Roxbourne Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Roxbourne Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school.

They like their lessons, are happy and feel safe in school. Pupils show excellent attitudes to learning and work hard in all they do.

The school is a safe and caring place.

Staff have high aspirations for pupils, including those with special educational needs/and or disabilities (SEND). They ensure pupils are ready for the next stage of their education.

Staff have high expectations of pupils.

In lessons that I visited, pupils behaved very well. This means that classrooms are calm and quiet and pupils can learn effectively.... Pupils play sensibly on the playground and get on well together.

They like the rewards for good work and behaviour, such as afternoon tea with the headteacher.

Pupils told me there are no bullies in school. They feel confident that staff would deal with this if necessary.

Pupils are very proud of their school. They feel they have a voice and are listened to. The school council helps to develop pupils' leadership skills.

One pupil said: 'The pupil parliament means we can make the school even better.'

Parents and carers are very positive about the quality of education and the range of activities on offer.

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

School leaders have ensured the school continues to improve.

They have put in place significant changes to develop the quality of education. Leaders and governors work well together. There is a strong team of staff who work hard to ensure that pupils get a good education.

Leaders have planned out a rich and exciting programme of learning. They have considered carefully what knowledge and skills pupils need to learn. Teachers are now clear about what to teach and when to teach it.

This is helping pupils learn well across most subjects. However, leaders are not complacent and know that some subjects still need more work. Physical education and computing are not as strong as other subjects.

This is because pupils need to further develop skills in these subjects.Reading has a high priority. Children in Nursery get off to a good start.

They enjoy sharing books and daily story sessions. Staff teach phonics consistently well. This helps to ensure that all pupils develop key early reading skills.

When pupils become fluent and confident readers, they take part in whole-class reading lessons. Pupils enjoy reading. They have access to a range of carefully selected high-quality texts.

These books enrich their reading experience.Mathematics results have improved over time. A new mathematics programme has developed the quality of education further.

Pupils now understand mathematics better. Pupils enjoy mathematics. They speak with enthusiasm about what they have learned in their lessons.

Leaders and staff have carefully planned and sequenced learning. This means that pupils build up knowledge over time. For example, Year 2 pupils were excited to describe the space race.

They could recall that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon in 1969. Pupils in Year 6 used their prior learning about the civil rights movement to write detailed essays about Rosa Parks.

Teachers use work booklets in history.

This has helped teachers to deliver key subject content in a consistent way. Staff have high aspirations of what pupils learn. The activities in these booklets are challenging.

However, some pupils find the tasks too difficult and struggle. Pupils use resources containing key facts, dates and vocabulary to help them remember information.

All pupils, including those with SEND, are keen to learn.

They have appropriate support from caring staff who know each pupil's needs well. Pupils said there is no bullying. They use the worry boxes placed around the school.

Pupils can tell staff how they are feeling, and any problems get sorted out. Disruption in lessons is rare.

Pupils benefit from a range of exciting educational visits.

These are carefully planned to enhance learning. They visit places such as the Science Museum, the London Eye and The National Archives. These help to bring the curriculum and learning to life.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff make sure that pupils' well-being and safety are of great importance. All staff and governors have regular training, which helps to ensure a consistent approach to safeguarding.

As a result, staff know how to identify concerns and what to do if they have concerns about pupils' welfare. Leaders work effectively with other agencies and are not afraid to challenge if necessary. When new staff and volunteers join the school, leaders follow appropriate processes to make sure they are suitable to work with children.

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including online, both in and out of school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders have worked hard to improve the curriculum. Long-term plans have been sequenced to develop pupils' knowledge in most foundation subjects.

In physical education and computing, planning needs to be refined so that there is a clear progression of skills required in these subjects as pupils move through the school. . The history curriculum is ambitious, and pupils are taught demanding historical concepts.

Some pupils struggle with demanding tasks. Teachers need to ensure that planning is adapted so that all pupils can learn effectively and develop their skills and knowledge in history.

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 a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged Roxbourne Primary School to be good in June 2016.

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