Garstang Community Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils' enjoyment of school has increased in recent times. Most show a keen interest in learning.

They respond well to the school's raised expectations for their academic outcomes. In some subjects, pupils achieve well, but this is not the same for others. Some pupils are not benefiting from the positive changes to the curriculum as quickly as they should.

This is because some of these changes have been implemented too slowly.

Pupils are typically polite and they show respect to staff and to each other. They value the friendships that they forge during their time in school.

This helps pupils to feel safe and happy. The new behaviour systems are follo...wed well by most staff. This has led to improvements in pupils' behaviour.

However, a small proportion of pupils continue to misbehave. This spoils the learning of their peers.

The school has worked with the trust to enhance the strategies used to tackle bullying.

Nevertheless, some pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not feel confident in reporting their concerns to teachers. This is because they feel that the issues they raise would not be resolved effectively.

The school offers a wide range of clubs and trips to expand pupils' interests.

Pupils relish the chance to take part in a variety of sporting events. Some pupils enjoy representing their school at local community competitions. These opportunities help some pupils to build their confidence when working as part of a team.

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

The school's collaborative work with trust experts has meant that the quality of education has begun to improve. This has helped the school to start to rebuild the trust of some stakeholders. However, at times, the changes to the schools' policies and systems have not been communicated effectively.

As a result, some pupils, parents and carers have negative perceptions of the school. The morale of some staff is low. These staff are not assured by the school's work to manage their workload.

Members of the local governing body and trustees have offered suitable challenge to help the school reshape the curriculum so that it is broad and ambitious. The school has also taken steps to offer pupils a wider range of subjects. There are early signs of improvement.

For instance, there has been an increase in the proportion of pupils who wish to study languages in key stage 4. This is leading to an increase in the number of pupils who are studying the full suite of English Baccalaureate subjects.

In most subjects, the school has identified the key knowledge that pupils need to learn.

Teachers know the order in which subject content should be taught. This helps them to ensure that learning activities build on pupils' prior knowledge meaningfully. In many subjects, this helps pupils to gain a secure understanding of the subject content.

In some subjects, teachers use assessment strategies to inform their teaching effectively. However, in other subjects, teachers do not identify and address gaps in pupils' learning well enough. This hinders some pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, from learning new content successfully.

In contrast, the school's approach to identifying the needs of pupils with SEND is more successful. Teachers make sure that these pupils can access learning. This helps pupils with SEND to achieve well.

Reading has a high priority. Pupils who find reading difficult receive the support that they need to help them read successfully. The frequent 'reading canon' sessions widen pupils' interests in reading.

The trust's 'wiki' vocabulary prompts have helped raise the profile of literacy across the curriculum. As such, many pupils read frequently.

In the main, pupils understand and respond to the school's 'grow, care and achieve' values positively.

They generally behave well. Nevertheless, at times, the pupils' behaviour is not managed consistently well. Occasionally, this leads to disruption in learning.

The school, with the support from the trust, is acting to reduce the barriers that prevent some pupils from attending school regularly. However, this work is in its infancy. As such, the low attendance rates of some pupils have not been sufficiently addressed.

The school's personal, social, health, economic education (PSHE) curriculum has been successfully redesigned. Pupils develop a strong understanding of healthy lifestyles. They know how to keep themselves safe from drugs and harmful social situations.

Nonetheless, the opportunities to celebrate and promote diversity through the PSHE curriculum is still being refined. This is so that pupils have a better understanding of life in modern Britain. The school's comprehensive careers programme raises pupils' aspirations.

For instance, pupils take part in projects with local colleges, universities and businesses. This provides them with transferable skills to help them to succeed in their next stage of education, employment or training.

The members of the local governing body and the trustees know the school context well.

This helps them to challenge and support the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Assessment strategies are not used consistently well across different subjects.

As such, the misconceptions and gaps in subject knowledge that some pupils have are not remedied well enough. Consequently, some pupils do not build a secure body of knowledge. The school should ensure that teachers can use assessment strategies effectively to help pupils to succeed.

• The new behaviour systems are not used consistently well by some staff. At times, this means that the poor behaviour of some pupils hinders the learning of others. The school should ensure that the strategies to address poor behaviour are understood and followed across the school.

• Some pupils do not have confidence that their concerns about bullying will be resolved. This stops some pupils from sharing their worries and lessens their enjoyment of school. The school should ensure that it enhances its approach to improving the relationships pupils have with their teachers so that pupils gain confidence in reporting their concerns.

• At times, the school does not communicate the changes to its policies and procedures clearly enough. As such, some staff, parents and pupils continue to have negative perceptions of the school's provision. The school should ensure that it clarifies the reasons behind some of its improvement work so that it re-establishes the trust of stakeholders and boosts staff morale.