The Manor Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

The Manor Church of England Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Staff work together as a dedicated team. They share the leaders' high aspirations of an engaging and memorable curriculum. Pupils learn well across many subjects.

They say the school's motto, 'Shine like stars in the sky', inspires them to be the best they can be.

The school's 'learning gems' help motivate pupils to learn. They value how teachers recognise successful learning behaviours, such as collaboration and resilience.

Pupils behave sensibly. They know the difference between bullying and falling out. Most say that bullying is not an issue.
.../>They are confident that teachers will sort out any issues that occur without delay. Staff and pupils agree that this is a happy and safe place to learn.

Pupils understand the importance of celebrating differences.

The mantra of 'treat people how I want to be treated' is held by many. The school's values of friendship, courage and forgiveness are helping to create kind and compassionate young citizens. The vast majority of parents and carers praise the school's work.

Many parents commented on the 'strong leadership' and how their children 'love learning'.

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

Leaders place teachers' professionalism at the heart of their work. Regular training is helping teachers to become experts in the subjects they teach.

Staff use a range of approaches to make learning stick with pupils. For example, they construct quizzes carefully to revisit and embed essential knowledge. This is working particularly well in mathematics and history.

As soon as children start in Reception, they develop a love of reading. Skilled staff immerse children in a rich range of talk, stories and rhymes. There is a consistent approach to phonics lessons.

Staff have high expectations of pupils. They are quick to spot pupils who need extra support. These pupils benefit from an additional phonics lesson to help them keep up.

On occasions, some pupils read books that are too hard for them. This hinders their ability to read fluently.

Older pupils have developed strong reading habits.

Many say that they read for fun. Others say that incentives, such as 'Pebble in the Jar', encourage them to read daily. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 read from a range of challenging books.

They do so fluently and with expression.

Leaders have put together a well-sequenced and ambitious mathematics curriculum. Staff's subject knowledge is strong.

Children use mathematical vocabulary to explain their thinking in Reception. They are confident in making predictions and solving problems. Teachers help pupils remember important information about numbers during 'key instant-recall facts' sessions.

This enhances pupils' speed and accuracy, particularly when they are calculating. Consequently, pupils enjoy mathematics.

Leaders have planned and mapped out clearly the content they expect pupils to learn as they progress through the school.

In history, pupils have a growing understanding of the past from studying a range of significant people and places. For example, pupils in key stage 1 know about what life was like in the past in the local coal mining settlement. Teachers are becoming skilled at making connections across sequences of learning.

As a result, pupils are learning and remembering more of the curriculum.

Leaders and staff know the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). These pupils are involved in all aspects of school life.

Staff keep a close eye on how well pupils are learning the curriculum. They break tasks down into small, manageable steps so that pupils experience success. Pupils with SEND flourish because of the precise support they receive.

Staff enrich pupils' personal development through stories and class discussions. 'Pause for Thought' sessions allow pupils to discuss social and global issues. They appreciate how staff care about their opinions and listen to their suggestions.

Low-level disruption to learning is rare. Pupils know the importance of behaving well in and out of class.

Governors are knowledgeable about leaders' work to strengthen the curriculum.

They are playing an important role in holding school leaders to account. Governors ask the right questions to check the impact of school improvement priorities.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders, including governors, keep a close check on safeguarding. Adults are well trained. Staff at all levels know how to raise a concern.

Leaders' record-keeping is thorough. Where there are concerns, leaders are quick to identify families in need of external support.

Through the curriculum, pupils learn about staying safe.

They know some of the dangers involved with social media. Pupils feel that they could talk to staff if they had a concern.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some pupils at an early stage of reading occasionally struggle to read fluently.

The books they are reading are too hard for them. Leaders need to ensure that these pupils read books that match the sounds they know.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that a good school could now be better than good, or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2011.