Partington Central Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Leaders, governors and trust leaders have successfully established a culture of high expectation and ambition for pupils.

Everyone works together to achieve the school's mission to 'Believe, Achieve, Succeed'. The highly committed executive headteacher shares with the head of school a determination to raise standards for pupils. By the time they leave Year 6, pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, make strong progress that is consistently in line with that of other pupils nationally.

Leaders and governors have an accurate view of the school's strengths, as well as where it needs to improve, because they draw upon a reliable range of info...rmation to help them evaluate the school's effectiveness. This is helping them to take the right actions to improve the school further. Teaching is effective and routinely meets the needs of almost all pupils, especially in reading, writing and mathematics.

Sometimes, teaching does not encourage pupils to take enough pride in their work, especially in their handwriting. This detracts from the quality of the work they produce. The teaching of phonics for younger pupils is not as strong as that in reading, writing and mathematics.

The changes that leaders have made to improve phonics teaching are not sufficiently embedded to ensure that more pupils reach the expected standard by the end of Year 1. Leaders and governors have established a curriculum that prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils develop very well spiritually, morally, socially and culturally and benefit from a wide range of extra-curricular activities.

Leaders have ensured that there is a strong culture of safeguarding in school. Pupils say they feel safe and know who to ask for help if they need it. Children in the early years make a strong start to their education.

The good teaching they receive enables them to make good progress from their typically low starting points. Leaders have established a number of important initiatives for keeping parents and carers involved in and informed about their children's education. Although parents generally support this, a substantial number believe that communication from school needs further improvement to enable them to support their children better in their learning.

Information about this school

Partington Central Academy is larger than the average-sized primary school. This is the school's first section 5 inspection since it joined The Dean Trust in September 2016. The school receives support and challenge from the trust's chief executive officer, the academies director and its local governing body.

Responsibility for the school's performance lies with The Dean Trust board of trustees. The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium funding is larger than average. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is lower than average.

The proportion of pupils receiving support for SEND is above average. The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan is lower than average. The school has a Nursery class and offers both part-time and full-time places.

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