King Ina Church of England Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school is ambitious for pupils and it wants them to achieve well.

Children get off to a good start in the early years. They develop positive attitudes to learning and are well prepared for Year 1. However, the quality of education that pupils receive beyond early years is not yet good enough.

Aspects of the curriculum remain underdeveloped.

Pupils are proud to attend King Ina. They enjoy all that it offers to develop them personally.

Many pupils relish taking on additional responsibilities, such as peer mediators, sports captains and eco-warriors. These roles help develop pupils' leadership skills and increase their confidence. Pupils speak knowl...edgeably about the school's values of community and friendship.

Raising money for charities helps pupils learn to be good citizens. The wide range of clubs, visits and visitors broadens pupils' educational experience.

The school has grown in size in recent years.

Pupils feel safe. They say that everyone gets on well together. Most pupils conduct themselves well around the school site.

Pupils are keen to learn and follow the school rules. Those pupils who access 'the nest' comment on how this provision is helping them reduce their anxiety.

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

The school has the aspiration for all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to receive a high-quality education.

Most subject curriculums identify what pupils should know and by when. For example, in art, pupils draw on their knowledge of colour and texture to improve their painting skills. This is improving the quality of education that pupils receive.

However, in some subjects, the curriculum is not implemented as effectively as in others. Sometimes staff do not pick up on pupils' misconceptions. At other times, learning is not adapted well enough to take into account what pupils know and can do.

As a result, pupils find it more difficult to learn the curriculum successfully in these subjects. They do not secure the depth of knowledge they need to achieve well.

The school prioritises reading.

Pupils across the school enjoy reading. They like completing quizzes about the books they choose to read for pleasure. The school has worked hard to develop a well-designed phonics programme.

From the start of the Reception Year, teachers know which sounds children need to learn each week. They make careful checks to identify those who need extra help with learning to read. However, in key stage 1, the checks are not used well enough to pinpoint precisely which sounds pupils need to practise.

Pupils read books that are too hard and do not match the letter sounds they know. Therefore, the weakest readers sometimes struggle to blend sounds together. This makes it harder for them to build their confidence and reading fluency.

Children in the early years get off to a flying start. The curriculum builds children's knowledge and skills well, including in writing and mathematics. For example, they learn to count and to form letters and numbers accurately.

Clear routines in the Nursery and Reception classes help children settle into learning. Children learn new ideas and vocabulary through well-thought-out tasks. Adults keep a close eye on what children learn.

They adjust their teaching so that everyone gets the support they need.

Pupils benefit from a well-designed curriculum for personal, social and health education. They learn how to keep physically and mentally healthy.

For example, the curriculum helps them to keep themselves safe online. Pupils understand different forms of prejudice. They say that discrimination is never tolerated.

Pupils appreciate the many trips and competitive sporting opportunities that develop their interests.

The school has high expectations of pupils' behaviour. Many pupils show positive attitudes to their learning, including in social situations.

When pupils demonstrate challenging behaviour, staff take effective and supportive action to enable pupils to re-engage in their learning.

The school supports families to find ways to help their child come to school. This has had a positive impact.

However, the school is aware that it needs to continue to work with families to ensure pupils' attendance continues to improve.

Governors and trustees know the school's strengths and weaknesses. Parents have mixed views of the school.

While some are unhappy with the school, others have confidence in the school and feel that their children enjoy school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the curriculum is not implemented effectively.

Staff do not consistently pick up on pupils' misconceptions. At other times, they do not adapt the learning well enough to take into account what pupils know and can do. This limits the depth of knowledge pupils need to achieve well in these subjects.

The trust needs to ensure that its plans to strengthen all subjects are implemented effectively. ? In some subjects, including early reading, the school has not established rigorous systems to assess how well pupils remember the knowledge they have been taught. As a result, pupils' recall of prior learning is insecure.

This makes it difficult for pupils, including the weakest readers, to build their knowledge well. The trust needs to ensure that: - assessment is used effectively to check what pupils know and remember across all subjects. - pupils read books that closely match their phonics knowledge and receive the precise support they need to become confident and fluent readers.

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