Marland Hill Community Primary School

Overview: Marland Hill Community Primary School is a good school where pupils are proud to be part of a diverse school community, enjoy learning, and feel happy and safe. The school has a real appetite for learning, with pupils eager to get involved in lessons and motivated by reward points for good behaviour and achievement.

Strengths:

• Pupils are proud to be part of a diverse school community and enjoy learning about each other's cultures and religions.
• Pupils feel happy and safe in the school, with leaders acting quickly and decisively to resolve bullying and unkind behaviour.
• Pupils have a real appetite for learning, with leaders having high expectations of their conduct and achievement.
• Teachers have strong knowledge of the subjects they teach and frequently check pupils' understanding to adapt their teaching.
• Leaders prioritise reading and develop pupils' vocabulary, with pupils enjoying participating in the weekly 'star books' challenge.
• The school provides a rich environment for language in the early years, with children enjoying retelling stories and learning phonics from the start of the Reception Year.

Areas to improve:

• In some subjects, leaders have not thought carefully enough about what children need to learn in the Nursery and Reception classes, meaning that children are not as well prepared for their key stage 1 learning as they should be.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with leaders ensuring that all adults understand that safeguarding is everybody's responsibility, and staff receiving frequent '7-minute briefings' to keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date.