Following a Section 8 Ofsted inspection on 16th October, the Inspector has today released their findings. This comes one day after the Principal, Rod Hoddle, resigned from his post.
Writing to the acting Principal, Mrs Price, the Inspector said,
“You, your senior leaders and members of the governing body have taken effective action to ensure that those areas that were identified as weaknesses at the previous section 5 inspection are being addressed quickly.”
They go on to add,
“Although developing well, the quality of middle leadership is currently too variable.”
Improvements seen
Many improvements were noted by the Inspector, including,
- Students look smarter and, in general, conduct themselves more maturely.
- Staff and students are now prouder of the academy, and relationships are more respectful and productive.
- As a result, behaviour in lessons and around the school is much better.
- Systems for gathering information about students’ progress have improved.
- Students feel safer in those areas of the academy campus that were identified as problematic.
- Students said that lessons are now more ‘fun’, especially when teachers plan practical or varied approaches to learning.
- The quality of teaching is more consistent.
Weaknesses that need improvement
There are still some areas that need improvement. Full details in the report embedded below, but here a sample:
- The quality of teaching is improving but at a slower rate than other areas of the academy’s work.
- There is too much variation in the way teachers use information about students’ prior learning to plan lessons that meet the needs of students of different abilities.
- In some lessons, students are too passive.
- Although behaviour has improved, students report that in a minority of lessons their learning is disrupted by low-level poor behaviour.
- Younger students say that the behaviour of some older students is often inconsiderate or overly physical.
