Moston Lane Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including children in early years, at Moston Lane Community Primary School enjoy coming to school.

They are ready and keen to learn. Pupils are greeted by welcoming staff. Adults know pupils and their families well.

Warm, caring relationships exist between staff and pupils in this diverse community. This helps all pupils and children to feel safe in school.

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils.

They have high expectations for pupils' achievement and their behaviour. Most pupils achieve well across a range of subjects. Pupils' behaviour is a credit to the school.

They concentrate well in lessons, in the corridors and outside on the pl...ayground. Pupils are polite to staff and visitors. Any pupils who need additional support to keep them on task receive it from well-trained adults.

Pupils said that bullying rarely happens in school. They said that they are confident that if bullying did happen, staff would sort it out quickly. Parents and carers spoke highly of the support, care and guidance that their children receive in school.

Pupils value the opportunities that they have beyond the formal curriculum. For example, they attend an IntoUniversity centre. This allows pupils to learn about the possibilities for their future education and the world of work.

Pupils said that these opportunities inspire them to apply themselves to their learning.

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

In most subjects, leaders have thought carefully about the design of the curriculum, including for children in early years. In the main, they have successfully identified the essential knowledge that pupils and children must learn.

Leaders have also carefully considered the order in which new concepts and topics should be taught. As a result, most pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well.

In the minority of subjects where leaders have not finalised their curriculum thinking, teachers are sometimes unclear about the order in which new information should be taught.

From time to time, this prevents teachers from choosing the most appropriate activities to help pupils to acquire new knowledge. Occasionally, this hinders some pupils from learning all that they could.

In the main, teachers use assessment systems well to identify and to address pupils' misconceptions and misunderstandings.

They also use assessment information to decide where pupils, including children in early years, would benefit from recapping prior learning. Overall, teachers have a secure understanding of how well pupils are learning and developing.

Leaders and teachers make reading a high priority in the school.

Teachers share exciting stories and rhymes with children from the beginning of early years. Older pupils told inspectors that they love to read. They explained that they learn a great deal about different authors and poets.

Pupils talked with interest and enthusiasm about the books that they have read.

Children in early years start to learn letters and sounds from the moment that they come into the Nursery class. They are well prepared to begin the phonics programme when they move into the Reception class.

Well-trained staff teach phonics consistently well. Teachers successfully use the information that they have about pupils to spot any who are not keeping up with the sounds that they need to know. When pupils fall behind, they are offered timely support to catch up quickly with their reading knowledge.

While the reading curriculum is delivered well, sometimes the books that teachers give to pupils are not matched closely enough to their phonics knowledge. This is because they contain sounds that some pupils do not know. When pupils' books do not match the sounds that they know closely enough, they can misunderstand what they have read.

Nevertheless, by the end of key stage 2, most pupils are fluent and confident readers.

Leaders identify pupils with SEND quickly. This includes children in early years who may have SEND.

Leaders take care to link with outside agencies. This is to ensure that pupils receive the timely support that they need. In most lessons, pupils with SEND achieve well.

This is because teachers make appropriate changes to the delivery of activities that help these pupils to learn.

Leaders ensure that pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. Routines are established right from early years.

All pupils and children concentrate in lessons and focus on their learning. They strive to achieve well. Pupils, and children in early years, have a positive environment in which to learn.

Pupils understand different relationships. They talked positively about the lessons that help them to understand that there are different families in the world. Pupils displayed tolerance towards those who are different from themselves.

They successfully learn about different faiths and religions.

Pupils have plentiful opportunities to develop their interests and talents, such as learning a musical instrument. Pupils understand how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy.

They are very active at playtimes, with lots of exciting equipment to use. Children in early years are taught to be kind and respectful citizens. This continues in the curriculum as pupils move through the school.

Governors and leaders know the school well. They have chosen the correct priorities to work on that will improve further the quality of education for pupils. Governors skilfully challenge leaders to make sure that pupils receive the best education they can.

Staff appreciate the effort by leaders to support their workload and well-being. Staff morale is high.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The staff at Moston Lane Community Primary School know their community well. They are extremely vigilant for any signs that a pupil may be at risk of harm. All staff receive appropriate training that helps them to identify pupils who may need additional support.

Staff understand what they need to do if they have a concern about a pupil's welfare. Leaders work well with several outside agencies to support pupils and their families when required.

The wider curriculum helps pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe.

For example, they had an excellent understanding of how to deal with unwanted pop-ups when using the internet.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a minority of subjects, leaders have not finalised their curriculum thinking. They have not given sufficient thought to the subject knowledge that they want pupils to learn and in which order.

Occasionally, this means that some teachers do not have all the information that they need to choose the most appropriate activities to help pupils to learn. Leaders must finalise their curriculum thinking in these remaining subjects. This is to ensure that teachers can make the most appropriate pedagogical choices to help pupils to learn new information.

• Sometimes, the books that teachers give to pupils do not match the sounds that they know. On occasions, this results in pupils misunderstanding words and texts. Leaders should make sure that pupils are given books that closely match the sounds that they already know.