Florence Melly Community Primary School

Inspection of a school judged outstanding for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Florence Melly Community Primary School Bushey Road, Liverpool, Merseyside L4 9UA

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Outcome

Florence Melly Community Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This school is a fantastic place to learn and make friends. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) thrive. So, too, do other pupils. This is because of the school’s high expectations of all its pupils. It removes barriers to pupils’ learning and well- being successfully. The school gives pupils the maximum chances that it can, to help them to prosper. Pupils achieve highly and are exceptionally well prepared for their future lives.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils flourish in classrooms that are incredibly calm. On the occasions when an individual pupil needs extra help to manage their own feelings or behaviour, staff support pupils with great skill and sensitivity. This helps pupils to settle, feel at ease and be ready to learn. It also helps other pupils to enjoy their learning and to focus their attention. The school ensures that children in the early years and pupils in key stages 1 and 2 are safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from the school’s exceptional provision of wider opportunities. For example, they play chess, make cross-country runs and explore more about reading or science at special clubs. Pupils love spending time at the school’s allotment as well as cooking food. The school enables its pupils to be responsible, respectful British citizens.

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

The school gives its full attention to everything that it does. It is ambitious and has maintained the high-quality of pupils’ learning, behaviour and wider development. Expert, well-informed leaders and governors play a valuable role in making sure that the school remains highly successful. The school’s work in early years and for all its pupils with SEND, have become core strengths of its provision. Teachers and teaching assistants 7 and 8 January 2025

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speak joyfully about their roles at the school. The school makes thoughtful decisions to support staff’s well-being and workload. Leaders, staff and pupils excel.

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The school carefully crafts the content of its curriculum. This means that teachers know what key knowledge to teach to pupils and when. Due to high-quality training and support, staff understand how to teach essential information. Staff check very precisely that pupils know and remember the curriculum. They also identify any pupils who have SEND quickly and accurately. Staff provide pupils with the support that they need to resolve any gaps in their knowledge. Pupils make excellent progress through the curriculum.

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The published outcomes for pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar in Year 6 in 2024 were below average. This does not reflect the impressive progress that pupils make in learning the school’s curriculum. The school has improved its curriculum for writing thoughtfully. Pupils enjoy writing and develop the essential skills that they need.

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The school has invested significantly in training staff about phonics. It provides staff with high-quality texts to support their phonics teaching. The school ensures that all pupils learn the school’s chosen phonics programme very well. Staff give the weakest readers the help that they need. Pupils learn quickly to read with accuracy and ease.

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Staff enthuse children and pupils about the learning of new words. Pupils develop a rich vocabulary. Pupils with complex SEND make individually significant strides forward in their learning, such as learning to communicate with others calmly. Pupils leave the school remarkably well placed for continuing their education at secondary school.

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The school absorbs its pupils in a plethora of well-presented, high-quality books and the joy of reading. In the early years, children gain a deep love of books, stories, rhymes and songs. This is an impressive foundation on which their education at the school builds. Pupils love reading. For example, during the inspection, pupils in Year 6 asked the inspector to unwrap a beautiful gift box to discover what the next class novel would be. Older pupils are knowledgeable about the works of Shakespeare and Dickens, and a wide range of more recent authors.

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The school has successfully revised its approach to promoting pupils’ attendance. For example, it acts on instances of lateness effectively. This prevents poor habits from becoming established. Staff now spend more dedicated time ensuring that pupils attend school. Issues of pupils’ persistent absence are reducing noticeably. The school is doing all it can to ensure that all pupils benefit from being at school.

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Pupils engage in the school’s very well-designed programme for personal enrichment. All pupils learn about the school’s values. As a result, for example, older pupils are able to explain the meaning of complex concepts, such as ‘empowerment’. The school takes pupils on a huge array of carefully considered educational trips. For instance, it helps pupils to gain a well-informed, first-hand understanding of Liverpool’s rich culture. The school supports pupils very well in their personal development. 7 and 8 January 2025

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged outstanding for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 outstanding for overall effectiveness in June 2019.

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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, 7 and 8 January 2025

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looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 7 and 8 January 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 27 and 28 June 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school uses one registered alternative provision for its pupils.  Since the previous inspection, the headteacher, some other leaders and staff are new to their roles.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher and other leaders to discuss the school’s work, including on attendance, behaviour, early years, personal development and SEND.  The inspector met with the governing body, including the chair of governors.  The inspector spoke by telephone with a representative of the local authority. 7 and 8 January 2025

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 The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, as well as the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey. He considered the responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: 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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Inspection team

Tim Vaughan, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 7 and 8 January 2025

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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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