Beacon View Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Beacon View enjoy coming to their school. They are proud of it and keen to explain why.

They particularly like meeting visitors to the school. These have recently included an author and a mobile farm. Pupils learn about their local community through such experiences.

Staff know the pupils extremely well. They use this knowledge to form strong relationships with families. This means that from the moment pupils start school, whether this in early years or later, they are nurtured and cared for.

As one parent said, 'My child has thrived in school and looks forward to attending every day.'

Pupils and their families appreciate the significant i...mprovements in behaviour. Pupils are clear what leaders expect of them.

The school's values of respect, responsibility and resilience permeate daily school life. Pupils know who to talk to if they have any worries. They understand that bullying is not accepted.

Pupils are rightly confident that staff deal quickly with any incidents of unkind behaviour. As a result, pupils feel safe at school.

Pupils are enthusiastic about their learning and work hard.

However, leaders recognise that pupils do not always achieve as well as they could. They have well-considered plans to address this, but many developments are in their early stages.

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

Leaders have made significant improvements to the school, following a lengthy period of instability.

They expect children from Nursery upwards to come to school regularly and behave well. The atmosphere in school has been transformed. Classrooms are calm and playtimes are enjoyable.

Attendance is improving and the number of suspensions has fallen dramatically. Leaders know exactly what to do to improve pupils' learning. They are sensibly using the trust's curriculum planning, alongside published schemes, to structure teaching.

Leaders know these changes are in their early stages.

Over time, pupils have not achieved as well as they could in English and mathematics. Leaders have now made sure that the curriculum content is clear and staff are well trained in teaching it and checking on pupils' learning.

However, because these are recent changes, pupils have not yet had time to be able to catch up with their learning. Teachers take this into account and adjust their teaching. The recently appointed special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) is working hard to help teachers to identify pupils who need extra help with their learning.

This includes supporting staff, so that they can meet the needs of pupils with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Leaders prioritise reading and help pupils to develop a love for it. Pupils enjoy voting for their class stories and can explain why they choose them.

However, a significant number of pupils across the school are not yet reading as well as they should be.Leaders have introduced a new phonics scheme to address this. Staff have been trained well in the scheme and make sure pupils read books that match the sounds they are learning.

Pupils know their new reading routines and enjoy learning their sounds with 'Fred the frog'. Older pupils who need help with their reading now receive it. These improvements are, though, very recent and yet to make up for past weaknesses.

Pupils learn well in some subjects, where curriculum thinking has been in place for a while. In other subjects, however, planning has only recently been introduced. Subject leaders are also mostly new to their role and are still in the process of sharing the content with teachers.

This means that teachers are not always sure about what pupils need to know and remember. As a result, in these subjects pupils are not learning as well as they should be.

Pupils' personal development is a high priority.

Leaders plan opportunities to broaden pupils' experiences. For example, pupils visit Southsea Castle and Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard. These trips help pupils to grow an awareness of their local area and how it has changed over time.

Year 5 pupils participate in a residential trip to the Isle of Wight, where they spend time away from home with their friends. They benefit from the confidence this gives them and the social skills they develop.

Leaders carefully plan professional development for staff.

This has a clear focus on improving teaching, so that pupils learn well over time. Staff workload is considered and they feel well supported by leaders. Governors and leaders work together to improve the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders consider pupils' safety at all times. There is a school-wide atmosphere of vigilance and support.

Regular training and information sharing mean that all staff know how to identify and report any concerns. Leaders communicate well with other agencies to make sure families receive help. They know their families well and use this knowledge to get the right support for them.

Pupils learn about how to keep safe online. They know what to do if they are worried about anything they come across. Governors are clear about their safeguarding responsibilities.

They regularly examine the school's procedures, including those for recruiting new staff.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Improvements to the curriculum in reading, writing and mathematics have only recently been introduced. There are too many pupils who are not reaching the standards they should.

Leaders should ensure that these improvements are embedded, so that gaps in pupils' knowledge and skills are addressed and pupils learn the intended curriculum ? Many of the leaders of foundation subjects lack experience. This hinders the pace of change to improve pupils' learning. Senior leaders should continue to develop subject leaders' knowledge of how pupils learn in their subject and their skills to lead and support staff to improve the curriculum.