Messingham Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Messingham Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy learning at this positive, purposeful and happy school. They attend school regularly. They are polite and eager to talk about the things they enjoy doing at school.

Pupils are engaged in their lessons. They are proud to represent their school in leadership roles such as wildlife and library ambassadors.

Pupils are generally kind to one another and bullying is rare.

They feel confident if they have a problem, staff in school will support them. At social times, pupils play actively with one another. There are a wide range of clubs, including many sports clubs..., that pupils enjoy attending after school.

Leaders and staff are ambitious for pupils. They encourage pupils to work hard in their lessons. Leaders of individual subjects are knowledgeable.

Leaders ensure pupils are taught a wide range of important concepts in lessons such as how to calculate the area of irregular shapes in mathematics. However, in some subjects, leaders are not regularly checking that pupils are secure with their learning. Assessment in some subjects, such as physical education (PE) does not yet check that pupils' learning is being remembered.

Leaders have created positive relationships with members of the local community. Staff and pupils have welcomed many new families to the school in recent months. Many parents and carers say they would recommend the school to others.

However, some parents feel that communication between home and school could be improved.

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

The school is well led and managed. Leaders, including those with responsibility for governance, are committed to the school, its pupils and the local community.

Staff are proud to work at the school. They say leaders are very mindful of their professional and personal well-being.

Leaders have created a broad and rich curriculum based on their school values.

These include trust, resilience and pride. The curriculum is ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Subject leaders have created curriculum plans which set out the order in which new learning is taught.

Within each unit of work, key concepts have been identified and links made to previous learning. In PE, for example, it is clear to see how the athletics skills, developed in Year 6, build on prior learning. Pupils are given regular opportunities to refine, improve and strengthen their performance in activities such as running or throwing a javelin.

However, assessment in some subjects is not always used effectively to identify gaps in pupils' knowledge and skills. Leaders have identified this and are working to improve assessment across these subjects.

Reading is a priority here.

Staff have benefited from extensive training and confidently teach pupils to read. Pupils are taught phonics using a carefully sequenced programme, which starts in Reception classes. Children and pupils progress at their own pace through the programme.

This ensures that they gain a secure knowledge of the letters and sounds they need to learn. Any pupils who need further help with reading are identified quickly and supported appropriately. Leaders think carefully about the books and stories they use to teach pupils how to read.

This gives children and pupils exposure to a wide variety of texts and develops their love of reading.

The mathematics curriculum is carefully planned, and it is ambitious. Children in the Reception classes have daily lessons in mathematics, as well as opportunities to develop their mathematical knowledge and vocabulary through a range of other activities.

All teachers have good subject knowledge and think carefully about how to present mathematical ideas or concepts so that pupils will understand them.

Pupils with SEND access the same curriculum as their peers. Teachers make sure that the curriculum is adapted, and pupils are supported sensitively to meet any specific need they might have.

Staff are well trained to recognise and help those pupils who need any additional support.

Leaders have high expectations of pupils' behaviour. Pupils are proud to go up on the 'Good to be Green' behaviour charts and are rewarded with bronze, silver and gold awards.

Behaviour in lessons is calm and orderly, yet this is not always the case at social times of the school day. At these times, behaviours are more boisterous, and the high expectations leaders have of pupils' behaviour are not always met.

Pupils learn about keeping healthy and healthy relationships.

They know how to be respectful to others. Pupils say they learn about 'how to make the world a better place'. Staff teach and promote fundamental British values, but they have not been successful in ensuring that pupils understand some core values, such as tolerance and democracy.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding. Leaders ensure that the correct procedures are followed when appointing staff.

Staff receive regular training and understand their responsibilities to keep pupils safe. Detailed records are kept of any concerns they may have about pupils' well-being. Prompt referrals to external agencies are made if they are required.

Action is taken in a timely manner to ensure that pupils receive help and support when it is needed.

Staff ensure that pupils know how to keep themselves safe when at school and online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Teachers do not routinely check pupils' learning in some subjects.

As a result, gaps in pupils' knowledge are not always identified. Leaders should ensure that teachers regularly check pupils' understanding of what they have learned in order to plan subsequent steps in learning. ? The curriculum does not develop pupils' understanding of aspects of British values in sufficient depth.

Pupils do not understand how values such as democracy and the rule of law apply to them. Leaders should enhance the curriculum to deepen pupils' knowledge in these areas in order to better prepare them for life in modern Britain.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2012.