Winterton Community Academy

Inspection of Winterton Community Academy Newport Drive, Winterton, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire DN15 9QD

p.1

Inspection dates: 14 and 15 January 2025

p.1

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Good

p.1

The headteacher of this school is Kevin Rowlands. This school is a single-academy trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Rosalind Taylor. 14 and 15 January 2025

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

Winterton Community Academy is a friendly and caring school. Staff are committed to providing an inclusive school experience for all. The school’s established values of hard work, positivity and respect have been recently extended to include community, diversity and ambition. These values are understood by all. The relationships between teachers and pupils are positive, creating a feeling of unity throughout the school.

p.2

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe, and they know they can approach staff if they have any concerns. Pupils are confident and able to express their thoughts and opinions. Staff want the pupils to succeed and expand their knowledge of the world. The atmosphere in the school is calm, and pupils behave well during lessons and while socialising. Staff and pupils understand the school’s behaviour expectations. Incidents of poor behaviour are low. In lessons, there is very little low-level disruption.

p.2

What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers praise the school for its supportive environment. They appreciate the warm welcome new pupils receive and the regular communications with parents. As a result, pupils quickly settle into life at the school.

p.2

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

In many subjects, the curriculum has undergone recent changes. There is a significant number of new leaders in the school. The school has thought carefully about what the pupils will learn and the order of teaching. It identified reading as a barrier for some pupils, and the curriculum includes opportunities for new vocabulary to be taught at the start of topics. Further support for readers is planned.

p.2

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

Teachers have a deep understanding of the subjects they teach. They use questioning to check pupils’ understanding. In some subjects, pupils learn well. Teachers design activities that enable them to build up their knowledge gradually, applying separate ideas to more complex concepts. In other subjects, the curriculum is not taught as effectively. The activities that teachers design do not always support pupils to learn the important knowledge, or to produce high-quality work. Leaders are at the early stages of addressing this by providing support.

p.2

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

The school carefully identifies pupils’ individual needs and supports pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. Staff understand pupils’ needs and provide the extra help necessary for them to access the curriculum. Some pupils receive extra help in ‘The Junction’ and ‘The Hub’, where specialist teachers adjust the curriculum to support pupils’ development.

p.2

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

Pupils understand the school’s high expectations for their behaviour. They build strong relationships with adults and other pupils. In social situations, pupils show confidence, care for others and are polite and respectful to each other and to staff. Pupils receive high-quality pastoral support. The school provides effective support for pupils who struggle to meet the school’s behaviour expectations. 14 and 15 January 2025

p.2

3

The school’s curriculum for personal, social and health education is well considered. Pupils learn how to keep safe online and in the community. They learn about healthy lifestyles and relationships, and different religions and cultures. Most pupils learn about the importance of showing respect and being tolerant to others who may have backgrounds different to their own, though some pupils had limited recall of this important knowledge. Older pupils are well informed about careers and their options. All pupils have opportunities to engage with the world of work.

p.3

3

Staff are proud to work at the school. They appreciate how leaders take account of their workload and well-being. A significant number of leaders, including governors, have been recently appointed. They are being provided with appropriate support to enable them to establish an accurate view of the school and to develop the skills and processes to enable improvement. The school’s processes for checking how well things are working are not as well developed as they could be. They do not provide senior leaders or governors with the information they need to have a clear oversight of the actions needed to support school improvement as effectively as possible.

p.3

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

p.3

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Senior leaders, and those responsible for governance, do not always have a close enough oversight of work to assess and improve the school’s quality of education. It is not always clear what the school is trying to improve, how this will be achieved or whether it is working. The school must ensure that actions to improve the curriculum are thought through sufficiently well. Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that the school’s actions to improve the quality of education are effective.  The curriculum is not implemented effectively in all subjects. Sometimes, teachers design work and activities which do not help pupils to learn the important knowledge securely enough. As a result, not all pupils learn as well as they could. The school should ensure that teachers are supported to deliver the curriculum effectively so that pupils learn and achieve well in all subjects.

p.3

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.

p.3

How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 14 and 15 January 2025

p.3

Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

p.4

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). 14 and 15 January 2025

p.4

School details

Dates of previous inspection 5 and 6 February 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

p.5

Information about this school

 Winterton Community Academy is the only member of the Winterton Community Academy trust.  The school does not use alternative provision.  The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

p.5

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. 14 and 15 January 2025

p.5

6

 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.  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.  Inspectors spoke with the headteacher and other senior leaders.  The lead inspector met with the chair of trustees and two members of the governing body.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: mathematics, science, English, geography and history. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the

p.6

6

curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors discussed the curriculum and visited lessons in some other subjects.  Inspectors met with groups of pupils from a range of year groups, including pupils with SEND. Inspectors spoke with pupils at breaktimes and lunchtimes.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including education, health and care plans, to evaluate the provision for SEND.  Inspectors held meetings with leaders and reviewed records relating to attendance, behaviour and personal development.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktimes and lunchtimes.  The views of staff and pupils who responded to Ofsted’s survey were considered. Additionally, inspectors reviewed the views of parents through Ofsted’s survey for parents, Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments.

p.6

Inspection team

Chris Fletcher, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

p.6

Inspection team

Dave Wadsworth Ofsted Inspector 14 and 15 January 2025

p.6

7

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.

p.7

7

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.7

7

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.7

7

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.7

7

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.7