Minsterley Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Minsterley Primary School Minsterley, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY5 0BE

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Outcome

Minsterley Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Minsterley Primary School is warm, welcoming and inclusive. It is a school where pupils achieve well because of the guidance and support that staff provide. There is always something going on to enrich pupils’ experience, ranging from exciting visits to historic places, to the numerous sporting clubs in school. This is a small school with a big offer.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school expects pupils to be ‘ready, respectful and safe’, and pupils know this. They enjoy warm, secure relationships with friends and staff. They trust staff to help them if there is anything they are worried about. This results in there being a safe, happy and industrious atmosphere in which pupils learn and thrive.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff and pupils share high expectations of how pupils should behave. Both in class and in the playground, high standards of conduct are a stand-out feature here. Pupils are polite, confident and have positive attitudes to education. They become skilled communicators, able to share their views while being respectful of the views of others. When pupils leave here, they are well prepared for their next school both in terms of their personal development and their curriculum knowledge.

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

The school has designed a curriculum that sets high expectations and ambition for all pupils. In every subject, leaders have decided what pupils will learn and when. The challenges of having mixed-age classes have been addressed through a well-conceived rolling programme of subject content. This has ensured that pupils usually receive a curriculum that is well matched to what they need and is sequenced in such a way that learning builds over time. The curriculum is engaging and exciting.

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

The school is ambitious for all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff, parents and carers work together to identify if pupils need extra help. School staff plan activities and adaptations 12 March 2024

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to the curriculum that help pupils with SEND access the curriculum in a way which is right for them. Skilled, caring staff support pupils well and with sensitivity.

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Pupils achieve very well in mathematics. Lessons are clearly structured so that teachers revisit, and pupils practise, previous concepts and make meaningful connections. Pupils love mathematics. They become skilled at solving problems because they have a deep understanding of the mathematical concepts they have studied. The revisiting of learning is also proving effective in computing, where pupils are gaining essential life skills and knowledge in using software and in coding.

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Pupils understand how revisiting their learning regularly helps them to remember things in the long term. However, in a small number of subjects, pupils struggle to remember what they have learned as well as they could. This is because teachers do not always revisit previous learning successfully enough.

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Reading has a high priority at Minsterley and is another strength of this school. Pupils become fluent, competent readers who read often, enjoying the books they immerse themselves in. They relish the books that teachers read to them because these are high- quality, exciting reads. A love of reading starts in Reception, where children become enthused by their daily phonics lessons. If they fall behind, staff are quick to recognise this and help them to catch up. Children quickly become good at decoding words and delight in the books they take home to read and share with parents.

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Despite the school being small, it provides a vast array of opportunities outside the curriculum that pupils benefit from. Pupils regularly go on exciting, meaningful trips, such as to The National Arboretum or to Wroxeter Roman City. They meet a real-life scientist, visit places of worship and even take part in a water fight! These are all part of the school’s ‘25 things you do at Minsterley Primary School’ promise.

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Parents are satisfied with the school and appreciate the support and care their children receive. They are kept informed through an online system where they receive regular messages and updates.

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Governors, leaders and staff share a vision and passion for this school. Staff feel very much a part of a caring team and are proud and happy to work here. They feel valued and listened to. They know that when changes are made, they are always made with the best interests of pupils in mind.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 12 March 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a small number of subjects, the school is not ensuring that pupils are being helped as well as they should to remember their learning over time. This means that pupils are not retaining the information they are taught to be able to build successfully on future learning. The school should extend the practice seen in stronger subjects so that pupils learn and remember, in all subjects, the knowledge they need to be successful.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2018.

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How can I feed back my views?

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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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 12 March 2024

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 11 and 12 July 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not make use of any alternative provision.  The school runs before- and after-school care.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken this into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher and other leaders, including the special educational needs coordinator.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first. 12 March 2024

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and computing. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also spoke to leaders and pupils about some other subjects.  An inspector listened to pupils read to members of school staff.  An inspector held a meeting with members of the board of governors.  An inspector spoke with a school improvement adviser from the local authority.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons at different times of the day and at breaktimes and lunchtimes. They spoke formally with groups of pupils, as well as talking to pupils in lessons and around school.  Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted Parent View, including parents’ free-text responses. Inspectors also took account of responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupil

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surveys.  The lead inspector reviewed a range of documents, including the school’s website.  Inspectors spoke to parents at the school gate.

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Inspection team

Gareth Morgan, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Nina Sangha Ofsted Inspector 12 March 2024

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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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