Wisbech primary school 'requires improvement': Ofsted verdict

A Wisbech primary school has been told by Ofsted inspectors that it needs to improve.

While they rated Orchards Church of England Academy as ‘good’ in four categories, the report stated that its overall effectiveness ‘requires improvement’ along with the quality of education it is providing.

The school has been open since 2018 and currently has around 400 pupils aged from two to 11 years.

The categories which were rated as good were behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and also early years provision.

It described the school community as harmonious and said that the pupils are happy there and behave in a calm orderly way.

It had positive remarks about the nursery provision and said the school is well led and managed. Leaders are working to grow engagement with parents and carers and the community and events such as coffee mornings are having a positive impact on this.

But it also said: “In the past, expectations of what pupils can achieve have not been high enough. As a result, pupils have not learned as much as they should have. Pupils now have to spend time catching up on what they should already have been taught.

And it made the point: “Teachers do not use assessment information effectively enough to adapt learning to meet pupils’ needs. As a result, some pupils are either not challenged enough, or do not secure knowledge and skills effectively.

“Leaders need to ensure that teachers use assessment information effectively to adapt planned teaching, so that lessons are well matched to pupils’ needs.

“Teachers’ delivery of the curriculum is inconsistent due to variability in the depth of their subject knowledge. The impact of this is that pupils have mixed levels of interest and they achieve inconsistent outcomes.”

It continued: “Leaders need to ensure that all teachers have the necessary depth of subject knowledge to teach the curriculum effectively and that this impacts positively on pupils’ achievement of high-quality outcomes.”

Headteacher Sarah Cullen said: “While of course it’s disappointing to have an overall rating of requires improvement, it’s also important to highlight that the school is rated good in 4 out of 5 individual areas. The report highlights so many positives – from work done to improve the curriculum, the love of reading shared by all pupils and their happiness and wellbeing within the school. The report also makes it clear that staff are dedicated to improving areas that require attention.

“We take on board all feedback and I am confident that both myself, leaders at the Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust and my wider team of staff have the skills, passion and dedication to continue to build on the very good learning environment we are now creating at Orchard Primary School.”