Moat Hall Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 15 July 2025

Pupils flourish and are happy at Moat Hall because everyone is treated fairly and with kindness. Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and nurturing. Pupils feel safe because they trust staff to deal with any worries. Pupils' well-being is at the heart of this school. Pastoral support for pupils and their families is effective. This ensures pupils are ready and able to learn successfully. The school is ambitious for pupils. Pupils strive to meet the school's high expectations. They are eager to learn and achieve well. Pupils understand and follow the school rules of ready, respectful and safe. They are well behaved and polite. Older pupils look after the younger children in their family group at lunchtime. Playtimes are friendly and harmonious. Pupils have many opportunities to widen their interests and develop talents through a broad range of clubs, including yoga, art and sports clubs. They participate in musical and sporting events and performances. Pupils develop responsibility and confidence through leadership roles, such as school council and digital leaders. Pupils feel listened to and are proud that they can make a difference in school. For example, they organise charity events and have created their own 'MOAT' awards that recognise and celebrate pupils' achievements.

What the school should improve

• At times, the curriculum is not adapted and delivered as effectively as it could be to meet some pupils' needs. In these instances, pupils do not develop a consistent depth of knowledge and understanding as well as they could. The school should ensure it continues to develop staff's expertise and knowledge so they can adapt learning effectively and ensure consistency of delivery across the curriculum.
• The school does not have a consistently applied approach or high enough expectations of pupils' handwriting across the curriculum. This means some pupils do not learn to form letters correctly and mistakes become embedded. This hinders some pupils' ability to become fluent writers. The school should ensure that expectations for teaching handwriting are clearly understood and that mistakes are consistently addressed so that pupils are able to express their ideas fluently in writing.
• The school's provision for developing pupils' understanding of different faiths and cultures is not entirely effective. As a result, pupils do not gain a secure knowledge of the characteristics of different religions and cultures. The school should strengthen its provision for pupils' spiritual and cultural development so that they can fully understand and experience first hand the things we share in common across cultural and religious communities.

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