Milford Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Milford Primary School Chevin Road, Milford, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 0QH

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Outcome

Milford Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Milford Primary School is a school at the heart of its community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and feel well cared for. They speak highly of the school and say that there is very little bullying. They are confident that any instances of this would be sorted out quickly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils get a good education here. They are very positive about their learning and try hard in lessons. They have excellent manners and treat each other and the school environment with respect.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils appreciate all that their school has to offer. This includes residential trips and clubs, such as drawing, athletics and mindfulness.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are given many opportunities to take on responsibilities. Some of the older pupils help to run lunchtime clubs. Pupils are encouraged to use their ‘voice’ to help bring about positive change. For example, pupils reduced the amount of lunchtime plastic waste by writing to the school’s catering manager requesting that they stopped using plastic containers, such as yoghurt pots.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents are very positive about the school. One typical response was, ‘We really appreciate the welcoming, warm and caring approach of all staff at Milford.’

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

Milford Primary School is well led and managed. Leaders are ambitious for all pupils and determined that they achieve their potential. Leaders have made sure that pupils receive a broad and interesting curriculum.

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

The school is inclusive. Teachers ensure that they support well pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This ensures that these pupils keep up and achieve 10 March 2020

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well. Pupils of all groups have good attitudes to learning. They are polite and respectful, and do not disrupt lessons.

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Almost all subjects have clear plans showing how teachers build up pupils’ knowledge over time. These plans enable pupils to make links in their learning across subjects and ideas. Leaders are working to complete precise plans for some subjects, such as modern foreign languages.

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Pupils across the school make strong progress in reading by the end of Year 6. In every classroom there are well-resourced reading areas. Pupils speak with enthusiasm about the books and authors that they have enjoyed. Teachers encourage pupils to read books from the school’s ‘100 book challenge’ list of recommended books. From the start of the Reception Year, children begin to learn phonics. Leaders have made sure that staff are well trained to teach this. They check pupils’ progress regularly and arrange extra help for any pupil who needs to catch up. Most pupils achieve strong phonics skills. There are occasions when some younger pupils find reading difficult. This is because books that they read do not always match the sounds that they are learning.

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Mathematics is well planned and delivered. Teachers know the knowledge pupils need to learn, and lessons build this over time. Young children develop a good early understanding of numbers. Teachers give older pupils lots of opportunities to practise their arithmetic and to learn multiplication tables. This helps pupils to recall their knowledge with speed. Lots of problem-solving allows pupils to show their skills well. Pupils say that work is challenging. They explained to us how staff will help them if they find something difficult.

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The local area is used well to enrich the history curriculum. For example, pupils study the history of the local cotton mill when they learn about the Victorian period. Occasionally, in lessons, teachers do not make the key knowledge they are teaching pupils explicit enough. Pupils sometimes remember the fun activity more than the concept they are learning.

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The school supports pupils’ personal development well. The curriculum shows them how to become resilient, confident and healthy. Pupils develop an understanding of the range of faiths and cultures in modern Britain. Pupils also get involved in the local community. For example, on the day of the inspection, children in the Reception Year went to sing and perform dances to residents in a local home for the elderly.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The culture of safeguarding is consistent with the caring ethos of the school. Staff receive regular training and are vigilant. They identify pupils who may be at risk and take appropriate action when required. Leaders follow up safeguarding issues appropriately. They work well with external agencies and families to support pupils who need help. 10 March 2020

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Pupils are taught how to stay safe in a range of circumstances. This includes when using the internet and road safety.

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What does the school need to do to improve?

 The reading books that the youngest pupils are given do not always match precisely to their phonics knowledge. As a result, pupils sometimes need to guess some words rather than having sufficient phonics skills to read them. Leaders need to make sure that the books children read in school and take home enable them to practise the phonics they are learning in school.  Occasionally, teachers’ focus on ensuring that the curriculum is exciting means they do not place enough focus on the precise knowledge they deliver. This risks pupils not knowing some elements as well as they could. Leaders need to check that all colleagues teach curriculum content consistently effectively across all subjects so that pupils remember as much as possible.

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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 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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 7–8 June 2016.

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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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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. 10 March 2020

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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. 10 March 2020

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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Chair

Pat Royal Ruth Baker (co-chair) Headteacher Cathy Kinsella

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Chair

Website www.milfordprimaryschool.co.uk Date of previous inspection 7–8 June 2016, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been no significant changes since the last inspection.

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Information about this inspection

 We did deep dives in reading, mathematics and history. This involved meeting with the headteacher and subject leaders, scrutinising curriculum planning and visiting lessons. We met pupils from the lessons and looked at work in these and in other subjects. We met with teachers to discuss the curriculum they were delivering. We listened to pupils read.  We spoke with members of the governing body and met parents. We considered the 22 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the 6 responses from the Ofsted staff questionnaire.  In order to judge the effectiveness of safeguarding, we read the school’s relevant policies, scrutinised the single central record, checked the school’s procedures for the safe recruitment of staff and interviewed the designated leader for safeguarding. We spoke with staff to check details of their safeguarding knowledge and training, that they understood the importance of their responsibility to report any safeguarding

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concerns without delay, and whether they knew the procedures to do this. We checked samples of safeguarding records and spoke with parents about their child’s safety at the school.

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Inspection team

John Savage, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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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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