Castle View Primary Academy

Castle View Primary Academy Keswick Road, Lancaster, Lancashire LA1 3LE

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report:

At the most recent graded inspection, the following areas were identified as needing to improve:

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report:

 Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not achieve as well as they should in a range of subjects, including in English and mathematics. Many pupils are unable to read, write and/or apply mathematics at an age-appropriate level. This is because the expectations of what pupils can and should be able to do in lessons are too low. The school and the trust must take swift and effective action to ensure that expectations for pupils are raised rapidly, so that the achievement of all pupils, including those with SEND, is of an acceptable standard.  Pupils’ experiences in lessons do not support effectively their learning of the school’s curriculum. In particular, the school has not ensured that the curriculum enables pupils in mixed-age classes to build on what they know and can do. Younger pupils have not had time to develop the knowledge that they need to tackle some tasks. Older pupils

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report:

receive work that is too easy for them. As a result, pupils are poorly prepared for the next stages of their education. The school should revisit the school’s curriculum, ensuring that it takes sufficient account of the learning needs of pupils in mixed-age classes.  There are too many inconsistencies in the implementation of the phonics programme for pupils in key stage 1. Pupils do not receive the effective guidance that they need to say some sounds correctly. This hampers their ability to blend sounds together in order to read words. This weakness limits the progress that pupils make across a range of subjects. The school should ensure that staff are fully supported to ensure that the school’s phonics programme is delivered consistently and effectively.  On occasions, staff do not check thoroughly enough that pupils have understood new learning before moving on to the next learning. This makes it difficult to identify and

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report:

address any misconceptions or missing knowledge. The school should set clear expectations for how pupils’ knowledge is to be checked so that it is secure.

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report:

 The behaviour of some pupils, on occasions, is inconsiderate of the needs of others. When this happens, some pupils feel that their enjoyment of school activities, such as outdoor play and lunchtime, is limited. The school should take effective action to ensure Monitoring Inspection report: Castle View Primary Academy, 18 March 2026 2 that all staff set sufficiently high expectations for pupils’ behaviour, so that all pupils can feel safe and happy during the school day.  The school is at an early stage in implementing its programme for pupils’ wider development. This means that pupils have a limited range of activities to develop talents and interests beyond the academic. Some pupils lack the confidence that they need to express their views clearly, for example in discussions. The school should now ensure that its programme for pupils’ personal development is implemented quickly and effectively, so that pupils are appropriately prepared for future life.

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designation

During the monitoring inspection, inspectors focused on the following evaluation areas:

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designation

 Leadership and governance  Achievement  Attendance and behaviour  Curriculum and teaching  Personal development and wellbeing

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Leadership and governance

Leaders, staff and trustees have accepted the findings from the inspection in February 2025. Everyone has worked together to bring about much-needed change so that pupils have the chance to thrive and shine. Leaders have taken the right action, at the right time, to ensure that there are firm foundations on which to build further improvement.

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Leadership and governance

Interim leaders have won the support and trust of parents, carers, staff and pupils. They have been successful in establishing a culture where everyone feels listened to, appreciated and valued. In response, staff are approaching change with enthusiasm and a willingness to work in different ways. Despite the urgency to improve the school, leaders have ensured that staff are safeguarded from undue pressure on their workload or wellbeing. Subject leaders are beginning to take greater ownership of their areas of responsibility, which is starting to shore up leadership capacity further.

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Leadership and governance

The trust has maintained oversight of the school. It is ensuring that leaders have the resources that they need to action their main priorities. Members of the local governing body are keen to celebrate signs of early success, but they are also clear that the school improvement journey is not complete. Even so, this group is not at full capacity. This limits their ability to develop stronger lines of communication with parents. As such, parents are not receiving enough information to assure them of the school’s recovery.

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Safeguarding

At the previous graded inspection, safeguarding was evaluated as being effective. Monitoring Inspection report: Castle View Primary Academy, 18 March 2026 3

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Achievement

The 2025 published data showed that many pupils were not as well prepared as they should be to make a successful start in their chosen secondary school. Currently, due to recent changes, some pupils are beginning to make better progress through the curriculum. However, this is not the case for many others. Pupils, including those with SEND, are being taught the full content of the curriculum. Even so, this is having variable impact in terms of securing pupils’ knowledge and skills. This is because many older pupils have gaps in their knowledge, which makes it difficult for them to absorb new and ambitious learning.

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Achievement

Leaders have introduced a suite of tests and assessments to check pupils’ knowledge at regular intervals throughout the year. This is helping to identify those pupils who need extra help to catch up in reading, writing and mathematics. However, teachers are less confident in checking on pupils’ learning on a day-to-day basis. Misconceptions are not identified, nor are the main causes for muddled thinking rooted out. For example, pupils find solving problems related to fractions difficult because their knowledge of basic number is not strong enough. This means that pupils do not have a secure enough grounding on which to build new learning.

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Attendance and behaviour

New behaviour expectations mean that pupils typically learn in a calm and secure environment. They generally show respect to each other and to adults. They pay attention and follow instructions during lessons and outside of the classroom. This means that learning is not routinely interrupted.

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Attendance and behaviour

The pupils who spoke with inspectors reported that behaviour has improved. They enjoy playtimes and social times much more. They appreciate the range of play equipment that they can use at breaktimes. Pupils also like the fact that they can sit with their friends from different year groups during the lunchbreak. Pupils feel safe, well cared for and nurtured. They know that they have someone to turn to if they feel sad or troubled. Pupils trust adults to listen and help them if they have a problem, including any incidents of name calling or bullying.

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Attendance and behaviour

Attendance rates are improving and the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent is decreasing over time. Even so, the number of pupils who do not attend school often enough remains above the national average. Leaders have identified that punctuality is one of the main reasons for this situation. They are working to reduce the number of pupils who enter the school building after the registration period has closed.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders have ensured that there is a broad and balanced curriculum in place across all classes. Teachers are adhering to this new guidance. They are using a greater range of resources to make learning interesting and meaningful. This is encouraging pupils to engage more readily in lessons. The teaching of phonics is far more consistent than it was in the past. Frequent training, coaching and support mean that all staff are showing Monitoring Inspection report: Castle View Primary Academy, 18 March 2026 4 increased fidelity to the chosen approach for teaching phonics. As a result, pupils are gaining a stronger knowledge of the letters that sounds represent. This is helping children in the early years and pupils in key stage 1 to read with greater fluency and to spell and write words accurately. They are gradually becoming better prepared for their move into Year 3.

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Curriculum and teaching

Leaders and teachers have begun to consider how these curriculums can be adapted to meet the needs of pupils in mixed-aged classes. However, this work is still at an early stage. This does mean that some pupils tread water because they have completed their tasks with relative ease, but then have to wait for further work so that their learning moves on.

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Curriculum and teaching

Recent training means that staff have a better understanding of how to adapt their teaching to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. However, this is more successful in some classrooms than in others. At times, teachers rely too heavily on additional adults, either in or outside of the classroom, to ensure that pupils with SEND are keeping up with their learning.

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Personal development and wellbeing

The provision for pupils’ personal development is improving swiftly. Pupils are benefiting from a broader range of clubs, trips and visits. Older pupils especially enjoyed visiting a large stadium in Manchester, where they had the chance to sing alongside pupils from other schools. They are very much looking forward to the upcoming residential, which is aimed at developing their self-esteem, teamwork and resilience.

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Personal development and wellbeing

Pupils have been given a structure to scaffold how they respond to questions in class or when taking part in discussions. This is beginning to have an impact. Pupils are more willing to share their thoughts and ideas with a wider audience. Their growing confidence is reflected in the warm handshakes that they exchange with staff each morning and when they meet visitors to the school.

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Additional next steps

Leaders and trustees should continue to work to address the priorities for improvement identified in the last graded inspection report.

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About this inspection

The inspectors carried out this monitoring inspection under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005, and it was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require significant improvement following the graded inspection that took place in February 2025.

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About this inspection

The school’s previous inspection was carried out under the Education Inspection Framework (EIF) at that time. The renewed EIF took effect from 10 November 2025. The areas for improvement identified at the school’s graded inspection have been cross- Monitoring Inspection report: Castle View Primary Academy, 18 March 2026 5 referenced to the relevant evaluation areas in the inspection toolkit for consideration on this monitoring inspection.

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About this inspection

The purpose of this monitoring inspection was not to determine grades for any of the evaluation areas set out in the school inspection toolkit. The purpose was to identify and report on the school’s progress in addressing priorities for improvement since the school’s previous inspection.

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About this inspection

Since the previous inspection, the substantive headteacher left the school. There is an acting headteacher and acting assistant headteacher in post. Some members of the local governing body resigned their positions.

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About this inspection

During this inspection, meetings were held with the acting headteacher and other leaders, the chief executive officer of the trust, trustees and members of the local governing body to discuss the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection.

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About this school

Number of pupils on roll 101 Monitoring Inspection report: Castle View Primary Academy, 18 March 2026 6 and inspects to 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 looked- after-children, safeguarding and child protection.

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About this school

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About this school

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About this school

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About this school

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

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