Lake Farm Park Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The executive principal, supported by senior staff, the chief executive officer, governors and directors, has established a culture that enables pupils to behave and achieve well. They seek ways to continuously improve the school so that pupils feel valued and are interested in their learning. Teaching is good.

Teachers know their pupils well and have good subject knowledge. As a result, pupils make good progress. However, teaching does not always challenge the most able pupils to achieve as well as they should.

Additional funding is used well to ensure that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are d...isadvantaged make good progress. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strength of the school. Safeguarding is effective.

All staff receive regular training and updates to ensure that they are up to date with the latest guidance. Leadership, provision and teaching in the early years are good. Effective teamwork and interesting learning activities ensure that children make good progress in all areas of learning.

Pupils' behaviour and attitudes to learning are good. They feel safe and secure in school. However, some pupils are over-reliant on adults to support their learning and behaviour.

Pupils' attendance has improved, particularly for those who were absent too often. However, a minority of pupils do not attend regularly enough. The specialist resource provision (SRP) for pupils who have autistic spectrum disorder is well led and provides effectively for its pupils.

Staff benefit greatly from the extensive training and development programme in place to improve their practice. Governance is effective. Governors and directors visit the school often and have a good grasp of its work.

They rigorously oversee the arrangements for the performance management of staff. Staff and governors are not always provided with enough information about the progress of different groups of pupils to inform their decision making.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish. The school opened as a new academy, on a new and purpose-built site, in September 2014. It is sponsored by The Park Federation, a multi-academy trust consisting of seven primary schools.

The school is larger than the average-sized primary school and currently has boys and girls in the early years and in Years 1 and 2. The school has a specialist resource provision (SRP) for pupils who have autistic spectrum disorder that was opened in September 2015. Currently, six pupils attend the SRP, which is registered to admit up to 12 pupils.

An above-average proportion of pupils have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care (EHC) plan. One in five pupils are supported by the pupil premium funding, which is below the national average. A high proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language, but few are new to learning English.

The proportion of pupils who join and leave the school at different times of the year is above the national average. The proportion of pupils who are from minority ethnic groups is almost three times the national average. The executive principal joined the school in April 2017.

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