Kingsbrook View Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy being part of this ambitious and inclusive school.

There is a strong culture of respect and tolerance, where differences are celebrated. Relationships between staff and pupils are positive and mutually respectful. Pupils enjoy additional responsibilities, including as eco-counsellors, 'Bistro Buddies', play leaders and class counsellors.

Each day pupils demonstrate the school's values of aspiration, resilience, respect and integrity.

The school is a calm and purposeful learning environment. This is because the school sets out high and clear expectations of pupils' behaviour and achievement.

Staff understand these expectations, and suppor...t pupils where needed so that they achieve well. There are clear and established routines throughout the day. At lunchtime, there is a wide variety of activities for pupils to enjoy outside, where they play well together.

As a result, pupils behave very well almost all of the time.

Pupils are happy and safe here. Pupils know that they can speak with trusted adults in school if they have concerns for themselves or for their friends.

They know that adults will listen to them and take any concerns seriously to help them.

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

The curriculum is well designed from early years onwards and takes account of the school being in a new and growing area. This means that pupils start school throughout the academic year with different prior learning experiences, and therefore often begin with different prior knowledge and understanding.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge and present information clearly to pupils. In lessons, activity choices are appropriate to help pupils understand more and learn more. Teachers routinely check pupils' understanding, which informs them about any gaps in pupils' knowledge.

This enables staff to intervene in a timely fashion to support pupils to catch up quickly. As a result, pupils learn the curriculum well.

The school makes sure that pupils learn to read from their first day in early years onwards.

Across all year groups, pupils develop a love of reading through a range of activities, such as 'snack bite reading' at lunchtime, visiting authors, workshops, pupil reading ambassadors and themed days. For pupils at the early stages of reading, adults provide extra support, which helps pupils to improve. However, there is some variability in the quality of support, which means that some pupils are not always able to improve reading skills as quickly as they could.

Staff have high ambition for all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school ensures that pupils have the fullest access possible to their curriculum. The school provides training for all staff, which includes specialist areas of SEND relevant to its pupils.

As a result, pupils with SEND make high levels of progress in learning the curriculum.

Pupils' attitudes to learning in lessons are mostly positive, and pupils work well with each other and with staff. These attitudes develop well in early years, where staff teach children to be inquisitive and independent learners who communicate confidently so that they enjoy a positive start to their school life.

Staff have high expectations of pupils' behaviour across all year groups. However, there are a small number of occasions where less-positive, low-level behaviour affects learning in some lessons. Most of the time, this is addressed well by adults so that pupils behave in line with staff's high expectations.

Leaders ensure that pupils attend school regularly from early years onwards and work closely with families where this is not the case. They help parents to understand the importance of education and the consequences of low attendance. As a result, for some pupils with lower attendance, this is improving.

The school promotes pupils' personal development well. Staff use a comprehensive and growing variety of activities to complement pupils' taught curriculum. Pupils relish the range of activities available, especially the trips and visits that the school provides to enrich their time at school.

Pupils are knowledgeable about how to keep healthy, including physically and mentally, which is central to the school's 'learning for life' curriculum. This curriculum helps pupils to understand that no person should be treated differently to anyone else. Pupils appreciate the differences that people may have.

As one pupil said, 'Everyone is equal no matter what.'

School and trust leaders have high ambition for all pupils, including pupils with SEND. Staff share this ambition.

They appreciate the importance that leaders give to considering their workload while creating a successful school together.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• There is variability in the support that pupils at the early stages of reading receive.

This means that some pupils are not helped to improve their reading as quickly as they could be. The school should provide training to ensure that all staff who support pupils are equipped with sufficient skills to do so. The school should then check carefully that additional support for these pupils leads to swift improvements in their reading.

Also at this postcode