Rockland St Mary Primary School

Overview

Pupils enjoy attending this school, where a culture of mutual respect prevails and older pupils look out for younger ones. Leaders have significantly improved the curriculum over the past two years, ensuring pupils acquire important knowledge and develop strong reading skills. The school is described as a calm and orderly place where pupils feel safe and receive effective support for their personal development.

Strengths

• Pupils behave well and rise to meet high expectations, with a strong sense of community where “we’re pretty much all friends here.”
• Teachers possess good subject knowledge, enabling them to help pupils understand difficult concepts, such as programming in computing.
• Phonics are taught effectively, allowing most pupils to learn to read quickly and become “fluent and confident readers.”
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive effective help and have access to the full curriculum.
• Leaders have successfully improved attendance, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, through hard work with families.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must ensure curriculum plans are implemented in all subjects across the school, as disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed implementation in a small number of areas, meaning pupils do not currently learn as much as intended.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with adults well trained to spot signs of concern and a vigilant culture ensuring pupils receive necessary support.