Mesty Croft Primary

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 8 February 2023

Mesty Croft is full of happy pupils and cheerful staff. Everyone is made to feel welcome at this friendly school. Leaders take staff and pupils' mental health and well-being seriously. Pupils know they can talk to the school counsellor or a trusted adult if they have any worries. Pupils feel safe and secure at school. Pupils behave well in school. They want to learn. They are taught to treat others how they would like to be treated. Most do so. Pupils learn about different types of bullying. They know the difference between bullying and one-off behaviour incidents. Staff act quickly to deal with incidents that occur to prevent these from escalating. All staff, governors and trust leaders want the best for pupils. They have worked hard to design an interesting curriculum to realise the school motto of 'Believe and Achieve'. Their plans are ambitious, and pupils enjoy learning new skills, especially in art. However, in a small number of subjects, the curriculum is less effective. Most pupils enjoy school and attend regularly. However, the number of pupils who are regularly absent is worrying. These pupils miss important lessons. This affects how well they achieve at school and some struggle to catch up.

What the school should improve

• A small number of foundation subjects are not as well planned and sequenced as other subjects. As a result, pupils have gaps in their knowledge, and they do not build successfully on their prior learning. Leaders should use the successful curriculum model seen in some subjects to reshape the curriculum in subjects where learning is not well ordered.
• Teachers do not check pupils' learning sufficiently in order to assess what they know, can do and remember, particularly in foundation subjects. This means that teachers do not pick up and address errors and misconceptions, or identify gaps in pupils' learning. Leaders should ensure that there is a consistently effective approach to assessing pupils' understanding and recall across all curriculum subjects.
• Too many pupils are persistently absent. These pupils miss vital lessons and do not achieve as well as they should. Leaders should work with parents to instil the importance of sending their child to school regularly.

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