Rowan Tree Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school Rowan Tree lives up to its school motto, 'Learning from everything we do by making every moment matter', in all it does. The exceptional leadership of the headteacher and senior leaders has created a climate of high expectations, a love of learning and an insistence that barriers can be broken so that every pupil can achieve their best. Governors are passionate about the school.

They know it well and make a valuable contribution to school improvement. The professional development of staff has enabled them to grow into highly skilled practitioners who share a sense of creativity and passion for learning. The combination of excellent assessm...ent practice and a vibrant curriculum ensures that pupils' complex learning needs are expertly catered for.

As a result, pupils make outstanding progress from their often low starting points. The school's work to develop pupils' communication skills is exemplary. In developing these skills, teachers adeptly reduce pupils' barriers to learning.

The strong relationships that staff cultivate with pupils mean that they know them extremely well. The care and support provided by staff ensure that Rowan Tree is a safe and nurturing place in which pupils can flourish. Staff manage pupils' behaviour with expertise.

In turn, pupils conduct themselves extremely well in class and around school. Many are able to regulate their own behaviour. The promotion of pupils' personal development and welfare is outstanding.

Personal development, including the teaching of life skills, is interwoven into all aspects of school life and learning. Good leadership and teaching in the early years create a stimulating learning environment and ensure that children have a strong start to school life. The high-quality systems used in the rest of the school are becoming more deeply embedded in the early years.

Although outcomes are outstanding overall, opportunities are sometimes missed to extend the most able pupils by asking them more challenging questions and encouraging them to think more deeply about their work. Attendance is above national averages for special schools. However, there are a small group of pupils who are persistently absent.

Information about this school

The school provides education for pupils with a significant degree of complex learning difficulty, many of whom have autistic spectrum disorder. Some pupils have severe learning difficulties and a few have profound and multiple learning difficulties. All pupils have an education, health and care plan or statement of special educational needs.

Most pupils are of White British heritage and the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is low. Boys considerably outnumber girls. Nearly a half of all the pupils on roll are identified as disadvantaged.

.. Since the last inspection, the school has undergone a reorganisation.

The school previously catered for key stage 3 pupils but now only provides for primary-aged pupils and children in the early years. As part of these adjustments, the school changed its name from New Greenhall to Rowan Tree Primary School. The early years department is undergoing extensive building work.

This has added two classrooms to the existing one. At the time of the inspection, none of these classrooms were open. The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.