Upwood Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Upwood Primary Academy pupils are polite and friendly. There are positive and respectful relationships between pupils and adults. Pupils are expected to work hard and follow the school rules, and they do.

Well-planned lessons ensure pupils build on what they have learned before. Most pupils know and remember what they have learned. They share what they know with enthusiasm.

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

Clear expectations and routines are established, and effectively set out for pupils to follow. This leads to pupils learning in a calm and purposeful environment.

Pupils have a good understanding... of what bullying is. Bullying does not happen often in the school. Pupils say that if it does, adults deal with it quickly.

As a result, pupils feel safe in the school. Pupils know the importance of kindness and trust and show this in their behaviour towards each other.

Pupils are respectful of each other regardless of differences in their backgrounds.

They develop their understanding of other cultures and celebrate differences explaining that 'being different doesn't matter. It is the individual that is important'.

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

Leaders have an ambitious curriculum in place.

Curriculum content is well organised to support pupils to build on what they already know. Pupils with SEND follow the same curriculum as their peers. Accurate identification of needs, and teachers' knowledge and expertise enable appropriate adaptations and support to allow them to access the curriculum.

Curriculum plans that start with the early years support pupils to be prepared for the next stages in their education.

Leaders have given a high priority to reading in the school. All staff have received appropriate training.

Phonics teaching starts in Reception. Children learn letter sounds and use these with increasing confidence. Most pupils, including those with SEND, quickly develop their early reading skills.

If pupils fall behind, they get support to help them keep up. They read books that are well matched to the sounds that they know. Pupils enjoy reading and they talk about stories they have read.

There are clear systems to monitor the progress that pupils make in most subjects. Leaders use this information well to understand what pupils know and can do. However, in a few subjects the systems are less developed, and as a result leaders do not know how effectively pupils are learning the planned curriculum content.

Teachers review what pupils know in lessons and use this to adapt their teaching. However, some teachers do not have secure subject knowledge in all curriculum areas that they need to ensure they do this consistently well. This means they lack confidence to adapt their teaching to support pupils to learn effectively.

Pupils are helped to effectively make connections between different curriculum areas. For example, pupils in Year 6 are able to link their learning about the Second World War through history, music, geography and religious education. They continue to learn beyond the classroom by visiting a nearby air museum and an American cemetery.

Children in the early years achieve well. Activities are organised to match children's needs. These well considered activities extend children's experiences of different areas of the curriculum at the same time.

For example, children were using conkers to support their counting skills while learning about the seasons and the living world. Children are enthusiastic and work with well-developed independence. They are confident to talk knowledgeably about what they are learning.

Leaders recently introduced a new behaviour policy. However, this has not yet had time to be fully embedded. In most lessons pupils are calm and on task, although a small number are not as focused as they should be.

This prevents these individual pupils from learning as well as they could. Leaders are continuing their work to ensure that the behaviour policy is consistently embedded.

Some leaders are new to their roles and as such have not had the opportunity to fully develop all the skills they need.

Ongoing support to develop new leaders' skills and confidence is in place. This is supporting leaders to monitor, evaluate and review their areas of responsibility effectively. Leaders recognise there is still work to do.

Leaders ensure that pupils develop an understanding of wider society. Pupils know about different cultures and religions. They talk confidently about protected characteristics, for example disability.

They recognise and demonstrate that everyone is individual and that everyone should be treated the same.

Trustees and governors have a strong working relationship with school leaders, providing effective support and challenge.

Staff are supportive of leaders and feel personally valued and supported.

There is a strong community ethos within the school between staff, pupils and parents. There is a sense of belonging. Parents reflected this when spoken to and through the parent survey.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and teachers know pupils and families well. There are strong relationships with families.

This helps leaders to identify when a pupil or family might need help. Staff record any concerns they have about pupils' welfare comprehensively and ensure that help is put in place.Leaders have effective systems in place.

They carry out thorough pre-employment checks. Leaders respond to concerns in a timely and appropriate manner. Staff have a strong understanding of safeguarding.

Leaders respond to local needs with additional training as needed.

Pupils know about the risks that they may face in their local context and online. This helps them feel safe.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• There are some aspects of the curriculum where teachers are not as secure in their subject knowledge. Consequently, pupils do not learn in a way that helps them remember more. Leaders should continue to provide teachers with opportunities to develop their subject-specific knowledge and pedagogy through training, guidance and support.

• In some subjects, the systems do not consistently enable leaders to monitor what pupils are learning over time. Leaders need to ensure arrangements are fully in place so they can adapt the curriculum as needed to ensure there is consistent, successful learning over time. ? Leaders have recently introduced a new behaviour policy.

However, staff are not consistently using agreed approaches. As a result, a few pupils demonstrate off-task behaviour in lessons. Leaders should ensure that the new policy is consistently applied across the school so that pupils' learning is not disrupted.

Also at this postcode