Inspectors tell school it needs improvement

Boothroyd Primary Academy was visited by inspectors from the education watchdog, Ofsted, who found the outcome for pupils was also a cause for concern.

While key areas such as pupils’ behaviour and the school’s leadership were found to be good, the overall outcome was that the Temple Road school ‘required improvement’.

It is not the first time the school has been highlighted for underachieving, after being included in a list of Kirklees schools in 2013 that was failing to reach the basic standards.

The 550-pupil school on Temple Road converted to an academy in 2013 and is part of the Focus-Trust.

Tracey Thornton, of Focus-Trust, said the school had initially been marked down as ‘good’ after the visit, but was downgraded because of a lack of evidence to support the original mark.

She added: “Since Kyrstie Joslin’s appointment as principal in September 2014 there have been significant changes made to improve the quality of teaching and learning and outcomes for pupils and this was recognised by the inspection team.”

Helen Rowland, Focus-Trust chief executive added: “The trust is supporting the ongoing improvement at Boothroyd Primary Academy.

“A detailed action plan is already in place to secure further accelerated progress so that Boothroyd Primary Academy will quickly receive the ‘good’ judgement it deserves. We are committed to ensuring that all our children make progress.”