Kingsway Primary Academy School

Inspection of Kingsway Primary Academy School Kingsway, Widnes, Cheshire WA8 7QS

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Inspection dates: 13 and 14 September 2023

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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

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is Paula Warding. This school is part of Warrington Primary Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Louise Smith, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Alasdair Brown. 13 and 14 September 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Kingsway Primary Academy School enjoy coming to school. Pupils, including children in the early years, feel happy and safe. This includes pupils in the specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), (specially resourced provision). They value the strong relationships that they have with the adults in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Since joining the multi-academy trust (MAT), the school has raised its expectations of what pupils can and should achieve. Pupils, including those with SEND and those who are disadvantaged, easily rise to these expectations. They work hard in lessons and try their best to succeed. Most pupils achieve well across the curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave respectfully towards one another and to adults. From the early years, there is a calm and orderly atmosphere that enables pupils to focus well on their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take full advantage of the wide range of activities that the school provides for them outside the academic curriculum. The school listens to pupils’ views on what they want to do. Pupils benefit from opportunities to take part in activities such as rugby, martial arts and being a member of the gospel choir.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils also enjoy visiting local farms, theatres and castles. To enhance their learning, the school has invited members of the local community in to talk to pupils. For example, fire officers, authors and a computer scientist have visited the school recently. These experiences help pupils to develop their confidence and broaden their horizons.

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better?

Since joining the MAT, the quality of education that pupils receive has been transformed. The school has successfully designed a curriculum that is ambitious and well adapted to capitalise on pupils’ interests. From the Nursery Year through to Year 6, the school has identified the essential knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which this knowledge should be taught.

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better?

The school has prioritised the development of teachers’ subject knowledge. Staff successfully deliver the curriculum using appropriate activities that support pupils to build their knowledge logically. Staff routinely check that pupils have secured earlier learning before moving on to new concepts. Typically, this helps pupils, including those with SEND, to build a deep body of subject knowledge over time.

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better?

In a small number of subjects, however, the school has not ensured that it identifies and addresses the gaps in knowledge that some pupils have due to weaknesses in the previous curriculum. This means that some pupils have insecure foundations on which to build new learning in these subjects. Where staff have not provided 13 and 14 September 2023

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learning activities that help pupils to backfill this knowledge, pupils’ learning is sometimes more fragile.

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Staff are trained well to deliver the phonics programme with confidence and expertise. From the start of the Reception Year, children learn sounds in a logical order. Staff ensure that the books that pupils read match their stage of learning. They swiftly identify pupils who find reading more difficult and make sure that these pupils receive the support that they need to keep up with their classmates. Most pupils at Kingsway Primary Academy School are confident and fluent readers by the end of Year 2.

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The school has effective systems in place to identify the additional needs of pupils with SEND. Staff work collaboratively with parents and carers, the local authority and other external agencies to secure appropriate support for pupils. Staff are skilled at adapting the delivery of the curriculum so that pupils with SEND can learn well. This ensures that pupils with SEND, including those in the specially resourced provision, progress well through the curriculum.

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Pupils display positive attitudes to their learning. They are polite and considerate and comfortably engage in conversation with adults. Disruption to learning is very rare. However, a minority of pupils do not attend school regularly enough. This prevents these pupils from experiencing all that the curriculum has to offer.

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The school takes account of its local community and places a strong emphasis on fostering pupils’ wider personal development. It offers pupils experiences such as going to the theatre and singing in church. Pupils relish their roles as school councillors and reading champions. They learn how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy. These different experiences help pupils to develop a sense of independence and responsibility.

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Trustees have supported the school to bring about considerable improvement to the quality of education that pupils receive in a relatively short space of time. This has had a positive impact on the learning experiences and achievement of pupils.

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Trustees, together with members of the local governing body, fulfil their statutory duties effectively. They are fully cognisant of staff’s workload and well-being. For example, they ensure that staff are released to attend training regularly and they provide academy-wide staff well-being days. Staff feel valued and enjoy working in this school.

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The school forges positive relationships with parents. Staff keep parents abreast of how well their children are learning the curriculum.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 13 and 14 September 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 A small number of pupils do not attend school regularly enough. This means that they are missing out on important learning and all that the school has to offer. The school should continue to build and implement strategies to improve the attendance of these pupils.  In a small number of subjects, some older pupils have gaps in their subject knowledge. This means that some pupils are not as well prepared for the next stage of learning as they could be. The school should ensure that they address any gaps in pupils’ subject knowledge so that they have secure foundations on which to build new information.

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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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 13 and 14 September 2023

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School details

Website www.kingswayprimaryacademy.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the Warrington Primary Academy Trust.  The executive headteacher took up post in December 2020.  The school has three specially resourced provisions for pupils with autism. There are 12 children in the early years provision, six pupils in the key stage 1 provision and 13 pupils in key stage 2 provision.  Kingsway Primary Academy School converted to become an academy school in December 2020. When its predecessor school, Simms Cross Primary, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be inadequate overall.

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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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision. 13 and 14 September 2023

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 This was the first routine inspection that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  During the inspection, the lead inspector met with the executive headteacher and other senior leaders. The lead inspector also met with members of the local governing body, including the chair of governors. The lead inspector also met with the chair of trustees.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and geography. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single

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central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors took into account the responses from Ofsted’s online survey for staff and Ofsted’s online survey for pupils.  Inspectors spoke to parents and carers, and considered responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text responses. Inspectors spoke with parents at the beginning of the school day.  Inspectors reviewed a range of school documents, including school policies, records of behaviour, school improvement documents and a sample of documents for pupils with SEND.

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Inspection team

Ruth Moran, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Moira Atkins Ofsted Inspector 13 and 14 September 2023

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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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