Highfield Leadership Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Some pupils readily embrace the wealth of opportunities that the school provides, particularly opportunities to develop their leadership skills. Pupils spoke convincingly about how well they are supported by staff. Pupils appreciate that their views are represented by the school council and taken into consideration when decisions about school life are made.

The school offers a range of clubs. For example, some pupils participate in a cookery course at a local college. Others enjoy getting active in badminton.

The school has created an environment where pupils feel safe and happy. At the school's entrance, staff greet pupils warmly. However, many pupils are persistentl...y absent despite the school's efforts to encourage them to attend.

Pupils generally behave well in lessons. They mostly follow the school's rules diligently. Pupils are typically respectful to their peers and to their teachers.

However, with the introduction of a new behaviour policy, the number of occasions in which a small minority of pupils are internally excluded because of poor behaviour has risen over time.

The school's expectations of what pupils should achieve are rising. The trust has supported the school to considerably strengthen the curriculum offer.

However, the delivery of the curriculum is variable across year groups and subjects. As a result, many pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

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

The school has designed an ambitious curriculum.

The trust has provided extensive training for teachers, which has improved their subject knowledge and approaches to teaching. Some teachers are using their refreshed knowledge to deliver subject curriculums well. However, this is not the case for all subjects.

At times, teachers do not design learning that enables pupils to understand the subject content of the curriculum. Some of the activities that teachers provide do not enable pupils to build a deep understanding of the subjects that they study.

There is an unevenness in how well teachers use assessment strategies to check on pupils' learning.

Now and then, assessment tasks do not allow teachers to identify pupils' understanding of facts well enough. At other times, assessment strategies are not used effectively to identify and address gaps in pupils' understanding. In addition, teachers do not use assessment information consistently well to either move pupils' learning on or to ensure that gaps in knowledge are remedied.

Some pupils struggle to connect their ideas. Often this is because their prior knowledge is not secure. Consequently, some pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not achieve well.

There is a calm atmosphere in the school. Most pupils are polite and helpful. A high staff presence, for example, at lesson change over and during social times, gently encourages pupils to behave well.

Typically, there is a consistent approach to managing pupils' behaviour and most pupils respond well to this.

Despite the many actions that the school has put in place to raise pupils' attendance, absence rates have increased over time. This matches the picture in the local area.

Many pupils miss a considerable proportion of their education. Furthermore, these pupils do not benefit from the extensive offer that is in place to support their personal development.

The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND accurately and shares this information with staff.

Generally, pupils with SEND have their needs met successfully. In key stage 3, pupils who find reading difficult are supported well to catch up. However, the same level of support is not given to pupils in key stage 4 who are in the early stages of reading.

These pupils, therefore, struggle to access the curriculum. This hinders their achievement.

The school offers a wide range of opportunities to match pupils' different interests.

For instance, pupils can take up roles such as Highfield helpers, eco-champions and anti-bullying ambassadors. They have a secure understanding of the rich diversity in society. For instance, pupils enjoy sampling cuisine from other cultures.

There is a comprehensive careers programme that builds pupils' knowledge of different careers. This helps to prepare them well for their next steps.

Staff are proud to work at this school and they feel valued.

They said that staff workload is well considered. For example, designing learning alongside other colleagues has helped to ease their workload.

Trustees have not ensured that the school has made sufficient progress since the last inspection.

Despite the strengthened curriculum, the trust's and the school's evaluation of the quality of education is overgenerous. It does not pinpoint sufficiently well the deficiencies in the delivery of the curriculum. Therefore, weaknesses in the quality of education persist.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Many pupils do not attend school regularly. The number of pupils who are absent and persistently absent has risen over time.

These pupils miss out on their learning and the gaps in their knowledge widen over time. They also do not benefit from the array of wider opportunities to support their personal development. The school should review its work with parents, pupils and external agencies in order to successfully raise attendance rates.

Pupils in key stage 4, who find reading difficult, do not receive the support that they need to overcome gaps in their reading knowledge. This hinders how well they can achieve across the curriculum. The school should make sure that struggling readers receive effective support to enable them to read with fluency and accuracy.

• The curriculum is not implemented consistently well across different subjects and year groups. Some teachers do not design suitable learning activities to help pupils to learn the content of the curriculum. This hinders some pupils from being able to build on their prior learning and to develop a deep understanding of the subjects that they study.

The school should ensure that teachers are suitably supported to design learning that matches the ambition of the curriculum. ? Some teachers do not use assessment strategies effectively to check what pupils know. As a result, gaps in their learning are not addressed.

This means that some pupils struggle to build on their prior learning and to recall their learning over time. This hampers how well they achieve. The school should ensure that teachers check what pupils have learned and use this information to overcome gaps in their knowledge.