Quarry Mount Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Quarry Mount Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Quarry Mount is an extremely warm and welcoming place for all. The school has high expectations for what pupils learn and experience, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils consistently meet these expectations.

Pupils are enthusiastic about their school. They look forward to coming to school each day.

Pupils are happy and safe at the school. They take pride in leadership roles, such as serving on the school council. Pupils use these roles to make meaningful contrib...utions to their school experience.

This includes designing a mural with positive messages and organising school art competitions.

The school uses a proactive and positive behaviour approach. This is consistently applied across all classrooms, creating a supportive and respectful learning environment.

Behaviour throughout the school and at breaktimes is positive, with pupils showing consideration for their peers.

Pupils develop a strong appreciation for tolerance, respect, and community. They are taught about fundamental British values, such as mutual respect.

This is embodied at the school's international evening, where the school opens their doors to the community and pupils showcase and celebrate different cultures.

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

The school has high ambitions for children from the moment they enter Reception. The school accurately identifies children's learning needs as soon as they begin at the school.

Children's early development is successfully addressed through carefully designed learning activities. There is a strong focus on children's physical development. Daily sessions quickly ensure that children develop the coordination and control they need to access the curriculum.

Early language is prioritised. This ensures that children develop basic vocabulary before trying to construct sentences. Pupils demonstrate a clear understanding of the world around them.

Children then successfully build on this understanding as they prepare for Year 1.

Experienced staff deliver the school's chosen phonics scheme. Staff have the knowledge and skills needed to deliver the programme well.

This leads to pupils developing a clear understanding of the sounds that make up words. The school quickly identifies pupils who require additional support to keep up with the phonics programme. These pupils benefit from extra support to reinforce their phonics skills.

This targeted approach helps pupils close any gaps in their phonics knowledge. As a result, pupils read with increasing fluency.

The school provides a broad and accessible curriculum.

This enables pupils to develop well. The school works with parents and external experts to ensure that the needs of pupils with SEND are identified early. Tailored support ensures that pupils with SEND access the curriculum successfully.

Staff skilfully question pupils to check their understanding. They use this understanding to promptly address any misconceptions and to extend pupils learning.

The school checks the effectiveness well in reading, writing and mathematics.

Leaders have a good understanding of what works well and what needs to improve. The school is less clear of the impact of the curriculum in some wider subjects. This means that gaps in pupils' learning in some subjects are not identified well enough.

The school is invested in pupils' broader development. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. This includes road safety, drug and alcohol awareness, and understanding the law.

Pupils develop their wider talents and interests through a range of extra-curricular clubs. The school has implemented effective strategies so that pupils attend regularly. This includes working with parents to help them understand the impact of regular attendance on pupils' achievement.

The schools' approach to behaviour supports pupils to reflect and think about how choices affect others. Pupils know that this helps them to be responsible and respectful and play a positive part in society. However, while the school's personal development offer is effective, at times some pupils' understanding of healthy and unhealthy relationships is not as robust as it could be.

Governors have a clear understanding of their role and fulfil their responsibilities well. They provide helpful guidance and challenge to the school. This is effectively supporting leaders as they sustain the school's performance.

Staff workload is effectively managed. Staff, including early careers teachers, comment extremely positively about the personal and professional support they receive.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the school does not check the impact of the curriculum well enough. This means that gaps in pupils' understanding are not identified. The school should take further action to ensure that pupils' understanding is better checked across all subjects so that teaching can be adapted to address any gaps.

• There is some variation in the quality of the school's curriculum to support pupils' personal, social and health education (PSHE). Pupils learning about healthy relationships is not as thorough as their learning about other themes that promote safety. The school should strengthen this aspect of the curriculum so that pupils learn consistently well across all aspects of the PSHE curriculum.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in October 2015.

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