St Mary Magdalene CofE Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 28 April 2026

Pupils are happy and feel safe at this friendly, welcoming and nurturing Church of England school. They model the school's values of 'courage, love, honesty, respect and forgiveness'. Pupils feel a real sense of belonging here and are kind and accepting of one another. They behave well and say that bullying is rare and always dealt with. Pupils enjoy their learning and access a broad, balanced and thoughtfully designed curriculum. Leaders have introduced positive changes to help pupils learn effectively. The new 'Stepping Stones' provision provides bespoke support for some pupils, enabling them to progress well from their starting points. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and other barriers to learning receive the academic, social and emotional support that they need to access their learning. The curriculum is enhanced by 'learning hooks' which ignite pupils' enthusiasm for finding out more about topics across a range of subjects. Pupils benefit from teachers' secure subject knowledge. However, pupils' achievement at the end of Year 6 is below age-related expectations in reading and mathematics. This means that some pupils are not as well prepared for their next stages as they need to be. Pupils, including children in the early years, attend well and settle quickly to their learning because they are well supported by caring staff. In the Reception Year, children swiftly grow in confidence to access indoor and outdoor learning tasks independently. There is a ‘family feel’ to this school. Staff, and Buzz, the school dog, greet pupils each morning with a cheery smile or a wag of the tail. Pupils enjoy a range of activities designed to develop their resilience, independence and risk-taking. Playtime activities of climbing, exploring and building are pupils' particular favourites. Pupils have plentiful opportunities to contribute to school life and the wider community, including the local church. These help pupils to build their understanding of empathy, compassion and responsibility.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should ensure that their current strategies to secure rapid and sustained improvement in mathematics and reading are embedded across the school so that more pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, are ready for key stage 3.
• Leaders should ensure that teachers' pedagogical choices support pupils consistently well so that pupils achieve as highly as possible.
• Leaders should ensure that staff maximise the use of the learning environment in the early years, so that they promote and develop children's writing during independent learning activities.

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