Moira Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Moira Primary School is a warm, welcoming and inclusive school.

Staff go to great lengths to care for pupils. They model kindness and respect. Pupils appreciate that the adults in school keep them safe.

They love their school. They say, 'It's fun' and 'There is lots of laughter.' Parents and carers are also full of praise for the school.

One parent, whose comment was typical of many, said, 'My children feel like they belong to a family at Moira.'

The school has established a culture of high expectations for all. The school's vision that pupils will be healthy, kind, curious, adventurous and creative is well on its way to being fully realised.
...r/>Pupils are friendly and polite. The school is a purposeful and calm place in which to learn and play.

Pupils benefit from all that the school has to offer.

They have lots of opportunities to take on positions of responsibility, such as reading champions, behaviour buddies or representing their peers on the school council. Pupils enjoy trips that bring learning to life. For example, they visit the Houses of Parliament, go on a residential to Boggle Hole and visit a nearby museum and country park to learn about local history.

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

Since the last inspection, the school has worked with determination to make significant improvements to the curriculum. The curriculum is now broad and ambitious. The key knowledge that pupils learn is precisely identified.

The curriculum is designed with care, so that pupils' knowledge and understanding deepen over time. This begins in the early years, where children gain a firm foundation for later learning. For example, in geography, pupils study themes such as place, physical and human processes and environmental impact.

By the time pupils reach Year 6, the work in their books demonstrates that they have a clear understanding of complex geographical concepts, such as virtual water, rare earth elements and waste management.

The school ensures that all pupils access the curriculum. No time is wasted in identifying pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Each pupil with SEND has carefully considered targets and strategies that staff use to support their learning. This helps pupils with SEND to overcome barriers to learning and means they progress through the curriculum in the same way as their peers.

Teaching staff deliver the curriculum effectively.

They follow agreed lesson structures that help pupils to remember the intended learning. Lessons begin with a check to make sure that pupils remember prior learning. Staff present new concepts clearly and ask questions to reinforce the learning.

The tasks provided are purposeful and well matched to the intent of the curriculum.

Reading is at the heart of the school's work. Phonics is taught by expert staff.

Children in the early years learn the foundations of early reading. Pupils continue to make good progress through the phonics programme as they move into Year 1. Staff carefully identify pupils who struggle to keep up.

These pupils receive effective extra help. For a small number of pupils, the books they are given to read are too hard. This means they are not able to read these texts with sufficient fluency.

Pupils are provided with plenty of opportunities to read high-quality texts, including books that promote diversity. Story time is a treasured part of the school day. For example, children in the early years were fully engaged with a story about a bear who came to babysit, and they appreciated the humour in the text.

The school has clear expectations of pupils' behaviour and attendance. Most pupils live up to the high standards of behaviour the school expects. Nevertheless, there are still a few occasions when the school behaviour policy is not consistently followed.

This means that some pupils' behaviour is not as strong as it could be.

The school provides pupils with a well-considered personal development offer. Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe in an age-appropriate way.

They learn about different relationships, faiths and cultures. This helps them to understand the importance of respecting and valuing difference and diversity.

The governing body has supported leaders in identifying the right priorities to improve the school.

Staff are proud to work at the school and agree that their workload and well-being are considered by leaders. They support each other and work well as a team.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's systems to promote pupils' positive behaviour are not consistently applied. Occasionally, expectations of pupils' behaviour are not high enough, and there are a very small number of incidents where pupils' learning is briefly disrupted. The school should ensure that staff follow the school's behaviour policy consistently to ensure that all pupils behave well and show respect for everyone throughout the school day.

• For a small number of pupils, the books they are given to read are not matched closely enough to the sounds they know. This means they struggle to read with sufficient fluency. The school should ensure that pupils are given books that match the sounds they know so that they can read the text accurately and with confidence.