Beck Row Primary Academy

Inspection of Beck Row Primary Academy The Street, Beck Row, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP28 8AE

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 25–26 February 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their school. They look forward to their lessons, where they study a range of subjects. However, pupils are not achieving as well as they should, because the curriculum has not been fully developed. The activities provided for pupils are not well suited to meeting their needs, especially for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well both in the classroom and outdoors. For example, we saw pupils listening to each other’s ideas and sharing their games on the playground. Pupils told us that their school was a friendly place, and that it is important to get along together. As one pupil commented, ‘At Beck Row, everyone is part of a family.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils say that they feel safe and are well cared for. They are happy to share any concerns with adults and confident that these will be resolved. Pupils understand what bullying means but consider it rare in their school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils talk with confidence about their learning. They spoke excitedly about opportunities for residential visits where they camped in the woods and participated in outward bound activities. However, there are a limited number of clubs to help pupils develop their interests further.

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better?

There has been a period of staffing change. Recent actions taken by the trust have placed the school on a firmer footing. New staff and leaders have been recruited. There is careful monitoring to check the school’s performance. Leaders have begun to review the curriculum. They have mapped out the coverage for each subject. However, leaders’ plans contain a lot of information about the tasks pupils need to do. They do not make clear what pupils need to know by the end of each year group, including the early years. Teachers do not use these plans effectively to provide tasks that build on pupils’ prior knowledge. This means that pupils do not develop a secure knowledge throughout the curriculum.

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better?

Leaders’ plans are recent. They have not provided teachers with sufficient training to secure consistent subject knowledge across the subjects they teach. Teachers do not have a good understanding of how to change these plans to meet the needs of all pupils.

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better?

Leaders have put in place a system to teach phonics. However, teachers do not use this well. Sounds are not modelled accurately. This leads to some misconceptions in pupils’ phonics knowledge. Books are generally well linked to sounds pupils are learning. Some pupils do not get the time to practise their reading.

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better?

Leaders have improved the reading curriculum in key stage 2. Texts have been thoughtfully selected to engage and excite pupils. Teachers explore the context and 25–26 February 2020

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meaning of words to broaden pupils’ vocabulary. Pupils are encouraged to read widely and often.

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In contrast, where leaders have looked more carefully at the curriculum, for example in mathematics, plans set out what pupils need to know. Teachers develop pupils’ mathematical fluency effectively. While this is the case, teachers are still not providing enough opportunities for pupils to apply their skills to problem-solving activities.

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There are new approaches to identifying and assessing the needs of pupils with SEND. However, some pupils’ needs have not been considered accurately. Leaders have not checked if the support teachers are providing is effective. Teachers have not received the training they require to change their plans in the classroom. Pupils with SEND are not achieving as well as they should.

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There are new teachers in the early years. They are developing their knowledge of how young children learn. The environment is well organised, and it provides children with the opportunity to develop their curiosity and imagination.

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Pupils have some opportunities to develop as confident young citizens, for example by being house captains or school councillors. They consider that they have not spent enough time fulfilling these roles. Leaders are starting to introduce a range of extra-curricular activities to promote pupils’ talents and interests. Pupils understanding of different cultures is not fully developed through the curriculum.

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Staff consider that morale is improving because leaders are mindful of their well- being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that staff are suitably trained and understand how to recognise any signs that a pupil is at risk of harm. Leaders provide regular quizzes and updates to check that staff remember how to raise concerns. Staff make use of pastoral books to note any small changes in a pupils’ behaviour that may form part of a wider concern.

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Safeguarding

Leaders work well with external agencies. They ensure that pupils and families receive help when they need it. Checks on staff recruitment are thorough and well- maintained.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum is not fully developed. This includes leaders’ plans for the early years. Leaders need to complete their work so that their curriculum plans 25–26 February 2020

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throughout the school identify what pupils need to know by the end of each year group.  Staff do not have the subject knowledge they need to teach all the areas of the curriculum. This has an impact on how well pupils achieve. Leaders should ensure that teachers are trained so that they have the subject knowledge they need to plan and teach all subjects effectively.  Staff are not clear about the strategies that help pupils to remember and apply their phonics in their reading. Struggling pupils are not provided with sufficient opportunities to read regularly to improve their fluency. Leaders should act quickly to ensure that staff are well trained to teach phonics. They should ensure that pupils gain the knowledge they need to become fluent readers by the end of key stage 1.  Leaders have not fully developed their systems for identifying the needs of pupils with SEND. In the past, teachers have not received the support they require to

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help them change the curriculum to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. Leaders must ensure that the needs of pupils with SEND are accurately assessed. Leaders should provide training for staff and monitor its impact.  Pupils do not have a full range of opportunities to nurture their talents and interests or develop their cultural knowledge and understanding. Therefore, pupils are not being as fully prepared for life in modern Britain as they should. Leaders should ensure that their curriculum plans provide opportunities to promote pupils’ personal development well.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 25–26 February 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10121487 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Beck Row became an academy in June 2017 and is part of the Academies Transformation Trust (ATT).  The principal was appointed to her substantive position in September 2019.  The school is close to a military airbase and takes pupils from military service families.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with the principal, the regional education director and curriculum leaders. We also met with the special educational needs coordinator. We held a telephone conversation with the chair of the local academy committee and the chief executive officer of the trust.  We examined a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school development plan, information relating to behaviour and attendance, evaluation reports from the trust, minutes from governors’ meetings and information on the school’s website. 25–26 February 2020

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 We checked the school’s approach to safeguarding. We met with the designated leader for safeguarding. We reviewed documentation, including school policies and vetting records relating to the recruitment of school staff, to governors and visitors to the school. We spoke to staff about arrangements for safeguarding.  We spoke to pupils about their school. We observed pupils during the school day, including at breaktime and lunchtime.  There were eight responses to Parent View; this meant that there were too few responses for an analysis. We spoke to parents at the start of the day and as they collected their children at the end of the day. We considered 14 responses to the survey for staff. There were no responses to the online pupils’ questionnaire to consider.  We carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, geography and physical education. We met with curriculum leaders, visited lessons, scrutinised curriculum

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plans, and talked to teachers and pupils.

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Inspection team

Steve Mellors, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Heather Hann Ofsted Inspector 25–26 February 2020

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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