Bredbury St. Marks CofE Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 May 2024

Pupils are happy in school. They feel part of the St. Mark's community and know that they matter. Pupils value the school's warm and welcoming environment. They help to make everyone feel included in their school. In recent years, the school has raised its expectations of what pupils should achieve, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school has created a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum from the early years to Year 6. The impact of this work is increasingly seen in how well pupils achieve. Pupils typically behave well. This means that learning is rarely disrupted. Pupils follow the school rules. They relish the many responsibilities that they are given, such as becoming librarians and ethos councillors. This helps pupils to feel trusted and valued. Pupils know that they can talk to adults in school if there is a problem, and that they will be given the help that they need. As a result, pupils feel safe and ready to learn. Pupils are enthused by the opportunities afforded to them beyond the classroom, such as clubs, trips and visits. They embrace the 50 experiences that the school provides to expand and deepen their learning. These include attending a residential visit, attempting a world record and jumping in puddles.

What the school should improve

• In a few subjects, weaknesses in previous curriculums mean that older pupils have some gaps in their knowledge. This makes it more difficult for them to build securely on what they already know. The school should ensure that teachers address pupils' knowledge gaps so that they can achieve the ambitious outcomes of new subject curriculums.
• In a small number of subjects, the assessment of pupils' learning is not refined enough to help staff to identify where some pupils have forgotten key learning over time. This means that gaps in pupils' understanding between one topic and the next go unchecked. The school should ensure that there are checks in place to gauge pupils' long-term retention of key subject knowledge so that staff can reinforce pupils' learning more effectively.
• The school has not ensured that some staff in the early years know how to support and enhance children's learning through quality interactions. This means that, from their individual starting points, some children do not make as much progress as they could. The school should ensure that staff in the early years receive the training they need to be able to support children to achieve as well as they can.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)