The Wilmslow Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Leaders and managers, including the governors, are working hard with the staff to create an environment where children are enthusiastic about learning. This is having a significant impact on the quality of teaching and, as a result, achievement is improving.

Achievement is good from pupils' individual starting points and pupils are well prepared for their next stage in learning. Pupils are given lots of opportunities to read for pleasure. As a result of this, pupils have a real love of books and they make good progress.

Pupils get off to a good start in the Reception class and make good progress in their first year in school. Teaching is... consistently good and some is outstanding. Teachers' subject knowledge is good and they use probing questions to gauge pupils' understanding.

The support given by teaching assistants is of a high standard. The work they do with pupils who have special educational needs helps them to make good progress. The large numbers of pupils who do not start school in the Reception class but join mid-year, settle quickly and make good progress.

Pupils' behaviour is good and they are keen to get on with their work. Pupils are polite and the school is a happy and caring place. Staff hold a lot of information about the achievement of pupils and this is used to good effect in raising standards.

Governors have a high profile in school and they have a clear understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. The curriculum offers a wide range of practical and problem solving activities which contribute well to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural education of pupils. It is not yet an outstanding school because : There is not enough outstanding teaching.

In some lessons, pupils do not have enough time to learn on their own. Marking is not consistent across the school and does not always make it clear what pupils need to do next to improve their work. Guidance on how teachers can improve their teaching is not explicit or followed up regularly enough.

Information about this school

This school is a larger than the average sized primary school. Pupils are predominantly White British. The proportion of pupils supported through school action is in line with the national average.

The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is in line with the national average. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is in line with the national average. In this school, the pupil premium almost entirely applies to pupils eligible for free school meals.

(The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, children from service families and those children that are looked after.) The school meets the government's current floor standards which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress. Twenty-one per cent of pupils currently on roll did not start in the Reception class.