Minsterley Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Minsterley Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Minsterley Primary School is warm, welcoming and inclusive. It is a school where pupils achieve well because of the guidance and support that staff provide.

There is always something going on to enrich pupils' experience, ranging from exciting visits to historic places, to the numerous sporting clubs in school. This is a small school with a big offer.

The school expects pupils to be 'ready, respectful and safe', and pupils know this.

They enjoy warm, secure relationships with friends and staff. They trust staff to help them if there is anything they are worried about. T...his results in there being a safe, happy and industrious atmosphere in which pupils learn and thrive.

Staff and pupils share high expectations of how pupils should behave. Both in class and in the playground, high standards of conduct are a stand-out feature here. Pupils are polite, confident and have positive attitudes to education.

They become skilled communicators, able to share their views while being respectful of the views of others. When pupils leave here, they are well prepared for their next school both in terms of their personal development and their curriculum knowledge.

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

The school has designed a curriculum that sets high expectations and ambition for all pupils.

In every subject, leaders have decided what pupils will learn and when. The challenges of having mixed-age classes have been addressed through a well-conceived rolling programme of subject content. This has ensured that pupils usually receive a curriculum that is well matched to what they need and is sequenced in such a way that learning builds over time.

The curriculum is engaging and exciting.

The school is ambitious for all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff, parents and carers work together to identify if pupils need extra help.

School staff plan activities and adaptations to the curriculum that help pupils with SEND access the curriculum in a way which is right for them. Skilled, caring staff support pupils well and with sensitivity.

Pupils achieve very well in mathematics.

Lessons are clearly structured so that teachers revisit, and pupils practise, previous concepts and make meaningful connections. Pupils love mathematics. They become skilled at solving problems because they have a deep understanding of the mathematical concepts they have studied.

The revisiting of learning is also proving effective in computing, where pupils are gaining essential life skills and knowledge in using software and in coding.

Pupils understand how revisiting their learning regularly helps them to remember things in the long term. However, in a small number of subjects, pupils struggle to remember what they have learned as well as they could.

This is because teachers do not always revisit previous learning successfully enough.

Reading has a high priority at Minsterley and is another strength of this school. Pupils become fluent, competent readers who read often, enjoying the books they immerse themselves in.

They relish the books that teachers read to them because these are high-quality, exciting reads. A love of reading starts in Reception, where children become enthused by their daily phonics lessons. If they fall behind, staff are quick to recognise this and help them to catch up.

Children quickly become good at decoding words and delight in the books they take home to read and share with parents.

Despite the school being small, it provides a vast array of opportunities outside the curriculum that pupils benefit from. Pupils regularly go on exciting, meaningful trips, such as to The National Arboretum or to Wroxeter Roman City.

They meet a real-life scientist, visit places of worship and even take part in a water fight! These are all part of the school's '25 things you do at Minsterley Primary School' promise.

Parents are satisfied with the school and appreciate the support and care their children receive. They are kept informed through an online system where they receive regular messages and updates.

Governors, leaders and staff share a vision and passion for this school. Staff feel very much a part of a caring team and are proud and happy to work here. They feel valued and listened to.

They know that when changes are made, they are always made with the best interests of pupils in mind.

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, the school is not ensuring that pupils are being helped as well as they should to remember their learning over time.

This means that pupils are not retaining the information they are taught to be able to build successfully on future learning. The school should extend the practice seen in stronger subjects so that pupils learn and remember, in all subjects, the knowledge they need to be successful.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2018.

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