Marsh Green Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including children in the early years, are proud of their school.

Staff greet them with a warm smile and kind words as they arrive each day. Pupils chat happily with their friends as they make their way to their classrooms.

Pupils feel safe in school.

This is because they trust staff to listen to any worries or concerns that they may have and to help them when needed. Most pupils repay staff's kindness by following the high expectations that leaders have set for their behaviour.

Pupils are well mannered and they extend a warm welcome to visitors.

If bullying does happen, staff soon make it stop. Leaders deal with any incidents of bul...lying appropriately.

Leaders want pupils to succeed academically.

However, some pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not achieve as well as they should. This is because, in some subjects, there are weaknesses in how well curriculums are delivered, including in reading and mathematics. This is not the case in the early years, where children benefit from an ambitious, well-designed curriculum.

As a result, children in the early years achieve well and they are prepared suitably for the demands of Year 1.

Pupils enjoy the variety of clubs on offer, including cricket, dodgeball and football. They are keen to contribute to leaders' decision-making within the school, such as through their roles as school councillors and peer mediators.

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

In recent years, instabilities in staffing have hindered leaders' work to improve the curriculum for pupils. However, more recently, staffing has stabilised and leaders' intentions for the curriculum are becoming clearer.

Subject leaders know what is working well and the weaknesses that they want to address in the curriculum.

In the main, leaders have thought carefully about the knowledge and skills that they want pupils to learn and the order in which this content should be taught. They have also considered the subject-specific vocabulary that they want pupils to acquire as they move through the school. For the most part, teachers are clear about the content that they should be delivering to pupils.

In some subjects, teachers present new learning well. However, this is not true in some subjects and especially in mathematics. Some staff are still developing their knowledge and expertise in how to design learning that ensures that pupils learn the subject content.

This hinders how well pupils achieve.

In some subjects, teachers check on pupils' understanding of concepts before moving on to more complex learning. However, in other subjects, some teachers do not ensure that pupils have sufficient opportunities to recap and recall earlier learning.

Consequently, some pupils, including those with SEND, develop gaps in their knowledge. This hinders them when they come to learn new content and make connections in their learning.

During lessons, most pupils behave well.

They listen well and have some opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas.

Leaders ensure that books are displayed beautifully around the school. This helps staff to encourage a love of reading among pupils.

Children get off to a flying start in the early years. As soon as children enter the two-year-old provision, they are introduced to the joys of stories, rhymes and poems. However, as pupils move through the school, some pupils, including those with SEND, struggle to read with increasing confidence and fluency.

To help to address this, leaders have introduced a new phonics programme and provided appropriate training for staff. However, some staff in key stage 1 are still developing their expertise to deliver this programme well. On occasion, this means that some staff do not deliver aspects of this programme as leaders intend.

This prevents some pupils from becoming confident and fluent readers as quickly as they should.

In the early years and within the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND (specially resourced provision), leaders ensure that pupils' additional needs are identified early by staff. However, this is not always the case for some pupils with SEND in other parts of the school.

Staff have received appropriate training on how to ensure that pupils with SEND access the same learning as their friends. However, some staff lack confidence in adapting how they deliver some aspects of the curriculum for this group of pupils.

Pupils have a strong understanding of fundamental British values and leaders have woven these into all aspects of school life.

Pupils, including those who attend the specially resourced provision, recognise the importance of eating healthily and taking regular exercise to keep themselves fit. Pupils recognise that there are families that are different to their own. Leaders ensure that pupils learn to look after their own mental health.

Governors know the school well and they are fully aware of the work that needs to be completed to improve the quality of education for pupils. Governors are suitably knowledgeable and they act as a critical friend, offering support and challenge in equal measure for leaders.

Staff are proud to work at the school.

They are supportive of leaders, who have been instrumental in making considerable, positive changes to the curriculum. Staff appreciate all that leaders do to ensure that they have an acceptable workload and work-life balance.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding across the school. Leaders and staff know pupils and their families well. All staff have competed relevant safeguarding training.

They are alert to the signs that may indicate that a pupil is at risk from harm. Staff have a secure understanding of the procedures that they must follow if they are concerned about a pupil's welfare.

Leaders ensure that vulnerable families receive the support and help that they need in a timely manner.

Through the curriculum, pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, for instance when they are learning and playing online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some staff are still developing their expertise to design learning that enables pupils to learn the content of some subject curriculums. This is particularly true in mathematics.

As a result, pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Leaders should support staff to deliver the subject curriculums so that pupils learn all that is intended. ? The phonics curriculum is not delivered consistently well.

This hinders some pupils in becoming fluent readers as quickly as they should. Leaders should ensure that staff receive the support that they need to deliver the phonics programme well so that pupils become confident and fluent readers. ? Some staff are not confident in adapting how they deliver the curriculum to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

This prevents some pupils with SEND from achieving well. Leaders should continue to support staff so that they can design learning that enables pupils with SEND to learn all that they should. ? Some teachers do not ensure that pupils have sufficient opportunities to recap and recall earlier learning.

This means that some pupils do not remember what has been taught. This hinders them from making connections when they are introduced to new concepts. Leaders should ensure that teachers afford pupils sufficient opportunities to recap and recall important earlier learning.