Roche Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school's 'five ways to well-being' - connect, give, take notice, keep learning, be active - underpin the school ethos and how pupils learn.

Pupils understand these concepts and why they are important. They talk about their learning across the curriculum with excitement and confidence. Pupils study a broad range of subjects.

Staff are ambitious for what they believe pupils can achieve. Pupils value the ambitious curriculum.

The school is calm and has a purposeful atmosphere.

Pupils are polite and confident. Adults have high expectations of behaviour. Pupils behave well.

They enjoy coming to school and attend well. Pupils value the rewards... they receive for their conduct and positive attitudes to learning. Bullying is rare.

Should any bullying occur, pupils trust adults to deal with it swiftly.

Pupils are part of an inclusive learning environment. Leaders provide purposeful opportunities for pupils to be responsible, respectful and active citizens.

For example, the school council has led a number of projects, including the design of the online safety code and creating a definition of well-being. Pupils have many opportunities to broaden their experiences and enhance their learning.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, which is sequenced well.

The curriculum in all subjects begins in early years. It builds on pupils' prior knowledge, so that pupils learn successfully. Leaders have prioritised reading, writing and mathematics within this.

Subject leaders are knowledgeable about the subjects they are responsible for. They monitor their subject areas effectively. Leaders collect a range of different information to find out about pupils' learning across the school.

This ensures that leaders are responsive to when the curriculum needs to be adapted. For example, in mathematics, the structure of lessons was changed to have an initial focus on fluency in number.

Leaders and staff support pupils with SEND well.

Staff identify pupils' needs early and are supported to adapt learning effectively. Teachers ensure that pupils' individual support matches their specific needs and includes pupil and parent views.

Leaders prioritise reading.

They strive to develop a culture where pupils learn to read successfully and where reading is enjoyed and appreciated. Phonics is taught well. It begins right from the start of children's time in Reception.

Pupils have reading books matched to the sounds they are learning. Older pupils understand how shared reading helps them become better readers. Pupils read daily and enjoy listening to adults read to them.

They have access to a diverse range of texts, including those that support them to expand their vocabulary and subject knowledge across a range of curriculum subjects.

Teaching in early years enables children to develop their physical development, language and communication and early mathematics skills well. There is a clear understanding of what children need at the different stages of their development.

Adults carefully consider opportunities for learning. Their interactions with children have maximum impact on their development. This prepares the children well for their learning in key stage 1 and beyond.

The focus on physical development continues into key stage 1 and 2. Pupils have daily physical education (PE) lessons. These link effectively to the focus on well-being.

The quality of education is now a strength. This is due to the focus leaders have placed on it. However, leaders and governors do not have the same well-informed overview and focus on other aspects of the school's provision, such as behaviour and pupils' wider development.

As a result, leaders are not sure of trends and patterns in behaviour incidents and how well the wider curriculum is being implemented. Governors do not challenge leaders on these aspects with the same rigour as they do with the academic curriculum.

Despite this, leaders have successfully created a school where everyone feels supported and valued.

Pupils do explore many aspects of the wider curriculum. For example, pupils learn to accept differences by learning about significant people and reading diverse texts. Pupils learn about equalities and fundamental British values.

Staff model clear expectations of pupils' behaviour. Pupils show high levels of engagement in their learning and are keen to do well. Attitudes to learning are consistently positive.

Pupils refer to what they have learned and what impact it has made rather than what they have done.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff know pupils and their families well.

As a result, they are quick to notice and respond to any concerns or worries. Leaders follow up concerns and act on these quickly. They work with external agencies well to provide support where appropriate.

Staff have statutory training to keep them informed about their responsibilities to keep children safe. Regular information is made available to refresh and develop staff awareness further. However, leaders do not prioritise and target this as well as they could.

Consequently, staff are not kept as up to date as they should be. Recruitment procedures are thorough.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe.

They are particularly knowledgeable about online safety and well-being.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders and governors have focused on improving the quality of education. As a result, other aspects of the school's work, such as behaviour and the wider curriculum, have not had the same level of rigour and scrutiny.

Leaders and governors are unsure of trends and patterns in behaviour incidents or the quality of the wider curriculum. Leaders and governors need to monitor these aspects of the school's work with rigour. Governors need to ensure they challenge leaders sufficiently on these aspects of the school's work.

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