Mansfield Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 9 July 2024

This school emphasises the importance of building strong relationships with the community. Staff get to know pupils and their families exceptionally well. Pupils are happy here. They say the staff really care about them and they feel well looked after. Parents appreciate this. Staff help pupils understand the school's high expectations for behaviour by being continual role models. Pupils typically behave well. They try their best to live up to the school's '3Rs' of respect, responsibility and resilience. For those pupils who find this difficult, staff provide caring and constructive support. Many exciting trips bring the curriculum to life and provide memorable experiences for pupils. During the inspection, older pupils excitedly departed for a camping trip at a seaside school. Many had never been camping or to the seaside before. Year 3 pupils visited the Tropical Butterfly House to learn about animals and conservation. Children in the early years recently visited a wildlife park to see exotic animals from books they were reading. All pupils enjoy the forest school, where they look after the chickens and share social time when they toast marshmallows. This is a very inclusive school, where ambitions are high for every pupil. Current pupils are in receipt of an engaging curriculum, which is helping them to achieve better than what has been reflected in published outcomes. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do particularly well.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, the curriculum does not identify precisely enough the important knowledge and vocabulary that pupils need to know and remember. It does not always make clear the sequence for building knowledge over time. As a result, lessons do not help pupils to gain a deeper understanding over time. The school needs to identify precisely what pupils need to learn, and when, to ensure that lessons focus sharply on this.
• In some lessons, staff do not check pupils' understanding as well as they might. Some work in pupils' books is not checked carefully enough. As a result, staff often do not identify and address pupils' misconceptions and this hinders pupils' learning and progress. The school needs to ensure that staff check pupils' learning more carefully so they systematically identify and address pupils' misconceptions.

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