Birley Spa Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 22 November 2023

Birley Spa Primary Academy is a positive and supportive place to learn. Pupils enjoy positive relationships with each other and bullying is rare. Pupils have a clear sense of right and wrong. They work, and play, happily together. Most pupils behave well and enjoy school. In some lessons, there are incidents of behaviour that can disrupt learning. Pupils trust adults to deal with any incidents of misbehaviour quickly. The school has strategies in place to continue to improve behaviour and attitudes. The school prioritises pupils' well-being. Pupils learn how to understand and manage their emotions. Pupils become confident and resilient. This work begins right from the start of school. Children in the early years quickly settle into expected routines. Children in Reception show positive attitudes to their learning. The school's provision for pupils' personal development is strong. Pupils take full advantage of the wide range of activities on offer at the school. These activities include visiting an orchestra, going on residential trips and working with a yoga therapist. The school has high expectations for pupils' achievement. The curriculum is broad and ambitious. However, in some subjects, pupils do not learn key concepts as securely as they need to. Leaders at all levels are taking the correct actions to move the school forward. The school is in the middle of reviewing its curriculum and how it is delivered. The impact of this work is beginning to be seen.

What the school should improve

• The medium-term plans for some subjects in the wider curriculum do not define precisely what children should know. Therefore, teachers do not always teach what is intended. This means that pupils do not have the knowledge needed to access new learning and can miss some key learning of concepts. The school needs to provide teachers with more detail about the precise knowledge they want pupils to know and remember.
• In some lessons, opportunities for checking what pupils know and can do are sometimes missed. This means that pupils' misconceptions are not always rectified both at the point of learning and after. The school should ensure that teachers are supported to check pupils' understanding systematically in lessons and use this information to quickly address misconceptions or gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• There is some inconsistency in how the behaviour policy is applied across the school. As a result, some low-level behaviours are not always addressed as quickly as they should be. The school should ensure that there are consistently high expectations for pupils' behaviour in all classes so that pupils across the school behave well in all lessons.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)