Maltby Redwood Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Leaders understand the community and the families well. Everyone in the school community feels part of 'Team Redwood'.

Staff work hard to build positive relationships with families. All staff are committed to the welfare and achievement of the pupils that they work with. Staff, pupils and parents and carers talk about the family feel of the school.

As one pupil said, 'Once you have been to Redwood, you don't want to go anywhere else.'

Pupils feel safe and know that if they have any concerns or worries they can speak to a person that they trust. When bullying occurs, staff deal with this quickly and effective...ly.

Pupils behave well in lessons and are keen to learn. In the dining hall, pupils are polite to each other and the staff helping them. In the playground, pupils take responsibility for their class play equipment trollies and enjoy playing with, and alongside, each other.

Pupils are taught about respect and tolerance as part of their general experiences and as part of relationships and sex education. They understand different types of family structures and understand the importance of treating everyone they meet with kindness.

Pupils talk positively about the experiences they have as part of the curriculum, like visiting the space museum as part of their learning in science.

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

The principal has a clear vision for education at the school. She has worked with other leaders to bring about significant improvements in behaviour and to develop an ambitious and inspiring curriculum for pupils. This ambition is clear for all to see through the 'Redwood Guarantee', which shows what pupils will experience by the time they leave.

Leaders have a strong understanding of how to design a curriculum. Regular opportunities are designed for pupils to build on what they already know and to take their learning further. Leaders have made decisions about the curriculum which are based on the needs of the pupils and community.

For example, they teach pupils about rail safety in their personal development curriculum. Leaders have chosen the knowledge they feel pupils need to be successful in life.

Subject leaders have strong subject knowledge.

They have a clear understanding of what pupils should be taught in their subjects and when. The curriculum is sequenced from Nursery to Year 6. Leaders know that some subject leaders do not have as much understanding about how well the area of learning in their subject is delivered in early years.

Pupils enjoy reading. They have access to a wide range of books. Some books are chosen to give pupils an understanding of diversity and equality.

There is a clear curriculum in phonics. Teaching of early reading begins as soon as children enter in Nursery or Reception. The books pupils read are closely matched to the sounds they already know.

Teachers check regularly to find out which sounds pupils do not know. If pupils need extra help, they are given one-to-one or small group sessions as well as their daily phonics lessons. However, in phonics lessons and the additional support sessions, teachers sometimes miss opportunities to find out exactly which parts of reading pupils are finding difficult.

Leaders are ambitious for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils with SEND access a full curriculum and receive support from teachers and other adults to help them be successful. Leaders have put assessment systems is in place to check that the support pupils with SEND are receiving is helping them to learn.

However, the targets for pupils with SEND are not consistently precise and measurable enough to ensure pupils are practising and embedding knowledge well enough.

In the early years, highly positive relationships exist between children and staff. Leaders have given attention to what children will learn in the early years that will build foundations for their future learning in curriculum subjects.

However, sometimes staff do not provide the most appropriate activities to help children practice and build on new knowledge in some areas of learning.

Governors and trustees are well informed of the strengths and development areas of the school. Governors understand that their role is to support the vision and strategic direction of the school and to both support and challenge leaders to deliver the best for all pupils.

Staff feel supported and that leaders are conscious of their workload and well-being. They are given time to put into place new initiatives.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. All adults are aware of local risks for pupils.

There are clear systems for identifying pupils who are more vulnerable.

Support is quickly put in place for these pupils inside school, and other agencies are involved in a timely manner if more is needed. Leaders build positive relationships with families and have a deep understanding of the needs of the pupils in the school and the local community. Pupils are supported to understand how they can keep themselves safe online and offline.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have not checked that all staff fully understand the finer details of the phonics curriculum. As a result, some teachers do not consistently identify misconceptions or address these quickly for pupils who are at the earliest stage of reading. Leaders should ensure that all teachers of early reading have the most up-to-date training as soon as possible.

• Leaders' monitoring of school improvement priorities, such as targets for pupils with SEND and the curriculum in early years, lack rigour. As a result, leaders sometimes have an unclear picture of how well some areas of the curriculum are being enacted. Leaders should ensure that monitoring is sufficiently robust and in-depth to quickly identify and address any inconsistencies in teaching and the achievement of pupils.

• Not all staff in the early years have a strong understanding of the curriculum or the most effective pedagogical approaches to support children to learn. Consequently, the curriculum is not implemented as well as it could be. Leaders should ensure that all staff in the early years receive training which supports them to deliver the curriculum for the school's youngest children.