Roe Farm Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This school is inclusive. It is ambitious for all pupils to achieve well, starting in the early years. Pupils enjoy learning and their achievements continue to improve.

Most pupils follow the school's high expectations of behaviour. Any pupils who struggle to do what is expected are supported well. Pupils benefit from help with their social and emotional well-being.

They are good friends with each other and play together happily during social times.

The school teaches pupils how to stay safe, including when they use the internet. Pupils are confident they can speak to a member of staff if they have any worries.

The school's extensive pastoral support... is a strength. It provides a range of opportunities to help pupils' wider development and positive mental health.

Parents and carers are positive about the care the school shows to pupils.

Many parents praise how the school goes over and above to help families. They value opportunities to see their children perform at musical and sporting events. They appreciate receiving useful information about what is happening in school life and what their children are learning.

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

The well-planned curriculum in the early years supports children's speaking, listening and understanding. Staff go the 'extra mile' to nurture children's enthusiasm to learn. They design meaningful activities that engage children's interests.

For example, children loved watching chicks and ducklings that staff brought into school and discussing how these animals live. They enjoyed creating fact booklets and diagrams to recall what they had learned. Conversations with staff help children use new vocabulary in appropriate ways.

Children's confidence and independence is nurtured. Their positive experiences in the early years ensure that they are ready for Year 1.

The curriculum is well-thought out.

The information pupils need to learn in each subject is specified clearly, and sequenced carefully, to help pupils know and remember key information and skills. Important knowledge is repeated so that pupils do not forget it. Staff present new knowledge to pupils in helpful steps.

Most pupils can recall what they are taught. However, some pupils do not get enough help to ensure that they remember new knowledge. Assessment is used effectively to check how well pupils learn the curriculum.

Reading is prioritised. Staff use their strong subject knowledge to teach phonics and reading fluency well. They check how well pupils learn the sounds that they are taught.

Staff model well how to read texts with expression. This helps pupils to read with understanding. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well with their reading.

Carefully adapted opportunities help them learn sounds and practise their reading. They achieve well. The school encourages pupils to read often.

Pupils enjoy choosing their own books from the school's new library and selecting books to read during social times from the reading sheds in the playground.

Pupils' character and personal development is prioritised. Well-attended clubs such as tennis, tag rugby and football, broaden pupils' access to sport.

School trips enhance pupils' curriculum knowledge. For example, experiencing an air raid during a museum visit supported pupils' understanding of the Second World War. Pupils like having responsibilities and taking on leadership roles.

Anti-bullying ambassadors support friendships during social times, while 'mini-leaders' organise games in the playground. The school captains help to arrange sports day. Pupils benefit from these wide-ranging enrichment opportunities.

Pupils concentrate well in lessons. They respond positively to reminders about behaviour expectations. Pupils understand why it is important to be respectful and courteous to each other.

They develop their understanding of life in modern Britain, such as the meaning of equality and why it is wrong to discriminate. As one pupil typically explained, 'We are all human beings and we deserve to be treated the same.'

The school checks attendance closely.

All pupils are expected to attend school well. However, some pupils are often absent from school. They miss out on important learning and experiences.

This creates gaps in their understanding.

Staff are well supported in their roles. They benefit from the high-quality training provided by the school.

Governors understand their responsibilities. They champion equality for all. They are considerate of staff workload and well-being.

Governors check the impact of the curriculum on pupils' achievements. However, governors' oversight of school improvement sometimes lacks rigour.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum is not always adapted well enough to help pupils learn new information. Some pupils struggle to recall key knowledge that they need to know about a subject and have gaps in their understanding. The school should continue to develop strategies that help pupils remember key knowledge in all subjects.

• Some pupils do not attend school often enough. These pupils miss out on the good education that the school provides. The school needs to ensure that all pupils attend school well.

Governors' oversight of the school's improvement priorities is not always sharp enough. Some of the things that the school is working on to improve are not evaluated closely enough to ensure that they are having the desired impact. The school should ensure that governors' checking of the school's work is rigorous.