Scawby Academy

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Zoe Birchall Executive Headteacher Scawby Academy West Street Scawby Brigg North Lincolnshire DN20 9AN

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

Following my visit to the school on 27 September 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since your school was judged to be good in March 2014.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school’s leadership team has experienced significant changes in recent years. Since your appointment, you have created a highly effective team of leaders that complete regular checks and consider carefully how to improve teaching, learning and assessment. Consequently, leaders know what the school does well and remain focused on continuous improvement.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

Since the last inspection, you and your team of leaders have secured some noticeable improvements, such as in phonics and developing teaching, particularly in key stage 1.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

Academic standards at the end of all key stages are above the national average in most subjects. Pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics, and are confident, enthusiastic learners. By the time pupils leave Scawby Academy at the end of Year 6, they are well prepared for secondary school. However, your leaders recognise that further work is needed to ensure that the most able pupils reach the very highest standards they are capable of.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

At the heart of the school is a strongly shared commitment to providing a happy, caring environment in which all pupils can achieve highly. Almost all of the 58 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, agree that their child is happy at school. The parents who I spoke with on the playground told me that the school is friendly and welcoming. Parents value the extensive range of extra-curricular activities that are available to pupils, such as badminton, football and netball. Pupils were proud to tell me about how the school had recently received a prestigious platinum award for sport. Pupils enjoy participating in the ‘Young Voices’ extra-curricular club, which also provides them with the opportunity to perform in the one of the largest school choir concerts in the world.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

Your staff are overwhelmingly proud to be part of ‘such a happy, friendly school’. Your teachers are highly motivated and passionate about developing their teaching skills further. For example, they have embraced the support that they have received recently from the mathematics leader. They feel that opportunities to moderate pupils’ work with teachers in other local schools have been beneficial.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

Pupils are courteous and polite to adults. For example, they do not hesitate to hold doors open and display impeccable manners towards adults. During my visits to lessons, I found that pupils displayed exemplary attitudes to their learning. When I spoke to a group of key stage 2 pupils they confirmed that this is typical, with one pupil keen to point out that behaviour in lessons is ‘tip-top perfect’.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

Your leaders ensure that assemblies and lessons help pupils to develop an understanding of the different types of bullying, including cyber bullying. Pupils confirm that bullying does occur at the school but are confident that it is always dealt with effectively. However, my inspection evidence concluded that the number of low-level incidents of inconsiderate behaviour that occur during playtimes and lunchtimes is high.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

Governance is a strength of the school. Governors visit the school regularly, gathering information to develop a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and improvements that are taking place. Governors are ambitious for all pupils. The formation of a dedicated progress committee has given governors an even greater insight into how well pupils are doing. I met with governors and scrutinised the minutes of their meetings and I can see that they use information effectively to challenge and praise the work of you and your leaders.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

Leaders, including governors, ensure that all safeguarding arrangements meet statutory requirements. They arrange appropriate checks on new members of staff to ensure that they are suitable to work with children. These checks are recorded appropriately. Leaders provide staff with regular training in how to safeguard children. Safeguarding arrangements are understood by all staff. There is a systematic process for reporting any concerns staff have about pupils.

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Short inspection of Scawby Academy

Pupils say that they feel safe in school. They know who they can talk to if they are worried or have any concerns. Leaders have implemented clear programmes to teach children about how to keep themselves safe while online.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection, in your absence, I agreed a number of key lines of enquiry with the acting executive deputy headteacher. The first looked at whether the most able pupils are sufficiently challenged in lessons.  You and your leaders have rightly identified this as a key priority. This is because the school’s own assessment information and key stage 2 published data show that the most able pupils make slower progress in reading and mathematics than their peers. Therefore, I was keen to find out the impact of leaders’ actions to address this.  You and your leaders have taken steps to ensure that pupils have opportunities to read more widely and often. Since the last inspection, leaders have changed the approach to how reading is taught. Leaders have recognised that the most able pupils need to read books containing unfamiliar vocabulary and more complex plot lines. As a result, high-quality texts have recently been introduced.

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Inspection findings

However, the leader for English acknowledges that not all teachers are incorporating these enough into daily lessons.  Your leaders have provided training and resources for teachers so that pupils are given more opportunities to use and apply their mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills. This has been well received by teachers and implemented in all classes. However, teachers occasionally provide work that is too easy or too difficult for some pupils, particularly for those who are most able. This is because assessment information is not always used well enough.  You and your leaders have ensured that writing is taught effectively in English lessons. Leaders complete regular checks to identify themes which motivate pupils to write, such as ‘Captain America’ in Year 6. A number of pupils told me that English is now their favourite subject.  You and your leaders have accurately identified that providing opportunities for

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Inspection findings

pupils to write at length in subjects other than English will further develop pupils’ ability to apply their knowledge of key grammar and punctuation.  Since the previous inspection, you and your leaders have implemented a number of changes in the way the school teaches phonics. I wanted to see how effective these have been.  You and your leaders have ensured that phonics is taught systematically and consistently throughout the early years and key stage 1. Leaders have provided staff with the training they need to teach phonics accurately. Teachers have strong subject knowledge and plan phonics lessons that are lively and engage pupils. This contributes to the good progress that pupils make. Your teachers use assessment information well to quickly identify pupils who are struggling and provide support to help them catch up. More recently, pupils have started to apply their phonics skills successfully to their independent writing.

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Inspection findings

 Improving outcomes further at key stage 1 was identified at the previous inspection as an area for improvement. You and your leaders have recently revised the school’s assessment system and introduced regular pupil-progress meetings that enable teachers to identify individual pupils requiring further support. However, the executive deputy headteacher knows that further work is needed to embed this so that all teachers develop a clear understanding of pupils’ individual starting points.  Since the previous inspection, a new key stage 1 leader has been appointed and has provided effective support to less experienced colleagues. As a result, work in pupils’ books confirms that progress is good over time.  In a Year 2 lesson, pupils used their knowledge of expanded noun phrases to describe an animal. Almost all were successful. The teacher demonstrated to pupils how commas are used between adjectives. Through careful questioning,

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Inspection findings

the teacher was able to identify which pupils had secured a good grasp of this.  During the inspection, a number of pupils and parents raised concerns about instances of inconsiderate behaviour that occur during unstructured times. I looked at the school’s behaviour logs with your acting executive deputy headteacher and concluded that the number of incidents was high. Leaders have recognised this and have already made plans to review the school’s behaviour policy.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 teachers use their knowledge of what pupils can do so that all work is well matched to pupils’ varying needs and abilities, especially in mathematics and for the most able pupils  pupils are given further opportunities to apply their skills in grammar and punctuation by writing at length in subjects other than English  teachers consistently use high-quality texts to engage pupils in purposeful activities and discussion that deepen their understanding and enjoyment of a wide range of reading materials  they work effectively with parents, staff and pupils to revise the school’s behaviour policy in order to reduce instances of low-level inconsiderate behaviour during unstructured times.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for North Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

You were not present in school during my visit. During the inspection, I held meetings with the acting executive deputy headteacher, a group of teachers, and three governors. I also met with a representative from the local authority. I spoke with pupils informally, in classrooms and when walking around the school. I met with a group of pupils from key stage 2 and listened to two Year 1 pupils read. I looked at work in pupils’ books with your English and mathematics leaders. I examined policies and procedures for the safeguarding of pupils, along with records and checks carried out on staff working at the school. I reviewed and discussed a range of other documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plan, documents relating to pupils’ achievement, information on attendance, behaviour records, minutes of governing body meetings and the records of the monitoring of teaching and learning. I looked at the school’s website. I considered

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Information about the inspection

the views of the 58 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. I also spoke to six parents on the playground before the school day started and considered the view of a parent who submitted written correspondence. I analysed the 18 staff views via the staff questionnaire. There were no pupil responses to the online questionnaire.

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