Moorgate Primary Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Increase the proportion of pupils working at greater depth or achieving the higher standards of attainment by:
  • providing more opportunities for greater stretch and challenge in all learning tasks
  • ensuring that teachers move pupils on to more demanding work as soon as they are ready.
• Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders strengthen the skills of middle leaders so they contribute fully to improving teaching in foundation subjects and raising standards across the school
  • teachers provide pupils with regular opportunities across the curriculum to deepen their understanding of British values.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Senior leaders have taken decisive action to tackle the weaknesses of the predecessor school. Since the opening of the new school, there has been a significant improvement in the school’s effectiveness which has led to better teaching and improved outcomes.
• The headteacher has high expectations of staff and pupils. The senior leadership team demonstrate an unfaltering determination to improve the school further so it offers an outstanding learning experience for all pupils.
• Leaders have a thorough and accurate view of how well the school is performing because they regularly evaluate their work. Leaders commission external consultants to review the school’s progress, then act promptly on any advice or recommendations to tackle identified shortcomings. This ensures that there is continued improvement of pupil achievement.
• Performance management is used effectively to support and develop staff. Coaching and mentoring opportunities are effective in helping teachers to sharpen their skills and strengthen their practice. For example, following a dip in the Year 1 phonics test results, leaders have been successful in enhancing teaching skills and improving rates of pupils’ learning in phonics. Current Year 1 pupils are making good progress in acquiring the necessary phonics knowledge.
• Leaders, in partnership with the trust, invest significantly in staff training and development. For example, good links with the School of Education at Staffordshire University are used well to develop staff and enhance their leadership skills. This results in a team of staff who feel valued and motivated to do the best for the pupils in their care. Their increased confidence and skill development has built leadership capacity.
• Leaders regularly check on how well pupils are being taught. They use this information to inform teachers precisely of what they are doing well and how they can improve their practice further. Leaders ensure that all advice given to teachers is acted upon promptly. Pupils’ assessment information is regularly reviewed by leaders and used to discuss rates of progress with teachers and strategies to help those who need to catch up. This leads to pupils making better progress in their learning.
• Since the new school opened, leaders have established clear expectations about pupils’ conduct. They monitor behaviour closely and analyse logs of incidents to identify any patterns or particular issues. They use this information well and take appropriate actions to quickly resolve any emerging issues. As a result, pupils behave very well in and around the school.
• Moorgate is an inclusive school where leaders work hard to cultivate an attitude where everyone can ‘achieve, be challenged and enjoy’. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve well because leaders keep a close check on their progress. Funding for these pupils is spent effectively to provide them with bespoke, additional support that is well matched to their needs.
• The curriculum is carefully planned and provides pupils with a broad range of appropriate experiences which support their learning and wider personal development. Pupils develop their literacy skills effectively in other subjects. A wide range of extra-curricular clubs, including street dance, Lego club and choir, enable pupils to build confidence and develop their social skills.
• Leaders make effective use of the pupil premium funding to improve the outcomes of disadvantaged pupils and meet their wider pastoral needs. Some funding is used to employ an early help leader who provides a range of effective targeted support and interventions. This work has led to improved attendance and helped pupils to become more resilient. Current disadvantaged pupils make good rates of progress, which has led to a diminishing difference in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and others.
• The sport premium is used well to develop the skills of teachers so they are more confident and proficient in teaching physical education. Specialist sports coaches work alongside teachers to support them in developing their practice. Pupils also benefit from wider sports participation and have achieved success in inter-school competitions including cross-country and football.
• The Staffordshire University Academies Trust provides a good level of challenge for school leaders, balanced with tailored, helpful support. The trust actively encourages and facilitates the sharing of good practice across schools in the trust and is aspirational in its vision for the success of all pupils.
• Leaders’ focus on the effective management and leadership of foundation subjects has been a relatively recent development. Middle leaders benefit from good training opportunities to enhance their leadership skills. However, their work has not yet had sufficient time to have a marked impact on pupil achievement.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is woven successfully into the curriculum. For example, older pupils reflected on the consequences of racism and prejudice as part of their involvement in Holocaust Memorial Day. Pupils’ understanding of fundamental British values is less well developed because these are not yet fully integrated into the curriculum.

Governance of the school

• The local academy council works closely with school leaders and shares the same high expectations for pupils’ achievement. New governors have been carefully recruited to ensure that their skills are closely aligned with the needs of the school so they can support it on its journey of improvement. The local academy council has a good knowledge of the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes. It uses this information to ask challenging questions and hold leaders to account.
• Governors have specific responsibilities for different aspects of the school’s development plan. They make frequent visits to the school to carry out monitoring activities which cover a broad range of the school’s work, including their responsibilities for safeguarding. For example, governors are kept well informed by leaders and hold them to account for actions taken to address attendance issues. As a result of their monitoring, governors have an accurate view of the school’s performance and provide helpful feedback to leaders.
• Leaders, governors and trustees work in partnership, promoting the same ambitious ethos, to ensure that all pupils receive the best possible education and are well prepared for the future.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• All staff carry out their responsibilities for keeping pupils safe diligently, and report any concerns that they have without delay. Leaders are focused on ensuring that all pupils feel safe and are well cared for. Pupils know there is a trusted adult in school who they can talk to about any worries or concerns.
• Staff receive good-quality, regular training about safeguarding which equips them well with an understanding of their responsibilities and the procedures to follow. Weekly safeguarding briefings and opportunities for staff to complete self-audits to identify training needs ensure that staff are kept up to date with the latest guidance. Leaders responsible for safeguarding work closely with other agencies to ensure that pupils and their families receive the right support.
• Leaders ensure that all relevant and necessary recruitment checks are made on staff and volunteers to confirm that they are fit to work with children. All documentation related to safeguarding is well organised, appropriately detailed and stored securely.
• The trust carries out robust checks on safeguarding arrangements to satisfy itself that all practices and procedures are fit for purpose and keep pupils safe from harm.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The leadership team’s unswerving and systematic focus on improving the quality of teaching has been instrumental in increasing rates of pupils’ progress and raising standards. The improvement in teaching is clearly reflected in the good quality of work seen in current pupils’ books.
• Teachers begin units of work with exciting starters that capture pupils’ imagination. For example, pupils were challenged to engineer a new rocket for a stranded alien. These activities encourage pupils to think, discuss and generate ideas. Teachers monitor progress and intervene when appropriate to ensure that the pace of learning is maintained.
• Teachers’ skilful questioning and clear explanations enable pupils to make connections in learning and deepen their understanding. Topic work begins with a ‘big idea’ or key question which draws in pupils and encourages curiosity and a desire to find out more. Pupils pose investigative questions then discuss their thinking. For example, in a Year 6 science lesson, pupils shared predictions with each other about an air resistance experiment, giving clear reasons for their thinking.
• Teaching assistants make a positive contribution to pupils’ learning by helping pupils to remain fully engaged so learning time is maximised. They are particularly effective in supporting pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language.
• The teaching of reading, including phonics, is effective. Teachers plan well-structured activities and usually provide pupils with reading material that is appropriately challenging. Pupils use their phonic skills confidently to work out unknown words. Pupils display positive attitudes to reading, although not all read for pleasure.
• Pupils are highly adept at working collaboratively and learning from each other. This is because teachers have devoted time to teaching pupils how to work and learn together cooperatively. This helps pupils to remain focused and make faster progress in their learning. For example, in a Year 5 English lesson, a group of pupils debated which features to include in a radio advert script. A high-quality discussion ensued which led to the creation of an imaginative rhetorical question as part of the script.
• Pupils use various strategies to self-assess and signal to the teacher when they require additional support. Teachers carefully monitor the progress of pupils during the lesson and usually address any misconceptions quickly, enabling a good rate of progress to be maintained. Occasionally, when lower-attaining pupils make mistakes, some teachers do not take the time to explore fully how pupils have arrived at the wrong answer.
• Teachers promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well across the curriculum. For example, in history lessons, pupils reflect on the beliefs of the ancient Greeks and their legacy, identifying how it influences our leisure activities today. Pupils are taught about British values, although their understanding is not always secure.
• Mathematics is taught well. Teachers provide helpful resources and equipment which pupils use independently to secure their understanding of mathematical concepts. Pupils develop their knowledge progressively because of well-planned activities that are appropriately matched to their needs. However, sometimes pupils are not provided with sufficiently open-ended tasks which allow them to show their capability to work at a higher standard.
• Teachers usually set work at different levels to meet pupils’ needs. In the most successful lessons, tasks are appropriately challenging for all pupils, including the most able pupils. However, sometimes pupils are not moved on quickly enough in their learning. This means that pupils do not always get the opportunity to work at greater depth and demonstrate their full potential.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Relationships between adults and pupils are nurturing and respectful. This develops pupils’ confidence and a belief that they can achieve. As a result, they try hard in lessons and find ways to overcome difficulties when they get stuck on hard work.
• Pupils are given important responsibilities in school. For example, ‘pupil ambassadors’ show visitors around school and organise various activities such as the Children in Need fundraising event. One ambassador reported to inspectors, ‘It’s a big responsibility… and we want our school to have the best outcomes – to be the best it can be.’
• The large majority of parents speak favourably about the school. They say their children are happy at school and feel safe. They value the additional support that the school provides to pupils who need it.
• While some pupils say that bullying does sometimes occur, they were confident that teachers would deal with it to prevent it happening again. However, despite the school’s efforts to raise awareness about bullying, a few pupils were unclear about the different forms of bullying.
• Pupils say that they feel safe in school and shared with inspectors examples of how they were kept safe. Pupils spoke knowledgeably about what they had learned from special assemblies and lessons on keeping themselves safe. They can explain the correct actions they would take to protect themselves when online.
• Teachers give pupils helpful advice and guidance so they are clear about what they need to do next in their learning. For example, older pupils use success criteria grids and identify appropriate personal targets that they need to work on.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are proud of their school and enjoy attending. Pupils show good levels of independence, settle quickly to work and know how to use resources well to support them with their learning.
• ‘Playground buddies’ are pupils with a special responsibility to make breaktimes and lunchtimes an enjoyable experience for all. They remind others of playground rules or help to mediate when pupils fall out with each other. They have a positive effect on playground behaviour.
• Pupils’ attendance has steadily improved since the school opened and is now broadly in line with the national figure. The school works effectively with external agencies, which has led to a reduction in the rate of persistent absence. The school council has been actively involved in designing the school’s attendance policy, deciding on rewards to promote good attendance.
• School is a calm, orderly environment. Pupils play well together on the playground, although there is limited space for energetic activity when the adventure play area is unavailable.
• Pupils’ behaviour in lessons is usually exemplary. They listen attentively and speak courteously to staff and other pupils. They show very positive attitudes to learning and concentrate well on their work. Occasionally, in some key stage 1 classes, some pupils are not as focused when teaching is less well structured.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• In 2016, pupils at the end of key stage 2, including disadvantaged pupils, made similar progress in reading, writing and mathematics to other pupils nationally. Standards in these subjects were broadly in line with national figures, and strongest in writing. A lower proportion of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, achieved the higher levels in reading, writing and mathematics compared to all pupils nationally.
• Children in the early years make good progress from their starting points. The proportion of children who achieved a good level of development at the end of the foundation stage was much higher than the previous year and slightly above the national figure for 2016.
• In 2015, pupils achieved above the national figure in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1. However, there was a significant dip in 2016. Leaders have swiftly addressed this issue and ensured that the majority of current Year 2 pupils have caught up and addressed gaps in their phonic knowledge.
• As a result of effective teaching in key stages 1 and 2, pupils’ work and the school’s own assessment information indicates that the majority of current pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, are making good progress across a broad range of subjects.
• Pupils who have English as an additional language make good progress as a result of effective interventions. Teaching assistants provide carefully scaffolded work and specific teaching of vocabulary which enables these pupils to make progress.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve well. This reflects the high-quality support and carefully planned interventions these pupils receive.
• In 2016, the proportion of pupils working at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 1 was broadly similar to the national average. Noticeably, fewer pupils were assessed at attaining at greater depth in reading and mathematics.

Early years provision Good

• The early years foundation stage is effectively led and managed. The leader has a clear plan for improvement based upon accurate self-evaluation. Additional funding for disadvantaged children is used well to support their social development and progress in acquiring basic skills.
• Teaching in the early years is good. Teachers make frequent checks on learning and use these to inform which children need further support or challenge. As a result, children’s learning is moved on so they make good progress. They are well prepared for the challenges of Year 1.
• Teachers create a calm, well-organised nurturing learning environment which enables children to engage and concentrate on a range of activities. Children are happy and feel safe and secure. They settle to tasks quickly and are confident to try new activities.
• Phonics is taught well. Children join in enthusiastically with songs and actions to build their knowledge. Teachers take every opportunity to reinforce children’s phonic skills throughout the day. As a result, children successfully apply these skills in their reading and spelling.
• Teachers’ effective questioning develops children’s thinking and reasoning skills well. The classroom is full of questions to challenge children and make them think.
• Children work well together and share equipment fairly. They sustain their concentration for a period of time and are not easily distracted because they are interested by the activities and fascinated by the materials and other resources made available.
• Children behave well because staff have established clear routines. Children show a good understanding of behaviour expectations and respond quickly to adults’ instructions and requests.
• Parents are positive about how much their children enjoy school and how well they have settled in. They value the involvement in their children’s learning and attend family sessions organised by the early years foundation stage leader.
• Teachers enable children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, to develop their reading skills effectively through a range of activities. Adults listen to children read, although not all children change their book as frequently as they need to.
• Staff provide a range of exciting learning activities in the indoor learning environment that encourage children to think critically and solve problems. However, children are presented with fewer opportunities in outdoor activities to grapple with a problem and challenge themselves. As a result, children are not able to demonstrate their full range of knowledge, skills and understanding in these activities.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140995 Staffordshire 10032563 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 247 Appropriate authority Chair Headteacher Academy trust Claire Keast Jonathan Williams Telephone number 01827 475 755 Website Email address www.moorgateacademy.co.uk headteacher@moorgateacademy.co.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Moorgate became an academy in July 2014. The school is sponsored by Staffordshire University Academies trust.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards which set the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• This school is slightly smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The large majority of pupils are of White British or Any Other White background.
• An average proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The percentage of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is lower than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium funding is above the national average.
• The school runs a breakfast and after-school club.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team observed learning throughout the school, including some joint observations with senior leaders. Inspectors reviewed a wide range of pupils’ work.
• Inspectors talked to pupils during lessons, around school and during planned meetings to gather their views.
• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, other leaders, school staff and the chief executive officer of the Staffordshire University Academies Trust. An inspector also met with members of the local academy council.
• Responses from 46 parents and carers to the Ofsted online questionnaire (Parent View) were analysed. Inspectors reviewed 43 comments made by parents using the free-text facility. Inspectors also gathered the views of parents at the beginning of the school day.
• Inspectors heard pupils read.
• The inspection team looked at a wide range of information including the school’s website, development plan, assessment information from its pupil tracking system and performance management documentation. Inspectors reviewed documentation relating to safeguarding, as well as the minutes of the local academy council.

Inspection team

Tim Hill, lead inspector Rachel Davis Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector