The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You lead with honesty and integrity and your staff hold you in very high regard. You have developed an experienced and dedicated senior leadership team, which shares your vision and reinforces the school’s values of ‘care, courtesy and consideration’. Your governors are equally ambitious for the school. They have a very clear understanding of the strategic role they play and work effectively with leaders to bring about school improvement. Governors have a wide range of expertise and use it effectively to support the development of the school in areas such as assessment to track pupils’ progress. The majority of parents and carers are very supportive of the school and are grateful for the broad range of experiences that you provide their children with. One parent, reflecting the views of many on Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, noted, ‘My daughter particularly enjoys the special days that Moorfield provides, for example Shine Week, enhancement days, history days and school trips.’ These experiences contribute well to pupils’ outcomes across the curriculum. In the previous inspection, inspectors highlighted that teaching required further development to ensure that pupils make rapid progress in their learning. You have addressed this issue most successfully. Training has been provided for teachers and teaching assistants in a broad range of areas to support their professional development. They have been given opportunities to work in curriculum teams. This has provided them with opportunities to develop their leadership skills. As a result, teaching has improved considerably throughout the school. The previous inspectors also noted that school leaders were not using data sharply enough. Once again, this has been addressed exceptionally well. Your assessment leader has ensured that there is a clear system in school for tracking the progress of all groups of pupils. Teachers now use assessment in an effective manner to match, more accurately, learning tasks to pupils’ ability. We discussed areas where further work is required to bring about school improvement. Although much progress has been made in the teaching of reading throughout the school, we agreed that teachers need to further develop pupils’ comprehension skills, most notably for the most able pupils in key stage 2. Additionally, we agreed that writing skills need to be embedded further to ensure that appropriate levels of challenge are set for each group of pupils. Finally, you have worked exceptionally hard to increase the level of attendance of your most vulnerable pupils. However, the attendance of disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is still below that seen nationally. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of a high quality. Your school site is safe and secure and the identity of visitors is closely checked. Health and safety information is available to visitors on entry. This provides important information relating to safeguarding and fire safety procedures. Governors and staff complete regular safeguarding training and are very clear on their responsibilities to keep pupils safe. Pupils understand different forms of bullying and say that incidents are rare. They feel safe in the knowledge that members of staff will listen and act effectively if they have problems. One comment made on Parent View, which reflected the view of the majority of parents, noted, ‘The staff are fantastic, the children are so well mannered and taught about respect and other valuable life skills.’ Additional support is provided for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities in the ‘Kaleidoscope’ resource base to ensure that they are safe and well supported with their learning. Inspection findings We agreed some areas of enquiry for this inspection. The first of these considered the steps leaders are taking to ensure a high level of attendance of disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities. As a result of close liaison with parents, and of class teachers monitoring attendance, your school information shows an improvement in the attendance of many pupils who have, historically, been of concern. Nevertheless, you are aware that further work is required to ensure that the levels of attendance of disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities increase to reflect those seen nationally. The next area we looked at was the consistency with which teachers challenge all pupils in reading at key stage 1 and the most able pupils at key stage 2. Your own assessment and tracking information highlights this issue and you are addressing it in an effective manner. You have purchased a wide range of new books that engage pupils’ interest and provide challenging vocabulary. The books are displayed in a highly engaging fashion in the school’s infant and junior libraries. A buddy system enables older pupils to assist younger ones in their choices of books to take home from their library. As a consequence, pupils in key stages 1 and 2 greatly enjoy reading for pleasure and love the books that are available to them to read in school and at home. In key stage 1, teachers ensure that role play areas and reading areas are in evidence in classrooms. Storytime activities take place daily and pupils are encouraged to talk at length about the books being studied. You ensure that pupils who are not reaching their targets receive effective support. In key stage 2, teachers ensure that regular activities are provided to develop pupils’ vocabulary. As a consequence, pupils are using a wider range of descriptive words in their writing tasks. Your own school monitoring and my evaluation of work in pupils’ books have highlighted, however, that further work is required to develop pupils’ comprehension skills. This is especially apparent for the most able pupils, whose performance in reading at the end of key stage 2 in 2017 was below the national average. Your detailed school evaluation has identified that some lower- and middleability pupils in key stage 1 are performing at a level which is below that seen nationally in writing. You are addressing this issue in a very successful manner. Outdoor spaces are being used well to stimulate writing activities. You use display in an effective way to celebrate high-quality writing and to support pupils’ learning. You understand that reading can stimulate writing. As a consequence, you ensure that books are used to stimulate writing opportunities. Authors are studied and often visit school to talk about the books they have written. Leaders are also aware that the performance of boys in writing is often below that of girls. Teachers are aware of this issue. As a consequence, they ensure that topics they choose for pupils to study appeal equally to the boys. Teachers adapt learning to meet the needs and interests of the pupils in their class. For example, in one class, a story of aliens inspired pupils to bring books on outer space into school. Teachers adapted the curriculum to ensure that this interest was built on to develop further the pupils’ learning. As work is now matched to pupils’ needs and interests, there is a marked improvement in the writing skills of pupils in key stage 1. My evaluation of pupils’ books during the inspection confirms that progress is being made. However, we agreed that further time is required to ensure that your new method of teaching writing is fully embedded throughout the school. In key stage 2, leaders provide pupils with a broad range of opportunities to write across the whole curriculum. Their efforts to ‘hook pupils into learning’ have been successful. For example, in Year 5, pupils used science as a basis to undertake creative writing. They wrote persuasive letters to NASA, applying to become an astronaut recruit. Pupils greatly enjoy opportunities for role play, hot seating and drama. An increased focus on handwriting and spelling supports all groups of pupils, including the most able. Much progress has been made in this area. However, leaders accurately identify that further time is required to ensure a fully consistent approach to this new method of teaching writing. This is to ensure that teachers challenge the most able pupils sufficiently for them to reach the higher levels. You are passionate about providing a fully inclusive school where every pupil thrives. As a consequence, your pupils are kind and considerate and have a clear understanding of the value of diversity. Your SEN resource base provides pupils with a stimulating and exciting environment to work in. You are justly proud of this provision. Your ‘Kaleidoscope Colour’ room provides additional opportunities to support the well-being of pupils. This is a sensory area of the highest standard. All pupils are given the opportunity to visit the room and take part in a range of activities which benefit their mental health. This focus is testament to your strongly held belief that Moorfield Primary School educates the whole child. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: pupils’ comprehension skills are further developed in key stages 1 and 2 to ensure that all, notably the most able at key stage 2, have the skills necessary to analyse, in depth, the books that they read writing skills are further embedded across the school to ensure that appropriate levels of challenge are set for each group of pupils leaders and teachers continue to work with parents and outside agencies to ensure that attendance rates for disadvantaged pupils and those who have SEN and/or disabilities increase to reflect rates seen nationally. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Stockport. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Gill Pritchard Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I held meetings with you and the two deputy headteachers. I also met with four governors, including the chair of the governing body. I spoke with the leaders for English and assessment. I also spoke with your school’s improvement partner. I had a formal discussion with a group of 10 pupils and met with your business manager. I also met informally with parents and staff at your ‘Bake Off’ event. Accompanied by you, I visited all year groups in the school, including the SEN resource base and the Kaleidoscope Colour room. I observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and as they moved around the school. I scrutinised examples of pupils’ work and reviewed documents, including your record of checks on the suitability of staff and volunteers to work with children. I also examined the school’s self-evaluation, improvement plan and assessment information. I took account of the 88 responses to Parent View, 15 responses from the pupils’ survey and 29 responses from the staff survey. I also considered information posted on the school’s website.