a school not in a category of concern of Manchester Mesivta School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Zevi Katz Headteacher Manchester Mesivta School Beechwood Charlton Avenue Prestwich Greater Manchester M25 0PH

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Mesivta School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 21 May 2025, on behalf of His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and took place because the school meets the monitoring threshold as set out in the Monitoring Inspection Handbook .

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Mesivta School

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school's key and (where applicable) provision judgements, but to identify and report on the school's progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school's previous graded inspection.

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Mesivta School

During the inspection, I discussed with you, other senior leaders, the chair of governors, a representative of the local authority and a school improvement partner brokered by the local authority the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also visited lessons, looked at examples of pupils’ work, met with pupils and staff and reviewed a range of documentation. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Main findings

Since the previous inspection, the school has appointed a new special educational needs coordinator and a new leader for behaviour.

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Main findings

The school has prioritised improving the quality of education. It has raised its expectations of what all pupils can achieve. The school has made the key stage 3 curriculum more ambitious by broadening the range of subjects studied through to Year 9. Pupils no longer narrow their choices early. At key stage 4, pupils study for their GCSEs into Year 11. This gives them more time to secure and deepen their learning. Additionally, in the sixth form, students now remain in education until the end of Year 13. They study a wider range of A-levels and vocational qualifications.

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Main findings

Following an external review, subject curriculums are increasingly well organised. Subject leaders are developing their expertise in curriculum design. They are increasingly aware of the importance of identifying the essential knowledge and vocabulary that pupils should learn and remember. This is logically ordered in some subjects, but this is less evident in others. The school has also focused on improving the quality of staff’s teaching. In some subjects, this has started to enhance the implementation of the curriculum. However, some of the improvements to the implementation of the curriculum are in their early stages of development. For example, the school is still setting out the teaching methods that it wants teachers to use. Training to support staff in using these approaches is in its infancy. It is, therefore, too soon to evaluate their impact.

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Main findings

The school is prioritising reading. It has strengthened its approach to reading by seeking external support and visiting other schools. However, it is still the case that those pupils who find reading difficult do not receive the support that they need in a timely and effective way. This hinders their learning of the curriculum and prevents them from achieving as well as they should. Staff are starting to support pupils to read for pleasure, helped by the introduction of dedicated reading time. However, the impact of this work is variable in ensuring that pupils read widely and often from a broad range of text types and authors.

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Main findings

The school, supported by governors, has acted with appropriate rigour and timeliness to address the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. Governors hold leaders to account systematically. Staff teaching both Chol and Kodesh value recent changes to the school day, which allow them to collaborate more effectively and access together the same training for teaching and behaviour strategies. They appreciate that this supports a more cohesive approach to learning and embedding routines across the school.

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Main findings

Eradicating poor behaviour and establishing an effective culture for learning has been a key priority. The school has raised its expectations of pupils’ conduct. The behaviour policy has been revised. It is clear about what is and is not acceptable. The school clearly communicates to all stakeholders that it will apply its policies fairly and consistently to ensure all pupils learn in a safe and calm environment. In a relatively short time, the school has introduced new routines and helped staff to raise the bar for pupils’ behaviour. Training to up-skill staff in using effective behaviour strategies is underway. As a result, the atmosphere around the school is becoming more positive, calm and respectful. This is helping pupils to learn and to enjoy school more than they did in the past. Many pupils are motivated to earn rewards, including ‘green cards’ to spend in the school shop. However, some staff have not developed sufficient confidence

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Main findings

to implement the new behaviour management policy consistently well. As such, some pupils continue to exhibit disruptive behaviour. At times, this interrupts the learning experiences of other pupils.

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Main findings

The school values the support provided by external consultants. External support has been sought in relation to refining subject curriculums and how leaders can evaluate the quality of the teaching of the curriculum. Additionally, the school has used the support from other external partners, brokered by the local authority, to help it develop a structured approach to reading and to strengthen its systems to support those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school has acted on the advice that it has received to continue to drive improvements.

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Main findings

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of governors, the Department for Education's regional director and the director of children's services for Bury. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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