New Ollerton school off to a 'Good' start with Ofsted in 2025

Parkgate Academy on Whinney Lane, which is part of The Forge Trust, was described as a ‘caring and ambitious school where everyone is made to feel welcome’.

Inspectors said: “Developing a sense of belonging and creating a safe climate for learning are at the core of all of the school’s work.

"The school has high expectations for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, to obtain the best possible outcomes.

"Pupils live up to this expectation and achieve well.

“One pupil told the inspector, ‘the best thing about Parkgate is the teachers, they help you with everything: your work, if you are upset and if you need to calm down.’

"The school’s high behaviour expectations are consistently followed by all staff and pupils aspire to be the best version of themselves.

"They consistently treat each other and adults with courtesy and respect.”

The report noted that the school ‘fosters a love of reading’ and that the school library incorporates a community library which is led by the school’s ‘reading champion’, helping to promote the importance of reading at home.

Inspectors said the school’s curriculum is ‘ambitious and well sequenced’ and that ‘important knowledge that pupils should know and remember builds progressively from the reception year onwards’.

They continued: “Teachers use a range of methods to check how well pupils are remembering what they have been taught.

"Pupils say that the ‘three thinkers’ questions at the start of some lessons really help them to recap previous learning and to ‘jog their memory’.

"In some subjects, however, eachers do not always present information to pupils clearly.

"The school monitors the quality of teaching in every subject.

"These checks do not always lead to the actions needed to remove inconsistencies in teaching and learning.

"The school works proactively with a range of external professionals to ensure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive the support they need and pupils with SEND achieve well.

"The school, with the support of the trust, continues to refine the systems and approaches it uses to track and improve attendance.

"The school works proactively with families but, despite the school’s best efforts, the number of pupils who are persistently absent remains too high.

"The school’s personal development offer is a strength.

"The school carefully plans opportunities to broaden pupils’ horizons and to promote aspiration.”

On where it needed to improve, inspectors said the school need to tackle the problem of too many pupils being ‘persistently absent from school’ and address ‘inconsistency in the quality of teaching in some subjects’.

Reece Davy, school principal, said: “As a school and as a trust, we firmly believe in promoting high standards and hard work which the staff and the children at Parkgate have completely lived up to.

"As principal, I feel extremely proud that The Parkgate Academy is getting the recognition that it deserves for the unwavering determination all staff show.

"From here, we want to go from strength to strength and to strive to provide the best possible education for the children of Ollerton and surrounding areas.”