Moorside Community Primary Academy School

Inspection of Moorside Community Primary Academy School Back Lane, Holland Moor, Skelmersdale, Lancashire WN8 9EA

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 3–4 March 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils work hard and achieve well at Moorside Primary. They are friendly, confident and well mannered. They develop good attitudes to learning and try their best. Staff ensure that the school is an exciting place for pupils to learn and grow. Pupils do their best to live up to the high expectations that staff have of them. This is evident in the quality of the work that pupils produce and their good behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The pupils that we met with told us that they feel safe, happy and well looked after. Many enjoy having breakfast each morning in school with their friends. They also appreciate the wide range of clubs that are available after the school day ends. Pupils said that behaviour is always good, during lessons and at breaktimes. They said that bullying does not happen at Moorside. They said that staff are good at resolving any problems quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers are proud to be associated with the school. They value the many trips and special events that the school organises. They are highly supportive of school leaders and appreciative of the care and support that staff provide for their children each day.

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better?

Leaders prioritise reading from the children’s first days at the school. The reading curriculum is well structured. Children are introduced to a wide range of books and stories in the early years. They gain a good understanding of phonics and grasp the knowledge that they need to develop their early reading skills. Staff match reading books to the sounds that children and pupils are learning. Staff are quick to identify anyone falling behind and put effective support in place to help pupils to keep up. Pupils of all ages make excellent use of the school’s well-stocked library. It provides a wide range of reading material to support pupils of all ages and abilities.

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better?

Leaders have made recent improvements to the mathematics curriculum. They have also provided staff with training and support. In the early years, opportunities for learning about number are skilfully woven into each day through songs and games. Children also learn about other aspects of mathematics. In the Reception class, children were able to talk to inspectors in detail about square-based pyramids and triangular prisms. Many older pupils told us that mathematics is their favourite subject. Pupils are increasingly confident at applying their understanding of number to solve problems and explain their thinking. This helps them to build their knowledge securely on what they already know.

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better?

The well-designed curriculum in the early years makes learning meaningful and fun.

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better?

Children settle quickly into school life. They learn the daily routines and develop good attitudes to learning. 3–4 March 2020

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All pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), study the full range of national curriculum subjects. They achieve well in many subjects, especially reading, writing and mathematics. However, in some subjects their achievement is limited due to weaknesses in the way the curriculum is planned. This results in the quality of pupils’ learning varying too much between subjects and year groups.

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Pupils’ personal development is a significant strength at Moorside. Leaders provide a rich set of experiences for pupils outside of the school day. Staff also ensure that pupils develop an understanding of the importance of good mental and physical health. Staff provide excellent support for pupils in helping them develop resilience and positive attitudes. They also provide highly effective support for pupils who experience difficulties in their lives.

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There is a positive and respectful culture at the school. Pupils respond well to the high expectations that staff have regarding their behaviour and conduct. However, the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent from school is too high. This has a negative impact on their achievement.

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Staff are highly supportive of the school’s leadership team. Those who met with us said that leaders take full account of well-being issues, including workload. Parents hold the school in high regard. All of those who responded to Parent View would recommend the school to others.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding is given the highest priority by leaders. Leaders ensure that appropriate checks are made on any adults who work with pupils at the school. They have developed clear and concise policies and procedures for dealing with any safeguarding incidents. They ensure that staff receive regular training on safeguarding matters. As a result, staff understand what to do if they have any concerns about a pupil’s welfare or well-being. Concerns are dealt with swiftly and effectively.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s curriculum plans do not provide enough information about what teachers should teach during each unit of work. This stops pupils from building on their learning in a systematic way. Leaders should ensure that the plans for each subject identify exactly what pupils should learn during each topic in each year group. Ofsted’s transition arrangements were used on this inspection to confirm that pupils benefit from a good quality of education.  Although leaders have improved overall attendance there are still too many pupils who are persistently absent from school. This means that some pupils are not 3–4 March 2020

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learning as well as they should. Leaders need to work closely with parents to ensure that all pupils attend school regularly.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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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. 3–4 March 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122180 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Moorside Primary School converted to become an academy school on 1 April 2013. When its predecessor school was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be outstanding.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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Information about this inspection

 During this inspection we met with three governors, including the chair of the governing body.  We met with several members of the leadership team, including the headteacher, the assistant headteachers and the teacher who coordinates support for pupils with SEND.  We did deep dives in the following subjects: reading, mathematics, science and history. Our inspection activity included: an evaluation of curriculum planning; visits to lessons with leaders; scrutiny of pupils’ work; listening to pupils read; 3–4 March 2020

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discussions with teachers and teaching assistants; and discussions with pupils about their learning.  We looked at the school’s safeguarding records and the checks that leaders make on staff prior to them starting work at the school. We discussed safeguarding and behaviour when meeting with pupils, teachers and other members of staff.  We observed pupils’ behaviour during dinnertimes and during lessons. We spoke to pupils about their views on behaviour and bullying.  We took account of the 72 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.

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Inspection team

Paul Tomkow, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Julie Bather Ofsted Inspector 3–4 March 2020

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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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