Moston Fields Primary School

Moston Fields Primary School is a warm, friendly and diverse community where pupils behave well and have positive attitudes to learning. Behaviour and attitudes and personal development are good, with pupils supported well to regulate their emotions, take on leadership responsibilities and benefit from a wide range of clubs and visits. Safeguarding is effective. The school has redesigned its curriculum to be ambitious, including for pupils with SEND, and reading has improved considerably, with pupils who had fallen behind beginning to catch up. However, the quality of education, leadership and management, and early years provision require improvement. Weaknesses in the previous curriculum have left gaps in pupils' learning that are not consistently identified and addressed, and assessment systems are still being refined in several subjects. Early years activities are not of sufficiently high quality to extend children's knowledge and vocabulary, leaving some children less prepared for Year 1. Attendance is also a significant concern, with many pupils frequently absent, which widens gaps in learning. The inspection took place amid recent staffing and leadership instability, including an acting headteacher and interim executive headteacher, and was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic. The school identifies pupils' additional needs, including SEND, quickly and accurately, and pupils with complex needs benefit from well-tailored support, but some pupils with SEND still experience the same curriculum delivery shortcomings as their peers.

Strengths

• Warm, friendly and diverse school community that welcomes new arrivals
• Pupils behave well and are ready, respectful and safe
• Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and typically stay focused
• Strong support for pupils to recognise and regulate their emotions
• Reading is a priority and the approach to teaching reading has improved considerably
• Curriculum has been redesigned to be suitably ambitious, including for pupils with SEND
• Subject curriculums are logically ordered to help pupils build knowledge over time
• Staff increasingly skilled at spotting and addressing pupils' errors during lessons
• Additional needs, including SEND, are identified quickly and accurately
• Well-tailored support helps pupils with complex needs access learning effectively
• Wide range of clubs and educational visits broaden pupils' experiences
• Pupils are proud of leadership responsibilities such as school council
• Pupils gain a mature understanding of the world and are prepared for modern diverse Britain
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective
• Staff workload is prioritised and staff feel valued

Areas for Improvement

• Quality of education requires improvement
• Leadership and management require improvement
• Early years provision requires improvement
• Gaps in pupils' learning from the previous curriculum are not consistently identified and addressed
• Assessment systems are still being refined in several subjects
• Early years activities are not of sufficiently high quality to extend children's knowledge and vocabulary
• Some children in early years are not well prepared for the Year 1 curriculum
• Some pupils' attendance is not good enough and widens gaps in learning
• Some pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they should due to curriculum delivery shortcomings

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Moston Fields Primary School attended 93.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 17.7% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.5% of pupils at Moston Fields Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Moston Fields Primary School had 22.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.7% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 34.2% of pupils at Moston Fields Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.3% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Moston Fields Primary School received £8,761 and spent £7,871 for each of its 387 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £15,000 (£39 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

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What is Moston Fields Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Moston Fields Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Moston Fields Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Moston Fields Primary School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Moston Fields Primary School have?

Moston Fields Primary School has 398 pupils on roll.

What age range does Moston Fields Primary School cover?

Moston Fields Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Moston Fields Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 40% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Moston Fields Primary School?

Moston Fields Primary School is at Brookside Road, Moston, Manchester, M40 9GJ.