Monkton Priory CP School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Monkton Priory Community Primary School is a welcoming and inclusive school that has high aspirations for its pupils. Pupils' well-being is at the heart of everything that the school does, and pupils feel safe and know that they will be supported if they have any concerns. Most pupils' behaviour is exemplary.

There are warm and trusting relationships between staff and pupils. These build pupils' confidence to develop a wide range of skills and help most pupils to make strong progress in their learning. Staff have thoughtfully developed a curriculum that celebrates the diversity of the local community and meets the needs of all pupils.

Learning experiences are interesting and motivating. There are many valuable opportunitie...s for pupils to make visits in the locality and further afield, to welcome visitors and to gain an insight into the world of work. This means that pupils are engaged in their learning and talk about it with great enthusiasm.

The recent focus on developing pupils' oracy skills has been extremely effective and the work to support pupils to apply their numeracy skills in real-life contexts is beginning to have a positive impact on pupils' standards. In general, pupils develop their independent learning skills well, but on occasions learning for younger pupils is too adult led. Staff support pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) extremely successfully.

As they move through the school, pupils in the learning resource classes have good opportunities to integrate with other pupils and to play important roles in leadership groups. Leaders and staff have developed extremely close links with the local community and the school provides a wealth of valuable support to families. There are innovative programmes to involve parents and carers in the life and work of the school and for them to gain qualifications.

Lines of communication are open and effective, and this enables staff and parents to work together for the benefit of all pupils. The headteacher provides strong, inclusive leadership. He values the expertise of all staff and has created a cohesive team who are eager to take on responsibilities and to try new things for the benefit of pupils.

The governing body supports the school well. Governors know the staff, pupils and families well and are developing their role in holding the school to account. Despite the school's highly inclusive and caring ethos it does not meet the requirements for recording pupils' attendance.

Recommendations R1 Ensure that the registration of pupils' attendance meets requirements R2 Improve the balance between adult-led and child-led activities for younger pupils