Manley Park Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Pupils are very proud to belong to this outstanding school and demonstrate this through their enthusiasm for school life and their above-average attendance. Outstanding care, guidance and support ensure that pupils are cared for exceptionally well.

Excellent relationships exist between teachers and pupils and between pupils. Good teaching and an exciting and outstanding curriculum inspire pupils and, as a result, they have a love of learning. In lessons they are highly motivated and interested.

They show a high degree of cooperation and willingness to learn together in pairs and small groups. In lessons and around school pupils' behaviour is outstanding. Pupils have an excellent understanding... of what is needed to live a healthy life and make informed choices about their own health, such as participating well in physical education lessons and in extra-curricular sporting activities after school.

The extent to which pupils contribute to the school and wider community is outstanding. Pupils take their jobs and responsibilities in school very seriously and the playground buddies and mediators are very effective. The extent of pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding.

The school community is diverse and all groups of pupils get on extremely well with each other and enjoy learning about those with a different faith or cultural background. For example, pupils take great advantage of the opportunities that the school provides to help them to reflect on human values, such as the idea of brotherhood/sisterhood, as part of their work on 'Black History' month. From starting points that are well below those expected for their age, pupils make good progress throughout their time in school and reach broadly average attainment by the time they leave at the end of Year 6.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported and make good progress in learning. In the Early Years Foundation Stage children's progress is outstanding as the result of excellent provision and leadership. During the inspection, all the teaching observed was good and about a fifth was outstanding.

The good teaching across the school ensures that pupils make good progress, but the proportion of consistently outstanding teaching is not yet great enough to raise attainment to an above-average level. This is because pupils do not always have sufficient opportunity to assess their work to check it is of the highest standard, particularly in mathematics. At times, higher-attaining pupils do not always apply their skills and knowledge to sufficiently challenging activities.

The headteacher and senior leadership team provide a highly effective vision for improvement and this is fully understood by staff at all levels. The school's performance is carefully evaluated and pupils' progress is monitored rigorously against challenging targets. The leadership and management of teaching and learning are excellent.

Recent developments in teaching have been very successful in increasing the proportion of outstanding teaching and standards are rising. The capacity for sustained improvement is outstanding. School leaders ensure that the promotion of community cohesion is outstanding through a detailed knowledge of the school and wider community and outstanding relationships with local partners and parents and carers.

The use of resources is excellent in ensuring value for money and outstanding outcomes for pupils.

Information about the school

This is larger than the average-sized primary school. Most pupils are from minority ethnic groups and three quarters of all pupils speak English as an additional language.

The percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is average. The percentage of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities supported at school action is above average and the proportion of those having a statement of special educational needs is below average. The school has achieved Healthy School status and the Eco Bronze award.

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms