Menorah Foundation School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a happy school at the heart of its community. Parents and carers, and those responsible for governance, are overwhelmingly supportive, and committed, to both the school's, and its pupils', success.

There is a strong sense of citizenship. For example, pupils readily contribute to the local community and raise money for charity.

Pupils are kept safe.

They know they are listened to, and that the 'core 4' and 'trusted 5' staff will always help them should they need it. The school's values of being ready, respectful and safe are promoted each day, by all staff, encouraging a positive and inclusive ethos. This helps to ensure that pupils typically behave we...ll in their classrooms and around the school.

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to achieve well. The school's broad and balanced curriculum helps to develop pupils' knowledge and understanding across most subjects. Pupils generally achieve well, including in national assessments, where outcomes are high.

This means they are typically well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Pupils enjoy a wide variety of enrichment activities, such as football, drama, chess, choir and coding. Trips and visits enrich the curriculum further.

The offer is carefully considered to ensure all pupils benefit.

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

Over recent years, there have been significant changes in leadership of the school which are bringing about improvements. A new curriculum has been introduced, starting with English, mathematics and science and then extending to the wider curriculum.

Consequently, not all subjects are as far along their journey as others.

Leaders have prioritised early reading. All staff have been trained to teach phonics consistently well.

Children start learning letter sounds from their first days in school. Those at risk of falling behind are identified quickly, and additional support is put in place to ensure that they catch up. Books used to teach reading are closely matched to the sounds that pupils know.

This helps pupils become fluent, confident readers. They enjoy both reading and being read to.

The school has identified the key knowledge, skills and vocabulary it wants pupils to understand from Nursery to Year 6.

The curriculum has been designed to meet the needs of the school community, and to be ambitious. Children get off to a good start in the early years. Learning progresses in a logical order, with time made for children to revisit and practise important content.

This helps them to remember more-complex ideas over time. For example, the physical development curriculum, and the equipment used, is designed to help children to develop their core strength and balance. Children access this provision outside, developing their skills and showing high levels of engagement.

This prepares them well to access the physical education curriculum from Year 1 and to develop the posture needed to sit and write for longer periods as they get older. Similarly, in mathematics, children in the early years learn to count and sequence patterns. This gives them the foundations of knowledge that they will need to tackle more-complex calculations later on.

Leaders make sure that the curriculum is typically taught well. However, in those subjects that are at an earlier stage of development, inconsistencies in the delivery of the curriculum occasionally occur. When this happens, teaching activities do not support the learning of the intended curriculum as well as they could, and pupils' misconceptions are not identified or addressed in a timely way.

This negatively impacts pupils deepening their understanding. However, pupils enjoy their learning and in lessons the environment is typically calm and orderly. On the few occasions when pupils are not fully engaged, this is linked to the weaker curriculum delivery.

Pupils with SEND have their needs accurately identified. The school provides staff with clear information about the support that these pupils need. However, at times, staff do not use this information as effectively as they could to support pupils with SEND to learn successfully in the classroom.

Leaders know this and are currently planning further training to ensure all staff have the skills they need to adapt learning effectively.

Provision for pupils' personal development is exceptional. The curriculum helps pupils develop an understanding of personal safety, online awareness and healthy relationships.

Fundamental British values are actively promoted, and pupils talk confidently about these. The school provides many opportunities for discussions and debates. These are meticulously thought through and interwoven across both secular and Jewish studies.

Pupils also enjoy learning about cultures that are different from their own, for instance through visits and assemblies. All this comes together to deepen pupils' understanding. As a result, they demonstrate a real maturity, and knowledge, around fundamental British values, resilience and respect.

Leaders and governors have a precise understanding of the school's current strengths and areas for development. They have appropriate plans in place that are being implemented at pace and are closely monitored. Leaders consider staff's workload carefully and staff appreciate this.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Pupils with SEND do not consistently benefit from the adaptations they need to help them to access learning and understand new ideas successfully. This can hinder how well some pupils with SEND learn.

The school should continue its work to ensure that teachers have the appropriate expertise to adapt teaching consistently well and use appropriate resources and support to reduce barriers to learning. ? Some subjects are at an earlier stage of design and implementation. In these instances, teaching is sometimes less consistent.

As a result, some pupils do not develop as secure an understanding of the intended curriculum. The school should continue its work to ensure that teachers are supported to deliver the newly designed subjects to the same high quality as the subjects that are more embedded. This includes making effective use of assessment to identify and address pupils' misconceptions in a timely way.

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