Rounds Green Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a school that requires improvement Pupils' attainment is rising but is not high enough, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.

Teaching is too variable across the school. Sometimes, work is not well matched to pupils' ability, particularly for lower-ability and higher-ability pupils. Mathematics teaching does not enable pupils to gain a deep enough understanding of important concepts.

Pupils' weak mental recall of facts also hampers their progress. Some weaker readers' books are not appropriately matched to their reading ability. Not enough focus has been placed on developing pupils' accuracy in letter formation, handwriting, punctuation and spelling.<...br/>
Sometimes, teaching assistants are not deployed to have the fullest impact on pupils' learning. Not enough work has been done to evaluate the impact of provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils' conduct at social times is not as good as it is during lessons.

The school has the following strengths The interim headteacher has galvanised the school community. Parents, carers, pupils and staff are in full support of her ambition for the school. Despite unavoidable and frequent staffing changes, leaders and governors have removed the deep-rooted inadequacies in leadership, teaching, safeguarding and pupils' behaviour.

Senior and middle leaders are having an increasingly successful impact in their areas of responsibility, improving pupils' outcomes. The chair of governors has provided strong support to leaders and has helped to shape an effective governing body. The teaching of reading has improved considerably.

Pupils enjoy reading challenging books and their comprehension skills are starting to improve. Pupils' knowledge and skills develop well across different foundation subjects, such as history and physical education (PE). Pupils' personal development is very well considered.

They have an exceptional understanding of how to keep themselves safe. Leadership in the early years is very effective. All staff have high expectations and, as a result, children make strong progress.

Information about this school

The school is larger than the average-sized primary school. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well above the national average. Thirteen out of the possible seventeen ethnic groups are represented at the school.

This is above the national average. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above the national average. The proportion of pupils with SEND is similar to the national average.

The interim headteacher has been in post since the spring term 2017. After the last inspection in 2016, an academy order was issued, and an identified academy sponsor was named. However, the conversion process has not progressed.