Manorside Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve progress in writing so that it matches the rapid gains made in other subjects.
• Raise attendance levels still further by continuing to work constructively with the small number of parents and carers who do not appreciate the importance of their children attending the school regularly.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Leaders at all levels and members of the academy advisory committee have succeeded in their ambition to achieve an excellent standard of education. This is most evident in the rapid gains in pupils’ progress in all age groups in recent years. The leadership team accurately evaluates the strengths of the school. The leadership team’s incisive planning shows its determined and thorough approach to continued development.
• School leaders have successfully transmitted their vision and determination for every pupil to do their best to staff, parents and pupils. Every parent with whom inspectors spoke during the inspection, or who submitted questionnaires or texts to the inspection team, would strongly recommend the school to others.
• Staff unanimously support the leadership team’s drive and sense of purpose. Pupils clearly love the school, enthusiastically praising it to inspectors. Pupils made comments to inspectors such as ‘Everyone in the school is connected – it’s like a family’ and ‘I love learning. It’s the best school in the world.’
• The most significant improvement has been in pupils’ progress. This has been exceptional, especially last year and in the current school year. All pupils make the best of their time in the school. Disadvantaged pupils, who are a significant proportion of pupil numbers, make progress that is in line with or above that of other pupils nationally, sometimes significantly so.
• Although progress has been rapid, school leaders recognise that progress in writing in some areas of the curriculum could be even faster in order to match the rate of progress in reading and mathematics.
• The school’s leaders and staff know their pupils very well. They give pupils exceptional care and support, including those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. The school uses additional funding both for these pupils and for disadvantaged pupils to help them make outstanding progress. Many parents commented on how well these pupils thrive at the school.
• The curriculum is one of the school’s many strengths. It places a very effective focus on rapidly developing the core literacy and numeracy skills to a very high level. Pupils love the work they do and are very excited by the topics which are an important part of the work in all classes. This was very apparent in the high-quality work on astronomy which inspectors saw.
• Leaders enrich the curriculum with a wide range of activities before and after school. The school has used the additional sports funding to successfully raise the profile of several sports, which have a high take-up. There is a successful breakfast club which has improved the attendance of some pupils. The after-school clubs, including for sports, also have a high take-up and have helped to considerably improve pupils’ skills as well as their enjoyment of school.
• There is a strong focus on promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development in lessons and through activities such as music. Staff also give a high profile to teaching pupils about values in modern Britain, for example, through arranging elections for roles of responsibility.
• School leaders at all levels check the quality of teaching and learning closely. Staff see this as supportive because, for example, they also benefit from opportunities to see outstanding practice outside their own classroom. Leaders ensure accountability and reward staff appropriately when they show how much they have improved progress and when they have taken on additional responsibility.
• The school’s successes are acknowledged widely in other educational institutions. Two of the leadership team are specialist leaders of education and the principal is a local leader of education. Staff take up the many training opportunities to improve their skills, sometimes involving staff from other academies sponsored by the trust. Leaders and staff from other schools visit Manorside to learn from its success in improving pupils’ achievement.

Governance of the school

• Members of the academy advisory committee provide expert governance. They thoroughly understand both the school’s strengths and the areas which can be improved still further, such as attendance. They work closely with the principal, sharing her ambition and enthusiasm. Members challenge the leadership team constructively to avoid any complacency in the drive for continued improvement.
• Committee members keep themselves informed about what is happening in the school, not just in meetings but by talking to staff and pupils. They listen to reports from staff and play a key role in formulating the school’s evaluation of its own performance. Members analyse assessment data so that they understand how well pupils make progress.
• Committee members take their responsibility for safeguarding seriously and are confident that the school’s systems meet requirements. They have received up-to-date safeguarding training and ensure that all school policies are relevant and updated regularly.
• The commitment, knowledge and expertise which committee members show mean that they are well placed to support school leaders in continuing to move the school forward. The success of the committee and school leaders in working together to raise achievement shows that there is a proven capacity to improve the school still further.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school’s leaders are concerned for the well-being of all pupils, and with the large proportion of vulnerable pupils in their care, they are particularly keen to ensure these pupils’ safety. Consequently, they promote a strong culture of safeguarding in the school.
• The school has a range of policies and procedures to ensure safeguarding. These policies are tried and tested, and up to date, because they are used across the trust. During the inspection, staff and committee members demonstrated to inspectors that they securely understand their responsibilities in dealing with aspects such as radicalisation and extremism. Staff know how to recognise potential safeguarding issues, and whom they should approach if they have any concerns.
• There is a comprehensive programme for pupils’ personal development which is taught in lessons and assemblies. The school also provides relevant information about safeguarding to parents.
• The school works closely with other agencies where necessary. It also has its own pastoral support team. As well as being involved with the breakfast club, this team runs activities such as the cup and saucer club for pupils. The inclusion team runs a coffee morning to strengthen links with parents.
• Parents all feel that their children are safe in the school. Pupils and staff strongly support this view. Pupils know that there are adults to whom they can confidently turn when needed.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching is of high quality throughout the school. Teachers have benefited from excellent training to develop their confidence and skills through a well-planned programme of professional development. This includes opportunities for skilled staff to learn from each other, both within the school and together with other local academies in the trust.
• Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and their capacity to work hard in lessons. Staff follow the school’s policy of ‘non-negotiables’ consistently. This is one of the principal reasons why pupils’ progress is strong throughout the school from Reception through to Year 6.
• Teachers deploy teaching assistants very effectively to ensure that those pupils who find aspects of learning more difficult can share in the excellent progress made in most lessons.
• Teachers use questioning very effectively to probe pupils’ understanding and encourage them to think for themselves, for example when solving problems in mathematics. Teachers check pupils’ understanding carefully. Pupils are confident in asking questions when they are unsure about any aspects of their learning.
• Teachers consistently follow the school’s policy on marking work and giving feedback. This means that pupils in all year groups receive detailed information on the quality of their work and how they can improve it further. Pupils are used to responding to this feedback.
• The leadership team’s records of its monitoring of teaching demonstrate how much it has improved in recent years. Inspectors saw the results for themselves. Pupils are enthusiastic learners, whether working independently, in groups or with the whole class together. Inspectors agree with parents and the pupils themselves about how effective the teaching is.
• Teachers use assessment information accurately to plan work which challenges pupils of all abilities to try their best. This helps all groups, including the most able pupils, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils, to learn effectively.
• Staff teach phonics very successfully, as the school’s excellent results in the Year 1 phonics screening check show. Teaching also ensures strong gains in knowledge and understanding in pupils’ reading and mathematics. Writing is taught very effectively in English lessons, and often through the various topics which have a subject focus, for example in history or geography. While pupils often produce high-quality work in these topics, occasionally teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve is lower in topic work than in English lessons.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Staff place much emphasis on developing pupils’ emotional and mental well-being, alongside developing their academic skills. They do this partly through a strong programme of personal, social and health education. The school also provides very effective personal support, which helps to develop pupils’ resilience.
• Pupils recognise that bullying can take various forms but they do not regard it as a problem in the school. Their parents agree. Pupils feel very well supported and are confident about approaching adults for help when needed.
• The school’s records confirm that there are few incidents of misbehaviour, and if they occur, they are resolved quickly and effectively. Consequently, the school is a safe and happy community, as inspectors saw for themselves and which pupils, parents and staff all confirmed.
• Leaders have established strong links with other local schools. This helps prepare pupils for the next stage of their education.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils of all ages have excellent attitudes towards learning. They talk enthusiastically about their lessons and what they learn.
• Parents, staff and pupils are very positive about the high standard of behaviour in lessons and around the school, which ensures a very orderly and friendly environment.
• Pupils’ positive attitudes are also evident in the high-quality displays of pupils’ work in corridors and classrooms. Pupils take great pride in the appearance of their work. They also wear their uniforms with pride, cherishing the badges awarded for various achievements.
• Almost all pupils attend regularly and their good attendance is widely celebrated. However, historically there has been an issue with attendance, which up until last year was below average. This is due to a small number of pupils, including some disadvantaged pupils, whose attendance has been well below average.
• Leaders have successfully improved attendance so that it is now in line with the national average. They have worked strenuously with families to reduce absence. The school provides support, for example through home visits, in a continuing effort to convince families of the importance of regular attendance and to help them overcome any issues.
• In cases of poor attendance, particularly when the pupils are disadvantaged, the school has worked hard in providing additional support. This has helped to ensure that the progress of these pupils has not suffered unduly when compared to the other pupils in the school who make strong progress. The breakfast club has improved the attendance of some pupils.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Following a period of rapid improvement, pupils make progress that is above average, sometimes significantly so.
• There are relatively few pupils in the school with high prior attainment, but these few pupils attain standards well above the national average by the end of Year 6.
• The improvement in standards was evident in the 2017 national test results. Attainment in reading and mathematics was at or above the expected standard for pupils with a low or middle starting point. This included many disadvantaged pupils.
• The proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check was well above the national average in 2017.
• The trends in progress in English and mathematics have been steadily rising over time.
• Rates of progress have continued this academic year and the pace of improvement has increased. Pupils are on track to meet the challenging targets set for the end of the current school year, fulfilling the school’s vision of ‘high expectations for all’. The proportion of pupils at or above the national standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined is already significantly above the 2017 national average and is set to increase further, representing exceptional progress.
• The school’s ambitious targets are realistic. Inspectors saw the high quality of pupils’ work in all year groups.
• Pupils show good problem-solving skills as they develop their mastery in mathematics.
• The standard of reading is high. Pupils read regularly in lessons and are expected to read at home with their parents. Younger pupils heard reading by inspectors talked enthusiastically about books and read with high levels of fluency and accuracy.
• The standard of pupils’ writing is high. The great majority of pupils, whatever their starting points, take pride in their work. This is evident in their handwriting and general presentation. Pupils write in a range of styles and make rapid progress in developing their accuracy and range of language.
• Inspectors saw high-quality writing across the curriculum. However, at times the writing in topic work is less challenging than the work done in English lessons. As a result, pupils do not show the same degree of rapid progress in these subjects.
• Disadvantaged pupils mostly show the same rate of progress as other pupils in the school. Their levels of attainment and rate of progress are at least in line with, and often better than, those of other pupils nationally. This enables these pupils to catch up with their peers.
• Other groups do equally well. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make rapid progress. Teachers and other adults have had effective training which helps them meet their pupils’ needs well.
• Pupils with English as an additional language make the same rapid progress and attain as well as other pupils in the school.
• The school routinely ensures that pupils’ work is checked by staff from other schools, and sometimes the local authority, to confirm its own assessments.

Early years provision Outstanding

• The provision and outcomes for children in early years are among the strengths of the school.
• The majority of children who join Reception do so with levels of knowledge, skills and personal development which are at the lower end of what is usually expected for their age. There are relatively few high prior attainers.
• During their time in Reception, both boys and girls make great strides in their learning. This is confirmed by assessments done at the end of Reception. These show results considerably above the national average so that children are well prepared for Year 1, which is why teaching is outstanding.
• The great majority of children, including those who are disadvantaged, make rapid progress. Inspectors saw the high-quality work being completed in the Reception class. The progress is also evident in the children’s learning journals. For example, many of the children already show good progress in developing early writing skills. Children benefit from skilled modelling of vocabulary by staff.
• The leadership of early years is outstanding. The early years leader ensures that assessment is accurate and is used well to inform the next steps in learning. Staff track each child’s progress carefully. Leaders ensure that staff have high expectations, and they are passionate about what children can achieve.
• As well as learning key language, literacy and numeracy skills, children make rapid strides in their personal development. They quickly learn to cooperate with each other, listen to staff when required and learn to play constructively – independently or in pairs. Inspectors saw children talking intently with each other about what they had been doing at home. They also talked excitedly when planting seeds, discussing ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and doing role play in the giant’s castle.
• Children feel safe and confident. Safeguarding procedures and awareness are updated each year. Staff have benefited from good opportunities to develop their own professional skills.
• Parents are very positive about their children’s experiences in Reception. They are welcomed into the school so that they can see their children’s learning at first hand.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141745 Poole 10041372 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy sponsor-led 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 276 Appropriate authority The board of trustees Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address Stephen Welch Sarah Rempel 01202 380103 www.manorside-academy.co.uk office@manorside-academy.co.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Manorside Academy is an average-sized school. It is sponsored by the Ambitions Academies Trust, which officially took over the running of the school in April 2015 and which sponsors several other academies in the local area.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is almost twice the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• The majority of pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils with English as an additional language is close to the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations of pupils’ attainment and progress by the time they leave school.
• The principal is a local leader of education.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team visited several classes to observe learning and behaviour. Inspectors carried out a number of these visits with members of the senior leadership team.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of pupils’ work across the curriculum.
• Inspectors had several meetings with the principal, other senior leaders and members of staff. An inspector met with members of the academy advisory committee.
• Inspectors had discussions with several pupils.
• The inspection team looked at a range of documentation, including the school’s evaluation of itself, the academy improvement plan, the advisory committee minutes, external reports on the school and assessment data on pupils currently in the school. Inspectors also looked at various documents relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors talked to several parents on the school site. They looked at 22 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. The team also received several free-text responses from parents. Inspectors evaluated a staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

John Laver, lead inspector Steve Wigley Marcia Northeast

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector