Westcliff Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 24 September 2024

Westcliff Primary Academy is a welcoming place where pupils belong. Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and positive. This gives pupils the confidence to talk with adults if they have any worries. It contributes to pupils feeling valued and safe. Many parents and carers describe the school as nurturing and supportive. Since the previous inspection, pupils have not achieved well enough. The trust and new school leadership know this. They are working on the right things to bring about the necessary improvements. However, many positive changes have not had enough time to impact pupils' learning fully. Pupils are beginning to benefit from the recently developed 'The Westcliff Way'. It sets the tone for how the school expects pupils to learn and behave. Many pupils show 'growing respect' by holding doors open for others and saying thank you. However, some pupils lose focus in lessons and struggle to complete tasks to a high standard. This tends to happen when learning does not match pupils' needs well enough. The school supports pupils in being responsible and safe citizens. Enrichment activities, such as the Year 6 fundraising project, emphasise the importance of service to others. Visits from coastguards reinforce local beach safety.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, including mathematics, the school has not clearly identified or sequenced the important knowledge it wants pupils to learn. This makes it difficult for pupils to deepen and connect their knowledge well over time. The trust and school need to define clearly the important knowledge that pupils need to learn and ensure it is well sequenced and implemented by all staff.
• Some pupils' written work contains basic handwriting, spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. It also lacks pride. These errors are not routinely picked up by teachers. As a result, pupils repeat the same mistakes. The trust should ensure that the writing expectations across the curriculum are clearly established and teachers have the expertise to address errors.
• Some staff do not adapt learning well enough for different groups of pupils. As a result, pupils struggle to learn new concepts and lose concentration. The trust needs to ensure that staff understand how to tailor learning so that all groups of pupils build knowledge securely and focus on their learning across all subjects.
• In some subjects, assessment is not used with enough precision to check what pupils know and remember in lessons and over time. As a result, some pupils struggle to recall the essential knowledge they have learned before. The trust needs to ensure that staff are equipped with the knowledge to use assessment effectively to check on pupils' understanding over time and to inform future learning.

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