Aughton Primary Academy

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Aughton Junior Academy Turnshaw Avenue, Aughton, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S26 3XQ

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Inspection dates: 14 and 15 January 2025

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Outcome

Aughton Junior Academy has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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Outcome

The principal of this school is Toni Tomlinson. This school is part of Aston Community Education 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), Rebecca Scutt, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by John Barton.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Everyone is valued here. Staff have created a culture of high expectations, rooted in the school’s values of ambition, respect, kindness and self-belief, that is palpable across the school community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders prioritise getting to know families well. Strong relationships help everyone to work together, so that pupils attend school, gain knowledge across a wide curriculum, develop positive attitudes and behaviours and are safe. Parents who shared their views during the inspection overwhelmingly agreed that their child is happy at school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils cannot wait to share their learning. They talk with confidence about their work, connecting new learning to what they have learned before. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) thrive. They are just as keen to share and celebrate what they are doing and what they have learned as their peers. These pupils are proud of their achievements and are successful.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Across school, pupils notably demonstrate respect and understanding of each other’s differences and similarities. For instance, one pupil said, ’Some people get the extra attention they need because they have disabilities or different needs. I like how the teachers handle this. They get special training so they know how to take good care of them.’ 14 and 15 January 2025

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

The curriculum is broad and supports pupils’ academic achievement and their personal development. Staff ensure that the curriculum is ambitious. Pupils with SEND benefit from appropriate support to enable them to successfully access the curriculum alongside their peers. Leaders constantly reflect on, evaluate and improve the education on offer. They learn from, and share, expertise in the trust and beyond.

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

Curriculum leaders are confident and knowledgeable about the subjects they lead. They have strengthened the curriculum, so that content is better sequenced and progressive to help pupils to remember more over time. Staff work alongside other leaders in the trust to develop a curriculum that is just right for the pupils here. Pupils gain a depth of knowledge in subjects, such as mathematics and geography, where the refined curriculum has had the chance to make a difference. Content is precise and progressively planned. Opportunities for pupils to revisit learning help them to remember geographical concepts and vocabulary. In a small number of subjects, these improvements in content are being finalised, so have not been delivered to pupils. The current curriculum in these subjects does not set out precisely what pupils must know and pupils find it hard to connect and remember knowledge over time.

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

Staff are trained to deliver the phonics programme well. Pupils respond positively to routines that help them to practise, and get better at, reading. Leaders have made the English curriculum content and expectations more explicit than before. Teachers check precisely which aspects of English pupils need more help with. They help pupils to catch up. At the same time, leaders have revised the curriculum for early writing. In early years, children learn to write using the sounds they have practised in phonics lessons. Pupils’ success is reflected in their improving written work and in their animated discussions about reading and writing.

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

The school’s agreed approach to teaching helps pupils connect their learning. Adults demonstrate new content and learning tasks well and help pupils to retain new knowledge. There are effective systems to check how well pupils remember the English and mathematics curriculum. The school’s approaches to checking pupils’ understanding in some areas of the wider curriculum are less embedded.

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

Staff are very positive about the difference the refined curriculum has made to their teaching. The collaborative approach to curriculum design has impacted positively on their workload. Training for subjects such as music has improved teacher subject knowledge and made them more confident in their delivery of the subject.

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

Leaders explore the reasons for pupils’ absence and help families to overcome barriers to attendance. Pupils are keen for their class to attend well so that they can win a reward on the ‘Aughtonopoly’ board. The strategies the school uses are helping to improve pupils’ attendance.

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

Leaders’ ambition to develop well-rounded individuals who are respectful and informed citizens are exemplified in what pupils say and do. A wide range of visits and visitors, and 14 and 15 January 2025

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the relationships education programme, complement the school’s personal development offer. Pupils speak with respect and consideration about the world and their place in it.

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Trustees, trust leaders and governors have strong systems to evaluate, support and challenge the school’s work. There is a comprehensive package of training and support for those responsible for governance. This leads to a secure understanding of the school’s strengths and areas to work on.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The curriculum is in development. In a small number of wider curriculum subjects, revised subject content that is explicit and builds progressively over time has not been taught to the pupils. Pupils’ knowledge in these subjects is less secure. The school should accelerate its actions to deliver the new curriculum to all pupils and check that pupils gain the intended knowledge well across all subjects.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 predecessor school, Aughton Primary School, to be good for overall effectiveness in November 2012. 14 and 15 January 2025

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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). 14 and 15 January 2025

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School details

Date of previous inspection 25 November 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the Aston Community Education Trust.  The school has a breakfast and an after-school club.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  The inspector discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Throughout the inspection, the inspector met with senior school and trust leaders including: the principal, the assistant vice-principal, the CEO of the trust, the vice-chair of the board of trustees and members of the local governing body. 14 and 15 January 2025

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 The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning, heard some pupils read and looked at samples of pupils’ work. She met with groups of pupils and spoke to pupils informally throughout the school day.  The inspector met staff, and some parents at the beginning of the day, to seek their views. She reviewed responses to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire, including the free-text comments.  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 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

Kate Rowley, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 14 and 15 January 2025

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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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