a school not in a category of concern of Lime Academy Watergall

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Andy Buffham Headteacher Lime Academy Watergall Watergall Bretton Peterborough Cambridgeshire PE3 8NX

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Watergall

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 18 December 2024, on behalf of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and took place because the school meets the monitoring threshold as set out in the Monitoring Inspection Handbook .

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Watergall

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school’s key and (where applicable) provision judgements, but to identify and report on the school’s progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school’s previous graded inspection.

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Watergall

During the inspection, I discussed with you, other senior leaders, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the trust and representatives of the local governing body and trust, including the chair and the chair of the trust board, the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also met with pupils and members of staff, looked at some books and visited some lessons. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Main findings

Since the previous inspection, a new leadership structure is in place. This includes two assistant headteachers who both have responsibility for special educational needs and/or disabilities. This has ensured there is more capacity to support school staff with learning and teaching as well as improving pupils’ behaviour.

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Main findings

You and your leaders have acted quickly to start addressing the areas for improvement identified at the graded inspection. There has been an increased focus on the development of pupils’ writing. Staff have received extensive professional development as well as ongoing support. Writing moderation is taking place across the trust so that everyone has the same high expectations of pupils. Staff have found the professional dialogue with colleagues beneficial and use it to inform their planning of activities that build on what pupils have learned previously. Staff are now identifying and addressing errors in pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar more consistently and promptly. This is starting to bring about improvements in the standards of pupils’ written work.

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Main findings

You have worked closely with schools across the trust to develop the teaching of the curriculum. There has been a focus on what works best in helping pupils to remember and build on previous learning. This collaborative approach has supported more consistent and effective teaching, as well as supporting staff workload. Increased consistency in the effective delivery of the curriculum is starting to help pupils to know more and remember more.

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Main findings

The trust has provided extensive support to help make these initial improvements. This support has been appropriately focused and effective. Leaders have ensured that required systems are now in place to check on whether their actions are making the difference intended. However, many changes are recent and yet to become fully established.

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Main findings

Leaders have ensured that staff and pupils now know the school’s expectations of behaviour clearly. Staff teach pupils what these expectations are and how they can meet them. Equally, pupils know the rewards that they can earn for meeting these expectations and they strive to achieve them. Good behaviour is celebrated, for example, in weekly assemblies. There are specific responses to different behaviour incidents and everyone knows what these are. This greater consistency and shared understanding have brought about improvements in pupils’ behaviour. Overall, the school is mainly a calm and purposeful environment. However, there are still some pupils who struggle to behave in lessons who require a different provision.

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Main findings

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees and the CEO of The Lime Academy Trust, the Department for Education’s regional director and the director of children’s services for Peterborough. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website. Yours sincerely

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