St Mary's Church of England Middle School, Puddletown

Overview

This ungraded inspection found that the overall quality of education has weakened since the previous inspection, with standards having "dropped significantly." Although recent leadership changes are beginning to turn things around, improvements are not yet consistent, prompting a future graded inspection.

Strengths

• Pupils benefit from "positive relationships" in a "community focused school" where bullying is "exceptionally rare."
• The school is "typically calm and purposeful," with pupils behaving and attending well.
• The curriculum supports pupils’ "spiritual, social and emotional development very well," including improved access to impartial careers advice.
• Reading is prioritised, with improvements in supporting early readers and books being "well matched to their reading abilities."

Areas to improve

• The implementation of the curriculum is "too variable in quality" and expectations are often "too low," meaning pupils do not learn as well as they should.
• Provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is "not secure," as staff lack the knowledge to teach them effectively and systems are not used consistently.
• The school has not secured the confidence of some community members, who are unclear about the reasons for changes and reluctant to embrace them.

Safeguarding

The report states that "the arrangements for safeguarding are effective."