Ofsted report: Highcliffe St Mark Primary School graded ‘requires improvement’

A primary school in Highcliffe has been told by Ofsted inspectors it must improve how some subjects are being taught.

Inspectors graded Highcliffe St Mark Primary School ‘requires improvement’ but added that pupils were “happy and safe” and “live up to the school’s high expectations” of their behaviour.

They also praised the school’s “calm atmosphere” and said it had “raised its expectations of the breadth and depth of pupils’ learning” and started making “improvements to the quality of education”.

But the inspectors found that in some subjects “some teachers do not always have the subject knowledge they need to teach the curriculum well”. As a result, they said, “teaching in those subjects’ areas does not provide pupils with opportunities to secure and deepen their subject”.

They also said that “some teaching does not identify pupils’ misconceptions, or gaps in their knowledge. Consequently, the curriculum is not consistently adapted to remedy these.

“The school needs to ensure that assessment is used to check pupils’ knowledge and understanding carefully to inform what comes next.”

The inspectors also found that in some subjects “pupils lack depth in their subject knowledge and skills” recalling some key facts but “cannot make connections between different aspects of a subject”.

They also said that while the “curriculum is ambitious in its aims, it is not currently having the impact in all areas that the school intends.”

They found that this was “reflected in pupils’ outcomes in some subjects” and that “across the curriculum, the quality of pupils’ written work is not high enough.”

Inspectors also found that teachers “lack the subject expertise needed to implement the curriculum as leaders intend. For example, the way in which the curriculum is taught sometimes does not present new knowledge clearly or is not matched well to what is important for pupils to learn.”

They also found that “leaders’ oversight of the impact of the curriculum on the development of pupils’ learning is not strong enough and that “teaching is not well informed by the identification of gaps or misconceptions in pupils’ knowledge or skills.”

As, a result, said inspectors, “pupils do not always have a secure foundation for future learning.”

The report concludes that the school must “evaluate how successfully the curriculum develops pupils’ understanding, so it can make improvements where needed.”

But there was also praise for the school from the inspectors who found that children are encouraged to make a “meaningful contribution to school life”.

As a result, pupils “develop their confidence and leadership skills” and “develop an understanding of good citizenship” raising money for charity and promoting sustainability and the environment.

They said the school has “strengthened its support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)” with their needs “identified and assessed accurately early on in their time at the school.”

It also provided “effective support for pupils who need to improve their behaviour” and that students have “positive attitudes to most of their learning.”

They also benefit from a wide range of extracurricular opportunities including running clubs for computer coding, water polo and creative arts.

The school was rated ‘requires improvement’ for quality of education as well as leadership and management, and was rated ‘good’ in all other categories.

A spokesperson from St Mark’s said: “The most important part of what we do here at Highcliffe St Mark Primary opens the report – ‘pupils are happy and safe’.

“We are incredibly pleased and proud that the inspectors have also praised our children for their positive behaviour and attitudes and acknowledged the improvements that we have made to our “ambitious” curriculum and in how we have “strengthened” assessment.

“Our inspection came before the changes we have made in the last two years are fully embedded.

“It also came before our 2024 results were published. A set of results which we are incredibly proud of as our children matched or exceeded children locally and nationally in almost every area from the Early Years through KS1 Phonics, times tables check in Year 4 and our Year 6 SATs.”