Whitefield Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The school has improved a great deal since the last inspection and is well placed to develop further. The headteacher has high expectations and brings much drive and enthusiasm to her role.

The senior leadership team, other leaders and the governing body have supported her very well in improving teaching and pupils' outcomes. The school's records of pupils' achievement, work in pupils' books and lessons show that the progress of current pupils is good in reading, writing, mathematics and in a range of other subjects. The school is working effectively to fill past gaps in pupils' learning.

As a result of good teaching in the Nursery and Re...ception classes, children are now making good progress in the early years. This is leading to clear improvement in the proportion of children who are set to reach a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year. The quality of teaching has improved since the last inspection and teaching and learning are good.

The school has a clear system for assessing pupils' achievement in English and mathematics. Leaders make very good use of the information this provides to identify pupils who need extra help and to drive school improvement. The Lantern Behaviour Provision makes outstanding provision for pupils with behavioural, social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

It meets with a high level of success in returning pupils to their mainstream schools and enables them to make exceptional progress. Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school. They enjoy learning and respond well to the opportunities the school provides.

Very good pastoral support, including that provided by the family workers, does much to promote pupils' personal development and welfare. It is not yet an outstanding school because : The early years' learning environment is not yet as stimulating as it could be, and parents are not fully involved in their children's learning and assessment. The school has not fully developed an assessment system for non-core subjects.

Occasionally, teachers do not challenge the most-able pupils enough or provide as many opportunities as they could for pupils to apply their mathematical skills. Important spelling mistakes sometimes go uncorrected and teachers do not always insist that pupils present their work neatly.

Information about this school

Whitefield is larger than most primary schools.

Since the last inspection, a six-place, specially resourced unit has opened on the school site, known as the Lantern Behaviour Provision. The unit caters for pupils with behavioural, social, emotional and mental health needs who are on roll at Whitefield or who come from other local primary schools. The provision is led and managed by the school and serves pupils in Years 1 to 6.

In the main school, the proportion of pupils with special educational needs or disability is above average. A high proportion of the pupils are of minority ethnic heritage, and the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above average. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium is well above average.

The pupil premium is additional funding provided by the government for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or who are looked after by the local authority. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress by the end of Year 6. Soon after the last inspection, the previous headteacher resigned and the newly appointed deputy took over as acting headteacher.

Her headship was made permanent in September 2014. A new deputy headteacher and assistant headteacher took up post in January 2015. As well as the establishment of a new senior leadership team, there has been a high turnover of teaching staff and only a few teachers remain who were in post at the time of the last inspection.

There have also been changes in the membership and leadership of the governing body. The school has received the support of a national leader of education from Chantry Primary Academy. Since the last inspection, the school has received a monitoring visit by Ofsted to determine how much progress it was making in meeting its areas of improvement.

Also at this postcode