Orchards Church of England Academy in Wisbech gets a ‘good’ from Ofsted as inspectors recognise progress

A Fenland school has gone from requiring improvement to ‘Good’ across all areas in just two years.

The Orchards Church of England Academy in Wisbech was visited by the Government’s Ofsted inspectors in November last year.

Their report, published today, described the school as welcoming and said pupils enjoy attending.

It said they form positive relationships with adults and each other and added that pupils are polite and well-mannered.

The report said: “Pupils are benefiting from the recent changes the school has made to the curriculum. The school has raised its expectations of what all pupils can achieve.

“Pupils learn well across many subject areas. However, this improved learning is not fully reflected in published outcomes.”

When the school was previously inspected in July 2022 the quality of education provided was rated as ‘requires improvement’, and while the school was ‘good’ in all other areas including leadership and behaviour it was rated as ‘requires improvement’ overall.

Since then there have been changes to the Ofsted rules and schools are no longer given an overall rating.

But the inspection in November last year found it was ‘good’ in all areas including the quality of education.

The inspectors said: “Leaders have taken effective action to improve many aspects of the curriculum. With the support of the Diocesse of Ely Multi-academy Trust, the school has ensured that the curriculum makes clear what pupils need to know and when they need to know it.

Pupils access a broad and balanced curriculum offer. These improvements are spreading to other areas of the curriculum.

“Previous published outcomes do not reflect the good quality of education that pupils now receive. Older pupils, including previous cohorts of pupils, have had less time than other pupils to fully benefit from the improvements the school has made to the curriculum.”

The Orchards has a significant number of pupils with special needs and also those who speak English as an additional language.

The report said: “The school has developed effective ways to identify the varying needs of these pupils, including support with language and communication. Staff identify the best ways in which pupils’ needs can be met. The school puts in place regular, bespoke support for these pupils. This helps these pupils to progress well through the curriculum.”

It also recognised that pupils who need extra support, receive it quickly, although there is room for improvement in the early stages, where pupils learning to read and write do not get enough opportunities to practise this learning independently.

When it comes to pupil absence this is still higher than the school would like

However, the report said: “The school checks attendance and punctuality closely. It uses these checks to work with families to improve attendance and to overcome barriers. Although absence remains higher than the school would like, increasing numbers of pupils are attending every day and on time as a result of the school’s actions.”

The inspectors found the school to be calm and orderly during their visit and said: “Expectations and routines are well established from the start of children’s time in the early years.”

In conclusion the report said the school needs to work with staff to provide greater opportunity for pupils to apply their skills in reading and writing to help increase fluency and independence before moving on to more complex learning.