Manea Community Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Miss Nicola Froggatt Headteacher Manea Community Primary School Station Road Manea Nr March Cambridgeshire PE15 0HA

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 13 March 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in October 2015.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

The care you and your staff have taken to establish a bright, welcoming environment in which pupils feel secure and inspired to learn is evident throughout the school. The many interesting, informative displays showcase pupils’ pride in their work and school. They also bear witness to the wide variety of topics and cultures which pupils study.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

Pupils are keen learners who listen respectfully to each other and to adults. In lessons, pupils willingly suggest answers, knowing that even if they are wrong, their classmates and teachers will be supportive of their efforts. Pupils move between learning activities purposefully, so little time is wasted. The ease with which pupils mix with each other and with staff is representative of the respectful, harmonious ethos of which leaders are justifiably proud. Almost all parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agree that the school ensures that pupils are well behaved.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

Adults are rightly delighted with the recent rainbow flag award for the effective whole-school approach to positive inclusion. Leaders have ensured that pupils gain an increasingly mature understanding of the diverse society in which they live. Pupils told me how important it is to respect each other as they wish to be respected themselves. One pupil summed up the sentiments of her friends when she told me it is ‘important to respect everyone, no matter what their background, interests or loves’.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

You have developed effective partnerships with other schools and external agencies. For example, as a result of your guidance and that of an experienced adviser, subject leaders play their full part in checking and making improvements to the curriculum. You invite external scrutiny of the school’s work and take heed of any recommendations that are made. Consequently, your leaders make appropriate adjustments to the school’s practice even where the quality of education is already first rate, such as in the early years. Children continue to make strong progress throughout the early years. You have also brought about improvements in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in mathematics. As a result, in 2018 the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard by the end of key stage 2 was higher than was the case nationally.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

Under the strong leadership of the chair of the governing body, governance is efficiently organised and highly effective. Governors have a clear grasp of the effectiveness of the school’s work and provide leaders with suitable challenge and support. Teachers told me that their link governors share ‘our passion for each subject’. Teachers also explained that they welcome the ‘fresh pair of eyes’ and additional scrutiny that governors provide. Governors are diligent in checking that the school provides well for disadvantaged pupils.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

You have provided parents with many avenues through which they can be informed about and become involved with their children’s learning. Examples include: the regular ‘market place’ events (where pupils share their learning with their parents); ‘come and read’ sessions; assemblies; and the recent literacy training sessions. Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school and almost all agree that they are well informed about their children’s education.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

All staff who responded to the online survey agree that: they enjoy working at the school; it is well led and managed; and they are well supported in their work. One adult’s remark that ‘the leadership team have been extremely supportive of my development and workload’ was typical of the comments made by staff.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

Pupils and parents commented on the improvement in the range and quality of sporting opportunities which the school provides. You correctly have amended how the physical education (PE) and sports premium funding is allocated so that it has a more direct impact on the development of sustainable PE and sporting provision.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

Governors told me that safeguarding is the school’s number one priority. Inspection evidence supports their view that leaders have established a culture in which pupils’ welfare is paramount, including in the pre-school.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

You and your leaders keep safeguarding arrangements under frequent and regular review. For example, in January 2018 you arranged for an external audit of the school’s safeguarding policy and practice. You acted on the findings to improve further the precision with which staff carried out risk assessments of activities which pupils undertake. Consequently, the school’s arrangements for safeguarding are fit for purpose.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

Because they are properly trained, staff are attuned to the school’s safeguarding systems and processes. They know the small changes in behaviour or appearance that indicate a pupil may be vulnerable or at risk of abuse. Adults know what to do if they have concerns about a pupil’s welfare and understand the importance of reporting concerns promptly and accurately. Leaders’ well-kept records confirm that they make sure pupils get the right support when it is needed.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

Pupils are safe and feel safe. They told me that leaders have gone to considerable lengths to make sure pupils know the risks associated with using the internet, including playing games. Pupils confidently explained the strategies they use to stay safe when online. Most parents and all staff agree that pupils are safe at school.

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Short inspection of Manea Community Primary School

Pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of bullying and its consequences. They are adamant that bullying does not happen often and that when it does occur, teachers sort it out quickly. Parents told me that when they have reported any concerns to leaders they have been dealt with swiftly and well.

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Inspection findings

 In 2018, by the end of key stage 2, disadvantaged pupils made less progress than their classmates in reading, writing and mathematics. In key stage 1, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in each subject was slightly lower than was the case nationally. Leaders have made improving disadvantaged pupils’ progress a priority in their development plans. Therefore, I wanted to ascertain if disadvantaged pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.  Leaders’ pupil premium report, published on the school website, does not reflect staff’s detailed knowledge of the barriers to learning which disadvantaged pupils face. Nor does it reflect the effective work being done to help pupils overcome these barriers. Family workers, teachers and teaching assistants have put in place well-judged support for pupils and their families. This is ensuring that pupils develop the resilience and social and emotional skills to successfully set about

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Inspection findings

their learning.  Where it is needed, teachers provide disadvantaged pupils with additional reading, writing and mathematics support, often focused on improving pupils’ knowledge and use of vocabulary. This results in disadvantaged pupils typically catching up with their classmates and making good progress, often from low starting points. However, some pupils, especially those who are most vulnerable, are not yet reaching the standards of which they are capable.  To confirm whether the school continued to provide a good quality of education, I wanted to establish if pupils made good progress in subjects other than English and mathematics. Two years ago, leaders reviewed and amended the curriculum so it better captured pupils’ interest in learning. They have been successful in achieving this aim.  Pupils explained how much they enjoy learning about history, art, mathematics, science, and literacy in the coherently planned and well-delivered topics, such as

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Inspection findings

‘space’ and ‘the Greeks’. Many pupils draw upon their learned knowledge and skills to make good progress across a range of subjects.  In some subjects, teachers are not providing potential higher-achieving pupils with learning activities that enable them to reach the standards of which they are capable. Where teachers do provide pupils with additional challenges, as is sometimes the case in science, they respond well to these. Leaders have credible plans to develop the curriculum and its implementation further so that it serves all groups of pupils equally well.  By the end of key stage 1, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in each of reading and mathematics fell in 2018 and was broadly in line with national averages. Therefore, I wanted to establish if pupils in key stage 1 are making good progress in reading and mathematics.  Leaders established where teachers were less confident in their teaching of

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Inspection findings

mathematics. Leaders put in place suitable training to enhance teachers’ subject knowledge and skills. Teachers skilfully apply the strategies they have learned to ensure that pupils acquire and consolidate their mathematics knowledge. Teachers then provide timely opportunities for pupils to apply this information to a variety of problem-solving activities. For example, pupils successfully develop confidence in multiplication and division and then apply their knowledge and skills to increasingly complex financial calculations.  Leaders established that, for a number of reasons, younger pupils’ knowledge and regular use of vocabulary vary too widely. Making use of the funds from a successful Opportunity Area Funding bid, leaders have ensured that staff have been appropriately trained in developing pupils’ vocabulary. In line with leaders’ expectations, teachers ensure that pupils maintain a sharp focus on words and

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Inspection findings

their meanings in different contexts. Teachers require pupils to seek out the meaning of unfamiliar words in texts they are studying. While a relatively new approach, the impact is already evident in pupils’ increasingly accomplished use of language in their writing and speaking.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 the pupil premium report accurately identifies potential barriers which disadvantaged pupils face in their learning, and the strategies adults are using to help pupils overcome them  higher proportions of disadvantaged pupils achieve the standards of which they are capable  all teachers provide learning activities in subjects other than English and mathematics that bring the best out of pupils with the potential to be high achievers. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Cambridgeshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I met with: you and your senior leadership team, to discuss the key lines of enquiry for this inspection; subject leaders; the school business manager; the school’s family support workers; and the chair of the governing body, together with six other governors. I also met with a representative of the local authority and an adviser who has been working with you and your staff.

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Information about the inspection

I scrutinised minutes of meetings of the governing body; the school’s self-evaluation document; leaders’ pupil premium reports; and the school’s physical education and sports premium reports. I also examined the school’s safeguarding arrangements, records, files and documentation.

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Information about the inspection

Together with you, I observed pupils’ learning in each class. We also looked at work in many pupils’ books to explore the progress they are making over time. I heard pupils read during the parent and child reading session on the morning of the inspection. I also listened to six pupils read in the afternoon. I spoke with one group of pupils and with others informally during lessons and at breaktime regarding their learning. There were no responses to the pupil online survey.

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Information about the inspection

I considered the views of parents I spoke with at the start of and during the school day. I also took into account the views of 32 parents who responded to Parent View and the 13 parents who left comments on the Parent View free-text service. I also took account of 18 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.

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