Lime Academy Watergall

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school is ambitious for pupils to achieve well. Children get off to a good start in the early years. They demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and make a strong start.

However, the quality of education that pupils receive beyond early years is not yet good enough. Pupils are not yet consistently benefiting from the school's revised curriculum. Consequently, pupils do not always achieve well.

Many pupils behave well. However, in some lessons, pupils lose focus and find it difficult to sustain concentration. Sometimes pupils' behaviour is disruptive and affects the learning of others.

Pupils can play well with each other outside. Occasionally, however..., pupils are upset when their peers do hurtful or unkind things.

Pupils' social and emotional needs are supported well by the school.

The pastoral team offer support and advice to pupils and their families. This supports pupils' readiness to learn. Pupils attend well.

Pupils are encouraged to develop their interests through a wide range of clubs. Pupil's aspirations are raised through carefully planned opportunities. An example of this is the work done with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Residential trips develop pupils' independence and resilience. Pupils value these different opportunities to broaden their horizons.

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

The school aspires for all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to receive a high-quality education.

A clearly planned, ambitious curriculum identifies what pupils should know and by when. The school is working towards a consistent approach to teaching and learning. Leaders are supporting staff to teach in a way which supports pupils to learn and remember more.

However, significant staff turnover means that there are inconsistencies across the school in how well pupils are taught. Pupils do not yet receive consistently high-quality learning experiences.

Across the curriculum, some subjects are more established than others.

Where subjects are better established, pupils learn and connect their learning over time. Pupils build upon what they have learned previously. Where subject curriculums are more recently introduced, pupils' learning is less secure.

They have gaps in their learning over time. Pupils have not had the time needed to ensure pupils learn, remember and consolidate their learning.

Expectations across the curriculum vary.

Where these are high, pupils usually learn well. On other occasions, expectations of pupils are not high enough. Errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling go unchecked.

As a result, pupils do not always communicate their learning in their written work effectively across the curriculum. They do not demonstrate their learning as clearly as they should.

The school prioritises reading.

A well-designed phonics programme is in place. From the start, teachers know which sounds pupils need to learn each week. They make careful checks to identify those who need extra help with learning to read.

Support is put in place for these pupils. Most pupils become fluent readers. The school is expanding the range of quality texts available for older pupils so that all pupils value the joy of reading.

The provision in Reception is a strength. Consistent staffing has enabled clear routines to be established. These help children settle into learning quickly.

The curriculum builds children's knowledge well, including in early reading and mathematics. Adults are developing their interactions with children, so children develop their ability to communicate effectively across the curriculum. This approach supports children well and helps them prepare for Year 1 and beyond.

Pupils with SEND are well supported. The school identifies pupils' needs precisely. This enables staff to make bespoke adaptations to learning or provide targeted interventions.

This helps pupils with SEND to learn alongside their peers and typically achieve well.

While school leaders have high expectations of pupils' behaviour, staff do not consistently manage behaviour as leaders intend. While many staff are trained and follow the behaviour curriculum, others are less well trained.

They lack confidence in managing pupils' behaviour. This means pupils are unclear about what they can and cannot do. As a result, behaviour in class can disrupt learning and behaviour at unstructured times can be rough.

The school's personal development offer is well considered. Daily lessons and assemblies help pupils learn how to be healthy, safe and responsible. They understand the importance of equality and diversity.

Pupils' education is enriched by curriculum-linked trips. These bring learning to life and give pupils experiences which they may not otherwise have.

The trust and governors have strengthened their capacity to support the school to improve.

While they recognise the progress that has been made, they equally know that pupils need to achieve better.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Although leaders have high expectations of pupils' behaviour, these are not applied consistently by staff.

As a result, the learning of others can be disrupted, and some pupils display unkind behaviours. The school needs to further train and support staff in implementing their behaviour curriculum so there is a consistency to managing behaviour in class and at unstructured times. ? There are some inconsistencies in the effectiveness of teaching across the school.

This means pupils do not always learn as effectively as they could. The school needs to continue to further develop and embed its support and training for staff to ensure a consistency of approach and effectiveness of teaching and learning across the school. ? Pupils' writing across the curriculum is not always as good as it should be.

Errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar often go unchecked. This means pupils do not always communicate their learning in their writing as well as they should. The school should ensure that staff have consistent expectations of, and approaches to, the teaching of writing across all subjects so that pupils improve the quality of their writing across the curriculum.

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