Beckmead Park Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Staff are ambitious for pupils. They help pupils to learn successfully. Staff understand pupils' needs well and cater for each pupil individually.

Staff and pupils are respectful towards each other. This helps pupils to feel happy and secure in school. They respond well to the personal approach.

Pupils enjoy learning. They take pride in their high-quality work in books.

Staff have a shared understanding of the high expectations of pupils' behaviour in and around the school.

The school is calm. Pupils respond positively to the routines and clear directions that are in place. They celebrate the achievements of their peers in lessons and during whole-sc...hool assemblies.

Pupils confidently express how they feel, including emotions such as anger, anxiety and sadness.

Pupils feature strongly in all aspects of school life. They experience a range of opportunities to support their personal development.

Pupils learn cooking skills and experience outdoor pursuits such as horse riding. They particularly value their swimming lessons and opportunities to develop strong physical skills.

The school prepares pupils well for adulthood and their next steps of education, training and employment.

Pupils receive helpful guidance through a well-thought-out careers programme. They learn the value of enterprise and financial management.

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

The school has secure systems in place to identify pupils' special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Staff support pupils well to achieve goals established in their education, health and care plans. Staff help pupils know what they need to do to improve their learning.

The school has undertaken a detailed review of the curriculum.

Staff have carefully considered the important knowledge and skills they want pupils to know and understand. Staff revisit key content in the curriculum. Pupils' learning builds logically over time.

This helps pupils to learn successfully and draw on what they remember to inform new learning experiences. Staff teach pupils to apply knowledge and skills in new ways and in different contexts. Teachers use a range of sensory and practical activities to immerse pupils in purposeful learning experiences.

The school prioritises developing pupils' phonics knowledge and follows a systematic synthetic phonics programme. Pupils in the primary phase develop their phonics knowledge well and with increasing accuracy in fluency. Staff help pupils in the primary phase who have fallen behind to catch up in their reading.

This, however, is not fully embedded across other key stages for pupils who need additional support in reading. Staff provide regular opportunities for pupils to read aloud in class. Pupils are exposed to a range of carefully selected high-quality texts.

They read with a smile and enthusiasm. There has been an increase in the number of pupils successfully entered for the end-of-key stage assessments and examinations.Staff communicate the school's high expectations of behaviour clearly.

Staff and pupils contribute to the positive school culture that exists. Staff manage low-level disruptions subtly, but firmly. They show great care for pupils.

They encourage pupils to be confident, resilient and believe that they can achieve highly. Staff encourage pupils to make the right choices. Staff use positive language and praise well.

The school takes appropriate actions to support parents in making sure pupils attend regularly. However, some levels of persistent absence remain high.

The school's well-considered personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education curriculum supports pupils in their personal development.

A focus on developing pupils' character features strongly in all aspects of school life. The school's careers education helps pupils prepare well for adulthood. They develop crucial independent life skills, including financial management.

There have been some significant changes to the school's leadership and staffing since the last inspection. Those responsible for governance have overseen these challenges and managed them well. The school is led by caring leaders who have an accurate overview of the school.

Leaders and staff receive strong support from governors and trustees. Together, they share an ambitious vision for pupils and a commitment to driving continued improvements.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes structured opportunities for pupils to develop their reading skills, including reading across the curriculum, are not securely in place. This means occasionally some pupils are not appropriately supported in strengthening their reading skills. The school should continue to develop its approach to teaching reading across the curriculum so that all pupils develop their reading skills deeply.