continuing to work hard and looking after each other. I wish you all the very best for the future. Joyce Cox Lead Inspector 9 Inspection Report: Redlands Primary and Nursery School, 14 December 2006

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