Park View Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel happy and safe at Park View Academy. They are polite and respectful to each other, and to adults.

Pupils have access to a well-planned extra-curricular programme. They love to help each other as play leaders or subject ambassadors. Pupils are also keen to support their teachers, and other pupils, by selling healthy snacks in the tuck shop, or by making sure that pupils make good use of the well-stocked library.

Leaders have increasingly high aspirations for pupils. Pupils are well motivated to learn. They are benefiting from much-needed improvements to the curriculum.

Pupils are beginning to develop a deeper body of knowledge across each aspect of... the curriculum. Their ability to read is also improving. Even so, pupils are not as well prepared as they should be for their next stages of education.

This is particularly true for children in the early years, and for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Leaders have ensured that pupils behave well. Pupils enjoy playing with their friends at breaktimes.

The overwhelming majority of parents and carers are very supportive of the school. Pupils said that staff are good at sorting out their worries. This includes addressing any incidents of bullying in a timely manner.

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

Leaders, governors and trustees have worked closely together to make many positive changes at the school. They have continued to make further improvements to the quality of education throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff said that leaders provide effective support to help them to improve how well pupils learn.

Leaders are in the process of designing an ambitious curriculum. They are providing detailed plans so that teachers are clear about what pupils need to know, and the order that new knowledge should be taught. However, these plans are still being rolled out.

In some subjects, teachers are only just beginning to follow newly implemented curriculum plans. As a result, the progress that pupils make is patchy across a range of subjects. In the early years, plans are still being finalised.

Leaders have not adapted their curriculum plans to address the gaps that children in the early years have in their development, which have been exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Weaknesses in the previous reading curriculum mean that many pupils lack the phonics knowledge that they need to read accurately and with fluency. This limits how well they can access the rest of the curriculum.

Leaders have made reading a priority. They have introduced a new phonics programme to support children to learn to read. This programme begins from the beginning of the Reception year.

Nevertheless, weaknesses in the early years' curriculum hinder some children from being ready to develop as early readers. This negatively affects their progress through the early years curriculum. They are not as ready as they could be for the demands of Year 1.

Despite this, leaders have ensured that teachers have received appropriate training so that they can support pupils' reading throughout key stages 1 and 2. Pupils practise their reading with quality books that are well matched to the sounds that they know. Pupils who struggle to read are well supported to catch up during key stages 1 and 2.

Leaders do not ensure that teachers make effective use of the assessment information that they gather. Some teachers do not adapt the curriculum well enough in the light of this information, including in the early years. This is especially important because many pupils in the school, including children in the early years, have experienced considerable disruption to their learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They have missing knowledge. Due to a lack of guidance from leaders, teachers do not provide the support that some pupils need to address gaps in their knowledge.

Similarly, leaders have not enabled pupils with SEND to achieve as well as they should.

Leaders successfully identify pupils who may have SEND, and they provide the pastoral support that these pupils need. However, the quality of academic support is variable across classes. On occasions, pupils with SEND do not access some of the planned learning with their peers.

They do not build up the key knowledge that they need.

Leaders have made sure that all pupils are well supported in their wider development. Pupils benefit from visits and visitors to develop their understanding of the wider world.

Pupils, including those with SEND, carry out leadership roles diligently.

Pupils reflect on different lives that people lead. They respect and celebrate difference.

Pupils follow their school rules carefully. They understand that these rules enable everyone to be listened to and to be treated equally well. Pupils behave well, and they have positive attitudes to learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders, trustees and governors ensure that pupils are safe. Staff are well trained.

They take prompt action if they notice any potential safeguarding risks. Staff pass on their concerns to the appropriate personnel. Leaders work closely with staff and other agencies to ensure that pupils get timely support when they need it.

Pupils attend school regularly. They benefit from support that leaders provide to improve their attendance.

Pupils understand the importance of being safe.

They learn how to keep themselves safe outside of school hours. They are clear about what they can do to protect themselves from potential danger, including when they are online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Much of leaders' revised curriculum is relatively new and has not been implemented fully.

It has not increased pupils' knowledge sufficiently well to enable them to be fully prepared for their next stages of education. Leaders need to ensure that their plans are fully rolled out, embedded and delivered consistently well by teachers. ? Leaders do not ensure that teachers make effective use of the assessment information that they gather.

Teachers do not make timely adaptations to their curriculum plans as pupils' needs change. Some pupils do not get the support that they need to catch up. Consequently, they do not achieve as well as they could.

Leaders need to ensure that teachers use the assessment information that they gather to improve how well pupils learn the intended curriculum and to help them to catch up on any lost or missing learning because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. ? The quality of the curriculum for children in the early years is uneven. It does not meet the needs of some of the children in the Nursery and Reception classes.

The curriculum does not suitably address the deficits in children's development because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is hindering how well children are prepared for the key stage 1 curriculum. Leaders need to ensure that children build up their knowledge more thoroughly in the early years.

This includes in early reading. ? Leaders have not ensured that all teachers provide appropriate support to enable pupils with SEND to progress well through the curriculum. They have not ensured that teachers make suitable adaptations to the delivery of their curriculum, to enable these pupils to learn as well as they can.

This means that pupils with SEND sometimes miss out on key learning that their peers have experienced. Leaders need to ensure that all staff know how best to support pupils with SEND. Leaders also need to check that all pupils with SEND have access to and build up their knowledge of the entire curriculum.

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