Moss Valley Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and safe at Moorfield Community Primary School. They are respectful of each other's individual needs.

Pupils are happy to lend a helping hand to each other. They carry out leadership roles with pride, such as helping staff and younger pupils as a lunchtime captain.

Pupils, and their parents and carers, complimented staff on the level of care and support that they receive.

Pupils and parents explained how thoroughly leaders deal with incidents of unkindness. They are quick to resolve problems, including bullying.

Most pupils behave well.

Pupils told inspectors how behaviour has improved and how staff have helped them to impro...ve their ability to focus during lessons. Most pupils concentrate in lessons, work hard and try their best.

Leaders are increasing their expectations of what pupils can and should achieve.

However, not all teachers have high enough expectations of pupils' learning across subjects. Pupils' achievement, including some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), is uneven. For example, some pupils in key stages 1 and 2 struggle to recall some of their essential learning.

Children in the early years do not achieve as well as they should. This is because they do not benefit from a sufficiently well-planned curriculum. The delivery of the curriculum for pupils in the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND (specially resourced provision) also lacks sufficient ambition.

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

Leaders have restructured the curriculum to support pupils' learning in the main school. This new curriculum broadly matches the ambition of the national curriculum in key stages 1 and 2. Leaders have thought carefully about the topics that pupils should study and the order in which they should be taught.

Nevertheless, the curriculum is in the early stages of being implemented. Due to a previously weak curriculum, pupils are not able to recall what they have learned with ease. They find it difficult to make connections between elements of their learning.

In some subjects, leaders have not given teachers enough information about the essential knowledge that pupils must learn. They have not identified the information that sits in the broad topics contained within the curriculum sufficiently well. This means that, sometimes, teachers are not clear about the key content that pupils need to learn.

This hampers the ability of some pupils, including those in the specially resourced provision, to build a secure, rich body of knowledge.

Teachers make checks on whether pupils' knowledge is secure. They use a range of appropriate assessment strategies to ascertain where pupils have missing knowledge as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teachers use this information to adjust their classes' curriculums accordingly in order to help pupils to catch up quickly. However, because leaders have not identified the essential knowledge that sits below broad topics, some teachers do not know exactly what pupils should be learning in some subjects. This makes it difficult for them to use assessment systems as effectively as they should.

Leaders have begun to check how well teachers are delivering their subject curriculums. However, they do not ensure that pupils in the specially resourced provision build up their knowledge in the same way that their peers in the main part of the school do. They do not make sufficient checks on the quality and delivery of the curriculum for these pupils with SEND.

In the specially resourced provision, expectations of what pupils can and should achieve are not high enough.

Leaders are quick to identify the additional needs that pupils with SEND may have. Those pupils with SEND who attend the main school experience the same curriculum as their peers.

However, their achievement is uneven because some areas of the curriculum are still under construction.

The curriculum in the early years is a work in progress. Leaders are still clarifying exactly what children in the early years must learn.

The curriculum in some areas of learning lacks ambition and clarity. This results in an unevenness in how well some children in the early years build on prior knowledge across different areas of learning. In addition, teachers do not ensure that children receive sufficient support to help them secure new learning.

This is particularly the case for children in the early years who access the specially resourced provision.

Leaders have made more successful inroads into the development of the reading curriculum. They ensure that pupils across the school, including those in the specially resourced provision, build up secure phonics knowledge from the beginning of the Reception Year.

Staff are well trained to deliver the phonics programme. Staff provide effective support to help pupils who have fallen behind with their phonics knowledge to catch up quickly. Leaders focus on improving the reading fluency of the younger pupils so that they get greater enjoyment from reading.

Leaders are ensuring that books better match pupils' reading ability. By the time they are in Years 5 and 6, all pupils, including those with SEND, are accurate and fluent readers. This enables pupils to access the full curriculum confidently.

The improvement in pupils' attitudes to learning is notable. Pupils value the new systems in place to reward good behaviour. They are keen to earn the prizes on offer.

Pupils who have struggled to manage their own behaviour previously are now flourishing. Similarly, most pupils are eager to come to school. However, there are some pupils who do not attend regularly.

This has been made worse by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders are tackling these pupils' absences effectively.

Pupils benefit from the many opportunities that leaders provide to support their personal development.

Pupils understand and celebrate difference. They are curious about other faiths and cultures. Pupils are clear about right and wrong choices.

They speak up against injustice and prejudice. Leaders ensure that pupils are well prepared for living healthy and safe lives.Governors have provided effective support and challenge to help leaders secure improvements at the school.

However, governors and leaders have not kept a close enough eye on the quality of education in the early years or the specially resourced provision. Specifically, they have not ensured that teachers and other staff demonstrate the same expectations for the achievement of pupils in the specially resourced provision.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and other staff are vigilant about potential safeguarding risks that pupils might face. Staff and governors are well trained in how to keep pupils safe. They regularly check on the welfare of the most vulnerable pupils.

Staff pass on their concerns to leaders diligently. Leaders take swift action when concerns are raised about pupils' safety. They make effective use of a range of external agencies to provide additional support for pupils and their families when this is needed.

Pupils learn about keeping themselves safe while at school or home. They understand how to keep themselves safe while they are online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders and governors have not checked the quality or delivery of the curriculum for children and pupils in the specially resourced provision closely enough.

These pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Leaders must ensure that all teaching staff receive the support that they need to help children and older pupils in the specially resourced provision to learn well. ? Leaders are not clear about what they want children in the early years to know in some areas of learning and the order in which this content should be taught.

This means that the curriculum in the early years is not as ambitious as it should be. In some instances, teachers are not equipped with the information that they need to ensure that children are ready for the demands of the key stage 1 curriculum. Leaders should ensure that the early years curriculum provides clearer guidance for teachers and other adults in the early years about what children need to know at different stages of their development.

• In some foundation subjects in key stages 1 and 2, leaders do not make it sufficiently clear to teachers the key knowledge that pupils, including those with SEND, need to learn. As a result, some pupils do not acquire the knowledge that they need to progress well through the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that teachers are furnished with the information that they need to understand and deliver the key knowledge in the curriculum.

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