Penryn Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Penryn Primary Academy is a caring, ambitious, and inclusive school.

Staff value pupils and have high aspirations for them, particularly pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). One pupil, whose opinion reflects the view of many, told inspectors: 'staff help us make better versions of ourselves.'

Leaders invest in the staff.

They provide high-quality training and coaching. Pupils are the beneficiaries of this work. Teachers bring the school's curriculum to life, helping pupils to know and remember more.

Leaders take the time to get to know the pupils and their families well. They use what they learn to provide the right supp...ort. Pupils are safe and well cared for.

Pupils behave well. They enjoy coming to school and learning. In the rare event that low-level disruption occurs, staff deal with it quickly.

Pupils enjoy their lessons and demonstrate positive attitudes. They are courteous and polite, respecting each other's views, even if different from their own. They are adamant that bullying does not occur.

Pupils love the range of extra-curricular activities on offer, including swimming, forest school, art, and sports clubs. They strongly believe that after-school clubs are an essential part of school life.

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

School and trust leaders have improved the school in many respects.

They know what the school does well and what they still need to work on. Every member of staff has played their part in improving the school. An impressive team of senior and middle leaders have brought about improvement, while at the same time looking after the workload and well-being of their staff.

Leaders have prioritised early reading and mathematics. They recognise that without this, pupils would find it hard to access the rest of the school's curriculum. They have embedded a consistent approach to teaching reading and mathematics across the school, starting in the early years.

In mathematics, support staff play a vital role in checking how well pupils are getting on in lessons. Teachers use this information to adapt the curriculum to meet pupils' needs.

Staff follow the phonics programme consistently.

Phonics is an enjoyable and ever-present feature of the school day, from the first day of the Reception Year. Staff provide reading books that contain sounds that pupils know. This means that pupils feel successful when they practise their reading.

Staff keep a close eye on pupils' learning, providing extra support for those that need it. This helps everyone to keep up. As a result, pupils read with increasing accuracy and fluency.

Curriculum plans in other subjects are ambitious with clear curriculum goals. However, it is not always clear exactly how pupils will achieve these goals. Pupils remember much of what they have learned, but there are gaps in their knowledge.

Leaders acknowledge the need to make curriculum expectations clearer in some subjects, so staff know precisely what to teach and when.

This is a truly inclusive school. Staff skilfully adapt the curriculum to meet the wide-ranging needs of pupils.

The special educational needs coordinator works closely with staff and parents to set ambitious targets for pupils. Staff know these targets well and review them regularly to ensure they remain relevant and challenging. Pupils become increasingly independent.

Pupils with SEND, including pupils in the specially resourced provision, build on what they know, making strong progress through the curriculum.

Children in the early years get off to a flying start, including in the new provision for two-year-olds. Staff prioritise communication and language, and physical development.

The children can communicate and follow instructions well. For example, when forming plasticine into different shapes, children have the confidence to ask adults for the moulds they would like to use. Children in the Reception Year settle quickly.

They know the routines and expectations and follow them well.

Pupils' behaviour is a strength of the school, and it continues to improve. Leaders track pupils' attendance closely.

They provide support and intervention for pupils whose attendance falls below the school's expectations. Despite these improvements, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND continue to attend school less well than their peers.

Pupils are responsible and tolerant.

They are keen to better understand people with different beliefs to their own. Those who sit on the school council seek to make the school a better place. Pupils learn how to take responsibility for themselves, for example by leading healthy lifestyles.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure staff have the necessary pre-employment checks before they begin working at the school.

Staff have the training they need to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities well.

They know what to do if they have a concern about a pupil's welfare. They record these concerns diligently. Staff are made aware of the action leaders have taken in response.

Leaders keep detailed records of concerns, reviewing them regularly. They take timely and appropriate action to keep pupils safe. Leaders support families when they need it most, signposting parents to services which may help them.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, leaders have not set out the detail of the knowledge pupils need to learn in order to achieve their ambitious curriculum aims. This means that sometimes, pupils do not gain key knowledge that they need to build on. Leaders should make clear the knowledge that pupils need, to achieve the long-term curriculum goals in each subject.

• Pupils' attendance has improved in recent years. Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND attend less well than their peers. Leaders need to continue their work with pupils and their families to further improve attendance for these groups of pupils.

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