Malorees Primary School

Overview

Leaders nurture a strong sense of community, with high expectations that pupils will achieve well and fulfil the school’s motto: ‘We’re aiming higher, we’re dreaming bigger’. Pupils behave sensibly and politely, settling in quickly and feeling safe, while demonstrating enthusiasm for reading and taking on responsibilities. The curriculum follows a clear progression of knowledge, supported by well-established routines that help pupils revisit prior learning and develop technical vocabulary.

Strengths

• Leaders provide resources and workshops to help parents support learning at home, including on the correct use of phonics.
• Pupils are enthusiastic about reading, choosing books from the library and acting as reading ambassadors.
• Teachers make purposeful links between subject content and reading books to reinforce learning.
• Staff are swift to recognise when children are falling behind in reading and provide extra help to catch up.
• The personal, social and health education programme covers age-appropriate themes, including online safety and celebrating differences.

Areas to improve

• In a few subjects, teachers’ subject knowledge is not as strong as needed to develop pupils’ ideas or swiftly correct misconceptions; subject leaders should continue planned staff training programmes.
• Very occasionally, teachers’ choice of resources and tasks lack a precise learning end-point, meaning pupils do not clearly remember the key facts leaders intend them to learn.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with leaders ensuring all staff have up-to-date training and follow expected referral processes.