Leycroft Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

New leaders have raised the expectations for what pupils can achieve at Leycroft Academy.

They are creating a new curriculum to meet the school's ambition to 'enable pupils to understand the wider world around them and discover the talents within'. However, this is in the early stages. There is still more work needed to ensure that all pupils' learning needs are well understood and supported.

Relationships between pupils and staff are positive. Staff are caring and supportive and want the best for pupils. Pupils are safe.

Staff know how to quickly raise any concerns.

The school has recently introduced newly agreed systems to support pupils' communica...tion needs. Staff are supported by trained 'communication champions' who support in identifying systems for individual pupils.

However, some staff do not always implement the agreed strategies. This means that pupils are not always able to communicate what they need. Consequently, this leads to low-level behaviours in classrooms, as sometimes pupils become unsettled.

Leaders are ambitious for what they want pupils to achieve in their personal development. This is beginning to be realised. Pupils celebrate a wide range of festivals.

They learn about different faiths and religions. Special visitors come into school. Plans are now in place to give pupils experiences within the wider community.

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

There are many positive changes happening at Leycroft Academy. Since the school opened, there have been several significant changes to leadership. For a period, this slowed the impact of the school's improvement journey.

Nevertheless, the trust has now appointed a new school leadership team. The newly appointed headteacher has accurately identified the right areas for development and is working at pace to address these.

The school has recently introduced curriculum pathways, including in the early years.

These are designed to support pupils with similar needs to learn together. The curriculum is also currently undergoing significant changes. Some parts of the curriculum are at the early stages of development.

All of this means that the school has not yet identified the essential knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn and in what order in all parts of the curriculum. Pupils are not yet building their knowledge and skills over time. Leaders know this and are currently working to improve this.

In lessons, there is variability in how well staff implement the curriculum. Some staff understand the academic needs of pupils well. They also understand the specific identified needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Lessons are then planned to allow pupils to build on their academic knowledge and skills while supporting their specialist needs. However, this is not the case in all lessons, including in the early years. Where this is the case, pupils are not always given learning tasks to secure important knowledge.

Learning activities provide pupils with some experiences but do not identify what important knowledge and skills they will be learning. Subsequently, where this is the case, pupils' learning is limited.

The school has rightly prioritised teaching pupils how to read.

A new systematic phonics scheme has recently been introduced. All pupils are taught how to read daily. This is beginning to have a positive impact.

Pupils who are not yet ready for the new phonics programme are taught using daily 'listen and learn' boxes. Pupils are taught how to sustain their attention and how to identify sounds in the environment. Consequently, this prepares pupils well to access the phonics programme alongside their peers.

The school has recently introduced the 'shine' approach. This supports staff in understanding and positively responding to pupils' behavioural needs. A team has been created to implement this new initiative.

The team understands how pupils' behaviour can be a form of communication. They analyse patterns and trends and share strategies with staff to support pupils. This new initiative, alongside others, is beginning to show some positive improvements.

However, staff do not always implement these as agreed. Consequently, leaders do not yet have a clear enough view of how well new initiatives and changes are being implemented across school.

Pupils have a growing number of experiences to support their personal development.

This includes the recently introduced 'life-skills room'. As part of this programme, pupils are taught important skills such as how to make a bed independently. In the early years, changes to the indoor and outdoor learning environment are beginning to support pupils to make independent choices.

Pupils are taught how to stay safe online. They can name a trusted adult.

The trust and school leaders have a sharp focus on improving attendance.

Although a number of pupils do not attend school regularly enough, the school has supported families in securing regular attendance for their children.

The trust, alongside the local academy council, offers appropriate support to school leaders. Careful consideration has been given to staff workload and well-being during this period of change.

Many parents are supportive of the positive changes.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Staff do not always implement the agreed communication and behaviour systems in their classrooms and across school.

This means that pupils are not always able to communicate what they need. This leads to pupils quickly becoming unsettled and not responding positively to their learning. The school should ensure that all staff have the necessary skills and knowledge to consistently implement agreed communication and behaviour strategies across all classrooms and all areas of school.

• The curriculum is not developed well enough in all subject areas. Some parts of the curriculum are also at the early stages of development. The school has not yet identified the essential component knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn and in what order.

This means that pupils are not building their knowledge or skills over time. The school should ensure that they clearly identify the specific knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn and remember in all areas of the curriculum. ? Staff do not always implement the curriculum well enough to support pupils' learning.

Learning activities provide pupils with some experiences but do not always build effectively on what pupils know and can do. This limits pupils' learning. The school should ensure that the work teachers give to pupils precisely identifies the important knowledge and skills and enables them to build on their learning.

• The school has recently introduced a number of new initiatives, including changes to the curriculum. Leaders do not yet have a clear view of how well new initiatives and changes are being implemented across the school. Leaders need to continue their work on checking and accurately evaluating how well initiatives and changes are being implemented across school.