Strand Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 20 January 2026

A warm welcome is provided to pupils each morning as they enter school. Staff know pupils and their families well. Pupils are well cared for and valued as individuals. They enjoy coming to school and attend regularly. Pupils feel safe and nurtured. They come to school keen to learn and enjoy being with their friends. Pupils are proud of their positive behaviour at school. They engage well in lessons and play collaboratively on the playground during social times. Incidents of bullying are rare. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils, receive the support and care that they need. This helps to reduce any barriers to their learning and wellbeing. Leaders are ambitious for pupils and have swiftly identified where improvements are needed to ensure that more pupils achieve in line with national expectations by the end of key stage 2. The impact of this work is clear. Improvements to the curriculum and teaching mean that pupils typically develop the knowledge that they need to be ready for their next steps. Pupils achieve well across a range of different subjects. Pupils benefit from a wide-ranging offer of experiences that support them to develop knowledge and skills such as teamwork, resilience and self-belief. These experiences have been carefully designed so that pupils of all ages broaden their knowledge of the wider world. Pupils take part in a range of leadership opportunities. They feel their voice is heard at school, for example in contributing to decision-making about improvements to the school playground. Pupils also become reading or attendance ambassadors. Alongside the pupil leadership team, they are active in making improvements and supporting their peers. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should continue to support older pupils who have not benefited from the improved writing curriculum over time to address gaps in their spelling knowledge to ensure that an increased proportion of pupils achieve more highly. • Leaders should further support staff to check that, in some wider curriculum subjects, pupils have secured their prior knowledge before introducing new concepts and learning so that pupils’ new learning successfully builds on what they already know.

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