Weston Mill Community Primary Academy

Inspection of Weston Mill Community Primary Academy Ferndale Road, Plymouth, Devon PL2 2EL

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

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The head of school is Rebecca Gleed. This school is part of Discovery Multi-Academy Trust, which means other people have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Alison Nettleship, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Neil Maslen. 5 and 6 November 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Expectations of how pupils should behave are rising. Increasingly, pupils contribute eagerly to lessons as they want to share their ideas. Staff encourage pupils to listen to one another and take turns to speak. Nonetheless, in some classes, pupils experience disruption, which makes it hard for them to concentrate. Pupils worry about the boisterous behaviour they see at breaktimes and lunchtimes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy taking different roles in debates. Starting in the early years, the curriculum provides lots of opportunities for talk. This helps pupils to consider the views of others and to develop their confidence as speakers. Despite these positive experiences, too many older pupils swear or make disrespectful comments towards one another. They struggle to maintain good manners in formal situations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In the early years, children get off to a flying start. They develop a love of reading that continues as they grow older. Many are keen to become reading ambassadors, taking on responsibilities in the school library. However, the curriculum does not help pupils to build on their early successes reliably. It does not meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities well enough. Many pupils do not meet the standards that they should at the end of key stage 2.

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

Children in the early years benefit from a well-taught early reading programme. The Nursery is effective in developing children’s knowledge of sounds. As a result, the children are primed for a great start to phonics learning in the Reception Year. They quickly learn how to break down unfamiliar words. The vast majority of pupils succeed in the national phonics screening check in Year 1.

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

Pupils do not go on to achieve well in national tests at the end of key stage 2. To address this, the trust has redeveloped the curriculum. It has strengthened the curriculum in mathematics. This is working well. Pupils can remember and apply their knowledge of the important number facts identified by the school.

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

The school has introduced new approaches to teaching English. There are new curriculum plans in place in other subjects too. It is too soon to see the impact of some of these recent improvements. Where pupils are not confident writers, they do not complete the work they are given successfully. Some require further practice in writing accurate words and sentences before they can achieve the more ambitious aims of the curriculum, for example using their writing to plan a story or a science investigation.

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

The school has undergone an unsettled period since the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been several changes of leadership. This has slowed the rate at which the trust has been able to make improvements. Pupils’ attendance has improved year on year. However, the trust does not have a clear picture of the standard of pupils’ behaviour because the school’s records are not always clear. 5 and 6 November 2024

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The school has taken effective steps to reset expectations. Pupils know the school rules and understand their responsibilities. For example, they adopt the school’s ‘wonderful walking’ in corridors. The atmosphere in the school is calm. Many lessons proceed without incident. However, pupils notice that the school does not respond consistently when rules are broken. They are frustrated by a pattern of unruly behaviour linked to football games.

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In the past, pupils’ special educational needs have not been identified clearly. This is now being addressed. However, teachers remain unsure how best to meet the needs of some pupils in the classroom. Pupils who find it difficult to learn alongside their peers have sometimes been offered reduced timetables. This has not prepared them well for future learning. The trust has begun to secure the right support for pupils so that their needs can be met more effectively.

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The school has strengthened the provision for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs. For example, there is support for resilience and self-esteem, and pupils receive enhanced pastoral care from specialist staff in ‘The HUT’ (Helping Us Thrive). Increasingly, pupils access support earlier. This helps them to manage their behaviour and learn more of the curriculum.

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The school aims to enrich the curriculum with trips and experiences. There is a ‘Discovery List’ of activities that all pupils should try during their time at the school, for example camping out under the stars. The curriculum teaches pupils about British institutions, such as parliament, and to value diversity. However, sometimes parts of the programme are not taught due to pressures of time. This means that pupils are not as well informed as they should be. Occasionally, this is reflected in unkind comments.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum does not enable pupils to develop and build on their knowledge sufficiently well. This is especially the case in key stage 1, where pupils’ writing of words and sentences requires further practice and consolidation before they can confidently communicate their learning in more extended ways. The trust should ensure that the work given to pupils is well matched to their starting points. This will help pupils to build on what they know.  Pupils’ special educational needs are not identified in a precise and timely way. As a result, staff are not sure how to meet the social, emotional and mental health needs of some pupils in the classroom. The trust should ensure that pupils’ needs are identified clearly and addressed successfully in school.  Behaviour around the school is not always managed effectively, leading to conflict between pupils and frustration for staff and pupils alike. Low-level disruption reduces

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the impact of teaching. Some pupils are disrespectful in their personal interactions or do not show good manners. The trust should ensure that high expectations of pupils’ conduct are upheld consistently and fairly.  The trust does not have a full and accurate picture of the standard of behaviour in the school. They do not fully understand the experiences of pupils or staff. As a result, the school’s improvement strategies are not well focused. The trust should ensure that the school’s priorities are informed by an incisive analysis of accurate behaviour records.

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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.

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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). 5 and 6 November 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection 3 April 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The head of school was appointed in September 2024.  The school is part of Discovery Multi-Academy Trust, which comprises three primary schools in the Plymouth area.  The school includes a nursery provision for two-year-olds.  The school uses no 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. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 5 and 6 November 2024

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection 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.  Inspectors met with the head of school, the assistant head of school, the CEO and directors of education and inclusion from the multi-academy trust, the school’s inclusion coordinator and the chairs of the board of trustees and the local advisory board.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, English, mathematics and physical education. 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.

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: reviewed the single 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.

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Inspection team

Lydia Pride, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Tom Page Ofsted Inspector 5 and 6 November 2024

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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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