Evergreen Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

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

The executive headteacher is Daniel Hartley.

The head of school is Dickon Taylor. This school is part of Shaw Education 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), Jo Heard-Jones, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Andrew Meehan.

The executive headteacher is responsible for this school and Pine Green Academy.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils go on a journey of self-discovery during their time at Evergreen. The school sets and a...chieves high expectations for all who join.

These begin with developing positive relationships and move on to pupils engaging in their learning journey. Pupils start at the school being either at risk of exclusion or having been excluded. They leave here believing in themselves as learners and as individuals who can contribute positively to society.

Staff use the school's 'behaviour pathway' documents, combined with a range of additional support, sensitively and well. Pupils speak highly of the difference that the school makes to them. They feel safe and cared for.

Most importantly to them, they feel listened to. Over time, pupils develop effective ways to manage their behaviour and emotions. They learn to know which strategy to use and when.

This helps them to learn in class, to know when and how to take a break, and how to return to class with the minimum of fuss.

The school helps pupils to know that they are trusted to take part in a range of wider activities and opportunities. Art with a resident artist is a firm favourite.

Pupils share proudly how they learn to express themselves in different ways.

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

Since the previous inspection, a new leadership team has brought stability and many strengths to a range of areas in the school. Each decision made by the school is focused on the pupils because every person within the trust and the school is a staunch advocate for these vulnerable pupils.

These factors combine to make a positive and powerful difference to pupils' experience, enjoyment and achievement. Whether it be twelve weeks, twelve months or any time in between and beyond, pupils are given the skills, self-belief and strategies to support their highly successful move to their next setting.

The school has thought carefully about the needs and experiences of pupils while putting its curriculum together.

This works well in phonics, reading and mathematics. Staff help pupils to learn to read very well. The checks that are in place ensure that pupils get the right help to fill the many gaps that they have on entry in phonics and basic reading skills.

Pupils gain confidence in seeing themselves as successful readers. They transfer these reading skills into their time in the library and in other curriculum subjects. Staff are supported well to teach mathematics in a progressive way that works for most pupils.

Pupils enjoy an interesting range of activities that are part of their learning in wider subjects across the curriculum. For example, they explore icebergs through investigating ice blocks in a water tray. The curriculum hooks pupils in.

It engages and motivates them in their learning. Their learning is also enriched through cinema visits, building shelters in the woods, enterprise days and challenges such as 'egg drops' and 'balloon cars'. These are critical 'changemakers' in a positive way for many of these pupils, who have spent time out of their class or their school previously.

Staff value the support they receive to deliver the school's curriculum. It helps them to consider and design creative ideas and to reduce their workload. Pupils cover the full range of the national curriculum.

This, combined with accurate identification and continual review of any additional needs, provides a clear starting point of the learning journey for pupils. However, the school has not considered carefully enough the specific and key knowledge that pupils should know and when. This means that pupils learn many things but have some key gaps in the basic stepping stones across subjects, which hinders them in their next steps of learning.

A real strength of the school is its use of the daily reflection sessions held at the end of the day with pupils. Relationships and respect underpin these reflection circles. Pupils learn through the 'red and green' marks on their class chart how to come back from making a mistake and how to earn and value rewards.

Pupils grow in their skill of knowing right from wrong, not just in their behaviour and learning but also with their personal safety. Parents and carers see and appreciate the positive difference that the school makes to their child and their future.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the key knowledge of the curriculum is not defined well enough. This means that pupils do not have the secure foundational knowledge that allows them to build on what they know over time. The school should further refine the key content in each of these subjects so that pupils are well prepared for the next steps of their learning.

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 to be good 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 good for overall effectiveness in July 2019.