Stoke Minster CofE Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 January 2025

Children and pupils are proud of their school. There is a palpable sense of belonging, and pupils thrive as a result. They are confident that all staff will provide the help and support they need. Since the previous inspection, the school has raised expectations of behaviour significantly. This starts in the Nursery. Children are taught about sharing, turn-taking and consideration for others from the beginning. They quickly learn the routines that help them learn and support their social and emotional development. Pupils know and understand the school's values and are proud to tell visitors how they demonstrate these in their actions each day. Pupils enjoy their learning. The ambitious new curriculum now in place is helping them achieve better and understand that what they learn in one subject can help them in another. Pupils enjoy talking about what they have learned and show real excitement about what is coming next. The school has worked hard to make sure that pupils' personal development is now as important as their academic achievement. Exciting trips and visits are now taking place, and pupils thoroughly enjoy the very wide range of clubs they can join. The school aims to widen pupils' horizons, and, increasingly, pupils have opportunities to participate in aspirational activities, including working on a project with a university.

What the school should improve

• Writing is not developed well enough. Pupils do not have enough opportunities to think hard and make carefully constructed written responses that meet the requirements of a subject. The school should make sure teachers understand how to provide opportunities for pupils to apply their writing skills across the curriculum.
• Some teachers do not always check that pupils have understood the intended learning. This means that misconceptions, as a result of gaps in learning, continue throughout a lesson and beyond, slowing progress as a result. This is exacerbated because teachers do not always consider different approaches to presenting learning where appropriate. The school should ensure teachers have the strategies to check learning and adapt their presentation of learning in order to address misconceptions effectively.
• Some pupils who are struggling to learn to read are not supported consistently enough to recognise and say the sounds of letters accurately. This means they pronounce words incorrectly. As a result, they do not recognise the word they are reading. The school should make sure that all teachers consistently check and correct pupils' pronunciation so pupils develop their confidence to read well.

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