Manor Lodge Community Primary and Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Manor Lodge Community Primary and Nursery School is a welcoming school that has improved over the last three years. Leaders and staff have high expectations of what pupils and the community can achieve. As a result, relationships with parents and the local community are strong.

Pupils learn well, including the many who join the school at different times of the school year.

The school motto is 'Learning for life – aiming high'. Teachers encourage pupils to be curious, resilient and confident.

Teachers make lessons fun and pupils enjoy learning.

There is a calm atmosphere around the school and behaviour is positive. Pupils talk about the school's 'Mano...r Lodge 10' learning behaviours with confidence.

Pupils told the inspectors about the rewards for good behaviour and the consequences of negative behaviour. Mutual respect is evident between pupils and staff. Pupils are tolerant and respectful of each other.

Pupils said that bullying is rare. When it does occur, they know that there are adults who will help them to sort it out.

Pupils enjoy the many opportunities that the school provides beyond their usual lessons.

A good example is the link that the school has formed with a local advanced manufacturing research centre. Engineers from industry have worked with pupils to create a moving electric vehicle.

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

The headteacher and his senior leadership team have a clear understanding of how the curriculum should be taught.

Curriculum plans are carefully designed. The content in each national curriculum subject is logically sequenced. Knowledge builds up over time.

Knowledge in each subject is also linked to other subjects to support pupils to better integrate new learning. For example, in Year 6 pupils can explain clearly how their knowledge of Africa has helped them to learn about different cultures. There are many pupils who join the school at different times of the year, across all year groups.

The longer pupils stay in school, the better progress they make. Over the last three years, the progress pupils made at the end of Year 6 in reading, writing and mathematics has been in line with the national average.

Overall, teachers use assessment well to check what pupils have learned.

Pupils revisit previous knowledge regularly. Teachers know what they want pupils to learn at the end of each year, in each subject. However, in some foundation subjects, teachers do not always check what pupils can remember at the end of each stage of the curriculum.

For example, in geography, teachers do not always identify gaps in what pupils know and can do at the end of a topic.

The school's curriculum meets the needs of all pupils. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do well.

Staff are well trained to support the needs of pupils with SEND. They provide extra support when required. All pupils are fully included in lessons and other school activities.

Reading is central to the ethos of this school. School leaders and teachers know their pupils well. Children that enter the Nursery and Reception Years come from a wide range of providers and have very few skills in reading.

Teachers help children to learn phonics as soon as they start at the school. All staff understand how phonics should be taught and they do this well. They quickly notice when any pupils fall behind, and they help them to catch up quickly.

Pupils enjoy reading and listening to stories. Books that pupils read in school are matched to the phonics they have been learning. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 have reading lessons every day.

As a result, children and pupils make strong progress from their individual starting points, even though this is not reflected in the national tests, where the school's phonics screening check scores are below national averages.

Children get off to a good start in the Nursery. They make strong progress, often from a low starting point.

This is because leaders and staff have created an environment that supports an ambitious and well-planned curriculum. Children's imagination and curiosity are also stimulated by many things to see, touch and do, both indoors and outside. In Reception, there is a focus on developing children's early reading, writing and mathematics skills.

Staff read to children every day.

Leaders work hard with pupils and their families to make sure that pupils attend school regularly. Pupils understand the importance of good attendance.

As a result, overall school attendance is improving and is in line with the national average. However, disadvantaged pupils are still more likely to be absent than their peers.

The school offers a wide range of extra-curricular clubs and activities.

Pupils enjoy these new experiences. Parents and carers are very complimentary about the leaders and staff at this school. Leaders have established a school environment where morale is high and staff feel valued.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders make sure that there is a culture of safeguarding in the school. Staff know what to do if they have concerns about the pupils because they receive regular training in safeguarding.

Pupils know who to go to if they have any concerns. Also, pupils know what to do to stay safe, including online. All appropriate recruitment checks are in place to ensure that staff are safe to work with pupils.

Leaders ensure that safeguarding records are accurate.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders have ensured that the quality of teaching pupils to read is strong. As a result, pupils and children, especially those who join the school at different times during the year, make good progress in reading from their different starting points.

Leaders must continue to improve the teaching of early reading by ensuring that pupils' skills in orally segmenting and blending sounds are strengthened further so that more pupils achieve the phonics screening check standards. . The curriculum for foundation subjects is well planned with clear end points.

As a result, teachers use assessment effectively to check what pupils know at the end of each year. Leaders must refine further the assessment in foundation subjects so that teachers know exactly what pupils know and can do at the end of different component parts of the whole curriculum. .

Leaders work hard to ensure that pupils attend school regularly. As a result, overall attendance is in line with national averages. Leaders must continue to reduce further the rates of persistent absence of disadvantaged pupils.