Park View Academy

Inspection of Park View Academy Park View, Huyton, Liverpool, Merseyside L36 2LL

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 3 and 4 November 2021

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel happy and safe at Park View Academy. They are polite and respectful to each other, and to adults.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have access to a well-planned extra-curricular programme. They love to help each other as play leaders or subject ambassadors. Pupils are also keen to support their teachers, and other pupils, by selling healthy snacks in the tuck shop, or by making sure that pupils make good use of the well-stocked library.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have increasingly high aspirations for pupils. Pupils are well motivated to learn. They are benefiting from much-needed improvements to the curriculum. Pupils are beginning to develop a deeper body of knowledge across each aspect of the curriculum. Their ability to read is also improving. Even so, pupils are not as well prepared as they should be for their next stages of education. This is particularly true for children in the early years, and for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have ensured that pupils behave well. Pupils enjoy playing with their friends at breaktimes. The overwhelming majority of parents and carers are very supportive of the school. Pupils said that staff are good at sorting out their worries. This includes addressing any incidents of bullying in a timely manner.

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better?

Leaders, governors and trustees have worked closely together to make many positive changes at the school. They have continued to make further improvements to the quality of education throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff said that leaders provide effective support to help them to improve how well pupils learn.

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better?

Leaders are in the process of designing an ambitious curriculum. They are providing detailed plans so that teachers are clear about what pupils need to know, and the order that new knowledge should be taught. However, these plans are still being rolled out. In some subjects, teachers are only just beginning to follow newly implemented curriculum plans. As a result, the progress that pupils make is patchy across a range of subjects. In the early years, plans are still being finalised. Leaders have not adapted their curriculum plans to address the gaps that children in the early years have in their development, which have been exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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better?

Weaknesses in the previous reading curriculum mean that many pupils lack the phonics knowledge that they need to read accurately and with fluency. This limits how well they can access the rest of the curriculum. Leaders have made reading a priority. They have introduced a new phonics programme to support children to learn to read. This programme begins from the beginning of the Reception year. Nevertheless, weaknesses in the early years’ curriculum hinder some children from 3 and 4 November 2021

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being ready to develop as early readers. This negatively affects their progress through the early years curriculum. They are not as ready as they could be for the demands of Year 1.

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Despite this, leaders have ensured that teachers have received appropriate training so that they can support pupils’ reading throughout key stages 1 and 2. Pupils practise their reading with quality books that are well matched to the sounds that they know. Pupils who struggle to read are well supported to catch up during key stages 1 and 2.

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Leaders do not ensure that teachers make effective use of the assessment information that they gather. Some teachers do not adapt the curriculum well enough in the light of this information, including in the early years. This is especially important because many pupils in the school, including children in the early years, have experienced considerable disruption to their learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have missing knowledge. Due to a lack of guidance from leaders, teachers do not provide the support that some pupils need to address gaps in their knowledge.

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Similarly, leaders have not enabled pupils with SEND to achieve as well as they should. Leaders successfully identify pupils who may have SEND, and they provide the pastoral support that these pupils need. However, the quality of academic support is variable across classes. On occasions, pupils with SEND do not access some of the planned learning with their peers. They do not build up the key knowledge that they need.

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Leaders have made sure that all pupils are well supported in their wider development. Pupils benefit from visits and visitors to develop their understanding of the wider world. Pupils, including those with SEND, carry out leadership roles diligently.

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Pupils reflect on different lives that people lead. They respect and celebrate difference. Pupils follow their school rules carefully. They understand that these rules enable everyone to be listened to and to be treated equally well. Pupils behave well, and they have positive attitudes to learning.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders, trustees and governors ensure that pupils are safe. Staff are well trained. They take prompt action if they notice any potential safeguarding risks. Staff pass on their concerns to the appropriate personnel. Leaders work closely with staff and other agencies to ensure that pupils get timely support when they need it.

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Safeguarding

Pupils attend school regularly. They benefit from support that leaders provide to improve their attendance. 3 and 4 November 2021

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Pupils understand the importance of being safe. They learn how to keep themselves safe outside of school hours. They are clear about what they can do to protect themselves from potential danger, including when they are online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Much of leaders’ revised curriculum is relatively new and has not been implemented fully. It has not increased pupils’ knowledge sufficiently well to enable them to be fully prepared for their next stages of education. Leaders need to ensure that their plans are fully rolled out, embedded and delivered consistently well by teachers.  Leaders do not ensure that teachers make effective use of the assessment information that they gather. Teachers do not make timely adaptations to their curriculum plans as pupils’ needs change. Some pupils do not get the support that they need to catch up. Consequently, they do not achieve as well as they could. Leaders need to ensure that teachers use the assessment information that they gather to improve how well pupils learn the intended curriculum and to help them to catch up on any lost or missing learning because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The quality of the curriculum for children in the early years is uneven. It does not

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

meet the needs of some of the children in the Nursery and Reception classes. The curriculum does not suitably address the deficits in children’s development because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is hindering how well children are prepared for the key stage 1 curriculum. Leaders need to ensure that children build up their knowledge more thoroughly in the early years. This includes in early reading.  Leaders have not ensured that all teachers provide appropriate support to enable pupils with SEND to progress well through the curriculum. They have not ensured that teachers make suitable adaptations to the delivery of their curriculum, to enable these pupils to learn as well as they can. This means that pupils with SEND sometimes miss out on key learning that their peers have experienced. Leaders need to ensure that all staff know how best to support pupils with SEND. Leaders also need to check that all pupils with SEND have access to and build up

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

their knowledge of the entire curriculum.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection. 3 and 4 November 2021

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

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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. 3 and 4 November 2021

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School details

Local authority Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council

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School details

Inspection number 10200836 Type of school Primary

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School details

Chair of local governing body Irene Tuzio

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 December 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This school opened as an academy on 1 January 2016. It is sponsored by The Dean Trust.  There has been a restructuring of the local governing body and the senior leadership team since the previous inspection. There also have been some new key appointments, including a new leader for the early years, a new special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and a new deputy headteacher.  The headteacher and local governing body are also responsible for another school, which is also part of The Dean Trust.  The school makes use of one registered alternative provider.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 3 and 4 November 2021

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This was the first routine inspection that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The impact of the pandemic was discussed with the headteacher. This was taken into account by inspectors in their evaluation of the school.

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 Inspectors spoke with the headteacher and other leaders in the school, including the SENCo. Inspectors spoke with a group of governors and trustees, including the chair of the local governing board, the chief executive officer and the director of the academy.  Inspectors looked at a range of documentation for safeguarding, including: the school central record of staff and visitors; staff training records; records of safeguarding; and samples of the records kept on individual pupils.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, art and design, religious education and science. They talked with the curriculum leaders of these subject areas. Inspectors also visited lessons, looked at examples of pupils’ work, held discussions with teachers and talked with pupils. Inspectors looked at samples of work from other areas of the curriculum.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes, during the breakfast club

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and lunchtimes. They watched pupils as they moved around the school.  Inspectors spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school.  Inspectors looked at responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, and free- text responses from parents to find out their views of the school. They also spoke with parents as they dropped their children off at school.  Inspectors also considered the responses to the questionnaire for staff.  There were no responses to the pupils’ questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Claire Cropper, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Debra Meekings Ofsted Inspector 3 and 4 November 2021

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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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