Richardson Endowed Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Richardson Endowed Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 18 January 2017, 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 May 2012. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You, the governing body and senior leaders have maintained the calm and orderly environment noted at the previous inspection. The environment continues to promote good behaviour by the pupils and positive attitudes to learning.

The ...pupils respond well in lessons to their teachers and to the work that they are given, including in the early years. Typically, over time, the pupils make good progress and achieve well. The pupils show pride in their work.

I saw well-presented work of a good standard produced in lessons and in the pupils' exercise books. This was something identified at the previous inspection as needing improvement, but is now good. The leaders responsible for the different key stages monitor the progress of the pupils carefully.

They use a range of evidence to reach their judgements about how well the pupils are doing, including scrutinising regularly the work produced by the pupils, which has put right an area for improvement from the previous inspection. Nevertheless, occasionally, individual groups do not make quite as much progress as they should within a given year, for example boys in reading in 2016. The pupils' results in the Year 1 phonics screening check have fluctuated each year since the last inspection.

At the moment, the school is slipping progressively below the national average. Importantly, however, the pupils catch up well with the required standard by the end of Year 2. The boys to whom I listened and with whom I spoke about reading, mostly, used their knowledge of phonics effectively and read confidently, fluently and with suitable expression.

They lacked a precise understanding of what they needed to do to improve their reading or of what their teachers wanted them to do better. You have made significant improvements in the quality of the provision for outdoor learning in the early years, which was an area for improvement at the previous inspection. The outdoor area is well equipped and attractively laid out and offers a range of stimulating and exciting opportunities for the children to work on all areas of learning.

Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that records are detailed and kept carefully. The staff implement the school's policies and procedures for reporting concerns dutifully.

The staff and volunteers at the school are trained in and informed about safeguarding matters regularly, so that they are up to date with national guidance and aware of things such as the 'Prevent' duty. The pupils feel safe at the school. Those with whom I spoke raised no concerns about bullying and told me that it is rare, although they did not say that it never happens.

The staff deal with misbehaviour effectively and, accordingly, have gained the confidence of the pupils and, predominantly, of the parents. The pupils take on board the things that the school teaches them about how to stay safe. They told me about the importance of the school rules in this respect, about following instructions during fire drills and about recent work with community support officers to deal with cyber bullying.

Inspection findings ? The proportion of boys reaching a good level of development by the end of the early years is rising and is increasingly close to that of the girls. ? The children in the early years move easily between learning indoors and outdoors, supported effectively by the staff, so that wherever the children are learning, they build upon what has gone before. ? The school makes well-considered adaptations to the teaching arrangements for phonics, so that the teaching provided is matched to the pupils' needs.

For example, Year 1 pupils who are finding phonics particularly difficult are able to benefit from further teaching in the early years provision. ? The boys' progress in reading is assisted by the use of regularly completed reading logs and access to a range of books that spark their interest. The boys are not sufficiently aware, however, of how to improve their reading.

• I saw a particularly effective example of a boy being encouraged and enabled to give detailed explanations of his work at length for the whole class; the impact on the boy's confidence and sense of pride was very evident. ? The school's leaders use a whole-school system for collecting information about how well the pupils are doing and use the information thoroughly in discussions with classroom teachers. This enables the whole staff to be made aware of individuals who are not making enough or rapid progress.

The system has not, so far, been sufficient to prevent particular groups from slipping behind from time to time. ? The leaders make sure that information about how well the pupils are doing is transferred smoothly between each key stage, beginning with the early years. ? A substantial majority of the parents who responded to the inspection questionnaire, of those with whom I spoke and of those who took part in the school's recent survey confirmed that their children are kept safe.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the school's approach to monitoring the progress of groups of pupils identifies quickly those who are falling behind, so that action can be taken promptly and lead to more rapid progress ? boys, in particular, are given better guidance more consistently about how to improve their reading, so that they make more progress in this subject. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Derbyshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Clive Moss Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I held meetings with the executive headteacher and headteacher, the designated leaders for safeguarding and other leaders. I met with representatives of the governing body. I held a discussion with a representative of the local authority.

I made a series of visits to lessons jointly with the headteacher. I listened to pupils reading. I discussed the work of the school with the pupils formally when meeting with them and informally during breaks and in lessons.

I looked at examples of the pupils' work during lessons and a sample of their workbooks. I looked at the views of parents expressed using Parent View and others collected through surveys carried out by the school. I talked with parents at the start of the school day.

I looked at the results of inspection surveys of the pupils and the staff. I looked at a range of documents, including safeguarding records, a range of policy documents, the school's information about the current progress of the pupils and other information about behaviour and attendance. I looked into the progress of pupils in key stage 1, particularly in phonics, the progress of boys, particularly in reading, the effectiveness of the school's leaders in monitoring the progress of the pupils and the effectiveness of the school's work to safeguard pupils.

Also at this postcode