Stourport Primary Academy

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Stourport Primary Academy. Park Avenue, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire DY13 8SH

p.1

Outcome

Stourport Primary Academy has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

p.1

Outcome

The head of school is Ali Maybury. This school is part of Severn Academies Educational Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the acting chief executive officer (CEO), Mat Carpenter, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Monica Guise. There is also an executive headteacher, Shelley Reeves-Walters, who is responsible for this school and five others.

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s values of kindness, honesty, respect and teamwork underpin everything that it does. Pupils understand these values and demonstrate them throughout each day. This contributes to the considerate and respectful behaviour of pupils.

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

The warm and nurturing relationships that staff develop with pupils help them to feel safe. Pupils know they can turn to adults in school if they have any worries and they will help them. Staff understand their community and are dedicated to delivering the best quality education and care they can offer. The school has high expectations for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

p.1

What is it like to attend this school?

The school has planned a variety of opportunities that support the wider personal development of pupils. They benefit from the wide range of clubs that are offered and the variety of visitors who come into school to talk about their jobs or interests. A selection of local educational visits take place throughout the year, of which the residential is a favourite with Years 5 and 6.

p.1

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

The school has developed the curriculum to meet its high expectations. It is now well sequenced and well planned. However, some pupils have not yet benefitted fully from this 4 and 5 February 2025

p.1

2

revised curriculum and some gaps in their knowledge remain. This has contributed to some standards at the end of Year 6 for previous groups of pupils being lower than expected.

p.2

2

The school provides high-quality training for its staff. This has led to information being clearly presented by confident teachers with strong subject knowledge. They are well supported by skilled support staff and knowledgeable subject leaders. Pupils’ understanding is usually checked as they work. Where this is the case, any errors or misunderstandings are quickly corrected. For example, the school carefully checks what pupils know in English and mathematics. It then uses these checks to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge and adapts the curriculum accordingly. However, this is not in place for all subjects. This means that the school does not know where pupils’ learning is less secure in some subjects. Consequently, the school cannot make changes to the curriculum to address these gaps.

p.2

2

Pupils with SEND are identified accurately and supported well. Work is appropriately adapted and additional adults or resources ensure that they work towards the same learning outcomes as their classmates and are able to keep up with their peers, or work towards their personal targets.

p.2

2

Phonics is taught well. Well-timed checks ensure that those who need help to keep up, or catch up, receive the help they need for as long as they need it. Improvements to the way phonics and reading are taught have led to higher standards for current pupils. Pupils say they enjoy reading. They can explain how they know their reading skills are improving.

p.2

2

Children enthusiastically take part in their learning in the early years. They soon begin to read simple sentences and write the new words that they are learning. They improve their understanding of number and begin to learn the correct mathematical language. Staff lead activities that help children to practise and learn the sounds and numbers they are learning. However, activities that give children the opportunity to independently explore and reinforce key language and number facts are limited. This means that they do not learn this important knowledge as quickly as they could.

p.2

2

The school sets high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Staff know pupils well. Their warm and respectful relationships help those who sometimes find it difficult to manage their behaviour. Pupils can identify how they have learned to improve their behaviour. They also understand how those changes help them with their learning. This contributes to the strong attitudes to learning across the school.

p.2

2

The school understands the need for pupils to attend school regularly. By linking behaviour and attendance awards closely to the importance of teamwork, which is one of the school’s values, pupils’ attitudes have changed and attendance has improved.

p.2

2

Pupils understand British values. For example, they know why everyone should be treated equally, regardless of any differences. They have opportunities to take responsibility and contribute to their school. This prepares them well for life beyond the school. 4 and 5 February 2025

p.2

3

The school is supported effectively by members of the academy and local governing board, who bring a wide range of skills to their roles and know the school well. Teachers speak highly of the support they receive from school leaders and the trust and the consideration that is given to their well-being.

p.3

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

p.3

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The early years environment does not sufficiently support children’s awareness of, and familiarity with, the letters and numbers they are learning. The school should ensure that children’s recognition of numbers and letters is reinforced and their learning is supported further.  In some subjects, the school does not accurately check what pupils know. As a result, the school does not have a clear picture of where there are gaps in pupils’ knowledge. The school should ensure that staff accurately check what pupils know and use this to adapt the curriculum.  The school has not ensured that gaps in pupils’ knowledge, due to historical weaknesses in the curriculum, are addressed. This means that pupils find it difficult to secure new knowledge. They do not learn the curriculum as intended. The school should ensure that gaps in these pupils’ knowledge are addressed to help them learn new information.

p.3

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.

p.3

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. 4 and 5 February 2025

p.3

4

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Stourport Primary School, to be good for overall effectiveness in September 2013.

p.4

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.4

How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

p.4

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). 4 and 5 February 2025

p.4

Head of School

Shelley Reeves-Walters Ali Maybury Website www.stourportprimary.worcs.sch.uk

p.5

Head of School

Dates of previous inspection 24 and 25 September 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

p.5

Information about this school

 Since the last inspection, the management structure has been altered and there is now a head of school with an executive headteacher.  The school uses one registered provider of alternative provision.  The school has a nursery provision that offers places to children from the age of two years.

p.5

Information about this inspection

 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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school. 4 and 5 February 2025

p.5

6

 The inspector met with the executive headteacher, the head of school, other senior leaders and members of the local academy board. She met with the acting CEO, the school improvement lead and the school development officer of the trust and spoke with the chair of trustees. She also spoke to a senior leader from the alternative provider that the school uses.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of their work. She also met with a selection of teachers.  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 .  The inspector met with parents at the gate and considered the opinions of parents on

p.6

6

Ofsted Parent View. She also met with a selection of staff and pupils and took their opinions into account.

p.6

Inspection team

Anne Potter, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 4 and 5 February 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