Westwood Academy Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Implement existing plans to improve:
  • the library provision
  • opportunities for pupils’ personal and physical development by providing more, high-quality, equipment for pupils to use during play and lunchtimes.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher is uncompromising in his commitment to promoting the trust’s values and ensuring that all pupils achieve as well as they can. He is very ably supported by the deputy headteacher and other leaders. All staff share these high expectations of what pupils can achieve. The success of each and every pupil is at the heart of all the school does.
• Leaders within the school and the trust have established highly effective systems and structures to ensure that pupils thrive both academically and socially. Leadership capacity is very strong at all levels.
• The monitoring of all aspects of school life is incisive, thorough and constantly drives improvements. Areas identified for current development include improving the library to enhance pupils’ learning, and improving resources to support pupils’ play at breaktimes.
• All staff benefit from high-quality training and support, which ensures that their work is of the highest quality and that their own career plans are well supported. A ‘leadership academy’ has been established to develop leadership across the four schools in the trust. Several staff, including the headteacher, began their teaching careers at Westwood and have flourished as a result of excellent and innovative professional development opportunities within a culture of reciprocal learning provided through the trust.
• Leaders, including subject leaders and teachers, work well together to check pupils’ progress. There is a detailed and accurate approach to assessment, which allows leaders to monitor precisely how well pupils are progressing in relation to their challenging targets and the expectations of the national curriculum. This information is used very effectively to ensure that any pupils who need it get the right support to prevent them from falling behind. Consequently, the progress of all groups is consistently strong across all subjects, including in English and mathematics.
• Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is used highly effectively and ensures that they make good progress and achieve well. Many older disadvantaged pupils achieve even better than other pupils nationally and some make exceptional progress. Pupils are well equipped for the next stage in their education.
• Innovative use of the additional funding for sport broadens pupils’ access to a range of sporting activities and specialist teaching, which has also helped to upskill staff. Following pupil consultation, the school has refined the extensive range of opportunities it provides. These now include free clubs for ballet, cheerleading, short tennis, multi-skills and dodgeball. Last year, the school won the district sport competition for the first time.
• Provision for all pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is very well led and managed, including the allocation of the additional funding. The individual plans for the pupils are particularly effective in providing the right support.
• The curriculum offers an extensive range of learning experiences. Pupils make useful links between different areas of the curriculum, which consolidate their subject-specific skills. British values and the trust’s values of collaboration, challenge, perseverance and innovation permeate the curriculum. Pupils are encouraged to take charge of their own learning. They enjoy choosing from, and challenging themselves with, the options that teachers provide for them within every lesson. Extra-curricular activities, clubs, visits and visitors to the school supplement and extend pupils’ learning. During the inspection, Year 6 pupils were excitedly following up on the previous day’s visit to Chelmsford Museum, as part of their learning about the blitz.
• This rich and varied curriculum leads to high academic achievement across all subjects as well as successfully developing pupils’ personal and social skills. The importance of being a good, caring citizen is evident through the way that pupils engage and cooperate with each other. Pupils are very well prepared by the end of Year 6 for the next stage in their learning.
• Parents spoken to during the inspection and those who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, expressed overwhelming support for the school. They appreciate the wide-ranging opportunities given to their children and value the kindness, care and understanding shown by staff. A typical comment was: ‘Westwood Academy is an amazing school. I am so happy my son attends this school. I love the community spirit and the fact that all teachers know all pupils. Mr Archer is a fantastic headteacher who is well liked by the children.’

Governance of the school

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a high level of vigilance across the school. Leaders ensure that all staff receive regular and up-to-date training on all aspects of safeguarding pupils. Careful records show when staff have undertaken training and when this is due for renewal. All newly appointed staff and volunteers receive a thorough induction so that they understand their responsibilities for keeping children safe and know what to do if they have any concerns about pupils.
• Leaders are passionate about ensuring that children’s needs are met and persistent in how they follow up any safeguarding concerns to ensure that timely action is taken. Clear and detailed records are kept of the actions taken to support vulnerable pupils.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Consistently high-quality teaching is at the heart of the school’s success in ensuring that pupils make outstanding progress and achieve very well. Teachers and teaching assistants have very high expectations of what pupils can achieve.
• Teachers have excellent subject knowledge. This, combined with highly accurate assessment, enables teachers to plan and deliver well-structured learning, which challenges all pupils appropriately, including the most- and least-able. As a result, the interest and engagement of all pupils is sustained.
• The teaching for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities enables good progress from their starting points. The ‘One Plans’ identify the pupils’ individual needs and next steps accurately. The plans ensure that appropriate support and stimuli engage the pupils. The plans also help to build partnerships with home.
• Questioning is used by teachers and teaching assistants to check pupils’ understanding and to challenge them further. They provide good opportunities for pupils to engage in discussion in pairs and groups. This helps pupils to develop their reasoning skills.
• Teachers provide pupils with different challenges, according to their ability. This encourages pupils to take responsibility for their own learning by deciding which challenge would suit them best. Teachers skilfully guide younger pupils to decide which challenge is most appropriate for them. Older pupils increasingly take responsibility for their own learning by deciding their own level of challenge.
• Classroom environments are highly stimulating and provide excellent support for pupils’ learning. Displays, key questions, prompts and modelled examples help pupils to find answers and solve problems. They support the development of independence in learning very well.
• The teaching of reading across the school is very strong. Younger children make excellent progress with their early reading because of the systematic and rigorous approach to the teaching of phonics.
• Writing in topic work provides good opportunities for pupils to apply their writing skills and increases their experience of writing in different genres.
• In mathematics, pupils’ books across the school show good evidence of the impact of the new approach to improving reasoning skills. Additionally, a high level of challenge is evident. Pupils are encouraged to talk through their methods of calculation with their peers so they can learn from one another. Pupils in Year 6 gave highly confident explanations about their work, showing that they had an in-depth understanding of the concept of ratio and proportion.
• Checks on pupils’ progress are frequent and embedded into teachers’ daily practice. Guidance to pupils on how they can improve their work is clear and helpful. Pupils read and respond to teachers’ comments, which is very effective in supporting pupils’ learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• All staff share a strong commitment to supporting pupils’ emotional well-being. Adults know all pupils very well. Staff are well trained to identify and report concerns of any kind, which are acted upon in a timely manner.
• Pupils are confident and articulate when talking about their work. The school has a focus on promoting the key skills of collaboration, challenge, perseverance and innovation. The habits of successful learning are embedded early. From the Nursery upwards, children develop independence and perseverance in their learning.
• Relationships across the school are excellent. Pupils appreciate the care and understanding that staff show them. Pupils learn to appreciate the different views and beliefs of their peers and are kind to each other. Consequently, the school is a very harmonious place in which to learn, where everyone is valued for who they are.
• Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations in school, at home and online. In every lesson involving the use of information technology, teachers remind pupils what they should and should not do when working online. Those spoken to showed a clear understanding of online safety. During the inspection, all classes received road safety sessions. The school provides e-safety advice for parents, including workshops, which give ‘top tips’ for ensuring that their children stay safe when working online.
• Pupils say they feel safe and parents agree with this. Bullying, including discriminatory bullying, is very rare. Pupils are adamant that any concerns that they raise are dealt with quickly and resolved effectively.
• The breakfast club provides pupils with a good start to the day and ensures that pupils are ready for learning.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils’ conduct in lessons and around the school is never less than exemplary. Attitudes to learning are highly positive and make a strong contribution to pupils’ outstanding learning and progress. Parents, pupils and staff are overwhelmingly happy with the standard of behaviour in the school. The school is successful in meeting the needs of the small number of pupils who have difficulty in managing their own behaviour. High-quality adult support and skilled interventions enable the pupils to succeed.
• Attendance is higher than the national average, reflecting pupils’ enjoyment of attending school. No groups of pupils are disadvantaged by having low attendance. The school promotes the importance of attending regularly through its website and frequent newsletters. Any absences are assiduously tracked and the school works closely with parents who find it difficult to get their children to school on time.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Children start the school with the knowledge, skills and understanding that are below those typically seen. By the time they leave school at the end of Year 6, pupils are extremely well prepared for secondary school because of their high levels of achievement and their understanding of how to be successful learners. They achieve standards that are above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics as a result of the excellent progress they make in these subjects. This outstanding progress has been maintained over time.
• In 2017, the proportion of pupils who achieved both the expected and higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stages 1 and 2 was significantly above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who reach the standard in the Year 1 check of phonics knowledge and skills has remained consistently above the national average. Impressively, in 2017 all Year 1 pupils achieved the required standard. Pupils continue to enjoy and make progress in their reading throughout the school, becoming increasingly fluent. Pupils spoken to were excitedly looking forward to the completion of the relocation of the library.
• Evidence from book scrutiny and the school’s internal tracking information about current pupils’ progress indicates that outstanding achievement is being maintained across all classes in all subjects.Pupils apply their learning well and make connections between their learning. They practise and reinforce their skills in reading, writing and mathematics very well, so that they deepen their learning and understanding.
• The writing that pupils produce in all areas of the curriculum is of a high standard. Pupils apply their writing skills well, including writing in different genres. This is seen, for example, when they write reports on scientific experiments they have conducted.
• The progress that disadvantaged pupils make is at least as good as, and often better than, that of other pupils nationally. This is because the school meticulously monitors the progress of the pupils and identifies very precisely their individual needs. This means they receive exactly the right support to enable them to succeed.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress from their starting points.
• The most able pupils make outstanding progress, in line with their peers, as a result of excellent teaching, which provides them with appropriately high levels of challenge.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Many children enter the school with starting points that are below those typically seen. Careful observations and analysis of assessment ensure that leaders swiftly identify any gaps in children’s development. Effective adult support and provision are put in place to ensure that all children make the best possible progress. As a result, most achieve a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year and this proportion has been above the national average for three consecutive years.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 137030 Essex 10031549 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy converter 2 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 244 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Executive Headteacher Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mike Simmonds Simon Harbrow John Archer 01702 559467 www.westwoodacademy.org admin@westwoodacademy.org Date of previous inspection 20–21 September 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is lower than the national average.
• A large majority of pupils come from a White British background and the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is below the national average.
• The school meets the current government minimum floor standards for primary schools.
• Children in the early years attend full-time provision in the Reception class and part-time provision in the Nursery class.
• The school runs its own breakfast club and after-school provision.
• The school became an academy in September 2011 and is the lead school in the South Essex Academy Trust. The trust sponsors two other schools. Staff from Westwood Academy work closely with colleagues in the other schools.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching across the school in all classes. This included joint observations of learning with the headteacher and executive headteacher. Inspectors listened to pupils read and scrutinised work in pupils’ books in all current classes. They also looked at work that pupils had completed during the previous academic year.
• Inspectors talked to pupils about their experiences of school, with some conversations taking place during play, lunchtimes and around the school.
• Discussions took place informally with parents when they were delivering their children to school. Inspectors took account of 71 responses to the Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 53 electronic comments.
• Meetings were held with three directors and senior and middle leaders.
• Inspectors also took account of 34 responses to the staff survey and 43 responses to the pupil survey.
• A range of documentation was scrutinised. The documentation included all aspects of safeguarding pupils, the school’s information about pupils’ progress, school development plans and self-evaluations. External reports were also considered.

Inspection team

Joan Beale, lead inspector Annie Hookway Simon Webb

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector