Weston Mill Community Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Expectations of how pupils should behave are rising. Increasingly, pupils contribute eagerly to lessons as they want to share their ideas. Staff encourage pupils to listen to one another and take turns to speak.

Nonetheless, in some classes, pupils experience disruption, which makes it hard for them to concentrate. Pupils worry about the boisterous behaviour they see at breaktimes and lunchtimes.

Pupils enjoy taking different roles in debates.

Starting in the early years, the curriculum provides lots of opportunities for talk. This helps pupils to consider the views of others and to develop their confidence as speakers. Despite these positive experiences, too... many older pupils swear or make disrespectful comments towards one another.

They struggle to maintain good manners in formal situations.

In the early years, children get off to a flying start. They develop a love of reading that continues as they grow older.

Many are keen to become reading ambassadors, taking on responsibilities in the school library. However, the curriculum does not help pupils to build on their early successes reliably. It does not meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities well enough.

Many pupils do not meet the standards that they should at the end of key stage 2.

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

Children in the early years benefit from a well-taught early reading programme. The Nursery is effective in developing children's knowledge of sounds.

As a result, the children are primed for a great start to phonics learning in the Reception Year. They quickly learn how to break down unfamiliar words. The vast majority of pupils succeed in the national phonics screening check in Year 1.

Pupils do not go on to achieve well in national tests at the end of key stage 2. To address this, the trust has redeveloped the curriculum. It has strengthened the curriculum in mathematics.

This is working well. Pupils can remember and apply their knowledge of the important number facts identified by the school.

The school has introduced new approaches to teaching English.

There are new curriculum plans in place in other subjects too. It is too soon to see the impact of some of these recent improvements. Where pupils are not confident writers, they do not complete the work they are given successfully.

Some require further practice in writing accurate words and sentences before they can achieve the more ambitious aims of the curriculum, for example using their writing to plan a story or a science investigation.

The school has undergone an unsettled period since the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been several changes of leadership.

This has slowed the rate at which the trust has been able to make improvements. Pupils' attendance has improved year on year. However, the trust does not have a clear picture of the standard of pupils' behaviour because the school's records are not always clear.

The school has taken effective steps to reset expectations. Pupils know the school rules and understand their responsibilities. For example, they adopt the school's 'wonderful walking' in corridors.

The atmosphere in the school is calm. Many lessons proceed without incident. However, pupils notice that the school does not respond consistently when rules are broken.

They are frustrated by a pattern of unruly behaviour linked to football games.

In the past, pupils' special educational needs have not been identified clearly. This is now being addressed.

However, teachers remain unsure how best to meet the needs of some pupils in the classroom. Pupils who find it difficult to learn alongside their peers have sometimes been offered reduced timetables. This has not prepared them well for future learning.

The trust has begun to secure the right support for pupils so that their needs can be met more effectively.

The school has strengthened the provision for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs. For example, there is support for resilience and self-esteem, and pupils receive enhanced pastoral care from specialist staff in 'The HUT' (Helping Us Thrive).

Increasingly, pupils access support earlier. This helps them to manage their behaviour and learn more of the curriculum.

The school aims to enrich the curriculum with trips and experiences.

There is a 'Discovery List' of activities that all pupils should try during their time at the school, for example camping out under the stars. The curriculum teaches pupils about British institutions, such as parliament, and to value diversity. However, sometimes parts of the programme are not taught due to pressures of time.

This means that pupils are not as well informed as they should be. Occasionally, this is reflected in unkind comments.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum does not enable pupils to develop and build on their knowledge sufficiently well. This is especially the case in key stage 1, where pupils' writing of words and sentences requires further practice and consolidation before they can confidently communicate their learning in more extended ways. The trust should ensure that the work given to pupils is well matched to their starting points.

This will help pupils to build on what they know. ? Pupils' special educational needs are not identified in a precise and timely way. As a result, staff are not sure how to meet the social, emotional and mental health needs of some pupils in the classroom.

The trust should ensure that pupils' needs are identified clearly and addressed successfully in school. ? Behaviour around the school is not always managed effectively, leading to conflict between pupils and frustration for staff and pupils alike. Low-level disruption reduces the impact of teaching.

Some pupils are disrespectful in their personal interactions or do not show good manners. The trust should ensure that high expectations of pupils' conduct are upheld consistently and fairly. ? The trust does not have a full and accurate picture of the standard of behaviour in the school.

They do not fully understand the experiences of pupils or staff. As a result, the school's improvement strategies are not well focused. The trust should ensure that the school's priorities are informed by an incisive analysis of accurate behaviour records.