Rosley CofE School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Rosley C of E School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils arrive happily to school each morning.

Staff greet them warmly. Pupils are safe at this small, close-knit school. Pupils explained that they feel an important part of the school community.

They said that they develop close bonds with their friends.

Pupils know that teachers have high expectations of their behaviour and of their achievement. Pupils try their best in class and most pupils follow instructions from staff.

Typically, pupils achieve well. This includes children in the early years and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).... Adults motivate pupils to earn rewards, such as golden stars and VIP certificates, for their efforts in learning and for their positive behaviour.

Pupils know that every person in the world is unique and that differences should be celebrated. Pupils are kind to one another. Should bullying or name-calling happen, staff sort it out straight away.

Pupils feel assured that there is always a trusted adult in school who they can talk to.

Pupils enjoy a wide range of extra-curricular activities. They take part in gardening, sports and baking clubs after school.

Pupils are involved in the school choir and take part in sports competitions and tournaments. They enjoy visiting local secondary schools in preparation for moving on after Year 6.

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

Leaders have designed a rich and balanced curriculum that typically meets pupils' learning needs.

This includes for children in the early years. In most subjects, leaders have identified the essential knowledge that pupils should learn. In these curriculum areas, leaders have carefully thought out when new knowledge must be taught.

This information helps teachers to deliver these subjects consistently well. However, in a minority of subjects, leaders have not finalised their curriculum thinking. They have not identified all the important knowledge that pupils must learn.

On occasions, this hinders the depth of subject knowledge that some pupils acquire.

Leaders provide teachers with suitable ongoing training to develop and enhance their subject knowledge. In the main, teachers choose well-thought-out activities to enable pupils to learn new information.

Pupils, and children in the early years, have rich and varied opportunities to revisit previous content. This enables them to practise and embed the knowledge that they have already learned. Over time, pupils develop strong connections between topics and concepts.

They have firm foundations on which to build new learning. Children in the early years are also well prepared for the next steps in their learning.

Leaders have placed a strong emphasis on identifying and assessing pupils with SEND in a timely and efficient way.

They ensure that these pupils access the same curriculum and wider experiences as other pupils. Leaders work in close partnership with external specialists, and parents and carers, to support pupils with additional learning needs.

Reading has a high profile throughout the school.

Leaders have carefully selected high-quality books that teachers should read to each year group, starting from the early years. Pupils read widely and often. Pupils benefit from, and relish, taking part in a yearly reading challenge, where they can read new books and then vote for their favourites.

Leaders have recently improved the way that reading is taught. They have made sure that staff have the knowledge and expertise to teach reading well. Children begin to learn letters and the sounds that they represent from the beginning of the Reception Year.

The books that pupils read match the sounds that they already know. This helps them to practise their reading knowledge and skills. It enables most pupils to develop into confident and fluent readers.

Pupils respect each other and the adults in the school. Pupils are well-mannered and they typically conduct themselves well. Adults successfully teach children routines from the early years.

Children and pupils fully understand these routines and, in the main, they follow them well. Classrooms are mostly calm and purposeful. Infrequently, however, some low-level disruption happens in some lessons.

Nonetheless, leaders are taking effective action to ensure consistency in the way that staff address this minor concern.

Leaders have thought carefully about the wider opportunities that they provide for pupils. Pupils take on leadership roles, such as being part of the school council.

They meet regularly to discuss how to make the school a better place. Pupils have an active role in the local community. They recently volunteered for a project where they planted trees and collected litter in the local area.

Such experiences are helping pupils to become responsible citizens.

Governors understand their roles and statutory duties. They fulfil these effectively by successfully holding leaders to account for the quality of education that pupils receive.

Governors are mindful of the workload and well-being of leaders and of staff. Leaders and governors regularly check that staff feel well supported and that their morale is high.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that there is a strong culture of safeguarding across the school. They regularly review and evaluate the effectiveness of their safeguarding arrangements. For example, leaders have taken effective action to improve the ways that they record welfare concerns.

This allows leaders to maintain a clear oversight of any emerging safeguarding issues that may be affecting pupils.

Leaders make sure that staff access high-quality safeguarding training and that they understand how to keep pupils safe. Staff have a thorough understanding of the referral procedures to follow, for example if there were concerns about the conduct of a colleague.

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe and healthy. They understand the risks involved when using technology and they know how to report concerns.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a minority of subjects, leaders have not identified all the essential knowledge that pupils must learn and by when.

Occasionally, this prevents some pupils from developing a deep and rich body of subject knowledge. Leaders should ensure that they finalise their curriculum thinking so that teachers have all the information that they need to deliver the curriculum well.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2017.