Newhouse Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Over recent years, staff have increased their ambition for pupils at Newhouse Academy. Pupils are learning more effectively than they did in the past.

However, many pupils do not achieve as well as they should because the delivery of the curriculum is uneven.

Typically, pupils appreciate the new and improved approach to behaviour management. Most pupils strive for the high standards of behaviour and conduct that the school sets.

Pupils usually behave well in lessons and around the school site. This helps them to feel happier in school than they did in the past.

Pupils learn about the importance of respect.

They typically treat other pupils w...ell. Staff deal with incidents of unkind behaviour effectively. This means that pupils feel well cared for and safe.

Pupils and staff have positive relationships. Pupils are well supported to develop appropriate attitudes towards learning. The majority of pupils are keen to learn.

They usually participate well in lessons.

Pupils appreciate the 'our people' programme that supports their personal development. They are skilfully introduced to well-chosen topics and materials to help them understand themselves and the world around them.

This helps pupils to develop important values and character traits, such as aspiration, integrity and respect.

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

The trust, members of the local governing body and the school have an appropriately ambitious vision for pupils' education at Newhouse Academy. The school and those responsible for governance have successfully brought about change, especially in pupils' behaviour.

The school has also taken important steps towards strengthening the quality of education that pupils receive.

The school has ensured that pupils across Years 7 to 11, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are offered an appropriately broad and ambitious curriculum. Increasingly, more pupils in Years 10 and 11 choose to study a suitably balanced range of subjects.

This is helping them to be better prepared to fulfil suitably ambitious career aspirations.

The school has ensured that the curriculums are clear about the knowledge that pupils are expected to learn in the subjects that they study. Pupils learn new knowledge in a sensible order.

This ensures that pupils get opportunities to build on what they know and to make connections between concepts.

Published data shows that many of the Year 11 pupils who left the school in 2022 and 2023 did not achieve well. While the school has made positive changes to the curriculum design, it is in the early stages of ensuring that this is implemented consistently well across different subjects and year groups.

Although the trust has provided appropriate training to strengthen the delivery of the curriculum, teachers are at different points in ensuring that this training is put into practice. While more pupils are achieving better than they did in the past, some pupils are not gaining the knowledge that they need in order to be successful.

Teachers have secure subject knowledge.

Often, they introduce and explain subject content effectively. Some pupils benefit from well-matched activities that help them to use the knowledge that they have been taught in the past. However, other pupils complete work that does not enable them to gain the knowledge that they should.

Carefully designed assessment strategies help teachers to identify what pupils know and remember. Even so, in some subjects and classes, this information is not used well to make decisions about what pupils should learn next. This means that pupils do not get the support that they need to address gaps in their knowledge.

This includes some pupils who are disadvantaged and some pupils with SEND.

Increasingly, the school is prioritising reading. Pupils are encouraged to read an appropriate range of different books.

Pupils are reading more often than they did in the past. The school appropriately identifies the gaps in the knowledge of those pupils who are at the earliest stages of learning to read. Some of these pupils benefit from well-matched support.

However, in many cases, this support is not provided quickly enough, nor maintained until pupils have overcome their barriers to reading fluently. Consequently, while some pupils make some gains in their reading knowledge, these gains are not sufficient to help them read as confidently or accurately as they should.

The school uses appropriate information to identify accurately the needs of pupils with SEND.

In the main, staff provide helpful support when introducing subject content to these pupils in lessons. Staff carefully ensure that these pupils participate in other enrichment opportunities. Where needed, pupils with greater needs benefit from well-matched, additional support provided by expert staff and other appropriate external agencies.

The school encourages and supports pupils to attend school regularly. Staff work well together to help those pupils who are frequently absent from school. These pupils, including those with SEND and many who are disadvantaged, successfully overcome the barriers that have impeded their attendance.

The school manages behaviour effectively. For example, it deals well with the persistent minority of pupils who occasionally spoil other pupils' enjoyment of school. Pupils who are affected by these behaviours are supported well, while those pupils who do not behave as they school expects are guided sensitively to improve their behaviour.

Pupils benefit from regular and well-delivered opportunities that support their personal development. They learn about safety, relationships and different cultures.Pupils gain an insight into the differences among people in society.

This prepares them well for the opportunities and experiences that they will encounter beyond school. Furthermore, pupils are well supported to understand the choices that they can make about their future education and careers.

Leaders carefully consider how staff can develop new practices while maintaining a healthy workload.

For example, staff appreciate the dedicated time that they get to work together in their teams to plan new approaches to delivering the curriculum.

Parents and carers are well informed about the school's aspirations for pupils at Newhouse Academy. Despite this, some parents and carers do not understand how the school's higher expectations are helping to improve the care, education and personal development input that their children receive.

The trust, members of the local governing body and leaders have appropriate plans to further enhance and refine their engagement with parents.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some cases, the activities that pupils are asked to do in lessons do not help them to gain the knowledge that they are expected to learn.

This impedes some pupils from making the progress that they should through the curriculum. The school should ensure that staff are suitably equipped to deliver the curriculum consistently well, so that pupils learn all that they should across the subjects that they study. ? Some teachers do not use assessment information as well as they should.

This means that pupils do not get the support that they need to address gaps in their knowledge. This affects pupils' readiness to learn new content and it hinders their progress through the curriculum. The school should ensure that teachers know how to spot gaps in learning and reshape their teaching to help pupils learn all that they should.

• The support for some pupils who are at the earliest stages of learning to read is not as timely or sustained as it should be. Some of these pupils do not make sufficient gains in their knowledge to read with confidence, fluency or comprehension. The school should ensure that the support for reading enables pupils to overcome the barriers that stop them from being successful.