Ruskin Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils work hard in class.

They are positive about the help they receive in lessons. They form positive and respectful relationships with staff. Pupils are proud of their many achievements.

They walk around school in an orderly and calm way and usually follow the school rules. Most pupils enjoy school, are punctual and attend well.

There are lots of clubs on offer.

Pupils look forward to going on school trips, which in turn support their learning. They like taking on responsibilities, such as being a librarian or being part of the 'mini police' club. There is an inclusive culture across the school.

The work of young carers is celebrated. Sta...ff provide nurturing support.

Pupils enjoy coming together as a school.

For example, they sing with enthusiasm in assembly and listen attentively to staff.

Pupils say they feel safe. If bullying happens or they have concerns, pupils say that there are trusted adults who provide help and support.

However, parents and carers are not always satisfied with the communication they receive about how issues are resolved. Parents report that leaders can be slow to follow up concerns when they raise them.

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

Leaders and staff use the advice and training they receive from the trust well.

This ensures that the school is continually improving its curriculum and staff have the subject knowledge they need to deliver it. There is a sharp focus on providing pupils with the essential foundations of learning to read, spell, develop important speaking and listening skills and do mathematics. This in turn enables pupils to learn the wider curriculum well.

Governors are strategic in their decision-making. For example, they have increased the allocation of staffing to the leadership of special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and have provided financial resources to upgrade the school's reading books.

Pupils learn and recall the essential knowledge in the subject curriculums well.

Work, including for pupils with SEND, is crafted to address what pupils need to know next. Sequences of lessons usually build pupils' knowledge incrementally. This helps them to make connections to prior learning and apply their knowledge to new tasks and situations.

Leaders have a clear rationale when they make adaptations to the curriculum, for example to ensure that gaps in pupils' knowledge caused by COVID-19 are appropriately addressed. At the same time, pupils learn a range of subjects. The wider curriculum is suitably ambitious, for example in science and physical education (PE).

Nonetheless, some of leaders' work to upgrade subject curriculums is recent. As a result, approaches to assessment in some wider curriculum subjects are still being refined.

Pupils who attend the specialist resource base (SRB) receive an ambitious curriculum.

Tailored support is effective in ensuring that targets from pupils' education, health and care (EHC) plans are being addressed well. Strong systems of communication between home and school are in place for these pupils. However, the school's partnership work with parents for some other pupils with SEND is not as strong.

While these pupils' learning needs are met in class, inconsistencies in the timeliness of meetings to discuss their child's education create unnecessary anxiety or frustration. The trust is starting to take action to sort this out.

Pupils who are at the early stages of reading get precise phonics teaching.

This increases their reading accuracy and fluency. Pupils get lots of practice in retrieving information from the texts they read. This builds pupils' reading ability step-by-step so that they become confident readers over time.

By the time pupils leave school they have secured a strong understanding of what they read.

The school's approach to teaching is underpinned by an emphasis on helping pupils become resilient learners who know what to do if they get stuck. When pupils find it difficult to regulate their emotions, trained staff manage this well.

The curriculum teaches pupils about diversity, empathy and keeping healthy relationships. There is a sharp focus on supporting pupils' emotional and mental health needs and working with families.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff training is up to date and in line with current regulations. Staff know how to spot signs that pupils may be at risk of harm. They follow the agreed procedures for reporting concerns.

Leaders take timely actions and work closely with other agencies when required. Pupils know how to keep safe online, including when using mobile phones.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The assessment processes in place for some wider curriculum subjects are not well developed.

When pupils have knowledge gaps in these subjects, they are not identified as swiftly as they are in English and mathematics. Leaders need to ensure that assessment systems in all subjects are equally well developed and used by staff effectively so that pupils gain deep knowledge in every curriculum subject. Leaders' communication with parents is not always sufficiently strong.

Records of discussions when parents raise concerns are sometimes incomplete. This makes it difficult for leaders to monitor repeat concerns and it causes unnecessary anxiety and frustration for parents. Leaders and trustees must ensure that parents' views are heard, recorded, understood and acted on swiftly, particularly about bullying and when co-producing individual plans for pupils with SEND.

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