Rollesby Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Rollesby Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 13 March 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings.

The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in June 2014. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

You have developed a strong team of middle leaders and this joint effective leadership has enabled the school to successfully meet the challenges of the major changes there have been to primary education since 2014. The leaders of English and ...mathematics have effectively implemented the new national curriculum so that outcomes for your pupils have continued to improve in line with the rise in national standards. In 2017 by the end of key stage 2, a higher proportion of your pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics than in other schools nationally.

The school is very much at the heart of the community. On the day of my visit, local volunteers took the school assembly, dramatising stories from the Bible with plenty of participation from the pupils. You encourage parents to come into school and get involved with their children's learning.

For example, in order to promote children reading more at home, you invite parents to attend reading cafes. At these events, parents not only get the chance to work with their children in school but also to develop skills that will enable them to support their children's reading at home. Governors know the school well because of the regular detailed reports they expect from you but also because they visit the school regularly.

The pupil premium governor, for example, knows all of the children who are entitled to this extra funding because he meets with them fortnightly to discuss how they are doing. You, the governing body and other leaders accurately identify areas that still need improvement and have a robust development plan in place to address them. For example, last year you successfully increased the proportion of boys who reached greater depth in mathematics by the end of key stage 2.

This year's focus resulted from close analysis of the 2017 key stage 2 mathematics results. This showed that pupils were not identifying opportunities where they could use mental calculation to save them time and so some were not completing their test papers. Your response to this has been to ensure that extra time is available every day for all pupils to develop their abilities in calculation, especially mental calculation.

Although the full impact of this will not be known until the summer, it was clear in lessons that pupils' confidence in calculation is growing. Another area you have identified in your development plan is the need to improve the learning behaviours of pupils. Pupils behave well in class but you are seeking to make them more active and determined learners.

To do this you are encouraging them to develop their curiosity and listening skills as well as building resilience so that they persevere when learning becomes challenging. Pupils already work well together and, in most classrooms, support each other's learning through sharing ideas before writing or giving each other thoughtful feedback. Since the previous inspection, you have also ensured that pupils, especially in key stage 2, can talk with confidence about what they need to do to improve their work.

All pupils, when asked, could point out comments from teachers in their books which gave them the next steps they needed to move their work on. Year 6 pupils also showed me the bookmarks that they use all the time, which remind them of their individual targets in writing and mathematics. This helps to ensure that they practise these skills at every opportunity.

During the inspection, I visited every classroom with you, where I observed the positive relationships between staff and pupils. Pupils want to learn and told me that they enjoy coming to school. Parents who responded to the online survey, Parent View, and those who spoke to me directly in the playground, wholeheartedly agreed that their children are happy and well cared for at school.

Your high attendance figures also support the fact that pupils find their school a caring and interesting place to be. Teachers have access to useful information on how to meet the individual needs of pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. They use this to inform their planning, adapt their teaching and to direct teaching assistants in the classroom.

Because of this effective support, pupils with SEN and/or disabilities make good progress from their varied starting points. The nursery provision at Rollesby was last inspected in January 2015, when it was judged to provide outstanding early education. The framework for inspection has since changed and the nursery is now included within the primary school provision.

Children enter nursery from the age of two with varied levels of development. Experienced staff swiftly and accurately assess each child and identify their individual needs. They use this information to provide opportunities for learning that meet their needs and move their learning forward.

This means that children make strong progress from their starting points. From their entry into Reception, children continue to make rapid progress and a far higher proportion of them reach the early learning goals by the end of their Reception Year than in other schools nationally. This is because staff provide a lively and stimulating environment in which children are encouraged to explore and discover things for themselves.

Staff respond quickly to children's interests and skilfully turn these into learning opportunities. Parents commented on how smoothly their children had made the transition from nursery to Reception because of the close working relationship between the staff and the effective communication between home and school. Safeguarding is effective.

You and other leaders ensure that staff training is up to date so that they can carry out their safeguarding duties diligently. Staff understand their responsibilities and know what to do if they have any concerns. As the designated safeguarding lead, you follow up these concerns robustly and ensure that families receive the support they need to help their children do well at school.

Pupils who spoke to me during the inspection all said that they feel safe and have an adult they would talk to in school if they were worried about something. Parents overwhelmingly agree that their children are kept safe in the school. Pupils said that very little bullying happens in school but that, if pupils fall out with each other, teachers will help them to sort it out.

Your governors actively fulfil their legal duty to ensure that pupils are safe in school. This includes checks that are carried out on new staff to ensure their suitability to work with children. Inspection findings ? One of the areas I wanted to explore with you was the rate of progress that pupils make during key stage 1 and then between key stage 1 and 2.

You have identified boosting pupils' progress as a priority in your school development plan so that they make stronger progress from their starting points. ? Your most able pupils do well and the proportions of pupils achieving greater depth across subjects and key stages are well above national averages. However, previously, pupils who had only just achieved the early learning goals on entry to Year 1, or those who just reached the expected standard by the end of Year 2 were not always supported well enough to reach their next attainment goal.

Earlier identification of pupils at risk of underachieving is now under way. You provide timely support to boost their progress. ? Another area I investigated was the breadth of the curriculum available to your pupils.

For a small school, pupils at Rollesby are provided with a lively and extensive extra-curricular programme. They are all encouraged to learn an instrument and participate in sporting events and competitions. The school recently won Norfolk's 'Sporting Primary School of the Year' 2017 and was awarded the Gold School Games award for its inclusive and wide-ranging approach to sport.

This term gymnastics, tennis, mini squash and dance are available to pupils after school. Singing and wildlife club are among the non-sporting options. All pupils get the chance to learn to play the violin and can choose to continue with this or take on another instrument such as the guitar.

Many parents who commented on Parent View praised the school for the opportunities it gives their children to participate in music and sport. ? Pupils study a variety of topics across science and the humanities which provide them with the opportunity to apply their writing skills across a range of texts. For example, Year 6 pupils were relishing using their historical knowledge of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun to write a personal recount of it as Howard Carter.

However, at times, teachers do not have the same high expectations for the standard of work in pupils' topic and science books as they do in reading, writing and mathematics. ? You recently reviewed provision for pupils' personal, social, health and economic education. This has led to a new approach that aims to promote good mental and emotional health.

This is in response to your increasing awareness of poor mental health among young people and your aim to give pupils the opportunity to learn to manage their feelings and to develop positive relationships with others. However, this review did not include all aspects of spiritual, moral, social and cultural education, including the promotion of British values. School assemblies raise awareness of national festivals from a variety of faiths and cultures.

However, there was little evidence in pupils' work or in displays around the school of a deepening understanding of the lifestyles, cultures and beliefs that make up modern Britain as pupils move through the key stages. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? pupils at risk of underachievement at the end of key stages 1 and 2 are identified at the earliest opportunity and timely and effective support is provided to enable them to maximise their progress ? teachers consistently expect high standards for written work across all subjects in the curriculum ? all pupils have enough opportunities to learn about, or experience, cultures and lifestyles different from their own so that they develop a deeper understanding of the breadth and diversity of life in modern Britain. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Norfolk.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Lesley Daniel Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met with you and your leaders of English, mathematics, personal, social and health education and early years. I met with the chair of the governing body as well as your pupil premium governor.

I also spoke to a group of pupils. I visited classes with you where I observed pupils learning and talked to them about their work and their school. We looked at pupils' work in books to determine the quality of learning over time and the quality of learning across the curriculum.

I considered the 61 responses to Parent View, which included free-text comments, as well as the views of parents I talked to at the beginning of the day. The 10 completed staff questionnaires were also considered. I scrutinised the school's documents about safeguarding, including the record of checks on the suitability of each member of staff to work with children and young people, the school's own evaluation of its performance and your plans for its improvement.