Ofsted inspectors praise staff and pupils at Southery Academy

A village school is celebrating a clean sweep of “Good” gradings across the board following its latest inspection.

Ofsted inspectors visited Southery Academy for two days last November and their published report is “Good” in all areas - quality of education, leadership and management, early years, behaviour and attitudes and personal development.

Paul Shanks, chief executive of the Eastern Multi-Academy Trust, of which the academy is a member, said: “We are delighted for the Southery Academy community that Ofsted has once again recognised that it is Good across all areas of its work. This outcome is a testament to the hard work of Mrs Huntington (principal) and her team in ensuring that the children receive a great education.”

The inspectors said pupils enjoy coming to school and enjoy learning the ambitious curriculum which has been thoroughly revised since the last inspection. Pupils achieve well because their learning builds gradually. They remember a lot of what they have learned and refer to this often.

The report said older pupils spoke positively about the changes made at the school.

“Pupils show care, consideration and courtesy to each other,” the inspectors said, adding that behaviour has improved in recent months. They also noted the school had made pupil wellbeing a “priority”, attendance is high and pupils look forward to coming to school.

Inspectors said the school had been through a “period of substantial change” over the last three years with a new curriculum, teaching staff and leadership team.

Leadership and some staff are now shared with another school in the trust which has led to increased stability in staffing and improved leadership capacity - helping the school improve the quality of education, the report says.

The reading curriculum is “well-thought out and planned”, inspectors said and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are fully included in school life and early years children get off to a positive start and are enthusiastic about learning.

Principal Elaine Huntington said: “I am so very proud of the children and what they have achieved, and especially of our super staff team who work tirelessly for the good of our school. We are all delighted that the inspection team recognised the period of substantial change that the school has been through in the last three years, which has resulted in the school improving the quality of education we offer pupils.

“Pupils behave well and show care, consideration and courtesy to each other. In our small, rural school, we are proud to work together for our children and enjoy the support our parents and community give us too.”

In commenting on areas for improvement, the inspectors said not all staff have a “unified approach to behaviour management and routines in class” which means pupils do not always learn as much as they could because “time is sometimes wasted between activities and lessons”.

“The trust needs to ensure that there is a consistent approach across the school so that learning time is maximised,” inspectors said.

Also, some parents are not as confident as the staff and pupils in the positive impact of the changes made at the school. They have not received all of the information they need to appreciate the changes and improvements seen which can lead to some parents questioning and mistrusting the decisions made, inspectors said.

“The school needs to improve communication with parents to allow them to work together effectively, support the school and have confidence in the changes made,” the report said.

The academy, for four to 11 year-olds, has 93 pupils on its roll. It was previously inspected in January 2019.