Mansel Park Primary & Nursery School - Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Mansel Park Primary & Nursery School - Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools Culver Close, Porlock Road, Millbrook, Southampton, Hampshire SO16 9HZ

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Outcome

Evidence gathered during this ungraded (section 8) inspection suggests that the school’s work may have improved significantly across all areas since the previous inspection. The school’s next inspection will be a graded inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ welcoming, smiling faces in the sea of photographs in the entrance area say it all. They reflect the way they are greeted by staff each morning. This sets the tone for the day ahead because, as pupils explained, ‘smiles spread like a virus’. As one parent captured perfectly, ‘From the moment you step through the door, you can see the dedication and commitment of the staff and, more importantly, how happy and respectful the children are.’ Pupils unfailingly live up to the expectation that they are ready (to learn), respectful and safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are nurtured to be ‘architects of a better world’. Children get off to a fantastic start in early years, benefiting from an exceptional blend of care and expert knowledge about how young children learn and develop. The well-designed curriculum ensures that pupils’ learning builds systematically as they move up through the school. Standards in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6 are very high. Pupils acquire a comprehensive bank of knowledge and skills across other subjects. They leave with the attitudes, attributes and aspirations they need for future success and a strong sense of social responsibility and justice.

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

Pupils flourish socially and academically because nothing is left to chance. Everything pupils experience in class and beyond is purposefully planned and carefully checked for Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools, 4 and 5 February 2025

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the difference it makes. Deliberate teaching of the school values of ‘determination, perseverance, positivity and resilience’ fosters pupils’ consistently enthusiastic attitudes to school and to their learning. Collaborative working within the partnership has paid dividends in enhancing teaching and learning.

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The parent who said that Mansel Park does ‘its utmost best for all the pupils that attend’ was spot on. The school keeps a particularly watchful eye on provision for vulnerable pupils. Diligent staff swiftly notice and adapt teaching to support pupils who are not keeping up. Additional needs are identified precisely, extra support is put in place and progress is tracked carefully. The school knows its community extremely well. It goes above and beyond to support families facing challenges and encourages them to get their children to school regularly. Communications about the importance of good attendance are unequivocal. The number of pupils who miss too much school is falling.

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Leaders dare to do things differently, with remarkable results. The partnership’s own phonics scheme, developed during the pandemic, underpins the exemplary teaching of early reading. Well-trained staff are deployed effectively in order to teach pupils in small groups, matched carefully to their knowledge and skills. Additional support to help individuals keep up is timely, so most pupils get off to a great start in reading by the end of Year 1.

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The significant and ongoing investment in teachers’ professional development pays dividends. The consistent high-quality of teaching across the school is impressive. Teachers’ knowledge of the subjects they teach is secure. They know the curriculum inside out and are well versed in reputable research about how pupils learn best. As a consequence, teachers’ explanations are clear and precise. They skilfully check if pupils understand what they are learning. Teachers explicitly revisit key learning from the past to make sure that pupils have remembered it and can make links with what they are learning now. Similar attention is given to ensuring that the practice of external specialist teachers is of the same high quality.

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Cultivating pupils’ social and emotional well-being is at the heart of the school’s success. The foundations are laid in Nursery, where sensitive care ensures that children settle quickly and feel secure. As they get older, pupils develop a mature understanding of the impact of their actions on others and the importance of kindness and respect. They are inspired by people from the past and present who have championed a cause or overcome barriers in life. Class reading books help pupils develop a mature understanding of their place in the world and fire their determination to make it a better place.

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The school works relentlessly to provide experiences throughout pupils’ time at school that they may not otherwise have and to fuel their aspirations. Pupils are delighted to find that they can borrow books for free when they visit the local library. They enjoy theatre workshops and spending time away from home on residentials. A project with the local university for key stage 2 pupils broadens their horizons. A graduation ceremony at the start of Year 6 inspires them as they start their final year at Mansel Park and look to the future. Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools, 4 and 5 February 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 good 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 good for overall effectiveness in July 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, Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools, 4 and 5 February 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). Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools, 4 and 5 February 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Gerida Montague (executive headteacher) Paul Lodge (co-headteacher) Website www.manselpark.net

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 10 and 11 July 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Mansel Park is one of six schools in the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools. Members of the executive board, led by the executive headteacher, work across all the schools in the partnership, alongside other directors.  The governing body, known as the local leadership board, is responsible for this school and one of the others in the partnership. Most decision-making responsibilities sit with this board, overseen by the overall federation governing body.  Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportions of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities or who are eligible for pupil premium funding are much higher than in most schools. More pupils leave and join during the school year than is seen nationally.  In May 2022, Mansel Park took over responsibility for the on-site nursery provision for two- to four-year-olds. This includes before- and after-school wraparound care for

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Information about this school

children in the nursery.  The school does not currently use any alternative provision. Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools, 4 and 5 February 2025

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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 her evaluation of the school.  Meetings were held with the headteacher and school leaders, as well as members of the executive board and directors from the partnership who oversee different aspects of the school’s work. The inspector also had discussions with the chair of the local leadership board and other governors, and a representative of the local authority.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. She also listened to some pupils read to a familiar adult.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector reviewed the single central

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Information about this inspection

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.  Staff and parent views were gathered using Ofsted’s surveys. There were no responses to the pupil survey, but the inspector met with pupils as well as staff during the inspection. She also talked to pupils around school and outside at breaktime, and with staff as they went about their work.

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Inspection team

Alison Bradley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Part of the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools, 4 and 5 February 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 looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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