Meridian Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 24 September 2024

Pupils are keen to show they understand the new school values of 'resilience, kindness, respect, community and curiosity'. Many try their best to achieve these. For example, they show respect for, and value, other pupils' differences. Pupils and staff have positive and courteous relationships. This means pupils feel safe and comfortable seeking help with concerns or worries. Many pupils achieve well in reading and mathematics. However, expectations of what pupils can achieve in other subjects are lower. This is because teachers do not all share the same high expectations about what pupils can achieve. As a result, learning tasks do not always build on pupils' existing knowledge. Pupils have noticed the recent improvements in the overall behaviour at the school. In the playground, pupils get along well with each other. This includes the youngest children in the school, who show that they are learning the school's routines well. Many pupils are keen to work hard and want to try their best. However, there are times when some pupils do not listen and distract others from learning. Some teachers do not refocus pupils or ask them to stay on task.

What the school should improve

• Staff's expectations for pupils' behaviour in the classroom are not consistently high enough. This results in some pupils not listening well to instructions, becoming distracted and not completing work to a high standard, and pupils miss out on learning as a result. The school should ensure that high expectations for pupils' behaviour are shared and consistently acted on.
• The school has not given enough importance to staff training and professional development in some subjects. As a result, teachers and middle leaders lack a detailed understanding of each subject and do not create learning tasks that ensure pupils develop effective knowledge and skills related to that subject. This also negatively impacts on pupils' subject-specific language development, including in the early years. The school should ensure that staff have the expertise required to teach all subjects effectively to better support pupils' learning across the full range of subjects.
• Consistent approaches to assessing pupils' knowledge have not been effective enough. This means that teachers do not know what prior knowledge pupils have retained and what they still need to learn. Learning tasks for pupils do not develop pupils' knowledge by building on prior knowledge effectively. This affects all pupils but particularly pupils with SEND. The school should ensure that assessments are used effectively to design learning tasks that support pupils to learn the planned curriculum effectively.

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