St Thomas Moorside CofE (VA) Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 June 2024

Pupils are well cared for and are happy at school. They learn how to be healthy in mind and body. For example, many pupils take part in a wide range of sporting activities outside of the school day. Pupils are entrusted with a range of leadership roles. They relish these opportunities. Pupils who help to look after Tia, the school's therapy dog, carry out this role with gentle respect. They know that Tia plays a part in helping them to stay mentally well. Pupils understand how they are expected to behave. Reception-age children act as positive role models to children in the Nursery Year. They learn cooperatively alongside one another. Across the school, pupils do their best to treat others in the same way that they would like to be treated. They value earning rewards for their positive behaviour. For example, pupils wear their 'always' badges with genuine pride to show that they uphold the school's golden promises consistently well. The school has high expectations for pupils' academic achievement. It has made positive changes to many subject curriculums, including mathematics. Pupils typically achieve well across a broad range of subjects. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

What the school should improve

• Weaknesses in the delivery of the previous phonics programme mean that some pupils have gaps in their reading knowledge. This hinders how fluently and accurately these pupils read and how well some older pupils keep pace with the other subjects that they study. The school should ensure that, where there are gaps in pupils' reading knowledge, these are quickly remedied so that pupils read with fluency and accuracy.
• In one or two subjects, the curriculums have been recently refined. Pupils have had less time to secure the essential knowledge that they need to build new learning on. The school should ensure that newly revised curriculums are implemented fully so that pupils further strengthen their knowledge in these subjects.
• The school has not ensured that some staff in the early years have the expertise to build on what children already know and can do. This means that some children are not as well prepared for their next steps as they could be. The school should ensure that staff are provided with suitable guidance so that they can build children's knowledge across the early years equally well.

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