Knowle DGE Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are safe and well cared for. Typically, pupils enjoy attending school. Pupils, including students in the sixth form, work hard in lessons.

Pupils understand the school rules because staff apply agreed approaches consistently.

Staff and pupils form strong relationships. On occasions, when pupils get overly anxious or find it difficult to maintain self-control, staff use effective techniques to re-engage pupils in learning as soon as possible.

Carefully planned social times facilitate pupils' independence, alongside developing their social skills and interactions with one another. For example, 'Lego club' on the double decker bus is a favourite for many.... Outside, pupils enjoy a range of small group games.

For those who need quieter lunchtimes, there are well-supervised areas inside and out.

The curriculum broadens pupils' experiences well. Pupils benefit from activities like paddle boarding, theatre visits and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Staff support pupils to grow their individual interests through art, music production and animal care, for example. Pupils learn how to manage money and how to cook.

Pupils value that they can study a mix of academic and vocational curriculums.

This gives them the core knowledge and skills they need to go on to study at college and for future employment.

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

The trust and school work together to drive school improvement effectively. As a result, the quality of education pupils receive is now good.

Pupils, including students in the sixth form, are positive about the impact the school has on their lives. Pupils are well prepared for their next stages of education and employment. The school supports teachers who are new to the profession very well.

The trust is growing the governing body effectively. It delivers its statutory duties successfully.

Typically, pupils follow ambitious curriculums.

They learn successfully in English, mathematics and science because staff use their secure subject knowledge to teach these curriculums well. All staff benefit from a raft of training and curriculum support, including from the trust. This means that non-specialists are equipped to teach essential curriculum content well.

Pupils are further supported through appropriate therapies, well matched to their needs.

All staff prioritise the teaching of phonics until pupils can read fluently. Practising reading aloud with adults is central to the school's strategy to ensure that all pupils become confident readers.

Staff use high-quality texts to expand pupils' vocabulary. Pupils who follow vocational courses, such as motor mechanics and construction, relish learning new technical vocabulary, practical techniques and how to use tools safely.Pupils follow different curriculum pathways according to their needs.

Many curriculum pathways are well established. There is a new curriculum pathway for pupils who find it difficult to attend classes with their peers or those who are at risk of exclusion. The school is developing this provision to support pupils to increase their time in school and return to full-time education.

However, this work is at an early stage. The trust and school do not yet have a clear oversight of its impact to date.

The school is refining its approach to assessing what pupils know and remember.

This supports pupils to retain the essential subject content that they need. It also checks pupils' progress towards their education health and care (EHC) plans. As staff are still getting to grips with this new approach, some of the targets set for pupils are too broad.

Therefore, at times, teaching does not build explicitly on what pupils already know or best prepare them for what comes next.

The personal, social, health and economic curriculum supports pupils to develop their character well. There is a strong emphasis on supporting pupils' mental well-being and teaching about protected characteristics.

Pupils receive advice and guidance about their next steps in education or training. Staff work with pupils, families and external providers to ensure that college placements are suitable and that pupils' transition to these are successful. Well-thought-out work experience boosts pupils' independence and understanding of the world of work.

In the past, pupils' attendance was low. The impact of the stringent systems in place to challenge poor attendance is notable. This means that many pupils who were severely absent in the past are now attending much more.

As a result, the rate of persistent absence is decreasing steadily.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The school's work to refine the way in which it uses assessment to find out what pupils know, remember and can do, against their EHC plans, is not complete.

This means that some targets are too broad for pupils to achieve, or that teaching is not well directed to what pupils need to know next. At times, teaching does not demand enough of pupils. The school and trust must ensure that the use of assessment supports pupils to progress through the curriculum successfully and achieve highly.

• The school's work to provide a bespoke curriculum for pupils who find it difficult to attend classes with their peers or are at risk of permanent exclusion is still very new. The trust and school do not have strong enough oversight of it, so the impact of this provision is still to be fully determined. The school and trust must ensure that this provision supports pupils' successful re-integration into lessons, so they benefit from the full breadth of the curriculum.