Boston Pioneers Free School Academy
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

Primary
PUPILS
404
AGES
4 - 11
GENDER
Mixed
TYPE
Free schools
SCHOOL GUIDE RATING
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Can I Get My Child Into This School?

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This pupil heat map shows where pupils currently attending the school live.
The concentration of pupils shows likelihood of admission based on distance criteria

Source: All attending pupils National School Census Data, ONS
01522 782030

This School Guide heat map has been plotted using official pupil data taken from the last School Census collected by the Department for Education. It is a visualisation of where pupils lived at the time of the annual School Census.

Our heat maps use groups of postcodes, not individual postcodes, and have naturally soft edges. All pupils are included in the mapping (i.e. children with siblings already at the school, high priority pupils and selective and/or religious admissions) but we may have removed statistical ‘outliers’ with more remote postcodes that do not reflect majority admissions.

For some schools, the heat map may be a useful indicator of the catchment area but our heat maps are not the same as catchment area maps. Catchment area maps, published by the school or local authority, are based on geographical admissions criteria and show actual cut-off distances and pre-defined catchment areas for a single admission year.

This information is provided as a guide only. The criteria in which schools use to allocate places in the event that they are oversubscribed can and do vary between schools and over time. These criteria can include distance from the school and sometimes specific catchment areas but can also include, amongst others, priority for siblings, children of a particular faith or specific feeder schools. Living in an area where children have previously attended a school does not guarantee admission to the school in future years. Always check with the school’s own admission authority for the current admission arrangements.

3 steps to help parents gather catchment information for a school:

  1. Look at our school catchment area guide for more information on heat maps. They give a useful indicator of the general areas that admit pupils to the school. This visualisation is based on all attending pupils present at the time of the annual School Census.
  2. Use the link to the Local Authority Contact (above) to find catchment area information based on a single admission year. This is very important if you are considering applying to a school.
  3. On each school page, use the link to visit the school website and find information on individual school admissions criteria. Geographical criteria are only applied after pupils have been admitted on higher priority criteria such as Looked After Children, SEN, siblings, etc.

How Does The School Perform?

Good
NATIONAL AVG. 2.09
Ofsted Inspection
(22/01/2019)
Full Report - All Reports
45%
NATIONAL AVG. 60%
% pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics



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Progress Compared With All Other Schools

UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Average (About 67% of schools in England) Above Average (About 6% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 9% of schools in England) UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 10% of schools in England) Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Average (About 67% of schools in England) Above Average (About 6% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 8% of schools in England) UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 10% of schools in England) Below Average (About 11% of schools in England) Average (About 59% of schools in England) Above Average (About 11% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 9% of schools in England)
Fydell Crescent
Boston
PE21 8SS
01205353062

School Description

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You lead the school very well. The vast majority of parents and carers and staff regard your leadership highly. You have ensured that leadership roles are much more effectively shared than at the time of the previous inspection, and subject leaders are now making an important contribution to the quality of teaching and learning within their subjects. The Boston Witham Academy Trust provides a high-quality source of challenge and support for the school. Governance at trustee level and at the level of the local governing body is also effective. The governing body is well organised and knows about the school in detail. You have ensured that all leaders are fully aware of exactly where further improvements are needed and where to focus their efforts to make the school better. Regular checks are carried out, so that other leaders and class teachers know which particular pupils are at risk of not doing as well as they could in their learning. Leaders ensure that additional support is provided for those pupils who need it most. You have established strong procedures to keep a close eye on the progress of groups of pupils, such as disadvantaged pupils or the large proportion of pupils who joined the school with little spoken English. All groups of pupils make good progress in their learning as they move through the school. Pupils are very polite and helpful to one another and to adults. They work hard and concentrate in lessons and take their learning seriously. They show respect for the safety of other pupils and act safely themselves. The school is a very caring school and is closely focused on the needs of all pupils. Staff make a great deal of effort to promote pupils’ personal development and well-being. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is well provided for. Pupils enjoy school and respond well to the strong procedures established to ensure that they attend regularly. Rates of attendance are gradually rising. This year, attendance was a little higher than the most recent national average. The quality of teaching and the use of assessment are good. Pupils are given clear guidance on how to improve their work and how to move their learning forward. Some teachers are highly skilled at drawing on pupils’ mistakes and misconceptions to present and explain knowledge and concepts in a way that is easier for pupils to understand. This is a key factor in helping pupils to make good progress. The school’s focus on helping pupils develop their skills in speaking and listening is helping to develop their general confidence in their use of English. The school teaches reading well. Good-quality phonics teaching in younger classes and daily reading sessions help pupils to develop their reading skills well; pupils enjoy reading. Pupils respond well to the rewards you provide for reading regularly. Although pupils mostly make good progress in their writing, their attainment is not as high in writing as it is in reading and mathematics. This is particularly the case in Year 5, where standards of writing are below those expected for pupils of this age. The work you are doing to improve standards of writing is beginning to bear fruit. More pupils are on track to attain greater depth in their learning than in previous years. This is especially the case in Year 2. Because provision in early years is good, children enjoy their learning in Reception and make good progress. They are responding well to the school’s efforts to raise expectations. Children play and learn happily in Reception and behave well and do as they are told. Standards of care and safety are high, and the Reception classroom areas provide a good-quality learning environment for the children. On occasion, adults do not sufficiently use what they know about the learning of individual children to move their learning forward quickly, for example by asking carefully tailored questions when children are working independently. Almost all the parents I spoke to regard the school very highly and the school’s recent survey of parents’ views supports this view. The pupils I spoke to were very proud to be ‘Pioneers’ and older pupils said that they wished there were a ‘Pioneers’ secondary school that they could go to when they leave. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that safeguarding arrangements fully meet requirements and are fit for purpose. Record keeping is meticulous, and records are detailed. A strong culture of safeguarding is evident throughout the school. Because training is effective, all staff understand their responsibilities and the school’s procedures for keeping pupils safe in school. The governing body, staff from the Boston Witham Academy Trust and the school administrator and senior leaders all carry out their safeguarding roles effectively. Regular checks are carried out that safeguarding arrangements are robust and effective. Inspection findings The strong emphasis on teaching phonics in the early years foundation stage and key stage 1 has paid dividends and Year 1 pupils progress well to attain the expected standards in the Year 1 phonics screening check. Pupils in Year 2 this year are progressing well in reading, writing and mathematics and more pupils are achieving greater depth, particularly in their reading and mathematics. Achievement in writing is not quite as strong. In key stage 2, pupils also make good progress, especially in their reading and mathematics. Pupils’ work and the school’s accurate assessments show that the proportion of pupils attaining standards expected for their age is growing. However, in Year 5, standards, particularly in writing, remain below those that are typical for pupils of this age. Disadvantaged pupils do particularly well due to effective use of the pupil premium funding. The individual support provided for disadvantaged Year 1 pupils who are behind with their reading has been beneficial. Many pupils who received this support made very good progress in their reading and caught up with other pupils. Teachers assess pupils’ work carefully and accurately. They provide good-quality guidance to pupils on how they should improve their work. Some teachers are not as skilled as others in carrying out the school’s policy of identifying misconceptions and mistakes in order to help pupils avoid common errors and to learn from their mistakes. The approach to monitoring and evaluation of the quality of teaching has been effective in identifying where improvement is required. Staff have responded well to feedback and training to improve their practice. Senior leaders are demonstrating good capacity to continue to improve the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes in the future. Staff appreciate the good-quality guidance they receive on how to continually improve their skills in teaching. You not only provide high-quality coaching for staff personally, but also help other leaders improve provision in their areas of responsibility. You have ensured that staff continually hone their skills as teachers and learn from one another. You have been very effective in ensuring that staff assess pupils’ learning accurately. Staff not only work with other staff in the school, but also work with teachers in other schools, to check that they assess work accurately. You keep a continual check on the accuracy of teachers’ assessments and this means that your school records provide an accurate picture of the progress pupils make in their learning. The changes you have led in early years are beginning to bear fruit and children are achieving better than previously. There is, however, more to be done to provide the best quality of support for learning through play, when children are working independently.

Boston Pioneers Free School Academy Parent Reviews



unlock % Parents Recommend This School
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>55, "agree"=>31, "disagree"=>14, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>52, "agree"=>41, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>59, "agree"=>24, "disagree"=>10, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>7} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>55, "agree"=>38, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>48, "agree"=>48, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>34, "agree"=>62, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>45, "agree"=>41, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>7} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>34, "agree"=>48, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>7, "dont_know"=>7} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>45, "agree"=>38, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>10} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>55, "agree"=>21, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>10, "dont_know"=>10} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>45, "agree"=>34, "disagree"=>14, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019
Yes No {"yes"=>86, "no"=>14} UNLOCK Figures based on 29 responses up to 25-01-2019

Responses taken from Ofsted Parent View

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