Meadow Green Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy to be a part of this welcoming and inclusive school. Pupils enjoy learning and playing together. They know who to speak to about any concerns they have.

They feel safe because trusted adults look after them.

The school values of respect and resilience are understood by all pupils. Pupils use these values to enhance their learning.

Overall, pupils achieve well. They also behave very well. The school's approach to managing behaviour is thorough.

It helps pupils to reflect on how their behaviour has made other pupils feel. This encourages pupils to make the right choices with the help of the 'Meadow Green Bees' rights and expectations. ...Incidents of inappropriate behaviour and bullying are infrequent.

They are dealt with appropriately when they do happen.

Through the personal, social and health and economic (PSHE) education curriculum, pupils learn about topics such as money management, online safety and healthy and unhealthy relationships. There are a range of extra-curricular activities that are well attended.

These include various sporting activities, cheerleading and knitting. There are many opportunities for pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to be involved in school events. For example, the members of the school choir have showcased their talents by performing for members of the local memory café.

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

The school has designed an ambitious and broad curriculum with the needs of pupils at its heart. The school has carefully planned the knowledge they want pupils, including those in early years, to learn. For example, they have considered the key vocabulary they want pupils to understand and be able to use.

This helps pupils to make connections in their learning and develop a body of knowledge over time.

Teachers receive useful guidance and coaching to enhance their teaching. Many are positive about this support.

This helps them to plan lessons that build pupils' knowledge over time. Teachers check pupils' learning carefully and provide help where it is needed. Pupils remember what they have learned and talk articulately about their learning.

However, the curriculum is not implemented consistently well across all subjects. In some subjects, the learning activities chosen do not help pupils to remember their learning well enough. In addition, the school does not routinely check on how well the curriculum is being delivered by staff.

Where this happens, the school does not have a clear enough view on what is working well and what they need to improve.

Pupils enjoy reading. Staff read to them every day.

In the early years, children enjoy songs and the rhyming language found in the books they share. This helps children to understand the relationship between letters and the sounds that they make. The phonics scheme is well embedded.

Staff deliver the phonics sessions effectively. This ensures pupils get off to a secure start in reading. For those pupils who need a little extra help, additional daily phonics sessions are in place.

This helps them to keep up. For older children, there is a consistent and well-structured approach to the teaching of reading. This has supported pupils to successfully develop a wide range of reading skills.

Pupils are given many opportunities to explore a wide range of texts. Pupils are excited and enthused when a range of new books become available to them. Pupil 'reading ambassadors' have recently been introduced and help their peers to embrace a love of reading.

Children get off to a flying start in the early years. Adults encourage children to talk and use new vocabulary. The carefully planned curriculum means all adults know what the priority is for children's learning.

Resources and linked activities deepen children's learning in a meaningful manner. As a result, children are well prepared for Year 1.

Pupils with SEND are well supported.

This is because additional needs are accurately identified. The school accesses a range of external support in a timely fashion. Adults ensure that specific resources and support allow pupils with SEND access to the same curriculum as their peers.

As a result, they achieve well.

The school regards pupils' personal development highly. There is a well-developed curriculum for PSHE.

Pupils learn about being responsible citizens in the community. They are knowledgeable and discuss issues such as diversity and homophobia with maturity. As a result, pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain.

Leaders have an accurate view of what the school is doing well and what is yet to be developed. Staff feel valued and are part of a happy team.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, leaders do not systematically check the impact of their work. This means that they do not know what is going well and what needs to improve. The school should make sure they further develop effective processes to enable them to monitor the impact of the strategies they expect all staff to follow.

• In some subjects, staff do not choose the most effective learning activity to support the intended learning. This means that pupils are not securing what they know to the depth that they require to build their learning over time. The school should continue to provide support and guidance for teachers to ensure that curriculum implementation is consistently effective.