Brayton Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Brayton Academy has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

The principal at the school is Paul Carney.

The school is part of the Resilience Multi-Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Saira Luffman, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Annette Hall.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at the school are confident, resilient and respectful.

Staff have high expectations of how pupils should behave and what they can achieve. The vast majority of pupils, including the most disadvanta...ged, meet these expectations. Many pupils achieve exceptionally well across a wide range of subjects.

Pupils have the skills, knowledge and personal attributes to be highly successful in their future endeavours.

The school provides high-quality pastoral support. This includes teaching pupils the importance of physical exercise and good mental health.

Staff ensure that pupils thrive, academically and personally. Pupils share warm, positive relationships with staff and their peers. Pupils conduct themselves exceptionally well and are attentive in lessons.

The school has fostered a calm and purposeful learning community where pupils feel safe.

Pupils benefit from many unique experiences during their time at school. These include a 'Resilience Camp' when they first join Year 7.

Pupils build their teamwork skills and learn to overcome challenges. Visiting speakers, engineering workshops, a school rock band and allotment all develop pupils' talents and interests. Older pupils understand the importance of challenging inequality.

Bullying is rare at the school. Pupils respect each other's uniqueness. They appreciate how these skills prepare them for life beyond education.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school's curriculum has undergone significant change in recent times. Many pupils learn a wide range of subjects and experience new opportunities through the school's personal development programme. However, the school has recognised that this has limited some pupils' exposure to important curriculum content, particularly in computing and religious education (RE).

The school has addressed these issues rapidly and more pupils now learn a broad and balanced curriculum.

Pupils learn the curriculum well. This is because staff introduce new knowledge and skills carefully so that pupils remember what they have been taught.

Staff regularly revisit prior learning and check for gaps in pupils' understanding. Adaptations made for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are highly effective. Staff know precisely what support pupils need to be successful in their studies.

This includes helping pupils at an early stage of learning to read become confident and fluent readers.

The school has developed effective strategies to support disadvantaged pupils to progress well through the curriculum. These include securing high levels of attendance and positive behaviour.

Some strategies to support disadvantaged pupils' academic achievement are more recent. These have begun to have a positive impact on how well these pupils achieve.

Leaders know what is working well at the school and what needs to be refined.

For example, the school has reviewed what it teaches pupils in personal, social and health education (PSHE) as well as in relationships and sex education (RSE). This curriculum now contains a greater focus on important aspects of life in modern Britain. Pupils are confident to discuss many of these topics.

However, their knowledge of other faiths and cultures remains underdeveloped.

The school prepares pupils well for their next steps in education, employment and training. All pupils receive independent careers advice.

Vulnerable pupils, including those with SEND, receive additional help in choosing their next steps. The school continues to develop its careers education so that pupils have access to a broader range of careers experiences. This includes visits to further education establishments to raise pupils' aspirations.

Staff value the ongoing training opportunities they receive. The school has identified where additional professional development is required, for example around the teaching of PSHE and RSE, to ensure it is of a high quality. The school has reduced unnecessary workload while ensuring that systems are still highly effective, for example, in assessing pupils' progress.

Staff appreciate leader's actions in this regard. Staff are proud to work at the school.

The school has taken effective action to maintain, and in several areas improve, standards over time.

This is particularly evident in rates of pupil attendance and achievement in national tests and assessments. Plans for school improvement are precise. Governors and trustees understand clearly how to support ongoing school improvement.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Over time, some pupils in key stage 3 have not experienced a suitably broad curriculum. This is particularly the case in computing and RE.

This has left some older pupils with gaps in their knowledge and understanding of important curriculum content. The school should review, refine and strengthen its curriculum offer, particularly for pupils in key stage 3. ? Aspects of the school's personal development programme and careers education are new or underdeveloped.

Some older pupils are not as well prepared for life beyond school as they could be. This is particularly the case in relation to their knowledge of other faiths and cultures as well as their exposure to a broad careers education. The school should ensure that the wider curriculum prepares pupils successfully for life beyond school in modern British society.

Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted's website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade.

This school was, before September 2024, judged outstanding for its overall effectiveness.

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school's work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding for overall effectiveness in June 2019.

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