Upwood Primary Academy

Inspection of Upwood Primary Academy Ramsey Road, Upwood, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE26 2QA

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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 2 and 3 November 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Upwood Primary Academy pupils are polite and friendly. There are positive and respectful relationships between pupils and adults. Pupils are expected to work hard and follow the school rules, and they do.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Well-planned lessons ensure pupils build on what they have learned before. Most pupils know and remember what they have learned. They share what they know with enthusiasm. This includes those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Clear expectations and routines are established, and effectively set out for pupils to follow. This leads to pupils learning in a calm and purposeful environment. Pupils have a good understanding of what bullying is. Bullying does not happen often in the school. Pupils say that if it does, adults deal with it quickly. As a result, pupils feel safe in the school. Pupils know the importance of kindness and trust and show this in their behaviour towards each other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are respectful of each other regardless of differences in their backgrounds. They develop their understanding of other cultures and celebrate differences explaining that ‘being different doesn’t matter. It is the individual that is important’.

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better?

Leaders have an ambitious curriculum in place. Curriculum content is well organised to support pupils to build on what they already know. Pupils with SEND follow the same curriculum as their peers. Accurate identification of needs, and teachers’ knowledge and expertise enable appropriate adaptations and support to allow them to access the curriculum. Curriculum plans that start with the early years support pupils to be prepared for the next stages in their education.

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better?

Leaders have given a high priority to reading in the school. All staff have received appropriate training. Phonics teaching starts in Reception. Children learn letter sounds and use these with increasing confidence. Most pupils, including those with SEND, quickly develop their early reading skills. If pupils fall behind, they get support to help them keep up. They read books that are well matched to the sounds that they know. Pupils enjoy reading and they talk about stories they have read.

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better?

There are clear systems to monitor the progress that pupils make in most subjects. Leaders use this information well to understand what pupils know and can do. However, in a few subjects the systems are less developed, and as a result leaders do not know how effectively pupils are learning the planned curriculum content.

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better?

Teachers review what pupils know in lessons and use this to adapt their teaching. However, some teachers do not have secure subject knowledge in all curriculum 2 and 3 November 2022

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areas that they need to ensure they do this consistently well. This means they lack confidence to adapt their teaching to support pupils to learn effectively.

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Pupils are helped to effectively make connections between different curriculum areas. For example, pupils in Year 6 are able to link their learning about the Second World War through history, music, geography and religious education. They continue to learn beyond the classroom by visiting a nearby air museum and an American cemetery.

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Children in the early years achieve well. Activities are organised to match children’s needs. These well considered activities extend children’s experiences of different areas of the curriculum at the same time. For example, children were using conkers to support their counting skills while learning about the seasons and the living world. Children are enthusiastic and work with well-developed independence. They are confident to talk knowledgeably about what they are learning.

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Leaders recently introduced a new behaviour policy. However, this has not yet had time to be fully embedded. In most lessons pupils are calm and on task, although a small number are not as focused as they should be. This prevents these individual pupils from learning as well as they could. Leaders are continuing their work to ensure that the behaviour policy is consistently embedded.

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Some leaders are new to their roles and as such have not had the opportunity to fully develop all the skills they need. Ongoing support to develop new leaders’ skills and confidence is in place. This is supporting leaders to monitor, evaluate and review their areas of responsibility effectively. Leaders recognise there is still work to do.

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Leaders ensure that pupils develop an understanding of wider society. Pupils know about different cultures and religions. They talk confidently about protected characteristics, for example disability. They recognise and demonstrate that everyone is individual and that everyone should be treated the same.

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Trustees and governors have a strong working relationship with school leaders, providing effective support and challenge.

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Staff are supportive of leaders and feel personally valued and supported. There is a strong community ethos within the school between staff, pupils and parents. There is a sense of belonging. Parents reflected this when spoken to and through the parent survey.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and teachers know pupils and families well. There are strong relationships with families. This helps leaders to identify when a pupil or family might need help. Staff record any concerns they have about pupils’ welfare comprehensively and ensure that help is put in place. 2 and 3 November 2022

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Leaders have effective systems in place. They carry out thorough pre-employment checks. Leaders respond to concerns in a timely and appropriate manner. Staff have a strong understanding of safeguarding. Leaders respond to local needs with additional training as needed.

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Pupils know about the risks that they may face in their local context and online. This helps them feel safe.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 There are some aspects of the curriculum where teachers are not as secure in their subject knowledge. Consequently, pupils do not learn in a way that helps them remember more. Leaders should continue to provide teachers with opportunities to develop their subject-specific knowledge and pedagogy through training, guidance and support.  In some subjects, the systems do not consistently enable leaders to monitor what pupils are learning over time. Leaders need to ensure arrangements are fully in place so they can adapt the curriculum as needed to ensure there is consistent, successful learning over time.  Leaders have recently introduced a new behaviour policy. However, staff are not consistently using agreed approaches. As a result, a few pupils demonstrate off- task behaviour in lessons. Leaders should ensure that the new policy is consistently applied across the school so that pupils’ learning is not disrupted.

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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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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. 2 and 3 November 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10240602 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

 Upwood Primary Academy is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  There have been leadership changes since the last inspection, including the appointment of a new headteacher.  The school became part of the Thomas Deacon Education Trust in August 2018.  When the predecessor school, Upwood Primary School, was inspected in February 2017, inspectors determined that the leadership team had maintained the qood quality of education in the school since the previous graded inspection in October 2012.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded 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. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 2 and 3 November 2022

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 The inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, music and physical education. This involved discussing the curriculum with subject leaders, visiting lessons with leaders, talking to pupils and teachers, and looking at pupils’ work. The lead inspector observed pupils reading to a known adult.  The lead inspector scrutinised curriculum plans for a number of foundation subjects.  The inspectors held meetings with leaders, including the special educational needs coordinator; representatives of the trust; governors; teachers, including early career teachers; and support staff.  The inspectors checked leaders’ safeguarding processes. The school’s single central record was scrutinised. Records relating to safeguarding were viewed and a meeting was held with the designated safeguarding lead about how safeguarding is managed in the school.  Pupils talked to the inspectors about their views of the school. The inspectors also

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observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes, lunchtimes and in lessons.  The lead inspector spoke to parents at the end of the first day of inspection and considered the 32 responses and 20 free-text responses to Ofsted Parent View. The inspector also reviewed the 17 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and the 80 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Wayne Jarvis, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Lesley Stevens Ofsted Inspector 2 and 3 November 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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