Shelley Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 January 2025

Shelley is a welcoming place. Pupils are happy here. They are respectful and show kindness towards each other. They feel safe and trust adults to help them with any issues they may have. The school sets out clear expectations for pupils' behaviour in its 'behaviour blueprint'. Children in the early years settle quickly into routines. Pupils demonstrate highly positive attitudes to their education. The school has ensured that there is a wide range of subjects in the curriculum. However, staff do not always make sure that pupils remember knowledge securely in each subject. In some subjects, activities do not help pupils to secure and deepen their understanding of what they have been learning. This means that some pupils have gaps in their knowledge. As a result, they do not achieve as well as they should across the curriculum. Pupils and families value the wide range of opportunities and support provided by the school. For example, pupils benefit from visiting places of interest, such as museums. This enhances their learning, for example through visiting an open-air archaeological museum when studying Anglo-Saxons in history. Pupils appreciate opportunities to learn about leadership and supporting others. They benefit from taking up roles such as house captains, inclusion ambassadors and peer mentors.

What the school should improve

• The curriculum is not implemented consistently across all subjects. Where this is the case, the knowledge the school intends pupils to learn is not taught in sufficient depth. Teachers do not use information about what pupils know and can do to deliver activities which consolidate and deepen what they have learned. This means that pupils are not able to recall and apply knowledge securely. The school should provide effective support for all staff and check the impact of the actions they have taken so that pupils learn consistently well across the curriculum.
• The school has not established a full and accurate picture of its effectiveness in all areas of its work. Priorities for improvement have not been focused sharply enough on impact. Governors should ensure that that they make use of the full range of information available to them about the school's performance, so that they can check the impact of the curriculum on pupils' learning and hold leaders to account.

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