Ronald Ross Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school has the highest expectations for pupils' behaviour and achievement. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well in national tests and produce work of high quality across the curriculum.

Classrooms are purposeful places where pupils work enthusiastically, including when they find tasks challenging. From the early years, children listen attentively to each other and to adults. This helps them to take on board a range of ideas.

Pupils are considerate of others. They share, take turns and invite others to play. Playground buddies ensure that everyone is included.

Pupils take up roles of responsibility... widely across the school.

From the early years onwards, pupils' personal and social development is broadened through all that the school organises. This includes outings to galleries, the ballet, opera and to many theatre performances.

These culturally rich experiences considerably strengthen pupils' wider education. For example, pupils in Year 6 have a detailed understanding of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, having seen the play performed before staging their own production of it. Clubs including orchestra, chess, cookery and yoga are popular.

Strong, trusting professional relationships exist between adults and pupils. This makes pupils feel safe. Parents and carers appreciate the wealth of support provided by the school, including weekly opportunities to hear from a range of professionals about topics that matter most to parents, including supporting children's wellbeing and helping pupils with SEND to be successful.

The views of staff are listened to and thoughtfully supported.

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

The school provides a highly ambitious curriculum. Leaders have thought carefully about what pupils should know in each subject.

The needs of pupils with SEND are taken into account throughout. Knowledge is sequenced in a clear, logical progression that helps pupils to understand new learning. For example, children in the early years learn to prepare food safely in weekly cooking lessons.

This prepares them to make simple dishes with fruits in Year 1, and with vegetables in Year 2 before cooking with a heat source in Year 3. Older pupils draw on their knowledge of how to safely prepare healthy food to prepare more complex dishes including quiche and breads.

Children in the early years experience a coherently planned curriculum which adults know in detail.

The indoor and outdoor spaces and resources provide lots of opportunties for children to revisit concepts in a meaningful way. Adults help by purposefully reminding children of important knowledge and expertly modelling language. This continues throughout the school.

High-quality training ensures that staff have strong subject knowledge. The work provided to pupils focuses sharply on helping them to learn the curriculum and to develop the vocabulary they need to talk precisely about their learning.

Teachers and other adults have a shared understanding of the aims of the curriculum.

They check pupils' understanding systematically, skilfully addressing any misconceptions and extending pupils' thinking. There is particular attention paid to ensuring that pupils with SEND understand key concepts securely before moving on to new content. As a result, pupils recall detailed knowledge across the curriculum.

They make links between what they already know and new learning. For example, pupils in Year 6 know that the geography of Ancient Maya provided a good climate to grow cacao and maize, which were valuable currency for trade and therefore made the Mayans powerful in their time.

Reading is at the heart of the curriculum.

Leaders provide a range of interesting literature that takes account of pupils' backgrounds and interests, including plays and poetry. From the early years, pupils read widely and often. They hear stories that captivate them.

Teaching focuses on helping pupils to grasp the important themes, events and conventions in texts so that they can form their own conclusions about texts. Phonics is taught with a sharp focus on ensuring that every child from the early years has a strong foundation in decoding words. Pupils who need support receive all the help they require.

As a result, pupils read with confidence and fluency. Reading Ambassadors in Year 5 read regularly with pupils in Year 1 and help to promote a love of reading.

Pupils' behaviour is excellent.

They are kind, courteous and respectful. The school teaches pupils how to behave well, including how to recognise their emotions and a range of strategies to manage any difficulties they may have in managing their own behaviour and in relationships with others. Attendance rates are high and the school acts swiftly to offer support and encouragement where any pupil's attendance rates are lower.

The school teaches pupils comprehensively how to make healthy and safe choices in relationships. Pupils are taught widely about the different backgrounds, beliefs and experiences of people. This supports their understanding of discrimination and prejudice, and how harmful it can be.

They are very well prepared for life in modern Britain as a result.

The governing body makes a strong contribution to the work of the school in carefully identifying priorities for improvement and ensuring that their aims are met, particualrly so that pupils with SEND and those eligible for the pupil premium receive all the help they need to thrive within the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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