Doxey Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders want the best for pupils at this school. They have recently developed the curriculum. This is helping pupils to remember their learning and make better progress.

There is still more to do, however, to provide pupils with a good quality of education.

Most pupils say that they enjoy attending school. They help one another and play together well in the playground.

Pupils enjoy the rewards they receive when they show the school's values of respect, self-belief, pride, perseverance and curiosity. The rewards include having hot chocolate with the headteacher or a postcard being sent to their parents or carers. Pupils also talk excitedly about visits to plac...es such as a recording studio in London and to Stafford Castle.

Pupils say that adults take good care of them and sort out problems such as bullying. When incidents of bullying occur, leaders deal with these quickly and effectively.

Leaders expect pupils to develop considerate relationships and follow the school rules, 'be ready, be respectful, be safe'.

They ensure that pupils are as safe as possible. However, some pupils struggle to regulate their behaviour. Time in the Bottled Room helps these pupils to be calm and ready to learn.

However, poor behaviour sometimes interrupts learning.

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

Children in the early years are well cared for and enjoy engaging learning activities. Two-year-olds and other children in the Nursery Year join in with songs and rhymes enthusiastically.

This develops their speaking and listening skills. Children begin to learn to read as soon as they start school. Staff recently had training to enable them to teach phonics consistently well.

Any pupils who fall behind receive extra help. However, this has not helped them to catch up quickly enough. Older pupils know how reading lessons help them to read more challenging texts and extend their vocabulary.

The mathematics curriculum is ambitious and carefully sequenced. Teachers have a secure understanding of the subject. This enables them to spot pupils' errors and provide extra help quickly.

Changes to the curriculum are recent, however, and pupils are not able to apply their knowledge to problem-solving and reasoning questions well enough.

In most subjects, including mathematics and communication and language in early years, leaders have identified and sequenced the knowledge and skills that pupils learn. In these subjects, teachers regularly check that pupils have learned important knowledge.

In a few subjects, such as art and religious education (RE), the curriculum is less well developed. As a result, pupils have gaps in their knowledge. This is also the case for some areas of learning in the Reception Year, where leaders are still developing the curriculum.

Some pupils give up too easily in lessons and are slow to tackle more difficult work. They wait for adults to help them, which slows their progress. This is not challenged consistently.

Adults provide extra help for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). For example, in mathematics staff introduce new ideas to pupils in small groups before teaching them to the whole class. This helps these pupils make good progress.

The behaviour support that some pupils receive is having a positive impact. Pupils in The Den benefit from small-group tuition which helps them concentrate on their learning. Skilled staff help pupils in the Bottled Room to regulate their feelings and behaviour.

The majority of pupils behave well. Pupils know the school's values, but a significant proportion do not link them to their behaviour. Staff do not consistently reinforce expectations regarding good behaviour, so pupils do not learn to follow instructions straight away.

For example, staff pick things up that pupils drop, rather than insisting that pupils do so. Where staff challenge misbehaviour, pupils are better behaved.

Leaders provide opportunities to expand pupils' horizons and develop their character.

For example, pupils enjoyed taking part in outdoor activities during a residential visit. This promoted their physical and mental health well. Trained staff support individual pupils with mental health concerns.

Pupils develop their interests and talents in clubs, such as gardening and cooking. Pupils lead some clubs. Pupils raise money for charities.

They learn to be tolerant and respectful. They know that not all families are the same as theirs.

Governors know the school well.

They provide appropriate support and challenge. Staff value leaders' consideration for their workload and well-being. Teachers who are at the early stages of their careers feel well supported.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding is a priority at Doxey. All staff have regular safeguarding training.

They can identify signs that a pupil may be at risk of harm. They report concerns promptly and leaders follow these up swiftly. Leaders are relentless in seeking support from outside agencies for vulnerable pupils and their families.

Leaders carry out appropriate pre-appointment checks on staff.

Staff teach pupils how to keep themselves safe, for example when using the internet or when crossing a road. Pupils know how to report their worries if someone behaves in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders are in the process of reviewing the curriculum. Some foundation subjects are at an early stage of development. As a result, pupils do not know or remember as much as they could in these subjects.

Leaders should clarify the essential knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which to teach it so that pupils remember the intended content over time. ? Leaders have not fully reviewed and developed the curriculum in Reception. Opportunities to extend children's learning and play are limited.

Leaders should implement their plans to develop the curriculum in Reception so that it promotes children's imagination and curiosity. ? Low-level misbehaviour is common around school and in lessons. This is because leaders and staff do not always insist that pupils follow the school's values and behaviour expectations well enough.

Some pupils are not sure how adults expect them to behave. Leaders and staff should make their expectations of pupils' behaviour explicit and apply them consistently when managing behaviour. ? At times, when pupils find work too difficult or uninteresting, they become disengaged.

Rather than having a go, they give up or wait for adult support. This is not consistently challenged. Leaders should raise teachers' expectations of pupils' attitudes to learning so that all pupils have positive attitudes to learning.