The Mayflower Primary School

Inspection of The Mayflower Primary School Main Road, Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex CO12 4AJ

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Inspection dates: 24 and 25 February 2022

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 24 and 25 February 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school and speak with pride about their learning. They want to achieve well. Younger children in early years enjoy talking about the wide range of learning activities that they have both inside and outside the classroom. They find learning engaging and exciting.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are friendly with each other and listen to each other’s views carefully in class. The school is a calm place, where pupils are cared for well. Most pupils behave well in class and when moving around the school, as well as at breaktimes and lunchtimes. They enjoy the forest- and beach-school sessions and learning together.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and say that they can talk to an adult if there is a problem. They are clear about what bullying is and what it is not. They say that when it happens in school, ‘it gets fixed very quickly’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers value the school and its place in the local community. They appreciate all the support that leaders and the staff provide, such as additional clubs and the focus on well-being. One parent summed up the views of many when they said that the school, ‘is a real asset to the local community’.

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better?

Leaders are clear that they want every child to enjoy reading. Leaders encourage this by various means, including daily class reading, reading assemblies and wristbands.

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better?

Children make a good start with learning to read in Reception. Children learn quickly because teachers use the phonics programme effectively. Teachers are confident with the delivery of the chosen phonics programme due to the training and support from leaders. Teachers make regular checks to ensure that no pupil falls behind. Staff provide additional support for pupils who find learning to read more challenging to ensure that pupils catch up quickly.

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better?

Pupils read a diverse range of books. While the phonics books that pupils use in school are matched to the sounds they know, this is not the case for all reading books that pupils take home. This slows some pupils’ progression with learning to read. Leaders are addressing this through the purchase of more books and providing incentives for pupils who practise their reading more often.

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better?

Despite the stop and start of the pandemic, leaders have ensured that there is an ambitious curriculum in place. In most subjects, leaders are clear about the important knowledge that they want pupils to know and what they want them to be able to do over time. In a few subjects, however, this has yet to be fully developed. For example, pupils are starting to make links between different periods in history, but these are not yet well established. Leaders have plans in place to make sure that pupils will revisit the key content they need to know. 24 and 25 February 2022

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Teachers are benefiting from ongoing training to develop effective ways to teach each area of the curriculum, including mathematics. In a few key stage 2 classes, teachers are not consistently using the advocated approaches chosen by leaders when teaching mathematics. This means that not all pupils get enough opportunities to apply their knowledge through reasoning and problem-solving.

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The early years curriculum is carefully planned and sequenced. It precisely identifies the learning for each half-term. Leaders make sure that children have frequent opportunities to practise phonics, early mathematics and social conversations. Children enjoy well-planned activities. There are opportunities for children to explore and learn through their own play and working with adults. Children behave well and demonstrate the qualities that staff teach. Children show resilience, for example when using invisible writing pens to write secret notes that the wolf cannot read, having explored the story of ‘The three little pigs’.

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Leaders provide effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff are well trained. They use pupils’ support plans well to help pupils understand how to be successful at a task. This includes pupils with more complex behavioural needs. Pupils with SEND access the same curriculum as their peers and take part fully in lessons.

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Leaders support pupils’ personal development well. Pupils follow a comprehensive curriculum for personal, social and health education. Pupils’ mental health is supported through the work of the pastoral support team. Pupils also have access to a school counsellor. Pupils participate in a wide range of clubs, including clubs for podcasting, musical theatre, sports and board games.

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The effective governing body provides leaders with challenge and support through careful questioning. Leaders and governors provide a clear vision for staff. Staff share the vision of ‘Together Everyone Achieves More’, and leaders work hard to make sure that everyone feels part of the Mayflower team. All the staff are proud to work at the school. They value the opportunities provided to share information and ideas with others.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There are rigorous systems in place to make sure that pupils are kept safe. Staff are well trained and they know how to report a concern. These are quickly followed up by leaders. Effective support from the pastoral team helps pupils and their families. Leaders liaise effectively with other professionals and external agencies. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when online. Governors clearly understand their safeguarding duties and make regular checks on safeguarding at the school. 24 and 25 February 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Curriculum plans for a few subjects, such as art, are not yet complete. This is currently slowing pupils’ progression in their knowledge and understanding. Leaders need to ensure that curriculum plans are developed consistently for all subjects in all classes. They need to fully identify the key knowledge and skills, so that pupils can build their understanding and achieve well across the whole curriculum.  In a few classes in key stage 2, some teachers do not follow the curriculum plans developed by leaders in subjects such as mathematics. As a result, some pupils have insufficient opportunities to apply their learning independently and deepen their understanding through reasoning and problem-solving. Leaders need to ensure that all teachers follow the intended curriculum as they expect.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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. 24 and 25 February 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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Date of previous inspection

23 and 24 May 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There is a breakfast club for pupils at the school.  The headteacher joined the school in September 2017.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

This was the first routine inspection the school had received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders, and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors met with the headteacher, leaders, staff and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, art, science and geography. 24 and 25 February 2022

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 For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also spoke to leaders about the curriculum in some other subjects.  Inspectors looked at school documentation and spoke with leaders, teachers, support staff, members of the governing body, parents, pupils and a representative from the local authority to find out the effectiveness of the school’s safeguarding procedures.  The lead inspector met with the chair and three other members of the governing body.  Inspectors also spent time observing and talking with pupils in the dining hall and in the playground at lunchtimes.  The inspectors considered 71 responses made by parents to Ofsted Parent View, including 44 free-text responses, and 47 responses to the staff survey.  Inspectors also considered 99 responses to the Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Heather Hann, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Simon Harbrow Ofsted Inspector 24 and 25 February 2022

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