Roseacre Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school where pupils are happy and safe.

They talk proudly about it being an inclusive place where everyone is welcome. Their school is founded around the values of respect, open-mindedness, safety, empathy, achievement, collaboration, resilience and enjoyment (ROSEACRE), and pupils live out these values daily. As one pupil explained, being 'open minded' and willing to 'have a go at anything' are important as 'you never know what you will be great at!' This positivity characterises the school.

Pupils are known incredibly well, and relationships are strong. Pupils achieve well here, including in end of key stage assessments. Parents report that their children ...'thrive', and 'come home every day telling me the interesting things they learned'.

Behaviour in this school is exceptionally calm and settled. Pupils know how to conduct themselves well, and they take responsibility for making sure that their school community is safe and well. More recent initiatives such as 'Roseacre walking' sees pupils talking about how important it is that they are calm and sensible as they move around the school.

A strong rewards culture permeates the school, with pupils excited to earn merits, badges, certificates, or even attend the 'Headteacher's tea party' if they are recognised for having demonstrated one of their core school values.

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

The school has put together an effective curriculum, mapping the key points of knowledge and skills that pupils need. Staff subject knowledge is strong, and pupils benefit from clear explanations that help them to understand increasingly complex ideas effectively.

Pupils are also supported in remembering what they learn over time, with frequent opportunities to recap and connect their learning across subjects. As a result, pupils achieve well.

In lessons, staff check pupils' learning and in the strongest examples pick up on misconceptions quickly to ensure that misunderstandings are not able to persist.

In a number of subjects, staff have a sharp understanding of the skills and knowledge pupils have understood. They use this to adapt their teaching, or their longer-term curriculum, as needed to meet the needs of their pupils. However, in some foundation subjects, this assessment is not as precise as it could be.

There is now a well-considered phonics programme in place. Staff are well trained in its delivery, meaning that those who join the school who are not yet fluent readers are supported to develop these essential skills. This then builds through the school in a considered reading programme where pupils are exposed to a variety of texts to both capture their interests and expose them to the wider world.

The provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) has been on a significantly improving journey over recent years. The school has increased its resourcing in this area, and they identify pupils' needs and put appropriate provision in place rapidly. The addition of 'the hub' as a space where pupils can access additional support is highly effective in supporting pupils.

Parents value this support, noting how their children have 'come on in leaps and bounds' as a result of the care they receive. The school is now rightly turning its attention to more subject specific adaptations, training staff to ensure that lessons consistently address these needs.

The wider development of pupils in this school is exceptionally strong.

Pupils are keen to try out the variety of clubs on offer to them, such as choir, performing arts, and a range of sports. The school ensures that this is a space where differences are celebrated, and pupils could all give examples of things they had learned from one another about different faiths. Leadership roles are taken seriously, such as being members of the school council, eco council, digital leaders and house captains.

Leaders have identified the right priorities for improvements in their school.The revised behaviour system, and the embedding of the school values are examples of the real impact of this work. While leaders have put in a series of monitoring activities, these do not always provide leaders with the information they need about the impact of the curriculum.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Assessment is not yet well embedded across some foundation subjects. As a result, staff do not always know how much knowledge pupils have remembered over time in these subjects.

When they do collect this information, they do not routinely use this information to inform the next steps of teaching. The school needs to ensure that all foundation subjects have a systematic approach to collecting and using this information so that teachers can make precise adaptations to their teaching to support all pupils to do well. ? While the school has put together a programme of quality assurance activities, these are not always as purposeful as they could be.

They do not provide the precise information needed to ensure that the curriculum is being implemented as planned. The school needs to ensure that these activities are sufficiently evaluative and show how well the curriculum is being implemented. This information should then be used to inform next steps.

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