Markeaton Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Markeaton Primary School Bromley Street, Derby, Derbyshire DE22 1HL

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Outcome

Markeaton Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school and enjoy their lessons. One pupil said: ‘When you walk in to school in the morning, you feel relaxed and ready for the day because it’s a nice place to be.’ The school’s ‘Markeaton Minds’ approach encourages pupils to do their best work and to learn from any mistakes they make.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that teachers are very good at helping them to learn, to understand and to remember. Pupils behave well. They are friendly and kind to one another. Pupils like having lots of friends. One explained that, because of all this, school was ‘a bit wonderful’. During lessons, pupils listen carefully to their teachers and work well with one another. Bullying and poor behaviour are rare but, if they ever happen, staff deal with them quickly and effectively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Work is challenging for pupils. Teachers enhance the curriculum by planning a wide range of interesting, enjoyable activities. These include exciting educational visits, interesting guest speakers and learning in the school’s wooded area. There are also plenty of lunchtime and after-school activities and clubs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers are very happy with Markeaton Primary School. One summed up the views of others by saying: ‘This school is a community. It’s lovely for the children and it’s lovely for the parents.’

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

School leaders make sure that pupils have a broad and well-rounded education. They make sure that all staff have high expectations of what the pupils can achieve. Pupils achieve well.

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

Staff want to include everyone. They support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities extremely well. They pay careful attention to their progress to make sure that their needs are met. 8–9 October 2019

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Kind, caring staff mean that children settle quickly into school life in the early years. The teaching of early reading is well organised. This helps pupils to become confident, fluent readers. Every afternoon in Year 1, teachers follow up the phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) they have taught earlier that day. This ensures that everyone understands them. Teachers spot pupils who might fall behind and help them to catch up quickly. A few children make a slower start because they are still learning how to listen to sounds. Encouraging all pupils to enjoy reading is a big priority for school leaders. Pupils listen with rapt attention during the daily class story-time session. They like visiting the attractive, well-stocked school library.

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Pupils enjoy their lessons. They say that the teachers are very good at helping them by showing them how to do things first. They also say that teachers explain everything to them well. Teachers plan most sequences of lessons with a clear idea about what pupils must remember at the end. They build securely on what pupils already know. For example, Year 6 teachers ensure that pupils are fluent in place value and multiplication facts. They then teach them more complex mathematics. Planning in some subjects is not always so precise about what pupils must remember. This means that they cannot recall quite as much as they could. Pupils know a great number of the things that teachers have taught them in history, for example. However, they remain unsure about exactly how long ago events happened.

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Pupils have lots of opportunities to take part in rich and varied activities. School leaders want them to become ‘responsible and ambitious citizens of the future’. Pupils visit museums, places of worship and other schools in different parts of Derby. Staff encourage them to be independent and to take responsibility. Some are members of the eco council or ‘well-being ambassadors’. Pupils also enjoy a wide range of clubs. These include ‘clay creators’, ‘sign language club’ and ‘knee-high ninjas’.

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Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. Lessons are not disrupted. The headteacher and his team lead the school well. Leaders take teachers’ workload into account when, for example, writing a new policy on marking. Teachers say that they appreciate this.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils feel safe. They learn how to stay safe, for example when they are online. Staff understand that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. The systems for checking that staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children are effective. The designated leaders for safeguarding know the pupils and the families well. They are well trained and know how to deal with a wide range of concerns. They work closely with other professionals to make sure that the most vulnerable pupils are supported. 8–9 October 2019

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a minority of subjects, teachers’ planning does not always make it as clear as it could be precisely what specific knowledge and skills the pupils need to learn in order to move on to the next stage of learning in that subject. Leaders need to check that all teachers’ planning makes this clear.  In the early years, teachers do not immediately begin teaching a small minority of the weakest readers the sound-letter correspondences they need to know. This is because some children enter the school with insufficiently high skills in listening. However, leaders need to monitor that teachers always begin to teach each of these children the next stage of phonics as soon as they are ready.

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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 school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the 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.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 16 June 2011.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 8–9 October 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110128 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Steph Marshall Power

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School details

Date of previous inspection 2 February 2016

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Information about this school

 The school has a specially resourced provision for pupils with visual impairment.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector looked at a range of information about the school, including improvement plans, curriculum planning and safeguarding records. The inspector also analysed published information about the progress and attainment of pupils in national tests and assessments.  The inspector held meetings and discussions with the headteacher, other senior leaders, subject leaders, three school governors, including the chair, teachers and pupils. The inspector also spoke to the school’s local authority improvement advisers.  The inspector focused on the teaching and learning of reading, mathematics and history. Together with school leaders, the inspector conducted lesson visits and scrutiny of the work in pupils’ books.  The inspector spoke informally with parents, pupils and midday staff.  The inspector reviewed the 47 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, 8–9 October 2019

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the 20 responses to the staff survey and the 102 responses to the pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Pete Strauss, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 8–9 October 2019

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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