Wren Park Primary School

Inspection of Wren Park Primary School Jackson Avenue, Mickleover, Derby, Derbyshire DE3 9AY

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 20 and 21 May 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are enthusiastic about coming to Wren Park Primary School. They are happy and say that they feel safe. However, the school has not established adequate safeguarding systems.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have made some improvements since the previous inspection. However, various issues remain unresolved. Some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not receive the necessary adaptations or appropriate support to access the curriculum. This prevents them from developing the knowledge and skills that they need to succeed. This reflects leaders’ expectations for pupils’ achievement not being fully realised.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Nevertheless, the school sets high expectations for pupils’ behaviour and engagement in learning. Pupils rise to these challenges and behave well. Pupils embody the school’s values of being ‘respectful, ambitious and resilient’. They show positive attitudes to each other and to their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Classrooms are calm learning environments. Pupils work hard, concentrate well and take pride in their work. Pupils are positive about improvements in behaviour that have been made. They enjoy social time with their peers and play well together.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils make a meaningful contribution to school life. Some serve as peer mediators, sports leaders or members of the school council. They strive to ‘spread kindness and make sure everybody in the school is happy’. Pupils also enjoy writing to their ‘pen pals’ at a local care home.

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

The school prioritises reading. Pupils are supported to develop a love of books. Staff are well trained to teach the phonics programme. Pupils begin to learn phonics as soon as they start in the Reception Year. They read books that match the sounds that they know. Teachers regularly check on pupils’ progress to identify those who are falling behind. Occasionally, there is some inconsistency in the approach to how these pupils are supported to catch up. Older pupils acquire the knowledge and skills they need to become confident, fluent readers. This is reflected in high published outcomes.

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

The school identifies the needs of pupils with SEND. In some subjects, adult guidance and practical resources enable them to access appropriate learning. However, support is inconsistent. As a result, the curriculum provided for some pupils with SEND is not adapted well enough and they have difficulty in engaging in their learning. Additionally, some do not receive the full wider curriculum offer or sufficient support in reading, which limits their educational experience and achievement. Disadvantaged pupils benefit from appropriate pastoral provision. However, leaders’ work to improve the support for these pupils has not resulted in good levels of achievement. 20 and 21 May 2025

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In some subjects, an ambitious curriculum identifies the knowledge pupils need to acquire and remember. Where this is implemented effectively, pupils develop a deep understanding. However, in other subjects, key knowledge has not been clearly identified or logically sequenced. Pupils do not build their knowledge in a well-structured way. Consequently, they struggle to recall key knowledge that they have been taught. For example, pupils’ knowledge of religions and world views is limited.

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In the early years, children tell stories and re-enact them during play. Staff carefully select activities so that children revisit and practise prior learning effectively before moving on to the next stage. Staff interact skilfully with children while they are playing to develop their vocabulary. Children develop independence and demonstrate resilience when learning. They are supported to be happy and confident. Children in the early years are well prepared for future learning.

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The school promotes regular attendance and offers incentives to encourage it. However, some pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND, are persistently absent from school. This means that they miss too much of their learning and do not achieve as well as they should.

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The school’s personal development provision is a notable strength. It ensures that pupils access a breadth of opportunities to enrich their time in school. Pupils develop their talents and interests through the range of clubs on offer. These include art, clay club and sporting activities. Pupils understand the importance of looking after their physical and mental health. They are taught the importance of self-care. Pupils enjoy working with the dentist to better understand oral hygiene.

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Pupils demonstrate a strong understanding of protected characteristics and fundamental British values. One pupil spoke for many when they acknowledged the importance of, ‘Being who you are and being unique.’ Leaders have enhanced pupils’ personal development and behaviour over the last two years, demonstrating their capacity to secure improvements.

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Staff are positive about the training they have received, particularly in relation to managing pupils’ behaviour. They feel well supported and appreciate the consideration given to their workload. The governing body offers support to the school. They make checks on staff’s well-being and workload. However, some of the checks that governors make are not rigorous enough. This prevents governors from gaining an accurate picture of the school. They lack the necessary insight in how to provide appropriate challenge and support to the school to address weaknesses in the education and care provided to pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. 20 and 21 May 2025

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The school does not routinely respond promptly to safeguarding concerns following disclosures from pupils. Key information about ongoing issues is not always shared with the agencies who could provide support to pupils and their families. Safeguarding records are not precise enough. They do not consistently or reliably record the support and help pupils have received. The school does not review incidents well enough. This means it does not have a comprehensive view of pupils’ needs. Consequently, there are occasions when the school fails to ensure that pupils receive the support they require.

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The school does carry out the appropriate checks on the suitability of adults before they start working with pupils.

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Pupils learn strategies about how to keep themselves safe. Younger pupils understand the dangers of talking to strangers and how to be safe when learning online. Older pupils develop skills to avoid the risks associated with substance misuse and social media use.

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Leaders, staff and governors complete the required safeguarding training. They understand how the training has helped them to identify pupils who may be at risk of harm. While staff do raise concerns, these are not always recorded accurately or followed up quickly, which can place pupils at continued risk.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Safeguarding procedures lack rigour. Leaders do not always act on safeguarding concerns raised by staff. Some safeguarding records lack clarity. Important information is not always shared with other agencies quickly enough. This means that pupils could be at risk of harm. The school should ensure that actions are taken swiftly to keep all pupils safe and that key information is shared with other agencies. It should also ensure that safeguarding records are accurate and reflect the decisions made.  Members of the governing body do not have sufficient oversight of all aspects of the school’s work. They lack clarity about the quality of care and education provided to pupils, including those who are disadvantaged. The school should ensure that governors strengthen the challenge and support provided to the school so that pupils achieve as well as they should.  In some subjects, the curriculum does not identify clearly what pupils need to know

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

and remember. Where this is the case, pupils do not remember their learning over time as well as they should. The school should ensure that, in these subjects, the key knowledge pupils need to learn and remember is identified clearly to allow for a more consistent delivery of the curriculum across all subjects. This will enable pupils to know and remember more across all areas of the curriculum and for the few pupils who fall behind with their reading to catch up quickly.  At times, learning is not always adapted well enough to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. As a result, these pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school 20 and 21 May 2025

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should ensure that the curriculum is closely aligned with pupils’ needs, providing an appropriate offer, including in reading, that enables them to learn effectively.  Some vulnerable pupils are persistently absent from school. By missing important learning, they do not achieve as well as they should. The school should ensure that rigorous attendance systems are in place to fully support those pupils to attend well.

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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). 20 and 21 May 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 14 and 15 February 2023, 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.

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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.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform. 20 and 21 May 2025

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the second inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed any continuing impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the schoo l.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders and the members of staff with responsibility for the early years.  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. Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair.

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 Inspectors took account of the responses to the Ofsted Parent View, including free-text responses and Ofsted’s survey for school staff.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, 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.  Inspectors considered pupils’ behaviour at various times of day, including in lessons, around the school site and at lunchtime. They scrutinised the school’s records for attendance and behaviour.

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Inspection team

Donna Chambers, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Karen Slack Ofsted Inspector 20 and 21 May 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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