Longford Park Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. They are interested in their learning and excited to talk about it.

Pupils feel safe and well looked after by adults at the school. They say that if bullying occurs, they know it will be dealt with quickly. Pupils behave well and they work hard.

Learning is rarely disrupted.

The school places reading at the heart of its curriculum. Younger pupils say they enjoy learning to read and older pupils say they love reading.

Pupils are enthusiastic about learning different subjects. However, the curriculum for some subjects is not as well planned as it is in reading and mathematics.

Pupils know the school values well a...nd use them as guidance for how they should behave.

Pupils know that kindness is very important. They demonstrate this in their support of each other when learning and playing.

Pupils are keen to attend enrichment activities.

They talk enthusiastically about school trips and the curriculum 'wow' days. Many pupils enjoy the school's sports clubs. However, they would like more opportunities to develop their interests and talents further.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have created an environment where pupils and staff feel valued. Staff, including early career teachers, say that the multi-academy trust and school leaders support their development and well-being. Trust and school leaders know the school's strengths and weaknesses well.

Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

Leaders have created a purposeful environment where pupils are keen to learn. Staff set high expectations for pupils' work and pupils respond well.

In mathematics, the coherent curriculum builds pupils' knowledge over time. Teachers follow a curriculum that progresses systematically from Nursery to Year 6. For example, pupils in the early years, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), quickly develop their knowledge of number bonds.

This provides a solid foundation for their next steps.

The school's phonics programme is well planned, and pupils learn to read from the moment they start at the school. Activities in the early years promote a love of reading from early on.

This means pupils get off to a good start in reading. The phonics programme is structured well so pupils can decode words and build up their fluency in reading. Pupils read books that are matched to the sounds they are learning.

Leaders use assessment well to check on pupils' reading and to make changes to the curriculum. Pupils who are at risk of falling behind have appropriate support to help them to keep up. The reading programme in key stage 2 provides useful steps for pupils to become better readers.

Older pupils are encouraged to read widely, and they talk with enthusiasm about the books they would like to read next. Teachers choose texts for class reading that are varied and broaden pupils' knowledge and interests.

The school's curriculum is stronger in some subject areas than in others.

Where there are strengths, such as the early years and the reading and mathematics curriculums, there is clear sequencing that ensures pupils carefully build their knowledge and what they can do over time. Where the curriculum in other subjects is not as strong, leaders have not yet identified precisely enough the essential knowledge that pupils need to know, and when they need to know it. Although pupils enjoy learning about history, sometimes the choice of activity does not help them to learn important historical knowledge.

As a result, pupils have a less secure foundation on which to take the next steps in their learning.

The support for pupils with SEND is coordinated effectively. Leaders work with teachers to identify needs at an early stage.

Teachers are well trained and, as a result, provide appropriate support for pupils with SEND so that they learn well.

Pupils behave well around the school. In the early years, children are carefully taught the language of emotions.

In the Nursery, this is helping children to recognise and manage their feelings better. The school's personal development curriculum is coherent and has been recently adapted to include a fuller relationships programme. However, older pupils would like more helpful information about growing up, different cultures and different ways in which people live in British society.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff work closely together to ensure pupils are safe. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when online.

Safeguarding leaders are knowledgeable and skilled. There are strong safeguarding systems in place. Staff are well trained and confident to identify and deal with safeguarding concerns.

Leaders make sure that pupils and families get the support they need. The school makes effective use of external agencies to secure appropriate help for pupils and families.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders do not have a clear grasp of what makes a strong curriculum in all subjects.

As a result, essential knowledge that pupils need to learn is not clearly identified in some curriculum thinking. This means that teachers do not always know the important content to teach or how best to teach it. Leaders need to develop greater curriculum expertise and subject knowledge, so pupils achieve as well as they should.

• While there is now a strong curriculum in place to promote pupils' personal development, it is in its infancy. This means that some pupils have gaps in their knowledge, especially around relationships and protected characteristics. Leaders need to consider carefully how the personal development curriculum can be delivered expertly so that pupils have a better knowledge and understanding of these important areas.

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