Shirebrook Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils enjoy coming to school. Leaders and teachers are proud to serve their community.

Pupils report that they feel safe at school. Teachers and pupils generally have positive relationships.

Leaders are ambitious for pupils.

Pupils enjoy a broad curriculum that meets their needs and interests. However, the teaching of this curriculum is variable and does not help all pupils to build on their knowledge to know and remember more in all subjects.Leaders have high expectations of pupils' behaviour.

Some pupils said that on occasions, other pupils' behaviour can disrupt their own learning. Pupils learn about what bullying is and they say that it is ...dealt with quickly if it happens. Some pupils do not attend regularly enough.

Pupils participate in the wide range of extra-curricular activities available to them. These include sports clubs, art club and 'boost your grade' sessions. There are also opportunities that enable pupils to develop leadership skills.

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

This is a rapidly improving school. New leaders have quickly identified the strengths and the areas that need improvement. They have begun to make the necessary changes and have a clear plan to improve the school further.

Leaders are strengthening the curriculum. They have clear curriculum plans in place. These identify the required knowledge and skills and follow a sequence that allows pupils to build on what they already know.

The teaching of the curriculum is inconsistent. In most subjects, teachers break down the learning into chunks to help all pupils learn and remember more. Teachers use retrieval tasks to check on pupils' prior learning.

When these are effective, they allow pupils to recap on previous work and enable teachers to check pupils' understanding. However, assessment is not well developed in all subject areas. Sometimes, staff do not identify pupils' misconceptions.

Leaders have not yet ensured that the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are precisely identified and communicated to teachers. Some pupils with SEND are not well supported to learn the curriculum. Some pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

Leaders are improving the school's reading programme. Younger pupils have discrete reading lessons. Leaders are starting to identify pupils who need extra support to become fluent readers.

The curriculum to support these pupils is at the early stages of implementation. Not all staff have yet been trained to deliver this programme effectively.

Some teachers do not have sufficiently high expectations of all pupils.

They do not ensure that all pupils do their best. Some pupils produce work that is not of high enough quality or ambition.

Recently, leaders have raised their expectations of pupils' behaviour.

New routines are in place. Many pupils show positive attitudes to learning. Not all pupils consistently meet these high expectations.

Staff do not consistently challenge low-level disruption. Some pupils do not attend school regularly, which means they miss out on key aspects of their education.

The personal, social and health education curriculum is well planned and sequenced.

As a result, pupils' personal development is promoted well. Leaders develop pupils' resilience and understanding of diversity through assemblies and enrichment activities. The school provides pupils with meaningful opportunities to become active citizens.

For example, Year 10 pupils have supported the local food bank.

Careers education is a strength of the school. Pupils receive high-quality careers advice.

They receive information about a range of post-16 courses, including academic and non-academic routes. This enables them to make the right choices and move on to appropriate next steps.

Leadership is improving.

New leaders are being well supported to bring about the necessary improvements. However, in some areas of the school's work, these changes are still in the early stages of implementation. Staff say they are well supported by leaders and the trust.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders responsible for safeguarding are highly knowledgeable. They maintain good oversight of any issues that arise.

All staff have been well trained in safeguarding and understand their responsibility to keep pupils safe. Staff pass on any concerns they have. Leaders ensure that pupils get the support they need in a timely manner.

Records relating to child protection are detailed, well organised and stored securely.

Leaders respond to local and national safeguarding concerns. They update the tutor programme to keep pupils well informed about possible risks.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some teachers do not use assessment information consistently well to check that pupils' prior knowledge is secure, to identify misconceptions, or to plan subsequent learning. This means that there are times when pupils have not grasped new knowledge well enough before teachers move the learning on. This delays pupils from building on what they already know.

Leaders should ensure that teachers know how to use assessment strategies effectively to check that pupils know and remember more over time. ? Leaders have not ensured that precise information about how to support pupils with SEND is available to teachers. Pupils with SEND are not always well supported.

Leaders must ensure that the needs of pupils with SEND are accurately identified and that teachers meet these needs. ? Too many pupils are persistently absent from school. This means that they are missing out on their education.

Leaders must ensure that all pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, attend school regularly. ? A small number of pupils sometimes show a lack of respect to others. Some staff do not always manage these incidents of poor behaviour in the same way.

This poor behaviour occasionally disrupts others' learning. Leaders must ensure that everyone has the same high expectations of pupils' behaviour and conduct. They must check that all staff implement the school's behaviour policy consistently.

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