Montrose School

Inspection of Montrose School Wigston Lane, Aylestone, Leicester, Leicestershire LE2 8TN

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 1 and 2 October 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Montrose School is an inclusive and welcoming place to learn. Pupils say that everyone matters. They enjoy positive relationships with staff and value the nurture and support they receive when they need it. Pupils are happy and safe here.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is ambitious for every pupil to have a good education. Staff help pupils understand the school’s high expectations by being effective role models. Pupils behave well. They strive to show the school’s ‘RESPECT values’. For those who may find this more challenging, staff provide sensitive and constructive support.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy the enriching experiences the school provides. These include residential trips, visits and history days. The use of the locality is woven through the curriculum. For instance, pupils visit the local war memorial to bring history to life. Links to the university raise pupils’ aspirations. Pupils appreciate the many sporting and musical opportunities. These help to nurture their interests and talents.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to make their own contribution to the school. The eco-team take sustainability very seriously. For instance, they encourage others to recognise the importance of a bee-friendly environment. Prefects give important reminders and act as conscientious role models around the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Montrose School is at the heart of its community. Parents and carers speak highly of the school. They appreciate the deep ethos of care for everyone.

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

Pupils learn from an engaging curriculum that covers a broad range of subjects. The school has identified the important knowledge that pupils need to know in all subjects. In most subjects, this is broken down so that pupils learn in a logical order. In a small number of subjects, the curriculum lacks the same clarity. In these subjects, teachers are not as accurate with their checks of pupils’ learning. The school wants the very best for pupils. They have focused on and prioritised the right things to improve the school’s work over time. However, leaders do not check precisely what is working and what needs to change. The impact of actions is not as rapid as they intend. Reading is prioritised. Phonics is taught well right from the start, so that children become confident readers. Support is in place to ensure that pupils soon catch up if they fall behind. From Nursery to Year 6, pupils experience a wide range of texts, including poetry

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

books, stories and non-fiction titles. Texts often link to topics from other subjects. Pupils can talk about the stories they have listened to and their favourite authors. Pupils are developing a love for reading. 1 and 2 October 2024

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The school ensures that pupils learn challenging vocabulary across all subjects. Their confidence to use this in their spoken and written explanations builds as they move through the school. This benefits all pupils, but particularly pupils who speak English as an additional language. In mathematics, the school provides an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum. Staff have good subject knowledge. They regularly check that pupils are remembering the intended learning to identify the knowledge that pupils need to revisit. Consequently, pupils are progressing well through the mathematics curriculum. Children in the early years make a strong start. Children settle quickly. Skilled adults help them build on important knowledge through engaging and purposeful learning activities. Children are prepared well for Year 1 and beyond. Staffing difficulties stalled the progress made by some pupils last year, despite the best

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endeavours of the school. Effective actions have been swiftly put in place to get pupils back on track. This was clear in visits to lessons and the quality of work seen in pupils’ books. The school takes seriously its role in providing an inclusive learning environment for all its pupils. Adults are skilled at adapting teaching and giving sensitive support to ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) can access the same curriculum content as their peers. Pupils with SEND achieve well. The pastoral support offered to pupils and families is a strength of the school. The school goes beyond expectations to help families overcome any barriers they may have. The school’s work to improve the attendance of pupils who do not attend as well as they should is exemplary.

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Opportunities to promote pupils’ well-being and help them make safe choices are woven through everything. Pupils learn to respect and appreciate difference, including different cultures, beliefs and family structures. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain. Staff feel well supported to manage their workload and enjoy opportunities to develop their expertise. They are proud to be part of the Montrose School team

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects the school has not clearly identified the knowledge that it wants pupils to learn and in what order. In these subjects, teachers are not clear what they should be checking to ensure that pupils build their knowledge securely over time. The 1 and 2 October 2024

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school should ensure that the knowledge it wants pupils to learn is clear across all subjects, so that teachers can secure pupils’ understanding and that pupils achieve as well as they should.  The school is in the early stages of implementing new systems to check the effectiveness of its work. It is too soon to see the full impact of this. Consequently, leaders do not have a precise understanding of what is working well and what requires further development, including in curriculum subjects. The school should ensure that new systems are fully implemented, to further enhance the precision of actions to improve the impact of the school’s work.

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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). 1 and 2 October 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Andy Owens (co headteacher) Suzanne Jackson (co headteacher) Website www.montrose.leicester.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 28 November 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The deputy headteacher took on the role of co-headteacher, alongside the long- standing headteacher, in 2022.  The school runs before- and after-school childcare on the school site.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024, will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 1 and 2 October 2024

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.

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

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 The inspectors met with the co-headteachers, the assistant headteachers, and a range of other staff.

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 The lead inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body. She spoke with a representative of the local authority.

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, science, history, and art and design. 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. The lead inspector listened to pupils reading to adults.

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 The inspectors also met with other subject leaders and looked at curriculum documentation and samples of pupils’ work for some other subjects.

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 Inspectors met with leaders responsible for pupils’ behaviour and attendance, and pupils’ personal development. They also met with leaders responsible for the provision for pupils with SEND.

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 Inspectors met with the leader responsible for the early years, visited the early years and spoke with children.

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 Inspectors met formally and informally with groups of pupils.

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 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.

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 Inspectors considered responses received on Parent View, including free-text responses. They met with parents in person at the school gates. Inspectors also considered responses to the Ofsted survey for school staff.

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Inspection team

Mandy Wilding, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Chris Stevens Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 October 2024

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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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