Sir John Moore Church of England Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 8 January 2025

Pupils are proud of their school. They appreciate the unique opportunities that their setting provides, including access to their own Victorian classroom and museum. They value the wide range of activities and opportunities on offer, including learning outside and 'Welly Wednesday' in the early years. Beekeeping, along with harvesting and selling their own honey, are particular favourites. Pupils know that they are expected to think and act with their 'head, heart and hands' so that they can 'climb to new heights'. They know why it is important to show 'GRIT', through a growth mindset, resilience, independence and teamwork. They do their very best to live up to these high expectations. Pupils pay good attention in lessons. However, the school's curriculum is at an early stage of renewal and implementation. As such, there are weaknesses in the quality of education that pupils receive. Typically, pupils behave well. They are motivated by the rewards on offer, including the popular reward points. They look forward to the celebrations assembly and sharing in each other's successes. They understand what happens in the event of poor behaviour. However, they say that the reminder and warning systems rarely need to be used.

What the school should improve

• The school's curriculum is not fully planned and sequenced. This means that pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school should ensure that, across all subjects, the curriculum is fully planned, sequenced and makes clear what pupils are expected to know and remember.
• Some parts of the curriculum are relatively new. In these cases, it has not had an impact on what pupils know and remember. Pupils' recall of recently studied content is inconsistent. The school should ensure that the curriculum is fully embedded so that it results in pupils knowing and remembering content.
• The school does not understand trends and patterns of pupils' behaviour well enough. This means that it cannot be sure how well changes to the provision are working. The school should ensure that it uses patterns in behaviour to check on the impact of its provision, including the recently implemented behaviour policy.
• Until recently, the school has not had robust enough procedures for hearing and addressing parental concerns and complaints. The school should ensure that it continues to implement its recently adopted policy for hearing and addressing issues raised to ensure that the school listens to and has the support of the community that it serves.
• In a small number of cases, safeguarding records do not make clear the decisions and actions that the school has taken to keep pupils safe. This means that records are incomplete. The school should ensure that it consistently records the decisions and actions taken in relation to safeguarding concerns.

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