Great Malvern Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Since the last inspection, the school has not acted effectively to support pupils' achievements. As a result, standards have fallen. In the last two years, the outcomes that pupils achieve in national curriculum tests have declined.

Recently appointed leaders have introduced strategies to stem the decline of standards. These are effective and are beginning to have a positive impact on pupils' learning.

The school now have high expectations for pupils.

This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These expectations are now more routinely realised.

Pupils at this school are a delight.

They are welcoming, frie...ndly and want to learn. They enjoy coming to school and do their best in lessons. Warm and respectful relationships between adults and pupils are commonplace.

Pupils behave well and the school is calm and orderly. They are confident that their teachers will deal with any issues quickly and effectively.

Pupils benefit from an extensive range of activities that develop their personalities and further their interests.

The activities include trips, visits, external visitors, competitions and assemblies. Pupils value the many opportunities that they otherwise may not have.

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

The curriculum is suitably broad and balanced.

It provides pupils with learning opportunities in a wide range of subjects. The curriculum in core subjects clearly identifies what pupils should learn and in what order. However, this is inconsistent in other subjects.

Where this occurs, the curriculums do not always identify well enough what teachers should teach, what pupils should learn, and in what order. Some subject leaders lack the skills and expertise to improve their curriculums effectively. As a result, learning sometimes is not sequenced as well as it could be and pupils' learning slows.

Staff have strong subject knowledge to support the delivery of the curriculum. However, staff do not always pick up on the errors pupils make or address their misconceptions. In some cases, teachers' checks are not helping them to identify and prioritise the gaps in knowledge that pupils have.

Reading is now a priority. Pupils enjoy their daily reading sessions and story time. Effective teaching of the phonics scheme helps pupils to increase their reading fluency.

This is generally effective, and more pupils are beginning to read at an age appropriate for them, especially in key stage 1. Pupils who struggle to read are supported well most of the time. As yet, the school does not effectively support older pupils in key stage 2 who require further support with their phonics knowledge.

Support for pupils with SEND is improving. Staff have a clear understanding of how to identify the needs of pupils. Those that require extra help get what they need.

However, this is not consistent. Some staff lack the knowledge and expertise of how best to enable all pupils to learn. At times, adults do the work for pupils, which slows their learning and creates dependency.

Pupils behave well. Lessons are free from disruptions. Relationships between pupils and adults underpin all that happens here.

The school has established a strong provision to enhance pupils' personal development. Pupils regularly enjoy extending their learning beyond the classroom. Pupils speak passionately about the clubs and visits on offer.

Lessons to build pupils' character help them to learn about life in modern Britain. Pupils are well prepared for their next steps.

The curriculum in the early years is not always as well structured as it could be to ensure children get off to the strongest start.

This is because it does not indicate clearly what children should be learning. This means that children are sometimes busy without actually learning. Children enjoy playtime in the outside spaces.

Yet, some outside spaces are not as well developed as they could be to support children's learning. Staff quickly get to know the children and forge warm relationships with them. Children quickly become used to the daily routines of school life.

The trust has been slow to address the school's shortcomings. This is no longer the case. There is new drive with many strategies in place to improve the school.

As yet, the trust is not always clear on the impact of the changes. This is because they have not yet established a routine system to check on what works and what does not.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some subject leaders are learning how to discharge their role and responsibilities for designing and monitoring the effectiveness of their subject curriculum. As a result, the curriculums in some subjects are not sufficiently well designed to ensure teachers receive the information they need to teach well. The school should ensure that all subject leaders develop their knowledge and understanding so they can effectively fulfil their roles.

• Assessment is not always used consistently. Some teachers do not know what gaps in knowledge persist so are not able to adapt their teaching and pupils' learning slows. The school should ensure that all staff use assessments consistently well to identify what pupils can do and have learned.

• Not all staff support pupils consistently well, including pupils with SEND. At times, pupils do not do as well as they could. The school should ensure that all staff have the knowledge and skills to effectively support all pupils' learning.

The curriculum in the early years does not always set out the precise knowledge children need to know and learn. This means that staff are not always clear on what to teach and when. The school should ensure that the early years curriculum makes clear the learning, skills and knowledge children should know.