Longford Park Primary Academy

Inspection of Longford Park Primary Academy Clock Tower Road, Longford, Gloucester, Gloucestershire GL2 9FP

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Inspection dates: 12 and 13 January 2022

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Overall effectiveness Good

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

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Overall effectiveness Good

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 12 and 13 January 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. They are interested in their learning and excited to talk about it.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and well looked after by adults at the school. They say that if bullying occurs, they know it will be dealt with quickly. Pupils behave well and they work hard. Learning is rarely disrupted.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school places reading at the heart of its curriculum. Younger pupils say they enjoy learning to read and older pupils say they love reading. Pupils are enthusiastic about learning different subjects. However, the curriculum for some subjects is not as well planned as it is in reading and mathematics.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know the school values well and use them as guidance for how they should behave. Pupils know that kindness is very important. They demonstrate this in their support of each other when learning and playing.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are keen to attend enrichment activities. They talk enthusiastically about school trips and the curriculum ‘wow’ days. Many pupils enjoy the school’s sports clubs. However, they would like more opportunities to develop their interests and talents further.

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better?

Leaders have created an environment where pupils and staff feel valued. Staff, including early career teachers, say that the multi-academy trust and school leaders support their development and well-being. Trust and school leaders know the school’s strengths and weaknesses well. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

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better?

Leaders have created a purposeful environment where pupils are keen to learn. Staff set high expectations for pupils’ work and pupils respond well. In mathematics, the coherent curriculum builds pupils’ knowledge over time. Teachers follow a curriculum that progresses systematically from Nursery to Year 6. For example, pupils in the early years, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), quickly develop their knowledge of number bonds. This provides a solid foundation for their next steps.

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better?

The school’s phonics programme is well planned, and pupils learn to read from the moment they start at the school. Activities in the early years promote a love of reading from early on. This means pupils get off to a good start in reading. The phonics programme is structured well so pupils can decode words and build up their fluency in reading. Pupils read books that are matched to the sounds they are learning. Leaders use assessment well to check on pupils’ reading and to make changes to the curriculum. Pupils who are at risk of falling behind have appropriate support to help them to keep up. The reading programme in key stage 2 provides 12 and 13 January 2022

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useful steps for pupils to become better readers. Older pupils are encouraged to read widely, and they talk with enthusiasm about the books they would like to read next. Teachers choose texts for class reading that are varied and broaden pupils’ knowledge and interests.

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The school’s curriculum is stronger in some subject areas than in others. Where there are strengths, such as the early years and the reading and mathematics curriculums, there is clear sequencing that ensures pupils carefully build their knowledge and what they can do over time. Where the curriculum in other subjects is not as strong, leaders have not yet identified precisely enough the essential knowledge that pupils need to know, and when they need to know it. Although pupils enjoy learning about history, sometimes the choice of activity does not help them to learn important historical knowledge. As a result, pupils have a less secure foundation on which to take the next steps in their learning.

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The support for pupils with SEND is coordinated effectively. Leaders work with teachers to identify needs at an early stage. Teachers are well trained and, as a result, provide appropriate support for pupils with SEND so that they learn well.

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Pupils behave well around the school. In the early years, children are carefully taught the language of emotions. In the Nursery, this is helping children to recognise and manage their feelings better. The school’s personal development curriculum is coherent and has been recently adapted to include a fuller relationships programme. However, older pupils would like more helpful information about growing up, different cultures and different ways in which people live in British society.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff work closely together to ensure pupils are safe. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when online.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding leaders are knowledgeable and skilled. There are strong safeguarding systems in place. Staff are well trained and confident to identify and deal with safeguarding concerns.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make sure that pupils and families get the support they need. The school makes effective use of external agencies to secure appropriate help for pupils and families. 12 and 13 January 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders do not have a clear grasp of what makes a strong curriculum in all subjects. As a result, essential knowledge that pupils need to learn is not clearly identified in some curriculum thinking. This means that teachers do not always know the important content to teach or how best to teach it. Leaders need to develop greater curriculum expertise and subject knowledge, so pupils achieve as well as they should.  While there is now a strong curriculum in place to promote pupils’ personal development, it is in its infancy. This means that some pupils have gaps in their knowledge, especially around relationships and protected characteristics. Leaders need to consider carefully how the personal development curriculum can be delivered expertly so that pupils have a better knowledge and understanding of these important areas.

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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.

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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. 12 and 13 January 2022

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller-than-average primary school.  The school is part of Gloucestershire Learning Alliance, which contains eight primary schools.  There is a nursery on site for children aged two to four.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, senior leaders and representatives of the trust. Meetings were also held with curriculum leaders, class teachers and the special educational needs coordinator.  Inspectors met with the designated safeguarding lead, examined school records and discussed safeguarding cases. 12 and 13 January 2022

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 Inspectors completed deep dives in the following subjects: early reading, history, mathematics and religious education. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning, listened to pupils read and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors considered 94 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including 66 free-text responses from parents.

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Inspection team

Tracey Reynolds, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Hilary Goddard Ofsted Inspector 12 and 13 January 2022

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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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