Peel Hall Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Although leaders have effective systems to keep pupils safe, the behaviour of some pupils causes others to feel anxious and upset. This spoils their enjoyment of school and makes them feel worried. Leaders do not take swift and robust enough action to deal effectively with incidents of discriminatory behaviour including bullying.

Governors' and leaders' expectations of pupils' behaviour and learning are not high enough. Many pupils do not try their best or behave well. Some pupils have developed very negative attitudes towards their education.

They have become apathetic learners. Some pupils also find lessons uninspiring and pointless. Pupils' achievement is too low.<...br/>
Leaders expect pupils to live up to the school's values. However, some pupils do not practise these values in their attitudes towards others. They make fun of their peers based on their appearance.

Others ridicule pupils who may struggle with their learning. Governors and leaders excuse this disrespectful behaviour by attributing pupils' poor attitudes and lack of respect to influences outside of the school and in their community.

Pupils have some opportunities to make an active contribution to school life or the wider community.

This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Parents and carers who shared their views with inspectors feel that pupils rarely benefit from trips or visits. A significant number of parents do not have any faith in leaders' ability to tackle issues and to deal with their concerns quickly and effectively.

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

Leaders have overseen a decline in the quality of education that pupils receive. They have been too slow to improve the curriculum. Frequent staff absences and changes in leadership have further exacerbated leaders' development of their subjects.

Leaders lack the capacity to tackle the shortcomings at the school. They are overly reliant on external support.

Leaders are still in the very early stages of developing their curriculum thinking about what pupils will learn and the order in which this will be taught.

This has been further compounded by leaders making frequent changes to the design of many curriculums without a clear rationale for their decisions. As a result, pupils experience a very disconnected, jumbled learning journey, from the start of the early years through to Year 6.

Leaders have not made sure that staff teach all aspects of the national curriculum in full.

Consequently, pupils do not benefit from a rich and ambitious curriculum. They do not build their knowledge over time. Pupils have considerable gaps in their learning.

Many staff do not receive effective subject-specific training. This means that many lack the confidence or knowledge to know how to introduce new learning to pupils effectively. This includes some staff in the early years.

Pupils who require the most help and support regularly work with the least experienced or skilled staff.

In many subjects, staff do not use assessment information well enough to quickly resolve pupils' misconceptions or to adapt future teaching. This means that pupils develop large gaps in their learning, which staff do not effectively resolve.

Despite some improvements in the most recently published data for key stages 1 and 2, pupils do not achieve well. A considerable number of pupils do not remember their learning in any subjects over time. Some do not even recall being taught some curriculums.

Many children also leave early years unprepared for the challenges of key stage 1. They do not read or write well and they show limited mathematical understanding.

Leaders have not done enough to prioritise the teaching of reading.

Most staff lack knowledge about how to teach reading well. Children in the early years are beginning to start to benefit from stories, rhymes and songs. However, the small improvements that leaders have made to the early reading curriculum are still very much in their infancy.

There is not a consistently effective approach to the teaching of the phonics programme. Many pupils do not start to learn sounds quickly enough or are not keeping up with the early reading programme. This hinders pupils' ability to build on their learning step by step in a coherent way.

Struggling readers do not receive effective and timely support. As a result, most read words from unfamiliar books with limited confidence or fluency.

Pupils in key stage 2 do not benefit from a well-designed reading curriculum which builds on their learning from the early years and key stage 1.

Some pupils have very negative attitudes towards their reading. When reading aloud they read with little expression or interest. Pupils struggle to recall any books or stories that teachers have shared with them.

Pupils also reported that the books on offer do not spark their interest in reading or extend their learning in other areas of the curriculum.

Leaders have recently made some improvements to the provision for pupils with SEND. Children in the early years are screened for any speech and language issues so that they can receive effective and timely support.

However, any other changes are far too recent to see any discernible impact. Staff lack knowledge about how to successfully adapt the delivery of the curriculum so that pupils with SEND can learn successfully alongside their peers. Many parents who shared their views expressed dissatisfaction about the quality of support that pupils receive.

Pupils with SEND do not achieve well.

Leaders have not taken effective steps to tackle pupils' poor behaviour swiftly and robustly. This means that a considerable proportion of pupils do not follow the school rules.

This hinders their own and other pupils' ability to concentrate in lessons and to enjoy their breaktimes. The poor behaviour of some pupils, which includes unkind comments, taunts and bullying, leaves other pupils worried and anxious. Many pupils are repeatedly absent from school.

This hinders their progress through the curriculum even further.

Pupils' opportunities for learning beyond the academic curriculum are poor. Some pupils reported that they are looking forward to going litter picking for the first time as part of the newly formed eco-warrior group.

However, they do not benefit from a rich breadth of visits, visitors and trips.

Pupils show little awareness of fundamental British values such as respect and tolerance. As a result, a considerable number have not learned how to value and appreciate the differences between people.

This means that they are very unprepared for life in modern Britain.

Governors do not have the necessary knowledge and skills to hold leaders to account. They have an overly generous view of the school.

They have a weak grasp of their statutory responsibilities. Some staff have no faith in leaders and do not feel well supported. Some staff appreciate being able to work off site during their non-contact time.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have worked with external partners to develop a safeguarding culture. This means that staff are well trained, and diligently report any concerns swiftly to senior leaders so that pupils and their families receive support quickly and effectively.

However, governors do not have a secure understanding of how to discharge their safeguarding responsibilities effectively. The improvements that leaders have made to some of their safeguarding practices are relatively recent and have not been fully embedded.

Pupils are taught about keeping themselves safe online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Pupils do not experience a well-connected curriculum which builds on their prior learning effectively. This impedes the achievement of children in the early years and pupils across the school. Governors and leaders must make sure that pupils experience a coherent learning journey which helps pupils gain the knowledge that they need to be successful learners.

• Governors do not have the necessary knowledge and skills to hold leaders to account effectively. This means that weaknesses have not been remedied.Governors must ensure that they have a strong skill set so that they can support and challenge leaders to rapidly improve the school.

• Leaders' capacity to improve the school's weaknesses is poor. This means that they are overly reliant on external support. Governors must make sure that they strengthen leadership capacity so that changes are rapid and have a positive and sustained impact in the longer term.

• Teachers do not have enough guidance on how to teach subjects well. This means that pupils do not experience a consistently well-delivered curriculum which builds pupils' knowledge cumulatively. Leaders must ensure that teachers know what to teach and when this should happen so that pupils benefit from a coherent curriculum which supports them to build on their learning effectively.

• The reading programme is not taught consistently well. This is because staff have not been given enough guidance and support about what to teach and when to teach it. Leaders must rapidly ensure that staff are well equipped to deliver the reading curriculum so that pupils learn to read fluently and develop a love of reading.

• Teachers do not check on pupils' learning well enough. This means that misconceptions go unchecked and pupils develop large gaps in their learning. Leaders must ensure that assessment information is used well so that teachers address misconceptions quickly and effectively.

• Pupils do not have enough opportunities to learn some aspects of the curriculum fully or to revisit and recap on previous content. This means that pupils struggle to build on prior learning and make meaningful connections over time. Leaders must ensure that pupils are taught subjects fully enough to help them to recall what they have learned in the longer term.

• Staff lack knowledge about how to adapt the delivery of the curriculum so that pupils with SEND can learn the same content as their peers. This means that pupils with SEND do not receive effective enough support to achieve well. Governors and leaders should ensure that staff have the necessary skills so that they can meet the needs of pupils with SEND effectively.

• Leaders have been too slow to deal promptly and effectively with any incidents of bullying or discriminatory words or behaviour. This means that many pupils report that they do not enjoy school and feel worried. Governors and leaders must ensure that they create a culture where bullying and discriminatory language and actions are not tolerated and are dealt with swiftly and effectively.

• Leaders and governors have not made sure that pupils benefit from rich and varied opportunities to learn about the wider world. Staff do not help pupils to make a strong contribution to school life and the wider community. This means that pupils are not prepared well enough for life in modern Britain.

Leaders and governors must make sure that pupils are provided with a range of suitable opportunities so that they are well prepared for the next stage of their education. ? A considerable number of pupils do not try their best or behave well. This prevents them from learning as well as they should.

Leaders and governors should ensure that expectations of pupils' learning and behaviour are consistently high and that pupils rise to meet these expectations. Some pupils do not attend school often enough. This impedes their progress through the curriculum.

Leaders and governors should ensure that these pupils' attendance improves rapidly and that they consistently attend as often as they should. ? Governors do not have a secure oversight of the school's safeguarding procedures. This means they cannot fulfil their statutory responsibilities well enough.

Governors must ensure that they have a strong understanding of the school's systems for safeguarding. Leaders must ensure that recent changes are fully embedded so that safeguarding procedures and practices are further strengthened. ? Many pupils, parents and staff have lost faith in leaders' ability to improve the school.

This means that stakeholders do not feel confident that their concerns will be resolved quickly and effectively. Governors and leaders must ensure that they engage well with different groups of stakeholders so that their confidence is restored and that issues and worries are promptly dealt with.Leaders and those responsible for governance may not appoint early career teachers before the next monitoring inspection.