Port Isaac Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 April 2026

Pupils enjoy attending this welcoming school where everyone is included. Leaders have made bringing the school together a priority. This has helped pupils to have a deep sense of belonging at Port Isaac where they value being part of the school community. This view is echoed by parents and carers. Pupils develop warm, positive relationships with staff that helps them to feel safe and well looked after. Pupils are confident that staff will help them if they have any worries or concerns. Children in the early years get off to a positive start. However, further up the school, pupils do not learn the curriculum as well. Leaders have acted quickly since the school joined the trust to support a period of staff turbulence and to take steps to address historic weaknesses. New leaders, including the head of school and executive headteacher, have identified the improvements needed and taken steps to address these. Their focus on improving pupils’ behaviour has resulted in a calm and orderly school where pupils behave well and want to learn. However, some changes that have been introduced are recent and so there has not been enough time to see the impact on pupils’ learning. As a result, many pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, lack the knowledge and skills they need. Pupils are kind towards each other and bullying is not a concern for them. They enjoy social times where the older pupils play well with younger pupils. For example, older pupils show real care towards the youngest children in early years when they choose to play football. Pupils value the trips to enhance the curriculum, such as whole school theatre visits and residentials.

What the school should improve

• Leaders, including the trust, need to continue to provide robust support and challenge of the school checking the impact of this work so that this leads to rapid and sustained improvements.
• Leaders should develop staff expertise in supporting the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and check with rigour that curriculum adaptations and targeted support closely match what pupils need to learn the curriculum securely.
• Leaders should raise expectations further of what pupils can achieve and ensure staff check carefully how well pupils are learning the curriculum so that pupils build their knowledge securely across subjects.
• Leaders need to ensure that pupils with significant gaps in handwriting, spelling and punctuation are given the support they need to become accurate and fluent writers across the curriculum.

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