Maharishi Free School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 8 July 2025

Pupils are extremely well cared for in this nurturing school. Staff know each pupil individually. This helps staff to tailor support promoting pupils' positive social, emotional and mental health. Pupils benefit from strong pastoral support. Pupils are happy and play harmoniously together at playtime. They are incredibly proud of their successful fundraising efforts for new playground equipment. In the secondary school's recreational space, pupils are free to explore their creativity. For example, the sound of a guitar and pupils singing softly floats in the air. The school encourages pupils to behave well. It provides suitable support for the small number of pupils who struggle to regulate their behaviour effectively. As a result, learning is rarely disrupted. Since the previous inspection, the school has refined the early years curriculum. Children in the Reception class have a secure understanding of key vocabulary. They are well prepared for the demands of key stage 1. Across the curriculum, pupils achieve well. In the primary phase, the school provides opportunities for pupils to represent their school in an array of sporting events, such as dodgeball, multisport and football. In the secondary phase, pupils value the leadership experience they gain through participation in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, teachers do not use assessment strategies as well as they could. As a result, a small number of pupils are less confident in recalling what they have been taught and struggle to connect new ideas to prior learning. The school should ensure that teachers check pupils' recall of prior learning and address any gaps in knowledge to enable them to build learning securely over time.
• Some pupils do not receive effective support to help them to read well. This hampers pupils' reading fluency and confidence. The school should ensure that it sharpens its focus on reading to better identify any deficits in pupils' reading knowledge and to ensure that pupils who find reading difficult receive effective support to catch up quickly and become successful readers.
• The school's work to improve attendance rates is not having sufficient impact. There are some pupils who do not attend school frequently or are persistently absent and this has not improved over time. These pupils miss out on learning the curriculum and benefiting from all the school has to offer. The school should ensure that it takes swift action to implement and embed its attendance strategy so that pupils' attendance rates rise.

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