Longthorpe Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 24 April 2024

Pupils from varying backgrounds come together as one big family at Longthorpe. They celebrate diversity and understand each other's differences. They learn about why people might have different opinions and how to debate and discuss these, while still remaining friends. This helps prepare them well to be good citizens. Pupils are happy and safe at school. They have friendly relationships with one another. Younger pupils are confident and enthusiastic to tell adults about how they enjoy school. Older pupils support younger ones as part of the playground buddy system. Pupils all feel that staff will listen and help to resolve their worries. Pupils are eager to learn and typically behave well. Staff provide further structure and support where pupils need it, such as with lunchtime football. This ensures that any disagreements are quickly resolved. Pupils achieve well, overall. They build their knowledge across all subjects effectively. However, the quality of writing they produce could be better as it is not of a consistently high standard across subjects. Pupils enjoy the range of trips and clubs that are on offer because they allow them to make friends and try new things, such as singing in a choir.

What the school should improve

• The school has not ensured there is an effective enough approach to developing pupils' writing. As a result, pupils sometimes produce writing that is lacking in the necessary quality and depth as they have not developed their writing skills as well as they should. The school needs to ensure that a clear and suitable approach to developing writing is put in place, across the school, so that pupils develop the quality and depth of their writing consistently well.
• The outdoor area in early years does not provide children with high-quality opportunities for physical development. As a result, children do not develop their gross motor skills as well as they might. The school needs to ensure that the outdoor area is further developed to provide children with a range of ways to support children's physical development as effectively as other areas of learning.

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