Manifold Church of England Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 20 February 2024

This small primary school serves a rural community. It is a warm and welcoming place for pupils to learn. There is a strong 'family feel', which, parents and carers say, enables their children to 'bloom and flourish'. Pupils enjoy coming to school. They feel safe and trust adults to help them when needed. The school has recently joined a new trust. Pupils enjoy the new rewards system and appreciate how their positive behaviours are celebrated. The positive behaviour and conduct around the school demonstrate that the new expectations are securely established. The school ensures that all pupils study a broad range of subjects. A new curriculum is now in place. This focuses on high-quality texts that seek to broaden pupils' understanding of the wider world. Staff work hard to bring the curriculum to life, and pupils enjoy the active learning opportunities on offer. All pupils learn well and are prepared for the next phase of their education by the time they leave. The school provides a variety of educational trips, visits and clubs. These enable pupils to explore new talents and interests. Pupils are also invited to apply for a wide range of leadership roles. They value these and talk enthusiastically about opportunities to help across the school and community.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, teachers have not fully developed their understanding of the learning required in the curriculum. This means that pupils do not build their knowledge and make links across the curriculum as well as they might. The trust should continue to support teachers to develop a deeper understanding of the curriculum and learning links across subjects so that pupils can enhance their recall and apply their learning more fully.
• The school has not ensured that there are precise checks on how well the curriculum is being taught. As a result, some inconsistencies in how well the curriculum is delivered and how well pupils are achieving are not identified well enough. The school should ensure that all leaders carefully check how well teachers are delivering the curriculum and pupils' achievements and provide any additional support to make improvements where needed.
• While the curriculum is planned to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain, this is at the early stages of implementation. As a result, some pupils have not yet gained sufficient understanding of other cultures and communities and how these relate directly to fundamental British values. The trust should continue to develop this aspect of the curriculum so that teachers can ensure that pupils are fully prepared for life in modern Britain.

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