Willoughby Road Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Leaders' careful and accurate self-evaluation and their resulting actions for improvement have ensured that the school now offers a good quality of education for its pupils.

A shared vision between governors, trust and school leaders, a clear delegation of responsibilities and an in-depth view of the strengths and weaknesses of the school have brought clarity and diligence to school improvement. Leaders' strategies for improvement are consistently applied by teachers and teaching assistants. Effective teaching ensures that most pupils make strong progress: more pupils are now working at the expected standard for their age.

However, teachi...ng and resources are not consistently as well matched to the needs of the most able pupils. Leaders have prioritised reading for improvement. Strategies have had a positive effect on pupils' enjoyment of a wide range of texts and their comprehension.

There is more work to be done to develop pupils' language so that they can understand and use vocabulary across all subjects. Strong leadership and effective teaching in early years ensure that children make good progress from their starting points. Work to improve pupils' writing is well under way.

However, tasks in key stage 1 do not consistently give pupils enough opportunity to write independently at length across subjects. School and trust-wide policies for behaviour are very well understood by pupils and staff. Pupils know exactly what is expected of them.

The vast majority behave well in lessons and at breaktimes. Improved systems for behaviour, effective nurture provision and an understanding that supporting pupils in achieving good behaviour is everyone's responsibility have underpinned a significant reduction in exclusions. However, the proportion of pupils excluded from school is still greater than the national average and remains high on leaders' improvement agenda.

Leaders' actions to promote and reward good attendance, and to address persistent absence, have ensured that pupils' attendance has improved and is now just below the national average. Leaders rightly keep securing pupils' good attendance as a school priority. There is an effective culture of safeguarding within the school.

Effective policies and procedures, strengthened by good relationships between staff and pupils, ensure that pupils feel, and are, safe.

Information about this school

The school became an academy in January 2015 and is part of the Delta Academy Trust. The trust has overall responsibility for the governance of the school and has delegated some of its duties to a sub-committee, the academy advisory board.

About half of pupils in the school are eligible for support through the pupil premium funding. The proportion of pupils who are identified as receiving support for SEND is below the national average, as is the proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan. The majority of pupils are of White British heritage.