Marlbrook Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have memorable experiences that they cherish at Marlbrook Primary School. The school site, recently enhanced by an impressive extension project, is at the heart of the local community.

The school is alive with activity from early in the morning until late in the afternoon. Many children enjoy attending the breakfast club provision that is offered to all.

Pupils behave very well.

They are typically kind and polite to one another and treat adults with respect. They are proud to welcome visitors to their school. Such positive attitudes foster a happy environment that is conducive to purposeful learning.

Adults care about pupils and work hard to a...ttend to their needs. Occasionally, there are incidents of bullying or unwelcome behaviour. Pupils trust staff to sort these issues out.

Staff act quickly to deal with matters. Their swift actions help pupils to feel safe at school.

The range of extra-curricular activities and educational visits offered to pupils is a striking feature of school provision.

Many pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, participate in carefully planned activities that cater for different pupils' interests. These opportunities greatly enhance pupils' experiences at school.

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

Leaders ensure that pupils learn a broad range of subjects.

Pupils with SEND, ably supported by adults, take part fully.

Curriculum coordinators have set out the key information that they expect pupils to know and remember in each subject. Staff check how well pupils learn this information in lessons and over time.

The approach works well and pupils make good progress through the curriculum. However, in some subjects, such as history and music, the checks that staff make are not always specific enough. They do not always check on the smaller chunks of knowledge that pupils are expected to remember.

This makes it difficult for staff to precisely identify what pupils have learned.

Leaders ensure that teachers have secure knowledge of the subjects they teach. Staff work as teams to review and discuss the approach to the way the curriculum is taught in specific subjects.

In addition, subject coordinators work collaboratively with professionals from other schools. All of this helps to create an expectation and culture of ongoing professional development for staff. This reflects positively in lessons.

Teachers provide clear explanations and useful examples to help pupils understand new concepts.

Adults teach pupils how to read well. Pupils in the early stages of learning to read take part in daily phonics lessons.

These lessons build pupils' knowledge logically. Staff regularly hear pupils read from books that are closely matched to their individual abilities. As a result, pupils learn to read very well.

Almost all pupils are confident, able readers by the time they leave the school. This helps ensure that they are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Children in the early years have an excellent start to life at school.

Adults have very high expectations about what these children can achieve, and these high expectations are realised. Staff seize every opportunity to engage with children in a purposeful and deliberate way. They teach and embed key curriculum content through all activities.

Children thrive and relish learning in the setting.

Pupils across the school dress smartly and act sensibly. Most behave very well in lessons and are eager to learn.

Sometimes, there are behaviour incidents - adults work hard to sort these out. However, leaders' approach to recording these incidents is not as effective as it should be. Sometimes, incident records are not precise enough.

This makes it difficult for leaders to analyse trends and patterns of behaviour over time.

The school's work to promote pupils' personal development is exceptional. Leaders have carefully coordinated many aspects of school provision to develop pupils' understanding of life in modern Britain.

Older pupils are confident to challenge stereotypes and champion equality and diversity. In addition, pupils are proud to be involved in making important decisions about the school. For example, the 'student voice' recommended changes to the school lunch menu.

Leaders have acted to make these changes.

Those responsible for governance maintain appropriate oversight of the school's statutory duties. They support leaders in their work to promote staff well-being.

They also work with leaders to communicate clearly with parents and the local community. This oversight is having a positive impact. Most parents and members of staff express positive opinions about the way the school is led.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders make the necessary checks before allowing adults to work at the school. Staff know what to do if they are concerned about a child and they follow procedures to report matters straight away.

Leaders then take quick action to put any needed support in place. A dedicated team of staff, 'the pupil and family support team', work with leaders to provide this support. This includes working with families and external agencies when necessary.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teachers' approach to checking what pupils know and remember is not yet fully developed in some subjects. This means they do not accurately check the progress that pupils make through all of the curriculum. Leaders should ensure an approach is in place for staff to check how well pupils know and remember the planned curriculum content in all subjects.

• Leaders approach to recording some behaviour incidents is not precise enough. This limits their ability to track incidents and analyse patterns of behaviour. Leaders should further strengthen their approach to recording and analysing behaviour incidents.

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