Rye Hills Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Due to highly effective leadership, Rye Hills Academy has transformed in recent years.

Leaders have very high expectations for pupils. They want 'every child to experience excellence every day'. They are determined to realise this vision fully.

Pupils receive an education that is stimulating, ambitious and enriched by a wide range of opportunities. For example, pupils can take part in The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and they have recently enjoyed visits to the Houses of Parliament and the Northern School of Art. Pupils are successful.

In the GCSE examinations in summer 2023, the proportion of pupils who achieved strong passes in English and mathematics was abov...e local and national averages.

Pupils behave very well in school. Lessons are calm and purposeful.

There is a strong culture of rewarding pupils and recognising their achievements. Pupils value this. They are motivated by the house system and earning house points.

On the rare occasion that bullying happens, the school responds effectively. Pupils understand the behaviour policy in school and think that it is fair. Pupils' well-being and safety are of the utmost importance to the school.

The school offers pupils a range of ways to support their personal development. Pupils take on roles of responsibility such as pupil president, members of the student council and reading ambassadors. Pupils appreciate having a voice in school and feel like they are making a difference.

Pupils enjoy taking part in the school's creative 'Culture Vulture' programme. This offers them a range of ways to broaden their cultural understanding.

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

With support from the trust, the school has developed a new curriculum.

It is broad and ambitious. It often takes pupils above and beyond the demands of the national curriculum. For example, pupils study three Shakespeare plays in key stage 3 so they can explore different representations of female characters.

In mathematics, the curriculum is structured to ensure pupils are prepared to learn about ambitious topics, such as trigonometry, as early as Year 8. There is a wide range of subjects and qualifications on offer to pupils at key stage 4. The curriculum is sequenced over five years.

It is still being embedded. Due to the timing of the trust's arrival at the school, some older pupils do not have the full body of knowledge that the school intends.

Teachers have received high-quality training.

As a result, the curriculum is implemented consistently well. Teachers use their expertise effectively. They regularly use 'smart' tasks at the beginning of lessons to help pupils remember what they have been taught before.

They use questioning well in order to check pupils' understanding. Activities are chosen carefully to help pupils embed their knowledge and develop their skills. For example, in English, pupils learn how to develop their analysis of books through 'quotation explosions'.

They use these to develop their ideas before completing high-quality, extended responses to the books they have read.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well in lessons. Teachers have clear information about the needs of the pupils they teach.

They have received effective training on how to support pupils. As a result, pupils with SEND access the full curriculum and engage well in their learning.

Reading is prioritised by the school.

Leaders have developed an impressive programme of peer support for reading fluency. Older pupils have been trained very well to support younger pupils with their reading. This helps younger pupils on the programme to develop their reading fluency.

There is an appropriate phonics programme in place to support pupils at the earliest stages of reading.

Pupils are courteous and polite. Pupils pay attention in lessons and most work hard.

Some pupils' resilience and skills that help them to learn independently are not as developed as they could be. This sometimes limits their academic achievement and personal development. Pupils attend well.

The school works hard to support pupils whose attendance is a concern. This work is having a positive impact. The number of pupils who are persistently absent is reducing significantly.

The school has implemented a comprehensive curriculum for personal, social and health education (PSHE) through a programme referred to in school as 'World Ready'. This programme is effective. Pupils have a deep understanding of how to stay safe online and of healthy relationships.

This curriculum is adapted to respond to local concerns that the school becomes aware of. There is an effective careers curriculum in place. Pupils are informed well about the options open to them beyond Year 11.

The overwhelming majority of pupils move on to further education, employment or training.

Leaders have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and priorities. Teachers experience a great deal of satisfaction working at the school.

They feel very well supported by school and trust leaders. Teachers' well-being and workload are considered carefully by leaders. For example, they have recently simplified the school's marking policy, and teachers are offered 'well-being days' that can be used flexibly.

Trustees and local governors have a range of skills that help them to challenge and support the school. They take their responsibilities seriously and fulfil their statutory duties well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Due to the timing of the school joining the trust, the school's new curriculum is not fully embedded. This means that the full impact of the curriculum has not been realised. The school should further embed the curriculum to ensure that all pupils learn and remember it, and make the progress through it that they are capable of.

• Some pupils' resilience and skills to learn independently are not as developed as they could be. To an extent, this is limiting these pupils' academic and social development. The school should further develop ways to build pupils' resilience and skills to learn independently, ensuring this impacts on pupils' academic and social development positively.