Bovey Tracey Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Bovey Tracey Primary School model their school rules to be 'respectful, responsible, safe and kind' in everything they do.

They are compassionate towards others. Pupils say bullying does not happen often and is quickly stopped. This is because leaders have developed a school culture based on nurture and inclusion.

Pupils get the help that they need, which supports them to feel happy and safe.

Leaders have high expectations for every pupil. Many parents and carers are positive about the support the school provides for their children.

Pupils are keen to learn. However, pupils do not yet benefit from an ambitious curriculum. They are not suppo...rted sufficiently well to build on what they know.

Consequently, pupils do not learn as well as they could in all subjects across the school, including in the early years.

Pupils develop responsibilities through a range of roles, including peer mediators, class buddies, play leaders and the climate change group. In Year 6, all pupils participate in a civic award.

This supports them to become active citizens in their school and local community. Leaders provide a range of wider opportunities, including choir and orchestra. Pupils who attend the gardening club take pride in improving their school grounds.

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

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum, including in the early years. They have considered what they want pupils to know and have sequenced this carefully. However, this is in its infancy in many subjects.

The teaching of the curriculum is not yet consistent. Teachers do not always have sufficient subject knowledge to deliver the curriculum well. In part, this has been hampered by changes in staffing since the previous inspection.

Leaders have not monitored the effectiveness of the curriculum in some subjects and phases with the rigour needed.

Children learn to read as soon as they start in the Reception Year. Leaders have ensured the phonics curriculum sets out what pupils should know and by when.

They have matched the books pupils read carefully to the sounds they know. This helps pupils to read with increasing fluency. However, beyond phonics, leaders have not structured the reading curriculum well.

They have identified essential high-quality texts for pupils to read. Yet, the knowledge and skills pupils need to get better at reading are not planned carefully enough.

Leaders check what pupils remember in phonics and mathematics well.

Staff use this to provide additional support to pupils who need it. Despite this, in many subjects, assessment is not linked well enough to what teachers have identified that pupils need to remember and whether they do. Leaders do not have sufficient oversight of the effectiveness of assessment.

The special educational needs coordinator has diligently strengthened the support provided for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Most pupils with SEND have well-matched support to help them to learn successfully. Staff have received professional development, so that they fully understand pupils' needs.

Pupils value the 'Thrive Hive', where they can receive the social, emotional and mental health support they need. For example, well-trained staff use carefully selected games to model turn taking and how to manage feelings.

From the early years, all pupils have positive relationships with staff and their peers.

They attend school regularly. Most children in Reception learn well alongside adults, but do not learn as well independently. Sometimes, staff provide resources to support children's learning which are too difficult for children to engage with.

When this happens, children return to play with more familiar resources. Therefore, they do not learn as well as they could.

Leaders place pupils' personal development at the heart of the curriculum.

Pupils take pride in their school and work. They fully understand the school's 'CHEERS' values. Leaders ensure staff use the ambitious personal, social and health education curriculum to deliver high-quality learning to pupils.

As a result, pupils know the importance of physical and mental health. They respect and embrace each other's differences. Staff provide 'ask it baskets' to allow pupils to ask difficult or personal questions.

Older pupils raise awareness and fundraise for various charities.

Leaders and governors provide the same nurture and support for staff as they do for pupils. Staff value the ways in which leaders consider and support their well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The safeguarding team understands the importance of keeping pupils safe. Governors make regular checks on school procedures.

Staff receive regular training. There is a culture where 'you mention it', so that pupils get the help they need, when they need it. Leaders work diligently with external agencies.

They make the right checks when new staff join the school.

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. They understand the importance of personal boundaries and permission.

This helps them to develop healthy relationships with their peers.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The reading curriculum needs to be strengthened further. Once pupils have completed the phonics curriculum, leaders have not considered what pupils need to know next to improve their reading ability further and by when.

As a result, some pupils do not read well enough. Leaders need to ensure that the content of the reading curriculum is clearly designed and understood by all staff. ? In some subjects and phases, staff do not have the required subject knowledge or training they need.

This means that they lack the knowledge required to plan and teach the curriculum sufficiently well. This leads to inconsistency and a lack of suitable ambition. Leaders must ensure that staff have the expertise they need to implement the curriculum as intended.

• The use of assessment is not thought out well enough. Therefore, gaps in pupils' understanding are not always identified and misconceptions can go unaddressed. Leaders need to ensure that the use of assessment is effective in identifying what pupils need to remember in all subjects and whether this is the case.

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