Rose Hill Primary

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Rose Hill are safe and happy.

Pupils know staff have high expectations of them to achieve well.

While this is the case, pupils do not have the opportunity to routinely build upon what they know in some areas of the curriculum. The gap between the teaching of some subjects is too long and pupils forget what they have learned.

Too many pupils cannot read well by the time they leave Rose Hill. These pupils do not have the right support to help them catch up so they are ready for secondary school.

Pupils, including those in the early years, behave well.

Pupils enjoy their time with friends. Playtime and lunchtime are a hive of activity.... Pupils may choose to use sports equipment for active play or read and draw in one of the dedicated areas.

Pupils enjoy the extra-curricular clubs and trips planned by their teachers. A highlight for some was attending a healthy living programme which finished with a trip to Wembley Stadium.

If pupils have any worries, there are always adults available to share their thoughts with.

These respectful relationships help pupils learn how to appreciate differences among others. As such, bullying does not happen often.

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

Leaders' view of the quality of education is over-generous.

They have not reviewed the curriculum thoroughly enough. The curriculum does not ensure pupils know and remember more over time in all subject areas.

While some pupils can sometimes remember the activity they carried out, they do not routinely recall what they have learned.

Consequently, pupils are unable to recall prior learning to help them learn more. For example, a piece of artwork was described in a historical context and the learning was focused upon techniques and mediums used in the art and design curriculum.

Where the curriculum has been better considered, such as in mathematics and personal, social and health education (PSHE), pupils build well on their prior learning.

This is because leaders have thought about the knowledge pupils need to learn to be successful. This is broken down, and teachers check pupils know each step before they move on to new learning. This effective practice is not the case in the other areas of the curriculum.

While leaders focus on all pupils having a love of reading, they have not identified why the reading curriculum is not supporting pupils well enough to learn to read. The reading curriculum does not help pupils who struggle to read learn to read fluently. Consequently, there are a significant number of pupils in key stage 1 who are not able to read well enough to access the rest of the curriculum.

Reading and writing activities aimed at embedding phonics knowledge are not precisely matched to what pupils can do. This means there remain a significant proportion of pupils who enter key stage 2 not able to successfully read.

As with the rest of the school, the curriculum, particularly for reading, for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) requires improvement.

This hampers their achievement. While staff use a range of suitable strategies to ensure pupils can access learning, on occasion, some pupils with SEND are not being identified as quickly as they should.

Children in the early years receive a more precisely planned and delivered reading curriculum.

Phonics is introduced early. Children routinely apply sounds they have learned during phonics sessions. This helps children in the early years to access all other areas of learning.

There is a strong emphasis on social and communication skills. This is helping children in the early years to be well prepared for Year 1.

Pupils' behaviour and well-being are appropriately catered for.

Pupils understand staff's expectations, and they rise to the challenge of meeting them. This contributes to pupils behaving well. Leaders provide a range of opportunities for pupils to engage in, such as trips to a place of worship or whole-school sports events.

Pupils love taking on extra responsibilities, for example becoming 'class ambassadors' and 'Eco leaders'. They use these roles to help effect positive change.

Leaders have prioritised supporting staff and engaging the parental community.

Staff feel well supported with their workload. Parents shared an overwhelmingly positive view of the school due to leaders' efforts to work with them.

Trust leaders have not been rigorous enough in their monitoring and evaluation of the quality of education.

They have relied upon leaders' evaluation of the school's performance without checking for themselves the accuracy of this information. As a result, they have not identified or been aware of the weaknesses in the quality of education provision.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that safeguarding is at the forefront of everybody's minds. Up-to-date and relevant training means staff know the signs to look out for to keep pupils safe. For example, staff have received extra training on understanding harmful sexual behaviours.

Leaders and staff do not shy away from dealing with such issues. Leaders follow up on staff's concerns swiftly.

Through the PSHE curriculum, pupils learn age-appropriate ways to stay safe.

Pupils are encouraged to talk openly about any worries or feelings they may have. They know how to report concerns to seek help.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum does not ensure pupils know and remember more over time.

This means that a significant number of pupils are not prepared for the next stage of their learning. Leaders must review and implement a curriculum that recaps and embeds well-thought-through knowledge and skills. Training and support for staff must be provided so that staff are able to deliver the curriculum as leaders intend.

Leaders must then rigorously check the delivery to ensure pupils are learning the intended curriculum so they consistently achieve well throughout the curriculum. ? The reading curriculum does not support pupils who struggle to learn to read effectively. As a result, these pupils are unable to access the curriculum as well as they should.

Leaders must review the reading curriculum so that pupils are taught to read in a systematic way. They must then ensure staff are suitably trained to assess pupils' reading so that work is precisely matched to what pupils need to do to enable them to learn to read confidently and fluently. ? Trustees and governors do not have systems in place to check that what leaders tell them is accurate.

Therefore, they do not have an accurate and precise view of the quality of education in the school. Trustees and governors must develop robust monitoring systems of the curriculum that is of the same depth as the safeguarding and behaviour monitoring already carried out. They must then use this information to hold leaders to account so that the quality of education improves outcomes for all pupils.