Moat Farm Junior School

Moat Farm Junior School

Address: Brookfields Road, Oldbury, West Midlands, B68 9QR Unique reference number (URN): 149407

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Attendance and behaviour Exceptional

The school’s nurturing culture and carefully structured routines ensure that pupils arrive each day ready to learn. Families understand clearly why regular attendance matters and leaders communicate this message with consistency and conviction. As a result, attendance remains high for all groups, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders are tenacious in how they monitor attendance patterns and respond swiftly when concerns arise. Leaders identify individual barriers with precision and take thoughtful and practical actions to reduce them. As a result, the school's impressive above-average rates of attendance have been sustained over time.

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Attendance and behaviour Exceptional

Pupils' behaviour across the school is exemplary. Leaders’ approach to behaviour promotes excellent self-regulation and equips pupils with habits that will serve them well beyond school. Expectations are explicit and reinforced throughout daily interactions. This ensures that pupils understand how to conduct themselves. Classrooms are purposeful and calm and pupils show genuine enthusiasm for their learning. The systems of rewards and consequences are applied consistently and with sensitivity. This ensures fairness for all. A small proportion of pupils receive effective additional layers of tailored support which skilfully develops pupils’ social skills. Incidents of poor behaviour, including bullying, occur rarely and are resolved promptly. This reflects the school’s highly effective pastoral care so that pupils can flourish.

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Achievement Strong standard

Pupils achieve highly across the curriculum. Throughout the school, current pupils build up secure knowledge and apply key skills with increasing precision. When staff identify gaps in understanding, they address these swiftly through well-targeted support. This ensures that pupils keep up and continue to develop their knowledge as they move through each year group. Published outcomes show that pupils consistently perform well above national figures. This reflects the high quality seen in current pupils’ work and their progress over time.

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Achievement Strong standard

Disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive high-quality support. Staff remove barriers to learning and adapt teaching so that these pupils progress well from their varied starting points. As a result, disadvantaged pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 is often higher than disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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Achievement Strong standard

Alongside academic success, pupils develop excellent social and emotional skills. They take pride in their work and speak confidently about what they know. By the time they leave, pupils are very well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders have shaped a carefully sequenced curriculum that meets pupils’ needs and reflects the school’s high aspirations. In English and mathematics, a strong emphasis on securing pupils’ early reading, writing and number knowledge provides the essential groundwork for future success. Staff introduce new learning in manageable steps and revisit key knowledge often. This enables pupils to build a secure understanding across subjects and apply what they know with confidence. Teachers use a range of ongoing assessments to identify gaps quickly and adapt their teaching. This ensures that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, access the ambitious curriculum.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Teaching is consistently clear and purposeful. Teachers explain ideas precisely and foster rich spoken language in every lesson. They introduce ambitious vocabulary and give pupils time to practise this. Teachers model high ‑ quality work, helping pupils to speak and write with accuracy and increasing sophistication.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders prioritise the development of pupils' reading and spoken language. Teachers skilfully deliver the school's phonics programme. Staff understand how learning builds over time. They help pupils make purposeful links between subjects. For example, pupils confidently recall prior learning when designing and building a battery ‑ powered car, explaining circuits and how wheel size affects speed. They then apply this knowledge in English to write clear, well ‑ structured instructional texts describing each stage of the process.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Inclusion sits firmly at the heart of the school’s work. Leaders set consistently high expectations for every pupil, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are disadvantaged and those known or previously known to children’s social care. Staff identify pupils’ needs swiftly and use well-established systems to ensure that support is timely and effective. Skilled teachers and support staff draw on precise assessments to plan targeted approaches that reduce barriers to learning. As a result, all pupils access the full curriculum and those who are disadvantaged make substantial progress alongside their peers.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders invest in a high-quality professional learning programme to give staff the expertise required to understand pupils’ needs. This ensures that planned strategies are applied consistently to support all pupils. Close partnership working with families and external professionals ensures that pupils receive the right guidance and support. This collaborative approach helps pupils feel secure, valued and ready to learn.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders use additional funding thoughtfully to enhance pupils' learning and wellbeing. Disadvantaged pupils benefit from carefully tailored academic and pastoral support, including access to enrichment opportunities that broaden their experiences. Leaders check the impact of these strategies rigorously. They make timely adjustments so that pupils grow in independence, develop resilience and thrive as confident learners.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders set a clear and aspirational direction for the school. They know the school community well and use this insight to identify precise priorities for improvement. Leaders act decisively and with integrity. They place pupils’ learning, wellbeing and inclusion at the forefront of every decision. Leaders model professionalism and establish high expectations across the school.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders strengthen curriculum and teaching through a well-sequenced professional learning programme. Staff, including early career teachers, benefit from high-quality training that deepens subject expertise and refines practice. Leaders allocate time and resources to this so staff can collaborate effectively. Leaders remain attentive to workload and wellbeing. They adapt systems so they are manageable and purposeful. As a result, staff feel trusted and valued.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The governing body and trustees carry out their duties with care and honesty. They are well informed about the school’s performance and fulfil their statutory duties with rigour. Governors use a wide range of evidence to evaluate the impact of leaders’ actions and offer constructive challenge and support that helps the school to keep improving. Trust leaders ensure that resources are deployed wisely and that safeguarding arrangements remain robust. Those responsible for governance maintain a focus on securing the best outcomes for all pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged or face barriers to learning.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Highly effective partnerships within the trust and with local networks further enrich provision. Leaders share expertise beyond the school and draw on external support. This collaborative approach enhances their practice. Parents and carers speak very positively about the school. One parent summed up the views of many: ‘leaders work hard to get the very best out of pupils’.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The school has a well-planned and ambitious curriculum for personal, social and health education. This enables pupils to grow into confident, responsible and considerate young citizens. Pupils speak with enthusiasm about the rich opportunities available to them, including visits to the Houses of Parliament and nationally recognised cultural institutions. These experiences help pupils connect their learning to the wider world and raise their aspirations for the future.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The curriculum promotes pupils’ understanding of fairness, respect and responsibility. Pupils demonstrate these qualities in their interactions with others and show a strong commitment to the school’s Moat Farm values (motivation, optimism, attendance, teamwork, friendship, acceptance, respect and manners). At the right times, pupils learn about healthy relationships, different family structures, racism, puberty and personal safety. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe in the real world and online, including the advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence. They learn how to maintain positive physical and mental health. Pupils also have a thorough understanding of fundamental British values.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pupils enjoy a wide range of clubs, enrichment activities and cultural experiences. Leaders ensure that all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs and/or disabilities, participate fully. These activities help pupils grow in confidence and resilience.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leadership opportunities are extensive and purposeful. Pupils take pride in roles such as council representatives, eco team and walk to school ambassadors. They understand that these responsibilities allow them to make meaningful contributions to school life. The increasing range of leadership opportunities ensures that pupils with varied strengths can represent their peers and influence positive change across the school.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Older pupils in particular show maturity and a real sense of pride in their school. They are very well prepared for the next stage of their education and life in modern Britain.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils are proud to attend Moat Farm Junior School. They arrive each morning with excitement to learn new things. Pupils are greeted enthusiastically by staff who know them well. This welcome helps pupils feel safe, included and ready to learn. There is a real sense of community evident in the calm, purposeful atmosphere that permeates the school. Pupils speak confidently about belonging and understand the importance of treating everyone with fairness and dignity.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils’ behaviour and attendance rates are exemplary across the school. Clear expectations and well-established routines help pupils to conduct themselves maturely in lessons, around the site and during social times. Pupils are polite, considerate and quick to support others. They are role models to each other in lessons and around the school. Bullying is rare and pupils trust staff to deal swiftly and effectively with any issues that arise. Pupils learn to manage their emotions and demonstrate respect for one another.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils relish their learning. They focus well in lessons and explain their thinking with clarity. Pupils engage enthusiastically with a well-designed curriculum that helps them build knowledge over time and make meaningful links between ideas. Staff identify and address barriers promptly, ensuring that pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, access learning confidently. The vision of the school ‘where we prepare for tomorrow by achieving today’ is lived out by all. As a result, pupils achieve highly and benefit fully from school life.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils value the wide range of opportunities offered beyond the classroom. Activities such as judo, gardening, music and residential visits broaden their horizons and deepen their understanding of other cultures. Leadership opportunities, such as attendance champions, house captains and reading ambassadors enable pupils to develop responsibility and contribute positively to school life. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education and for life in modern Britain.

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Team inspectors:

Jane Edgerton, Ofsted Inspector Jon Hughes, Ofsted Inspector Shelley Reeves-Walters, Ofsted Inspector

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Next steps

Leaders and those responsible for governance should continue to strengthen and refine their work across all areas, ensuring that improvements are sustainable over time so that they have a transformational impact on outcomes for all pupils.

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About this inspection

This school is part of Stour Value Academy Trust, which means that other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Rachel Salter, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Joanne Williams.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with school leaders including the headteacher, deputy headteacher and other leaders. The lead inspector spoke with the chief executive office and representatives of the trust, including chair of the trust board, and the chair of the local governing body during the inspection.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke to pupils in lessons, at social times and met with groups of pupils.

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About this inspection

Inspectors met with groups of staff and spoke to parents at the start of the school day. They considered the responses to Ofsted’s surveys.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school makes use of one alternative provision for pupils.

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About this inspection

The school operates a co-headteacher model.

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About this inspection

Headteacher: Mrs Elizabeth Shaw and Mrs Aline Scotney

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years. National average: 26.3%

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2023/24 (final) 80% 74% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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