Mendlesham Primary School brings learning to life, find inspectors

A village school, where pupils are enthusiastic about their learning, maintained its high standards in its latest Ofsted report.

Mendlesham Primary School, which is part of the Oxlip Learning Partnership – a trust made up of seven schools across Suffolk – received good ratings across the board.

During November’s inspection, it was said that pupils enjoyed attending the school, which is lead by executive principal Tessa Sait.

The report, which was published last week, said children appeared positive.

“They are very enthusiastic about what they learn and the different ways that learning is brought to life,” read the report.

“For example, pupils had made circuits out of various materials and could describe the science behind this.

“Pupils love reading, choosing from the wide and varied selection of books on offer. The school is highly ambitious for what pupils can achieve.”

Reading is given high importance at the school with pupils reading books that are well matched to their age, and regularly practice reading both for phonics knowledge and to develop comprehension, read the report.

“Close monitoring of pupils at the earliest stages of reading means that everyone who needs it gets help to catch up,” it added. “As pupils become more fluent readers, they read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts.”

The school was also praised in how it helps pupils revise and rehearse previous learning, by using the likes of ‘fast facts’ in mathematics, and ‘sticky knowledge quizzes’.

Inspectors said that children, including those with additional needs, make good progress in their learning over their time at the school.

One aspect the inspectors said should be improved was that some pupils had not been taught precise transcription skills as well as they could have, which made their letter formation not very not fluent and slowed down the writing process.

Finally, the report said that pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to learn about life and values beyond their local area.

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