‘Inadequate’ Essex Primary School has ‘too many pupils missing’ class

Maldon Primary School remains inadequate and has serious weaknesses including seeing too many pupils missing school, according to an education watchdog. Ofsted inspectors say progress has been made to improve the school, but more work is necessary for the category of concern to be removed. The monitoring visit by Ofsted in March follows an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating following “concerns of safeguarding” and “clownish” behaviour of pupils in their lessons.

Maldon Primary School was given the lowest rating available from the government department following their two-day inspection in February last year. However despite progress Ofsted inspectors said that too many pupils regularly miss school and while school leaders have a systematic approach in place, particularly how and when they offer support to families, too much time can pass before leaders take direct action to challenge parents about their children’s attendance.

A letter from Ofsted, published May 4, adds that some teachers are still developing their teaching skills. They follow leaders’ guidance, but do not check carefully enough that pupils have understood what they have been taught. This means that some pupils make mistakes in their work which go unnoticed, or struggle to explain what they should know and understand. Most pupils behave well but there is still an element of disruption from some youngsters in class.

The report said: “However, there are some pupils who continue to unsettle others and disrupt teaching and learning during lessons. Leaders are making changes to the learning environment and supporting staff to follow clear plans with the aim to resolve this. 3 Pupils’ attendance is not where it should be.

“There are too many pupils who regularly miss school. Leaders have a systematic approach in place, particularly how and when they offer support to families. However, too much time can pass before leaders take direct action to challenge parents about their children’s attendance. Leaders must rectify this. Time away from school leads to gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding across all curriculum subjects. Too much absence also makes it difficult for some pupils to understand and follow the school’s routines.”

Since the first monitoring inspection, teachers have continued to oversee safeguarding with “dogged determination”. The letter adds: “Their meticulous record-keeping demonstrates that they and their staff go above and beyond to protect pupils at risk of actual or possible harm. This includes leaders challenging themselves as well as external organisations in an effort to swiftly secure suitable support for vulnerable families.”

According to the 2022 report the school was also rated inadequate in two sections – behaviour and attitude and leadership and management. In addition, the institution based in Wantz Road was rated ‘requires improvement’ on the quality of education, personal development and early years provision.

Miss Debbie Conroy, Executive Headteacher, said: “’I am pleased that our record-keeping, processes and procedures for safeguarding are now seen as a real strength of the school. School staff are happy and there are positive relationships between leaders and other school staff. Parental engagement was also seen as a strength and something we will continue to build on this term. There are still areas for development which we are continuing to focus on this term. We have a detailed School Improvement Plan which is reviewed weekly by leaders and key staff.”

References

^{^} Ofsted reports: Maldon Primary School rated inadequate after ‘safeguarding concerns’ (www.essexlive.news)