Leverington Primary Academy

Inspection of a good school: Leverington Primary Academy 104 Church Road, Leverington, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire PE13 5DE

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Outcome

Leverington Primary Academy continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The co-headteachers of this school are Aimee Garner and Nancy Irvine. This school is part of The Diamond Learning Partnership Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Susannah Connell, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Alan Ball.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils succeed in this happy, nurturing and welcoming environment. Everyone is included and encouraged by all adults to do their best. Pupils know that they are cared for. They value the friendships they make. They forge trusting relationships with staff. As a result, pupils enjoy coming to school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that their teachers expect them to do their best. They accept that, at times, the work will get difficult. However, pupils here are resilient and they rise to the challenge by trying hard. They are proud of the work they produce, and pupils achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Behaviour is positive. Pupils are polite and respectful. They behave well in lessons and around school. Older pupils actively support younger ones. For example, playground friends make sure that no one gets left out of play activities. Pupils take on these responsibilities because they want to contribute to their community. The school is a calm and harmonious place where all pupils are safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a broad range of wider learning activities. These include trips to the theatre, opera and ballet, visits to a careers fair and residential experiences. These activities help pupils aspire to greater heights while bringing their classroom learning to life.

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

The school has carefully considered the curriculum content across the school. Teachers carefully explain important information pupils need to know. They ask well-thought-out questions that check what pupils know. Teachers provide pupils with clear, structured 16 and 17 April 2024

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examples when explaining new learning. This helps older pupils construct well-thought- out written responses. The work set generally provides pupils with opportunities to practise and discuss their learning. As a result, all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), produce high-quality work.

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While teachers do check pupils’ understanding, the approaches to checking the depth of learning in some subjects lack precision. This means that occasionally misconceptions, inaccurate use of language or gaps in understanding are not identified accurately enough. As a result, some pupils’ learning is not always as secure as the school has planned for in the classes.

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Leaders have successfully woven reading throughout the school’s whole ambitious curriculum. The school not only ensures pupils learn to read fluently from a young age, but also that they access a range of texts and reading experiences to deepen their vocabulary. The school’s focus on ensuring pupils become confident and fluent readers also ensures everyone can successfully access the wider curriculum and broaden their understanding of the world around them.

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Children learn to read quickly from the very beginning of the Reception Year. Staff are well trained. This training helps them deliver the chosen phonics programme with precision. Teachers clearly model how letters correspond to sounds. Pupils then read well-chosen books that generally match the sounds they are learning. Occasionally, a small number of pupils begin to struggle. Teachers spot this quickly and intervene to help them keep up with their peers. As a result, pupils soon become confident and fluent readers.

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The school is determined that all pupils, including pupils with SEND, achieve highly. The school has identified the important knowledge that pupils need to know. It has then broken this down into logically ordered small steps. This careful planning means that teachers know exactly what to teach and when. Teachers are well informed about the specific barriers to learning that some pupils have. They use this information to plan adaptations successfully so pupils with SEND can progress alongside their peers.

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The school has clearly defined how it expects pupils to behave. Pupils are taught in early years about the importance of sharing and taking turns. They build on these expectations as they move through the school. These high expectations are consistently modelled by all members of staff. In the rare cases where behaviour interrupts learning, teachers deal with it quickly and fairly.

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The personal, social and health education programme is well planned. It sets out what pupils need to know to become positive citizens. Pupils develop an age-appropriate understanding of important concepts, such as respect. The curriculum includes opportunities for pupils to learn about different places and cultures. As a result, pupils learn that difference is something to celebrate. They accept it is all right that others may have differing opinions or beliefs to their own. Pupils develop into respectful and tolerant members of an inclusive school community. 16 and 17 April 2024

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Staff feel valued and respected. They share leaders’ drive to achieve the best for all pupils. Governors ensure that they balance effective oversight of school improvement with staff well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Not all teachers check on what pupils have learned with enough precision or rigour. This means that sometimes teachers are not completely aware of how well pupils have fully grasped new concepts in enough depth. Consequently, some pupils miss some key learning that would help them extend their understanding even further. The school should ensure that all teachers are trained to know how to check precisely that all pupils are ready to move on to new learning with enough detailed understanding before learning something new.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2014.

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How can I feed back my views?

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. 16 and 17 April 2024

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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). 16 and 17 April 2024

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School details

Headteacher Aimee Garner (Co-headteacher) Nancy Irvine (Co-headteacher) Website www.leveringtonprimary.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 24 May 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of The Diamond Learning Partnership Trust. It joined the trust in 2017.  The co-headteachers of the school are also co-headteachers of two other trust schools. They have been co-headteachers at the school since January 2024.  The school provides wraparound provision. This is managed by the school.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school. 16 and 17 April 2024

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 The inspector held meetings with leaders, including the co-headteachers. He met with representatives of the local governing committee, held a telephone discussion with the chair of the board of trustees and met with the CEO.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to staff, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also listened to a sample of pupils read to a familiar adult.  To further inspect the curriculum, the inspector looked at examples of pupils’ writing and reviewed curriculum documentation for geography and modern foreign languages.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered

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the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector considered the 13 responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, and the nine free-text comments submitted. The inspector considered the 23 responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for staff and the 20 responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for pupils. The inspector spoke to groups of pupils about their experiences of school life and their learning in lessons to understand what it is like to be a pupil in their school.

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Inspection team

Dave Gibson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 16 and 17 April 2024

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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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