Michaela Community School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school From their starting points, all groups of pupils make rapid progress in a wide range of subjects, including English, mathematics, science, humanities, French, art and music.

Leaders and governors have ensured that teaching, learning and assessment are consistently effective and secure pupils' outstanding outcomes. Teachers' expectations of pupils' academic achievement are demanding and ambitious. Leaders promote equality of opportunity exceedingly well.

Additional funding is used carefully. Leaders and teachers ensure that outcomes for eligible pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and.../or disabilities, are outstanding. The school's leaders and governors are successful in their aim to encourage pupils' strong personal, social and emotional development.

Pupils have very positive attitudes to learning and show powerful determination to achieve as well as they can. They hold high aspirations for their future lives. Pupils develop a love of books and reading.

They talk about their favourite authors and the books they enjoy most. Support tailored to pupils' needs ensures that pupils who struggle with reading, writing and mathematics when they join the school catch up quickly. All pupils practise speaking and listening through regular discussions and become confident speakers.

Pupils share their ideas readily. They ask questions of others and listen attentively. Pupils conduct themselves exceptionally well in lessons and around the school.

They are polite, respectful and caring young people. Pupils know what steps to take to keep themselves safe from harm in a variety of contexts. Extra-curricular clubs, including chess, reading, multiplication tables, art and creative writing, are popular and well attended.

Most-able pupils in the 'rhetoric' persuasive speaking club are challenged to develop and deepen their interests. Since the school opened, leaders and governors have worked very effectively together with staff, pupils, parents and carers to establish a strong sense of community at the school. Pupils typically commented that they feel part of a close-knit family.

Over recent time, diminished access to sporting facilities has reduced the breadth of pupils' physical education.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Michaela Community School opened in September 2014 with its first intake of pupils in Year 7. Currently, the school has pupils in Years 7 to 9. There are no pupils in Years 10 and 11 and no students in 16 to 19 provision.

The school will continue to grow in size each year until there are four classes in each year from Years 7 to 11 and four classes in each year in 16 to 19 provision. The proportion of pupils at the school who are disadvantaged is above the national average. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is average.

Fewer pupils join and leave the school partway through their secondary education compared with pupils nationally. The school uses no alternative provision. The school has no national assessment results by which to measure the school's performance against the current government floor standards because there are no pupils thus far in Year 11.