Langer Primary Academy

Inspection of Langer Primary Academy Langer Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 2HL

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Inadequate Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Inadequate Previous inspection grade Inadequate 10–11 March 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Until recently, pupils had a poor experience of school. Teachers changed frequently. The work pupils did was not well planned. This is beginning to change. However, pupils, especially younger ones, do not know and understand as much as they should. Older children are catching up towards where they should be.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Despite its weaknesses, pupils are positive about their school. The school is a happy place to be. Pupils say that the new behaviour systems are working well for most pupils. There are a few pupils who find it difficult to behave well consistently and sometimes disrupt lessons. They are being helped to behave better. Pupils say that bullying is rare. They know that they can talk to adults in the school about any worries.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy sports, particularly the well-attended lunchtime and after-school sports clubs. Pupils like mathematics and the school’s new programme for English. Pupils are encouraged to become confident and learn about the world through assemblies, trips and visitors. Pupils enjoy a range of experiences. For example, Year 5 and 6 took part in the swimming gala. There are several areas of the school that are used to nurture and support pupils who find being in school difficult. Pupils are cared for very well. Older pupils told us how highly they value the activities to promote good mental health and the opportunities to talk about any concerns.

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

Since the previous inspection in 2018, changes of leadership and staff have led to a lack of confidence in the school by pupils and parents.

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

Unity Schools Partnership (multi-academy trust) took over the running of the school in September 2019. Leaders from the new trust give lots of support and bring in leaders from other schools to help. A more stable staff team is also helping to make improvements. However, the school’s leadership is still developing and has not had time to have enough impact, especially on improving the quality of education. For example, there are gaps in leading some subjects and aspects of the school’s work, including provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). In other areas, recent improvements have been much more obvious. Teachers and pupils told us that the school is much calmer. We found a productive working atmosphere in classrooms. Leaders are working hard with families to improve attendance, which remains below average.

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

Over time, outcomes in national tests have been very low in all age groups. Results have declined further since the last inspection. The poor attainment of pupils means that they are not prepared for their next stage of education. Leaders now ensure that teachers address the gaps in pupils’ knowledge in mathematics and English, as a matter of urgency. They have invested appropriately in programmes and training for teachers to ensure that teaching and learning are well structured across the school. This is beginning to ensure that pupils are secure in the basic skills and 10–11 March 2020

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concepts before they move on to new learning. Mathematics and English are now being delivered in line with leaders’ expectations. However, this is in the early stages of development, and there are still too many pupils who are achieving poorly. Too many pupils are not able to read and write as well as they should. Phonics is not taught consistently well. The wider curriculum is now well planned by a specialist from the trust. The curriculum is appropriate, but it is new this year.

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One of the clearest improvements since September is that pupils with SEND are now having their needs identified. Effective support from the trust is ensuring that the most severe needs of pupils are being met.

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Leaders have ensured that measures for improving pupils’ behaviour are applied across the school. The ‘Playtime POD’ introduces pupils to a variety of scrap materials to encourage creative play. Pupils of all ages work together productively in a variety of interesting ways. This has been instrumental in improving the way pupils behave towards each other at breaktimes, as well as building their self-assurance and mutual respect.

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Leaders’ work to promote pupils’ personal development is well considered. Each visit or trip links to school leaders’ priorities to help build pupils’ confidence and resilience. Pupils can confidently and maturely debate important and tricky topics. For example, pupils showed their strong sense of fairness and a good understanding while debating the justification of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. They articulated well the danger of judging others, and the consequences this may have. Pupils value diversity in their school. They appreciate how some family structures can be different to others. They also respect that some pupils have additional needs and require extra support at times.

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The strong personal development is particularly reflected within the early years. Here, children are settled and familiar with routines. They mostly listen carefully to instructions and engage well with their activities. However, teachers do not plan activities that consider what children can already do. Children do not make the progress they should because teaching does not build on prior learning systematically.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. Staff are well trained and look out for pupils’ well-being. Staff are aware of pupils’ individual needs. Leaders work well with external agencies. Pre-employment checks meet requirements. The new trust has reviewed the school’s arrangements for safeguarding, recommended improvements and checked that these have been carried out. 10–11 March 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s assessment systems are not working well. As a result, teaching does not build on what pupils already know. This means that pupils do not make enough progress. Leaders should train staff in how to use assessment to identify what pupils know and understand in order to plan and guide pupils’ learning.  There are gaps in pupils’ knowledge and understanding. These result from a legacy of poor provision. Therefore, without overburdening teachers or overloading pupils’ memory, leaders should ensure that an appropriate balance is struck between filling the gaps that still exist while introducing new learning.  Pupils’ attendance is too low. Too many pupils miss out on their education. Leaders should build on their knowledge of and improving relationships with families to work effectively to raise attendance.  Staff in the early years do not plan activities to meet the needs of all children.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Children in the early years are not achieving as well as they should. Leaders should ensure that staff in the early years have the knowledge and skills to help children develop the knowledge and skills they need in phonics and across the early years curriculum.

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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. 10–11 March 2020

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School details

Website http://www.langerprimaryacademy.org/ Date of previous inspection 16–17 May 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Langer Primary Academy is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  In September 2019, this school was transferred by the Department for Education from Academies Enterprise Trust to Unity Schools Partnership.  The previous headteacher left during the summer term 2019. An interim headteacher was appointed for the remainder of the summer term. Her appointment was made permanent when Unity Schools Partnership took on the sponsorship of the school.  During the autumn term, the trust completed the leadership team with a deputy headteacher and an assistant headteacher.  An interim governing body was established in January 2020. It is planned that this will become the local governing body in April 2020.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 10–11 March 2020

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In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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 We met with the headteacher, senior leaders and subject leaders, teachers, support staff, pupils and parents. We also met with the chief executive officer and members of the board of trustees and interim governing committee.  We started the inspection by carrying out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, geography and religious education. This involved discussions with curriculum leaders, visits to a series of lessons with school leaders, discussions with pupils, discussions with teachers, work scrutiny undertaken with school leaders and evaluation of the review of relevant documentation.  On the second day, we undertook further discussions with school and trust staff and made additional visits to lessons. We analysed nine written responses to Ofsted’s parent questionnaire and 15 responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire. There were too few responses to be displayed for Ofsted’s online questionnaire,

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Parent View.  We inspected safeguarding through scrutiny of the school’s single central record of recruitment, checked child protection records, held discussions with the designated safeguarding lead and with other staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Adrian Lyons, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Cindy Impey Her Majesty’s Inspector 10–11 March 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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