Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Our Lady of the Rosary RC Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 24 January 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in November 2013.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Since joining the school in September 2017, you have accurately evaluated the school's effectiveness in all areas, and used this information to prioritise actions to further improve outcomes for pupils.

Leadership at all... levels is strong. You and the deputy headteacher, middle leaders and governors are very ambitious for the school to continue to provide high-quality education for all pupils. Middle leaders have a clear and precise understanding of how to support staff in refining their teaching skills in English and mathematics, to ensure that pupils attain highly across the school.

Leaders ensure that the learning environment is vibrant, and celebrate the achievements of pupils through effective and colourful displays. Since the last inspection, leaders and governors have made good progress in addressing the areas for improvement. You rightly recognise that the next steps for the school are developing the wider curriculum and ensuring that the level of challenge for the most able pupils is consistent across all classes.

The governing body has continued to demonstrate strong leadership. Governors use their knowledge and expertise well to support you and other leaders to continue to raise standards. They visit regularly to carry out a wide range of tasks, including visiting classrooms, and checking on safeguarding and site security.

Governors are very supportive of you. Pupils are very enthusiastic and enjoy being part of the school. In discussions with pupils, many were keen to convey how much they value the good teaching they receive, and the ways adults involve them in their own learning.

Pupils have access to a wide range of activities as part of the enriched curriculum. These include the school's orchestra, football clubs, art clubs and an Eco Council. Strong and established routines ensure that pupils' behaviour is good around the school and that they feel safe.

In my classroom visits, pupils were very well behaved and highly motivated to complete their work in a calm and productive manner. Activities in the classrooms were planned well to engage and enthuse the pupils so that they made strong progress. Adults in the classroom supported pupils' learning effectively.

Pupils say that staff help them to develop their perseverance skills when learning. For example, pupils attempt to answer challenging questions independently, using their own skills and resources, before asking for adults' help. Parents are supportive of the school.

One parent said: 'Our Lady of the Rosary is a lovely, small community school where my children feel safe and valued.' The local authority supports the school well, and has provided training to develop teaching and the school's self-evaluation practice. Safeguarding The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

The safety and welfare of all pupils have a high profile at Our Lady of the Rosary. Pupils feel safe in school and parents agree with their view. Pupils know who to speak with if they have a concern or problem.

Governors check that safeguarding policies are rigorously followed, and that these are regularly monitored and evaluated. New governors attend induction training, which includes safeguarding, prior to being accepted onto the governing body. Staff and governors receive regular safeguarding training.

Staff know what to do if they have any concerns about a pupil's well-being. Recruitment checks are fit for purpose to ensure the suitability of all those who work or volunteer at Our Lady of the Rosary. The school has effective systems in place to ensure that vulnerable pupils and their families get appropriate support.

Record-keeping is thorough and leaders are effective in following up areas of concern, ensuring that pupils' needs are fully met. Pupils are aware of the potential dangers when using the internet. They said that if they ever viewed anything on the internet at school that made them feel unsafe, they would press a special button to close the screen, and then tell an adult.

Inspection findings ? At the start of the inspection, we agreed to look at the following aspects of the school's work: – the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements – how well the wider curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills in a broad range of subjects – how leaders ensure that pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities make good progress, and how effectively the key stage 1 middle-prior-attaining pupils are challenged to make good progress – how well leaders have addressed the recommendations in the previous report to further improve the quality of teaching. ? The curriculum is broad and balanced. Leaders provide many enrichment activities to extend pupils' learning.

Visitors from the local community are invited into the school to speak to pupils about specific topics, to support pupils' knowledge and understanding. Pupils are very proud that they raise money for worthwhile charities and help those less fortunate than themselves. In history and geography lessons, pupils have many opportunities to develop and extend their writing skills; consequently, writing is a strength at the school.

In the Reception class, children are taught through a wide range of well-planned activities, for example discovering how ice changes when subjected to different temperatures. Leaders ensure that a broad range of knowledge, skills and understanding are taught across subjects. ? Although the wider curriculum is meeting the needs of pupils, you and your deputy headteacher are currently evaluating the planning, teaching and assessment of this curriculum.

In our classroom visits, you rightly recognised that some pupils need more opportunities to achieve higher standards across the wider curriculum, to mirror the opportunities that exist for reading, writing and mathematics. A new assessment system is being implemented to improve the tracking of pupils' progress in foundation subjects. The use of this assessment tool is too recent to have had an impact on pupils' progress, at the time of this inspection.

• In the 2017 national assessments, the overall progress of all pupils leaving key stage 1 was above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. However, the middle-prior-attaining pupils did not make as much progress when compared with the national average. Current pupils' books clearly indicate that their work is well matched to their needs.

Pupils respond diligently to teachers' feedback to further improve their work. Support for reading is organised well to ensure that pupils make good progress. Writing is taught very effectively and pupils are very keen and enthusiastic to improve their work.

Some pupils in Year 2 are receiving tailored additional teaching in small groups, to ensure that they make at least the expected progress from their starting points. The current middle-prior-attaining pupils in key stage 1 are making good progress. They achieve as well as other pupils.

• Leaders rightly recognise that in the 2017 key stage 1 and key stage 2 national assessments, not all pupils from the small group of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities made expected progress in reading and writing. Leaders ensure that well-deployed adults support pupils' learning appropriately by asking relevant questions to develop pupils' writing and reading skills. Non-verbal signs and signals are used effectively between adults and some pupils to communicate to each other about the work and pupils' behaviour, in a calm and unobtrusive way.

Staff know the pupils well and use a wide range of open-ended questions to support learning. Pupils' work is well matched to their needs. This is because support is carefully planned and monitored effectively.

Regular training opportunities for staff to develop their skills enable them to support pupils more effectively. As a result of strong leadership and teaching, most pupils with SEN and/or disabilities make good progress in reading and writing. ? Senior leaders have made good progress to address the recommendations of the previous inspection report.

Governors are now much better informed and hold leaders to account for pupils' progress. Pupils' work is clearly differentiated to better meet their learning needs and this has led to much improved outcomes at the end of each key stage. Assessment information in English and mathematics is used very well to ensure that pupils are given work that matches their attainment levels.

Pupils now receive good advice on how to improve their work, as a result of incisive feedback from teachers. Teachers meet senior leaders on a regular basis to review pupils' progress and to identify where any underachievement is occurring. This ensures that pupils are supported in a timely manner.

Senior leaders provide many training opportunities for staff to work together to share best practice, and to work with staff from other schools. Most pupils with English as an additional language make good progress. ? Teachers plan and provide sufficient challenge for groups of learners and this leads to strong outcomes in English and mathematics.

In visits to classrooms, pupils were observed being able to select tasks matched to their attainment level that provided appropriate stretch. Most-able pupils were challenged well in their learning. However, in a few classes, more difficulty was required for learning activities to fully challenge the most able pupils.

Leaders rightly recognise that there needs to be greater consistency in providing high-level challenge for the most able pupils, across all classes. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the teaching, learning and assessment in the wider curriculum enable pupils to achieve the highest standards in all subjects ? the level of challenge for the most able pupils is consistent across all classes. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Archdiocese of Westminster, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Surrey.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Darren Aisthorpe Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you, your deputy headteacher, the subject leaders for English and mathematics, and four governors. I also had meetings with the school's bursar, a group of pupils and a representative from Surrey County Council.

I spoke with seven parents on the playground and considered 58 responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View, including 29 free-text comments. I also considered 10 responses to Ofsted's online staff questionnaire and 71 responses to the pupil survey. Together with you and the deputy headteacher, I observed teaching and learning across the school.

I looked at pupils' learning in their mathematics books, English books and topic books, as well as evidence of learning in the work of Reception children. I observed pupils at breaktime and spoke with them informally. I also considered a range of documents, including those relating to safeguarding, curriculum planning, governance and assessment.

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