Co-op Academy New Islington

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school. Outstanding leadership and teaching in the early years results in children having a very secure foundation on which to build.

From their starting points, all groups of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, speak English as an additional language, or are identified as being disabled or having special educational needs, make outstanding progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because of the outstanding quality of teaching they receive. Pupils' behaviour is impeccable.

Pupils have a love of learning. They demonstrate high levels of respect for the wide range of cultures within the school community, which they ...see as one learning family. Pupils feel safe and know how to keep themselves safe, including when they are using online technologies.

The school's safeguarding arrangements are effective. The school's curriculum provides a wide breadth of experiences for pupils. It empowers pupils to learn, prepares them well for life in modern Britain and for their next stages of education.

Attendance is high and improving strongly because : of the actions leaders take to make learning exciting. Pupils thoroughly enjoy school. Governors' professional skills, coupled with the school's meticulous tracking of pupils' progress, allow them to analyse school performance forensically.

They recognise the need to further develop the links between the governing body and middle leaders as the school continues to grow in size. Senior leaders are passionate and relentless in their pursuit of educational excellence. They have not allowed the barriers presented by the school's temporary buildings, or the development of its new site, to inhibit high quality provision for pupils.

The school has a very positive reputation in the community: places are in high demand and parents are extremely supportive of what the school does to help their children succeed.

Information about this school

New Islington Free School opened as a single-form entry primary school in September 2013. It was set up in response to demand from the local community, with support from Manchester City Council and Manchester Grammar School, to fulfil the need for primary school places in the regeneration area of New Islington, a city centre district within Ancoats in East Manchester.

The school's vision is built around an ethos of high aspirations for all, the celebration of diversity, a love of language, a special climate for learning and a determination to prepare pupils for their future lives. All the teaching staff in the school are qualified teachers. Currently, the school has five year groups: Reception, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4 with a total of 145 pupils.

The school is oversubscribed, for September 2015, there were over 70 applications for 30 places. Over three-quarters of the pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds with 24 different ethnic groups represented. These figures are much higher than those seen nationally.

One third of pupils speak English as an additional language; at least 16 different languages are spoken across the school. The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is below the national average. This contrasts sharply to the school's indicator of deprivation, which places it within the 20% of areas of highest deprivation in the country.

(The pupil premium is additional government funding the school receives to support pupils known to be eligible for free school meals or who are in local authority care.) The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is close to the national average. This was the first full inspection of the school by Ofsted.