Wigan Worsley Mesnes Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Wigan Worsley Mesnes Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are very happy at this nurturing school. Adopting the Olympic and Paralympic values as the school's own, leaders expect all pupils to 'learn like champions' and 'achieve more than they ever thought possible'. Pupils respond positively to these high expectations.

They thoroughly enjoy learning and working hard and most, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well. Pupils also rise to staff's high expectations of behaviour. They treat adults and peers with courtesy and respect.

Leaders do not tolerate bullying.... They deal with incidents of unkind behaviour immediately and help pupils to understand how their actions affect others. Pupils said that staff make sure that they are safe in the school.

They know whom they should talk to in school if they are worried about themselves or any of their classmates.

Leaders provide well for pupils' wider development. Staff make sure that pupils take part in cultural and artistic activities beyond the classroom.

Pupils benefit from learning to play a range of musical instruments and from taking part in rarer sports such as orienteering and dodgeball. They understand the importance of helping others and protecting the planet. They learn to take on responsibility, for example by being eco-councillors, library monitors and reading buddies.

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

Leaders have developed and sustained a well-devised and ambitious curriculum which takes into account the characteristics of the local area. Teachers know exactly what they should teach, when to teach it and what pupils should know at set points throughout the year.

Teachers use strong subject knowledge to select appropriate activities, give clear explanations and ask questions which extend pupils' understanding and clarify misconceptions.

In all subjects, staff frequently check pupils' learning. They use this information well to plan future teaching which addresses gaps in knowledge. In most subjects, particularly mathematics, teachers use agreed, whole-school strategies to enable pupils to retain essential knowledge and build on it.

However, in a small number of subjects, teaching does not build long-term memory and pupils cannot recall past learning. As a result, teachers have to spend too much time teaching again what pupils have already learned in previous years. For some pupils, this limits achievement in some subjects.

Teachers and teaching assistants are experts in teaching early reading. Pupils, including children in the early years, benefit from a high level of consistency in how staff teach letters and sounds. They enjoy well-established routines.

Their achievement in reading is enhanced by reading books which are well matched to their phonic knowledge. Phonics sessions are full of fun and laughter. Staff make sure that they quickly give help to those who are struggling to keep up.

Most pupils learn to read with accuracy, fluency and confidence.

Staff foster a love of reading. In the early years, children listen with rapt attention to staff reading stories and rhymes.

Teachers make sure that pupils regularly read for pleasure, choosing from the wide range of books and genres in the well-stocked and inviting school and class libraries. Pupils talked excitedly about speaking to authors and about choosing books from the local library to add to the school's stock.

Leaders identify the needs of pupils with SEND so that they have the help that they need to follow the same curriculum as their peers and achieve well.

They make sure that they put in place strategies to enable pupils with SEND to learn alongside their classmates and participate in everything that the school offers.

Staff generate very positive relationships, based on praise and humour. They take every opportunity to reward good behaviour.

Classrooms are calm and orderly. Occasionally, some pupils who find it difficult to regulate their own behaviour and emotions disturb teaching and social times. Staff know them very well and skilfully and quickly return them to learning or socialising so that disruption is minimised.

Sometimes, leaders use specialist help, including appropriate alternative provision, to meet the needs of these pupils.

Pupils benefit from a range of experiences which develop them socially and culturally. At local festivals, they play musical instruments and sing.

They display artwork at a local leisure centre. Residential visits enable them to develop independence and resilience. Nevertheless, despite the school's well-devised spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) policy, and personal, social and health education (PSHE) programme, some pupils lack knowledge of the wide range of faiths and cultures represented in modern Britain.

Staff know that leaders value their hard work. They appreciate how leaders take their workload and well-being into account when making decisions. They said that leaders are very approachable and considerate of personal circumstances.

The work of well-qualified and experienced governors has contributed significantly to school improvement.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders, including governors, have developed a very vigilant community with a strong culture of safeguarding.

Leaders and all staff undertake regular training to ensure that they know how to identify pupils who are at risk of physical or emotional harm. Leaders act swiftly to work with pupils and their families to help them to stay safe. They use specialist services very well when necessary.

Staff teach pupils how to keep themselves safe, including when using the internet. Pupils understand risks such as that of swimming in lakes and canals. Parents and carers have a high degree of confidence in the school's safeguarding procedures.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, pupils struggle to remember what they have learned previously. As a result, sometimes, teachers cannot build on prior learning without teaching essential content again. Leaders should ensure that, in all subjects, teachers develop effective strategies to help pupils to retain essential knowledge over time so that they can use it to enhance new learning and achieve well.

• Some pupils lack knowledge of the wide range of faiths and cultures represented in modern Britain. Leaders should make sure that teachers in all year groups consistently implement these aspects of the SMSC policy and PSHE programme so that all pupils gain a greater awareness of the lives of people who are different from themselves.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 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 would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which 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 in October 2013.